Oral History - all
Birth Date: May 23, 1925
Deceased Date: February 23, 2019
Mac Wiseman joined the Foggy Mountain Boys in 1946, the same year the legendary bluegrass band was formed. The groups two founders, Lester Flatt and Earl Scruggs, formed their own group after performing and recording with the father of bluegrass, Bill Monroe. When the Foggy Mountain Boys began... more
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... more
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... more
Birth Date: January 17, 1922
Deceased Date: May 9, 2014
Harry Carter was already a school band director when he opened a music store in Ottumwa, Iowa. The year was 1948 when Harry and two partners set out to develop a store that would specialize in customer service for band directors. As the store grew, Harry hired college friends and several buddies... more
Seymour Duncan may very well be the most innovative rock and roll guitarist around. As a teen he formed a rock band but noticed the pick-ups in his guitar were not creating the sounds he thought the instrument could produce, so he sought to make hand-wound pick-ups. In fact as founder of Seymour... more
Harvey Leach has an eye for art and skilled craftsman hands, which together has come to define a new era in guitar luthiery and in-lay artistry. Harvey’s work in guitar design has developed hand-in-hand with his passion of in-lay designs. Creative cowboy and western themed scenes have graced his... more
Grit Laskin grew up in Toronto and as a teen had his mind set on playing the guitar during the folk boom of the 1960s. He performed, recorded and wrote music, some of which was recorded by the likes of Pete Seeger. Along the way he found a few ways to adjust the guitar to suit him better and thus... more
Renee Karnes recalls meeting her future mentor when she was just eight years old. Over the years she developed both a love of banjos and a friendship with Henry Lea, who taught her the craft of banjo making. With his skills as a builder and her artistic flare, she soon began creating her own... more
Larry Robinson's career as a luthier began in 1972 as an unpaid apprentice for three years before working for Alembic, Turner Guitars and with Modulus Graphite, a San Francisco company making graphite-necked guitars and basses. In 1984 Larry went out on his own and focused his attention to the... more
Birth Date: October 26, 1931
Deceased Date: June 8, 2010
John Keal was one of the very few who attended the Conn band instrument repair school in Elkhart, enrolling in the school just after World War II. The program only lasted a few years, but it provided the passion he was missing as a salesman outside the music industry. He returned to his father’s... more
Birth Date: December 12, 1936
Deceased Date: January 17, 2019
Reggie Young is known throughout the world as one of the great studio session players referred to as the Memphis Boys. He played guitar on thousands of recordings as a session player in Memphis and later Nashville during the 1960s, 70s and 80s - turning out hit recordings that forever changed... more
Birth Date: July 9, 1916
Deceased Date: November 18, 2015
Norman Pickering had a storied career. He worked as instrument designer for the legendary C.G. Conn Company in Elkhart. He also played a large role in the audio engineering field with his company, Pickering Audio, which produced record pick-ups for radio stations around the world and designed the... more
Birth Date: April 25, 1931
Deceased Date: February 14, 2013
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... more
Birth Date: February 9, 1933
Deceased Date: March 17, 2016
Larry Larson loved the accordion! He played it most of his life, so when he had the idea to sell and teach the instrument, opening a store seemed like the right thing to do. He opened the small store in Glendale, California in 1956 and worked hard to build the teaching and service departments of... more
Stuart Spector’s creation of the Spector Bass is recognized around the world. As Stuart explained, little has changed in the design of the Spector guitar since it was first created in 1974. Three years later Stuart hired a furniture builder named Ned Steinberger, who designed the famed NS... more
Birth Date: April 13, 1923
Deceased Date: July 4, 2018
Gotthold Meyer became a very successful German wholesaler when he and his wife formed the 'Gotthold Meyer' company, which later on became 'Musik-Meyer'. His visionary thinking led to strong international relationships and partnerships around the world. Gotthold was a key player in the export of... more
Birth Date: November 30, 1932
Deceased Date: September 22, 2021
Bob Moore’s bass can be heard on countless recordings made in Nashville during the 1950s through the 1980s. As a member of studio musicians known as the A Team, Bob played on recordings with everyone from Patsy Cline to Elvis Presley. In the 1960s he had a string of hits with his own band... more
Birth Date: November 30, 1909
Deceased Date: March 14, 2009
Joseph Rashid studied the art of violin-making like few others. His goal was not to mass produce the instrument or even to sell them, but rather to hand-make the instruments based on scientific evidence. When he could not locate data on frequency measurements, he conducted his own studies to... more
Birth Date: October 26, 1930
Deceased Date: December 6, 2010
Zeb Billings opened Billings Pianos in Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1956 beginning a long and celebrated career in the music industry. With great success as a retailer, Zeb branched out into publishing when he saw the need to include packets of sheet music in the bench of every piano sold. The idea... more
Birth Date: January 19, 1933
Deceased Date: April 7, 2009
Ernesto Gittli was born in Uruguay and moved to the U.S. as a small boy before he began taking piano lessons. He met his wife, who also taught music, and together they envisioned a music school that would encourage all ages to become music makers. Gittli Music opened in the mid- 1960s with a strong... more