OH Taxonomy
Paul Graves began delivering pianos in 1957 up in Minnesota before moving to Alabama where he continued to deliver. He soon discovered that he would make more money if he sold the pianos and the love of selling soon took hold. In 1960, Paul opened his first piano store in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. He...
Charles Ashley grew up playing music and teaching private lessons at an early age. At the same time, he had a paper route and a part time job at the local music store, Brook Mays in Dallas. Charles has also been very active in the church and music ministries. While at Brook Mays, Charles met co-...
Fred Davis began playing saxophone as a boy and started his own band, the Freddy Davis Orchestra, which played around Ohio during World War II. He was well equipped with reeds for his gigs as his mother owned a small music store in Marysville, where Fred grew up. After working in his mother's store...
Bob Lynch is a pioneering independent representative in the era when many manufacturers were slowly phasing out the inside rep. Bob began playing trumpet at an early age and even provided music lessons at Wallace Music while still in high school. Bob played in several concert and dance bands...
Bill Price was active in the band instrument business after being involved with other industries and as a result has a very unique and positive perspective on the music industry. Bill was hired to join CG Conn by his longtime friend Bill Cordier. Together they had an interest in purchasing the...
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...
Jim Trimper, Sr. is the president of Denton, Cottier & Daniels, a chain of piano and organ stores in the upstate New York area. The company was formed in 1827 and thus has a long history in each of the communities of their store locations and a dedication to service that Jim has continued...
Paul Musilli opened his drum shop in upstate New York called Buffalo Drum Outlet. The year was 1980 and as Paul recalled in the early days his customer base grew as a direct result of his service and attention to details, a key element of the business today. Paul’s business also covered the...
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...
Michael Laiacona wanted to create a guitar box with special effects just for himself. In fact, when he first showed it to the members of Taj Mahal in 1971, Michael didn't even have a name for it, nor did he think at the time it would be a product someone else would buy. When the band ordered...