Mail Order
Rob Eastman and his wife DeAnna established Musician's Friend in 1983, which became the leading mail order musical instrument business in the country. Rob's father, Bud, opened a music store in San Jose, California in the mid 1960s and began writing a small newsletter for his customers. By 1967...
Ivor Taylor took part in one of the great developments of the music industry when he established a pro audio retail store in London. Turnkey was just that, an easy solution for its customers who were seeking to take advantage of developing technologies to make, record, and produce music. It was...
Steve Dillon has a great appreciation and knowledge of vintage band and orchestra instruments. The first musician in the Dillon family can be documented back to the 1700s, thus the store’s slogan “Dillon Music: Bringing America Music since 1776". Steve became an expert on vintage instruments and...
Bob Rupp was on his way to Hollywood to make his name as a session player when his car broke down in Denver. The year was 1979 and Bob never left Denver. Without a job, Bob played around town and made some side money selling Dragon Drum sets. The demand grew and soon Bob found himself making and...
Michael Houser is the Chief Executive Officer for Cascio Interstate Music, which serves both as a brick and mortar store in New Berlin, Wisconsin as well as an internet store. The store was established by Frank Cascio, a professional accordion player, in 1951. Over the years the store has built an...
Harvey Vogel was having a difficult time finding and purchasing quality percussion instruments and accessories for his daughter Lauren while she was in high school. He decided to do something about it and Lone Star Percussion – a name that Lauren came up with instead of the "Harvey Vogel Percussion...
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...
Dennis Bamber helped pioneer mail order catalogs for musical products beginning in the 1970s. After opening a small woodwind store in South Bend, Indiana in 1978, Dennis noticed that many of his customers were traveling 5 and 6 hours to his store. While he expanded the size of the store he also...
Ted Veneman grew up in his father’s music store. As early as 1975, Ted was etching out a mail order catalog under the name “Music Emporium,” which was much earlier than most mail order catalogs in the industry. He also pioneered the idea of a music store selling pro audio gear – so far ahead of the...
Lowell Kiesel, as the founder of the southern California guitar company Carvin, joined the ranks with Leo Fender, Paul A. Bigsby, and the Rickenbacker Company, in establishing the new era of electric guitar. In 1946 he formed L. C. Kiesel Company winding pickups on an old sewing machine. As the...