Paul A Bigsby
Deke Dickerson began his musical career when he started playing the saxophone, but quickly realized he was much more adept at playing the guitar. As a part of the affectionately named “68 Club” Deke reflects on how his formative year coincided with the revival of Rockabilly, which provided him with...
Chris Huston produced and served as the recording engineer for The Who, Led Zeppelin, and Blood, Sweat and Tears, to name just three. Chris helped shape the role of the engineer in an era when roles were not always well defined in the studio. He supportively approached bands in the studio in ways...
Thom Bresh was a Grammy Award nominated country music singer and guitarist. In the early part of his life, Thom worked as an actor and stuntman. He gained stage presence early on, acting as soon as three years old, and starring in Las Vegas at 15. He later found himself into music after portraying...
Art Wiggs has always admired the Gretsch brand of guitars. He grew up in a musical family, as his parents played in church and on the radio together. As a kid he played the guitar with a classmate and the duo even had a running gig at Disneyland. He gave up playing to focus on his young family...
Bud Isaacs designed a line of pedal steel guitars, teaming with fellow country music performer Shot Jackson to form the Sho-Bud Company. In his pursuit to create and develop new sounds for the instrument, Bud went to Paul A Bigsby to request a custom pedal steel guitar. The Bigsby became Bud’s main...
Wayne Burdick’s pedal steel guitar made by Paul Bigsby graced the cover of the luthier’s first catalog. Wayne befriended Mr. Bigsby in the 1950s while Wayne was a member of the Tex Williams Western Swing Orchestra. Wayne’s pedal steel can be heard on hundreds of recordings and in fact the very...
Van Schipper is a guitar luthier who has enjoyed embracing the roots of his craft. As a student of guitar building, he sought the advice of others with a mind to paying tribute to his great influences such as Leo Fender and Paul A. Bigsby. In his handcrafted artistry, Van has used designs and inlay...
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...
R.C. Allen was a guitar luthier that used the style of his many friends of the era in the early 1950s in Southern California when guitar innovators were reshaping the instrument and grooming it for a new birth. RC was building his own unique instruments when Leo Fender and Lowell Kiesel of Carvin...
Ted McCarty was the president of Gibson Guitars when he signed Les Paul to help design a series of instruments with his name. Ted went on to design and patent guitars such as the Flying V before working with Chicago Musical Instruments and Bigsby Guitars, becoming an industry icon. Among the...