Violins
Roberto Tirado began working in the music industry with William Lewis & Son, the famed violin company out of Chicago. After studying building and repairs he was given the opportunity to head the string instrument line for Gemeinhardt in Elkhart, Indiana. For years Roberto has worked to...
Frantisek Nemecek was born and raised in Czechoslovakia where he studied advertising and helped the more than 70 instrument makers in the area to sell their products. Frantisek began by exporting a large number of the instruments outside the area and into the Soviet Union, where the demand for hand...
Ernst Roth is a guitar luthier who over the last 40 years of his career has dedicated himself to training younger craftsman in the art of violin and guitar making. He was born in the musical instrument capital of the world, Markneukirchen, Germany. After his training he opened up his own shop in...
Reiner Hammerl is the son of Josef Hammerl, who in 1938 opened a drugstore in Germany. Among the products he created himself were natural wood varnishes and stains that soon became well used by violin makers. When Reiner joined the company in 1954, the product line was well established as a leading...
Artur Teller created a successful career by producing highly regarded violin bridges and supplying them to luthiers in and around his hometown of Bubenreuth, Germany. Like many of the instrument builders he sold to, Artur and his family moved to Bubenreuth after World War II as the small town...
Dan Levenson wrote the book on banjo playing, in fact six books. His love of old time music and his great talents as a musician have made him a well known and respected player, teacher and historian. For decades he has traveled the country with banjo and fiddle in hand to present the rich history...
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...
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...
Richard Janda specialized in repairing stringed instruments. It was also something he enjoyed very much. During World War II he was trained to repair the band instruments for the U.S. Military marching band, in which he was the trombonist. After the war he sought to add to that education while...
Charlie Daniels won the Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance in 1979 for "The Devil Went Down to Georgia", which reached #3 on the charts. The following year, "Devil" became a major crossover success on rock radio stations, after its inclusion on the soundtrack for the hit movie Urban...