Music Manufacturing
William F Ludwig III, known within the industry as B3, sat next to his sister Brooke as the two reflected on the Ludwig Drum Company’s 100th anniversary for the NAMM Oral History program. He spoke of his father and grandfather, the company founder, and the impact they had on the music products...
Dennis Awe is passionate about the organ! As a recording artist he has performed on many products, endorsing the Lowrey Organ for many decades. As a keen salesman, Dennis has written books on the process of marketing and selling to encourage others. As a music maker, Dennis has brought the sounds...
Jim Dunlop started the Dunlop Manufacturing company in 1965 in Benicia, California, and followed his dream to provide quality products for fellow musicians. Along the way he created the Dunlop Cry Baby, an innovative wah-wah pedal for the electric guitar. Jim focused on the accessories market and...
Tom Getzen is president of the horn company his father established in Elkhorn, Wisconsin. The Getzen Company is world renowned for the hand-made products such as trumpets and trombones and has introduced several innovative improvements to the instruments over the years. Tom’s father also helped...
Elianne Schiedmayer proudly serves as the CEO of the Schiedmayer company. Since 1735 Schiedmayer has been at the service of music, building keyboard instruments of the highest craft. In 1809 the company settled in Stuttgart, Germany, and quickly gained worldwide reputation for its pianos and...
Brooke Ludwig Crowden remembers her grandfather, William F. Ludwig, working around the factory inspecting drums and insisting on a quality product. She remembers the day her father, William F. Ludwig II, took her to meet the Beatles on the occasion of her father presenting Ringo Starr with a...
Bill Crowden was one of the true veterans of the music products industry! He owned and operated Drums Ltd, one of the hot spots for jazz, symphonic and rock drummers for several decades. The store was located on Wabash Avenue in Chicago, Illinois. When Bill married into the Ludwig family by...
Robert Godin grew up in love with woods and handcraftsmanship. He worked along side a luthier long enough to understand he had found his passion. Robert designed and perfected a style of building that produced a unique sounding guitar, special in many ways. He took extra care in selecting the woods...
Andrew Barta was born in Hungary and came to the United States with a dream of working in the music industry. Having been in rock bands in Europe, Andrew formed a band in America and worked as a technician repairing instruments in New York music stores. Along the way, he began designing a project...
Dick Bell was surprised by the impact he had on the music industry, a fact that became clear to him at the NAMM Show 2009, when the Roland Corp gave him a retirement party and NAMM requested an interview for the Oral History program. He began his career in the music industry, as Dick said, “with no...