Music Manufacturing
Gregg Proniske began working at Southwest Strings in 1998. The distributor of stringed instruments is located in Tucson, Arizona, and specializes in contracts with school music programs around the country. Gregg started out on the phone taking orders and now wears many hats for the company...
Mark Mason has always been interested in technology. He was only ten years old when he began programming computers. He became a technician for Microsoft in the 1990s and played a role in the launch of Windows 2000. After a time as a teacher, Mark found himself at Southwest Strings in Tucson,...
Rebecca Ensley studied clarinet in college and yet somehow got caught up in the crazy world of stringed instruments as a luthier and repair technician. It all started in 1991 when a friend who was working at Southwest Strings in Tucson suggested she apply for an opening in the mail order department...
Tiffany Johnson gets a real kick from serving her school accounts for Southwest Strings and helping each obtain the instruments and services they need in order to provide for their music students. Talking with teachers and getting to know them and their needs has become a favorite part of her job...
Nancy Kewin Smith is a pioneering senior executive who served the music products industry in an era in which she was among a small number of women in high-ranking positions. After earning her degree in music, Nancy first entered the music industry in sales at West LA Music. She then joined the Moog...
Michael Campion has attended the NAMM Show since the late 1970s, first as a wide-eyed musician, then as a retailer and finally as an exhibitor. Tracing his evolving roles at the show mirrors his fascinating career in the music industry. Playing in garage bands led to his involvement with...
Ken Donnell is often regarded as the foremost authority on close-mic applications for stringed instruments. While he has an extensive background across the music products industry, first watching his father work in a music store, Ken eventually honed his skills as a luthier, alongside his good...
Massiel Gregory grew up surrounded by music in Guatemala before moving to the United States and settling in the Salt Lake City area. In the early 2000’s she began working at Cannonball Musical Instruments where she was one of the first employees to learn hand engraving. Like so many employees at...
Howard Summers is an instrument designer at Cannonball Musical Instruments, specializing in trumpets. Howard began playing the trumpet in the fourth grade in New Orleans and proudly can still recall his music teacher’s name, Jim Webber. As he developed as a musician, Howard learned to play a wide...
Matthew McBeth applied for a job at Cannonball Musical Instruments in Sandy, Utah, right after he graduated from high school in 2011. At first Matthew was given the tasks of mowing the grass and other yardwork. He later helped install the shelving in the warehouse, which led to more and more...