Music Manufacturing
Aspen Pittman grew up in the 1960s as a student of the folk music movement. He studied the art form and performed on every type of string instrument there was to play. During high school he and a buddy got a job delivering organs for a retailer that was just about to open a rock and roll retail...
Bob Benedetto is a guitar luthier’s luthier! Respected around the world, Bob has achieved what few have in guitar craftsmanship: a unique style and sound, creative and classic design, and tooling that is second to none. His knowledge of guitar building was evident in our interview with Bob along...
Webb Phillips formed the Allied Piano Company outside of Philadelphia with the goal of filling a need. As a piano technician it was hard to find reliable products that you can trust, so Webb sought to gather the best the industry had to offer and supply the products to his fellow tuners. Over the...
John McDermott could sure sell pianos! His knowledge of the products and his strong relationship with music retailers made him an ideal and successful sales rep. John worked for the Gulbransen Piano Company during the company’s innovative era of the mid 1960s through the 1970s. After his retirement...
Jack Long co-founded the Long & McQuade music stores in Canada beginning in 1956. At the time, there were few supplier/dealer relations between Canada and the United States. Establishing these relations was something Jack helped to pioneer. He also helped establish his country as a legitimate...
Kline Locher was one of the good old veteran piano salesmen who travelled the great one-lane highways of America before the advent of the blessed two lane interstates. Kline worked for a number of piano companies during his long career and in all, covered most of the United States as his territory...
Jack Martin was a leading piano sales rep for Wurlitzer from 1959 until 1963. Although he spent most of his career in the music industry it was those four years that Jack cherishes the most. During the early part of his career with Wurlitzer, Jack took part in the training classes that Wurlitzer...
Jack Javens loved the piano business and became one of the industry’s quintessential salesmen. He worked for the Aeolian Piano Company out of East Rochester New York beginning in the 1950s and stayed for 26 years. He witnessed the famous merger between Aeolian and the Winter Piano Company in the...
Robert Beals was just a young man when he first met Chick Evans. The two worked to perfect and promote Mr. Evan’s idea of a synthetic drumhead in the 1950s. Up until that time, drumheads were made from cow skin, which presented several problems. With the skin drumheads, any change in temperature...
Hannes Schimmel-Vogel is the president of the German based Schimmel Piano Company. He took over the role when his father-in-law, Nikolaus Schimmel, retired. At the time of his first NAMM interview, Hannes was working closely with Nikolaus to learn the trade and meet many of the dealers and...