String Instruments
Irena Komatar was the founder and president of the Lastra Company, located in the country of Slovenia. What started out as a small music retail store quickly grew into both retailing and wholesaling of musical products. Irena’s goal was to create top service for her customers, both musicians who...
John Welch is the president of Sofia Violins, which is an American-made instrument company based in Indianapolis, Indiana. John’s incredible life in music began as a child when he was classically trained on the piano. He played jazz trombone during the Bebop era in New York. In fact, he has a...
John Connolly established the Connolly Music Company (originally Connolly & Co., Inc.) back in 1970. Best known for distributing such brands as Thomastik-Infeld and König & Meyer, the company remains a family owned enterprise, with John's son, Jake, now at the helm. In 1954 John was hired...
Peter Paul Prier began playing the violin when he was 8 years old, growing up in Germany. He studied violin making while he was a teenager and in 1959 set out to America to open his own violin shop. Within five years he formed what is now the Peter Paul Prier Violin Shop in Salt Lake City. In 1972...
Kevin Smith opened the Violin Shop in San Diego after extensive training as a violin luthier and appraiser. His knowledge of the craftsmanship of violin making was on display during his NAMM interview as he assisted the NAMM Foundation’s Museum of Making Music’s 2008 violin display. Kevin gave...
Neil Lilien has been a life long supporter of the arts, playing music since he was a child and growing up to own one of the finest names in stringed instruments. Neil worked for Guild Guitars for nearly 20 years before purchasing Meisel Stringed Instruments in 1984. The company, which had also been...
Joe Guth’s career in the music products industry began with a short stint with Selmer and as a former band director he brought a great perspective to selling instruments to school music programs. He later had a storied 25-year career at Gemeinhart Flutes in Elkhart, IN, where he furthered his...
Denisa Hanna took guitar lessons with jazz great Johnny Smith before working with him at his musical instrument store in Colorado Springs, CO. While working in the store she met and fell in love with jazz drummer, Jake Hanna. When the couple moved to Los Angeles, Denisa expanded her interest as a...
Kurt Glaesel was born into a violin-making family, which dates back to 1720, but it was Kurt who made his family name nationally known. After a noted 20 year career with Heinrich Roth, Kurt established Glaesel String Instrument Service, Inc. in 1973. The company was soon sold to Selmer, where Kurt...
George Borun began his luthier endeavors as a hobby and soon found himself enthralled with the angles, the woods and the tools of the trade. He embarked on a mission to assemble the blueprints and patterns of the world’s finest string instruments and sought to solve the mystery of their uniqueness...