Home Organ Boom
John Masson was front pumping organs during the great home organ boom of the 1970s. He opened Masson Organ Villa in 1975 demonstrating Baldwin Pianos and Kawai keyboards and organs. He later expanded into a shopping mall before renaming the store Masson Music. Along the way, John has been very...
Frank Reda worked in the insurance business as a youth, where he credits the training on customer service and sales that he later applied to his work in the music industry. In the 1970s, he was hired by Wurlitzer to manage their retail stores in the Chicago area. While there, he helped train...
Sean O'Shea began front pumping the organ during the big boom of home organs in the 1970s. His first gig was for a music store when he was just 14. He grew up in the business and worked for many of the top names in the piano industry. Sean had his own store for years and worked in the wholesale...
George Kirkwood joined the Rodgers Instrument Corp. in the engineering department just five years after the company was formed by Rodgers Jenkins and Fred Tinker. Beyond his fourth year with the company, George became Product Engineer on a number of key innovations and product lines for the...
Steve Bird joined the piano industry right out of school and established a life-long career that he has thoroughly enjoyed. While working for Sherman Clay, Steve was asked to open up several locations, which became a niche for him. Understanding and embracing the business element as well as the...
Don Holcombe owned and operated several music stores during his long career. Among the most noted stores were those he opened with fellow salesman Russell Lindquist in and around Houston under the name Holcombe-Lindquist Piano and Organ. The stores played a big part in the home organ boom of the...
Roy Larrick was a well-known sales rep for Hammond Organs and Panasonic's Technics products before opening his own retail store. Larrick Piano & Organ in Northern California was established after Roy worked for Colton Piano stores in the area. Back in the early part of his career, Roy's...
Carter Schuld's father purchased an accordion for him when he was just four years old. Thanks to church, Carter took a liking to the organ, which his father noticed and purchased a home organ when Carter was just seven. He became more interested as television shows like Lawrence Welk fuelled the...
Kenny Smith serves as the Managing Director of the Peavey Hollywood store on Sunset Boulevard. However, this is only part of what he does in the shop. Kenny is a born salesman and enjoys teaching others fresh and effective ways to sell musical products. He feels nothing is more important than...
Bernie Capicchiano was coached from the Accounting world to manage a new music retail store for the Brash Group in Australia in 1973.His long career in the industry includes a strong relationship with the Hammond-Suzuki Company as well as Johannus Organs, Schimmel, Hailun and Bernstein Pianos....