Product Engineers
Arnie Lazarus invented what is largely regarded as the first three dimensional transducer for musical instruments in 1969. That same year he established a company that echoed the name of his product, FRAP. FRAP, or flat response audio pickup, was created for use on acoustic instruments. He also...
Hideo Kamimoto wrote the book on guitar repair! He built his first guitar in the late 1950s and soon discovered he had a true passion as a luthier. Within a decade he opened H. Kamimoto Instrument Repairs in Oakland, California. By this time Hideo was also repairing other string instruments...
Fred Rast is the founder of Fred Rast Mouthpieces and a music lesson instructor for Music Village. The store is located in San Jose, California and is his musical haven with students and employees he enjoys being surrounded by. In addition to his long teaching career, Fred began designing his own...
Klaus Heinz, the CEO of ADAM Audio, grew up with a strong interest in engineering and speaker technology. In 1999, he teamed with Roland Stenz and established ADAM Audio in Berlin. The company has gained a strong reputation for products based on the development of the ART (Accelerating Ribbon...
Arne Berg always thought of himself more as an inventor than an engineer, but nevertheless, his forward thinking and creative designs led to a number of successful products in the pro audio market for Concertone, Fostex and a company he helped establish called TASCAM. Arne’s passion for music...
Dave Luce grew up in a musical home and in fact wrote his doctoral thesis on the analysis of musical instruments back in 1959. As an interesting side note, that thesis was sponsored in part by NAMM. Dave set out to study nuclear physics when he saw a bulletin board listing for a research study on...
Mark Wentling is the CEO and President of Ashly Audio in upstate New York. As an engineer Mark established himself within the industry as a creative and passionate contributor to such companies as MXR, Fender and the Music Man. The amp products he worked on in those early days continue to...
Franz Moser is a student of instrument acoustics as well as a double bass player who often asked himself, “What conditions need to be fulfilled for a stringed instrument to immediately respond with a clear, powerful tone at all times?” The search for an answer took Franz on an educational journey...
Mark Thomas was a noted flute player who toured the world and recorded several albums during his long career. As a product endorser, Mark appeared in several printed ads over the years as he was hired by several flute makers as a product engineer to help improve and in some cases, design musical...
Ken Kantor is the president of ZT Amplifiers and the inventor of the compact amp technology used in such products as The Lunchbox and The Club. His long career in music began when he was about ten years old and built his own tube amplifier. Ken wrote, played and recorded his own music and along...