Music Manufacturing
Tommy Robertson was born in Austin, Texas, a feat he calls “as rare as a unicorn these days.” Tommy played drums throughout his teen years before he decided to open his first drum shop. Tommy’s Drums has provided the Austin area drummers with service and quality products as well as repairs. In the...
Marty Lanham first moved to Nashville in the early 1970s from San Francisco and soon set up his first workshop. He worked for Gruhn Guitars as a repairman for eight years while fine-turning his skills as a luthier. Country stars John Anderson and Marty Stuart are among those Marty has built and...
Clinton Muntean went back to school at Full Sail University at the age of 27 in order to get the foundational education to enter the recording engineering field. After graduating, Clinton found work with Soundelux Showorks as an intern and then as an editor. He then transitioned into a position...
Mike Martin grew up tinkering on his grandmother’s piano before and taking piano lessons throughout his school years. Hearing his first synthesizer helped provide the motivation to work towards buying his first one in the early 1980s which he still has today. Mike got his official start in the...
George Mantoan got his start in music by playing in a rock and roll band. He took his knowledge of music products and ran a successful music store in downtown Chicago. He also offered credit to musicians in the area that needed to finance instruments, and would go around to local clubs on Saturday...
Dale Williams with the RapcoHorizon cable company is extremely proud of the success and continued growth of Rapco in the marketplace. With an emphasis on only hiring musicians within the company, Dale even took up the guitar in an effort to connect with the staff. In his NAMM Oral History Interview...
Jay Wanamaker found his passion for music as a member of a drum and bugle corps and eventually honed his skills while attending the Crane school of music at SUNY Potsdam University in Potsdam, New York. After completing a graduate degree program at the University of Kansas, Jay took a job at Alfred...
Brad Townsend always had a love for music and remembers growing up with music all around him. He opened a retail music store/lesson studio and also had an extensive career at Fender Musical Instruments for 18 years. While at Fender Brad dealt with domestic and international sales as well as...
Crystal Morris started in the music industry as a child working with her dad at his booth at the NAMM show. In 2000, Gator Cases was launched at a NAMM Show when they saw a need for cases utilizing different materials. Gator recently expanded into manufacturing stands and the team has continued to...
James Hall saw his sister’s flute and wondered if he could make one out of glass. He bought a glass tube from his university’s science supply and used his brother’s blow torch to make finger holes in the tube. His first flute wasn't completely in tune, but James knew he was on to something new and...