Luthiers
Joe Veillette took a luthier class, a class by Michael Gurian back in 1971 and never looked back! He became so interested in guitar building that he teamed up with Harvey Citron and formed Veillette-Citron in 1976. The two luthiers collaborated with John Sebastian to develop and market the first...
Michael Lipe turned his passion for guitars into his own, successful business. Founder and owner of Lipe Guitars in California, Michael gained experience for his trade by building a series of different styles of guitars. He created a name for himself as one of the most respected luthiers in the...
Pirmin Giger is the luthier who partnered with Silvan Kung to form Relish Guitars. Located in Switzerland, the company creates electric guitars based on the “sandwich” design of several materials in order to produce the sound Pirman has in mind. In 2010, they worked on the Jane series of guitars...
Silvan Küeng was born in Switzerland and began a friendship in school as a young boy with Pirman Giger. The two share a passion for music and guitars and began talking about how they would make changes to their electric guitars if they could. By the early 2000s, the two launched their own company...
Roger Sadowsky is a highly respected instrument maker, who has helped redefine the word luthier to include the subtext of brilliant handcrafted design. His instruments have been played by many of the world’s greatest artists including guitarists Jim Hall, John Abercrombie, Pat Metheny, Lee...
Pepe Romero Jr literally grew up surrounded by guitars. As part of the Romero family, Pepe was exposed to classic guitars and music from the time he was born. While he learned to play at a young age, as a teenager, Pepe found his true passion in the instruments themselves. After completing his...
Mary Faith Rhoads Lewis grew up on a farm outside of Allentown, Pennsylvania, where her mother played the piano and encouraged her children to play an instrument. Mary Faith began playing the violin at the age of eight and soon discovered she had a love of folk music. She built her own Mountain...
Mike Remenyi represents the fourth generation of family members running the Remenyi House of Music located in Toronto, Canada. It was his great-grandfather Mihály who opened a small violin shop located in Budapest, Hungary in 1890. Sadly, the family lost the shop after World War II, but soon...
Giorgio Giannini proudly recalled the beginning of his family’s involvement in the music industry as part of his interview for the NAMM Oral History collection. Mr. Tranquillo Giannini was a well-respected luthier in Italy who had the vision to set up his work shop in South America. In 1900, he...
Michael Remenyi has been the proud third generation of the company his grandfather founded in Hungary in 1890 to build and repair violins and other string instruments. After World War II, the company was closed by the government and it was relocated to Canada. In Canada, Michael’s father and his...