Luthiers
Kurt Glaesel was born into a violin-making family, which dates back to 1720, but it was Kurt who made his family name nationally known. After a noted 20 year career with Heinrich Roth, Kurt established Glaesel String Instrument Service, Inc. in 1973. The company was soon sold to Selmer, where Kurt...
Dr. Alfio Leone was among the world’s best loved luthier of traditional Italian musical instruments. He learned his craft by years of studying the vintage instrument in the region of Sicily where he was born, established his factory, and where he passed away. In 1958 he changed the name of the...
Harvey Citron is one of the industry’s best-known and respected guitar luithers. Since a young age he has played the guitar and always seemed to have the ideas of changing the instrument to create unique sounds. He has designed some of the most innovative guitars of his time, such as those...
Carlo Greco was known throughout the world as one of the premier guitar luthiers. Yet, if you ever got to meet him, he was a very humble man who brushed off compliments with a smile. After a long association as chief designer for Guild Guitars, Carlo joined his dear friend, Alex Carozza, in New...
Michael Tobias is well known as a gifted and knowledgeable guitar luthier. The Tobias bass, now made by Gibson, has often been praised for its playability and unique sound. Mike is also among the country’s leading authorities on American guitars, having been a guitar repairman since he was 23 years...
Stuart Spector’s creation of the Spector Bass is recognized around the world. As Stuart explained, little has changed in the design of the Spector guitar since it was first created in 1974. Three years later Stuart hired a furniture builder named Ned Steinberger, who designed the famed NS...
James Deurloo walked through the old Gibson workshop, which is now the home of his company, the Heritage Guitar Company. Pointing proudly to a workstation in the middle of the old building, “that was my first workbench. I learned every skill on the line and had wonderful teachers. The old men on...
Wilbur Fuller took to woodwork at a young age. When he was 16, from the instructions in a magazine, he made a desk which still stands in the corner of his small farmhouse in western Michigan. In 1954, his cousin Walter, who engineered the Gibson amplifier in nearby Kalamazoo, told Wilbur of an...
Joseph Rashid studied the art of violin-making like few others. His goal was not to mass produce the instrument or even to sell them, but rather to hand-make the instruments based on scientific evidence. When he could not locate data on frequency measurements, he conducted his own studies to...
Ned Steinberger is known around the world for his innovative instrument designs. His guitars and basses created without the traditional headstock gained wide popularity in the 1980s rock era and have come to be known simply as Steinbergers. When he formed NS Designs in 1990, Ned focused on electric...