Guitars
Thomas Nordegg is originally from Vienna, Austria, and when he heard The Beatles for the first time, he knew that he wanted to be in the music industry. In 1972, Thomas moved to the United States and worked as a guitar tech. Since then, he has worked for legendary artists such as Frank Zappa,...
Ed Gerhard knew that there was something special about playing the guitar when he heard Andrés Segovia play on TV when he was 10 years old. He took a few lessons from a music store but learned most of his beginning skills from one of his neighbors. Ed has a unique playing style - combining the...
Jack Hill was introduced to music at a very young age as his uncle was a professional musician. Jack started taking guitar lessons at eight years old, which he paid for himself with the money he made from his paper route. He started playing with older musicians and got quite a few gigs early on. At...
Roy Good, like many, was first influenced by The Beatles when they came over to the United States as part of the British Invasion. After finishing school, Roy took as many college music classes as he could from composition to vocal ensembles. He took his passion for music further when he accepted a...
John Tedeschi started playing music again when his son took up the saxophone in the school band and needed someone to practice improvisation with. John had been playing the guitar since high school for fun, and playing with his son gave him the itch for more. He began buying more gear, practicing...
Elliot Easton often visited Grayson's Music in Long Island, New York as a kid. He ordered his first custom left handed electric guitar from Mr. Grayson, who always treated Elliot with kindness. Years later, after Elliot's rock band, The Cars, had notoriety, he reunited with Mr. Grayson at a NAMM...
Don McLean walked into the House of Music in New Rochelle, New York as a kid dreaming of owning a Martin Guitar. When he finally owned one, that instrument assisted him in writing several hit songs. The rock and roll anthem "American Pie" and "Vincent" were both written on his Martin, as were...
Jim Washburn took on a writing assignment as a journalist for a newspaper about the electric guitar, which led to a series of books and articles that has documented a significant chapter of the music products industry. While writing these stories, Jim was able to meet and interview a long list of...
John Suhr began formulating ideas of designing and modifying the electric guitar while working as a repairman at Rudy's Guitar Shop in New York City. After sharpening his skills as a master builder in Fender's Custom Shop in California, John established JS Technologies Inc. to produce his own line...
Mike Ponce enjoys managing the Suhr Guitar factory at JS Technologies Inc. in Southern California as the job allows him to apply his expertise in all aspects of guitar building. Mike was a master builder at Fender before developing an acoustic line of guitars for Rickenbacker. His inspiration to...