OH Taxonomy
Marcellus Trach recalls with a smile the many rules a wood worker had to follow in the C.F. Martin & Company when he was first hired after World War II. He also expressed the pride so many of his co-workers felt over the years towards the world-class musical instruments they were making each...
Lester Wagner began in the woodworking and sanding department of the C.F. Martin & Company before World War II. He moved from the North Street Plant in 1964 to the bigger manufacturing plant in the current location on Sycamore Street in Nazareth, PA. Lester was assigned to the ukulele...
Earl Remaley began working for the C.F. Martin & Company before World War II. His long career with the company included nearly every phase of production and assembly. During the 1950s Earl worked on the Martin ukulele products and he later worked his way up to plant manager. Following in his...
Paul Werkheiser often says he would never trade his memories of the years he worked for the C.F. Martin & Company. He expressed the family-like relationships he had and the pleasure it was for him to be a part of the growth of the guitar company. Pauly worked at nearly every level of assembly...
Marty Garcia saw a need to create a way for the singer and musicians performing on stage to hear themselves without the blaring floor monitors. The Ear Monitor Concepts and Products were introduced in the 1980s and soon allowed Marty, a then road sound engineer, to form his own company, Future...
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...
Vivian Artley’s brother formed the Artley Flute Company in Elkhart, IN, during the 1930s. With an innovation that allowed the instrument to be made cheaper, Artley became a successful product for school band programs as well as a well-established and noted professional line of products. Vivian’s...
Johnny Thompson had the distinction of being the very first music student of a young steel guitar player named Ernie ball. Back in the early 1950s, before he established a string company, Ernie was a well-known country player in and around the Los Angeles area and taught a few students for extra...
Marvin Snyder became president of Rico Reeds in 1976, after managing the cane plantations, which were used to make the reeds. His father worked with the Lockie family, who owned a chain of music stores in Southern California and brought the Rico Reed products to the United States. As a teenager,...
Hugh Goldsmith was hired by the Mason-Risch Piano Company of Canada when he was still a teenager in 1937. Times were difficult during the depression era and into the war years when Hugh enlisted into the Canadian Air Force. After the war he returned to the industry and worked as a traveling sales...