Instrument Appraisal
Stanley Werbin opened a small guitar shop he named Elderly Instruments on July 5, 1972. The original location was in East Lansing, Michigan and focused on "used instruments". Within a few years Stan watched the growth and development of the vintage guitar market and provided a repair shop and...
Rebecca Apodaca was the President of A & D Music Incorporated in Southern California. She played music as a child and gravitated to the electric bass. Her father and others such as Doc Kauffman (Leo Fender’s partner) and Bernardo Rico (BC Rich founder) taught her guitar repair. She grew up...
Stanley Jay always admired rare and special fretted musical instruments, so it came as no surprise when he and his friend, Haf Kuffner, opened a guitar shop on Staten Island in New York. They named the store the Mandolin Brothers. Over the years the store has become a hub for vintage instruments...
Bob Furst was a veteran of the piano industry for over 50 years, Bob sold nearly every brand of player, upright and grand piano that you can think of. Over the years he also became an expert on the value of pianos and a historian on the background of piano manufacturers. With a growing need for...
Matt Umanov opened his first guitar shop in 1963, following his dream to have a life in music. Over the years, Matt has become one of the world’s leading experts on guitars, which is often expressed in his passion of putting the right instrument in his customer’s hands. Matt Umanov Guitars is...
Walter Carter along with his wife, Christie, formed Nashville's "friendliest guitar store" when they opened Carter Vintage Guitars. With a last name so well known in country music, you can understand why a beautiful painting of Mother Maybelle Carter adorns the outside wall of the building. The...
Norman Harris loves guitars! His vast knowledge and collection has made him one of the industry’s leading experts on vintage guitars and basses. As the founder of Norm’s Rare Guitars in Tarzana, CA, he played an important role in the great boom in vintage guitars that began in the 1980s. His...
George Gruhn is without question one of the top experts of vintage guitars on the planet! George collected guitars before opening the world renowned Gruhn Guitar Shop in Nashville, TN in the early 1970s. Since that time he has authored several historical reference guides and thousands of articles...