- Les Paul
Les Paul (born Lester William Polsfuss on June 9 1915) is an American jazz guitarist and inventor. He is one of the most important figures in the development of modern electric musical instruments and recording techniques. He is a pioneer in the development of the solid-body electric guitar (the Gibson Les Paul, which he helped design, is one of the most famous and enduring models), multitrack recording, and various reverberation and echo effects.
- Christian Frederick Martin
Christian Frederick Martin, Sr. was a luthier who specialized in guitars. Born in Markneukirchen, Germany to a family of cabinet makers, Martin became an apprentice of the guitar maker Johann Stauffer of Vienna, Austria. As a result of a dispute between the Cabinet Makers Guild, of which Martin was a member, and the Violin Makers Guild, Martin moved to the United States in 1833. On arriving in New York City, he set up shop at 196 Hudson Street on the Lower West Side.
- Linda Manzer
Linda Manzer is a Canadian luthier renowned for her archtop and flat-top acoustic guitars. She received her training from Jean Larrivée between 1974-1978 and later with Jimmy D'Aquisto. Her greatest claim to fame is that she has and still does build many custom guitars for renowned jazz musician Pat Metheny including the Pikasso which has 42 strings and three necks. She currently builds about 15-18 instruments per year in her Toronto, Ontario workshop.
- Bill Lawrence
Bill Lawrence (born Willi Lorenz Stich on March 24, 1931 in Wahn-Heide (near Cologne), Germany) is a recording musician and an electric guitar pickup designer/maker and guitar designer/maker in the musical instrument industry, designing pickups and guitars for Fender, Gibson, Peavey and other guitar companies from the late 1960s to the present, with many patents (see below).
- Jimmy D'Aquisto
James L. D'Aquisto (1935-1995) was an American guitar maker best known as one of the premier makers of custom archtop guitars. He served as an apprentice to John D'Angelico in the early 1950s and was considered his successor after the latter's death in 1964. From his shop in Huntington, Farmingdale, and Greenport New York, D'Aquisto became know as the greatest guitar maker in the world from the late 1960s until his death in 1995, …
- Antonio Stradivari
Antonio Stradivari (1644 - December 18, 1737) was an Italian "luthier", a crafter of stringed instruments such as violins, celli, guitars and harps. Stradivari is generally considered the most significant artisan in this field. The Latinized form of his surname, "Stradivarius", as well as the colloquial, "Strad", is often used to refer to his instruments.
- Tony Zemaitis
Tony Zemaitis (1935 - August 17 2002) was a guitar maker from England. He is mostly known for his "metal top" electric guitars, made famous by players like Keith Richards and Ron Wood of the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, George Harrison, and Eric Clapton. Under the leadership of his son Tony Zemaitis, Jr., Zemaitis Guitars continued this guitar-making style after the luthier's death in 2002.
- Travis Bean
Travis Bean is an American luthier and machinist from California. In the 1970s, he made high end electric guitars and basses featuring machined aluminum necks (an unusual design that provides incredible sustain) running through the instrument body with the pick-ups solid-mounted to the aluminum. The majority of these instruments featured solid koa wood bodies and humbucker pickups. Models included the Artist, Standard, Wedge (rare), and TB500(rare) with single coil pickups.
- Dan Armstrong
Dan Armstrong was an expert guitar luthier and recording session musician. He is known for his contributions to the Ampeg Company of Linden, New Jersey. There he released a new line of guitars and basses that were constructed of clear plexiglas. The Dan Armstrong line of guitars also became renowned for their excellent electronics, interchangable pickups and very long sustain caused by the solid plexiglas body.
- Del Langejans
Delwyn J. Langejans is an innovative American luthier. He handcrafts everything from reversible dualette guitars to harp guitars. A descendant of farmer immigrants from Bentheim, Germany, Langejans was born and raised in Holland, Michigan, where his luthier shop keeps him busy building guitars for such notable musicians as Thom Bresh (Merle Travis's son) and Jars of Clay. His father being a homebuilder, woodworking was a skill Langejans picked up early in life.
- Antonio Torres Jurado
Antonio De Torres Jurado was a Spanish guitarist and guitar maker. Jurado is as revered among guitarists as Antonio Stradivari is revered among violinists. His work established the shape, design, and construction of the modern Classical guitar. Born in La Cañada de San Urbano, Almería, Antonio de Torres was the son of Juan Torres, a local tax collector, and Maria Jurado. As was common, when he was 12 he started an apprenticeship as carpenter.
- José Ramírez
José I Ramírez was the founder of the Spanish luthier dynasty. =Biography= Born 1857. He was the first child of José Ramírez de Galarreta, a very well-off land owner. By 1870 the young José had chosen to complete his apprenticeship in the guitar workshop of Francisco Gonzalez (1830-1880). From the time when José Ramírez I installed his workshop in Concepción Jerónima nº 2 in 1882, the shop has sold Ramírez guitars through four generations.
- Lars Jönsson
Lars Jönsson is a leading Swedish lute, vihuela and classical guitar maker. He made instruments for renowned musicians like the lutenist from England Nigel North.
- John Bailey
John Bailey (born 1931) is a Luthier who made and repaired guitars and other stringed instruments during the 1960s revival of English folk music and beyond. He also wrote two textbooks on making instruments (Folk Guitar and Appalachian Dulcimer) which were published by The English Folk Dance and Song Society,Cecil Sharp House. John lived in London until 1972 when he moved to Dartmouth in Devon. He continued to make instruments there into the 1990s.
- Yuri Landman
Yuri Landman (born January 2, 1973) is a Dutch artist most well known for his work as an experimental luthier, but also active as a comic artist, musician, singer.
- Gerundino Fernandez
GERUNDINO FERNÁNDEZ - Gerundino, as he is commonly known, was born in Almeria, Spain in 1931 and died in November 2005. Considered one of the world's greatest makers of flamenco guitars. His instruments are known for their raspy growl and volume, well balanced intonation and "gutsy" percussive sound. His instruments are typically made of lightweight Cyprress wood for the neck, back and sides with either German Spruce or Western Red Cedar for the top.
- Hermann Hauser Sr.
Hermann Hauser Sr. (1882-1952) was one of the greatest classical guitar luthiers of the 20th century.
- Steve Ripley
Steve Ripley (born Paul Steven Ripley on January 1 1950 in Boise, Idaho) is a singer, songwriter, studio engineer, guitarist and inventor. He is also a member of country rock band The Tractors.
- Super Chikan
James "Super Chikan" Johnson (born 16 February 1951) is an American blues musician based in Clarksdale, Mississippi. He is the nephew of fellow blues musician Big Jack Johnson.
- Larrivée
Jean Larrivée Guitars Ltd. is a family owned and operated Canadian company that currently manufacturers high-end acoustic guitars. Founded in 1967 by Jean Larrivée, he moved the company from Toronto, Ontario to Victoria, British Columbia in 1977, and to Vancouver in 1982, where the company remains today. Larrivée also opened a plant in California in September 2001.
- Leila Bela
Leila Bela (born in Tehran, Iran) is an Iranian-born American avant-garde musician, musician, writer, actress, multi-instrumentalist, playwright and record producer from Austin, Texas.
- Lisa
I can bend spoons with my mind and have an army of tiny ninjas at my disposal. I can make you laugh, but most often just laugh at myself. I love my job making guitars so much that I also do it in my spare time. I also spend way too much time playing guitar or programing phat beats into one of my many drum machines. I am in the best band ever, Lisa Hahn and the Dot Com.
- Lisa
I love music, riding my bicycle and New York City.
- Tina
I love my wife christina,my little girl jocelyn and love snowboarding. I love my family and most of my friends. I love baseball,football,hockey,soccer, and playing my guitar oh and snowboarding duh!!!
- Kate Galligan
I'm a scrappy young feller. I have a strong desire to better myself.
- Stephen
A day without laughter is a day wasted.
- Sandro Albuquerque
I was born in a dusty border town in western Brazil in the early hours of the december solstice day. I grew up on the road and as any south american I am a sun child. On earth I travel by land,by sea,on the wind...Now you see me,soon you won´t see me anymore. one day i will drop the body i wear and move on across the deserts in the sky... i´m a comet passing by...i´m a comet.
- Sam Stiegemeier
I live to love, love to learn, life is a great gift, on this earth there is so much to explore, way to much to be board, i love to draw, bike, skate, and create, or find some nice place to relax, and the summer is my favorite time of year, river time!
- Ruban
im 19 years old i live in washington the state. i play guitar and im in a band. im single right now and looking for a hottie im 6'1 and have many piercings.
- Toby
bass player/guitar builder (otherwise known as a luthier). oregon coast lonboarder, culinary improv specialist, judo/jujistu student of fifteen years. I'm an amature gardener, but a pro at killing plants and growing stunted green peppers. Rock-star bass player and psudo whiskey connisuer. I moved to p-town about two years ago now with my most excellent and beutiful partner/wife Veronica. Started building guitars for a guy named charles fox.
- Ed Williams
I'm a fun-loving kind of guy in strange and weird way. I am now happily engaged to my fiance Christy. She is the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. We are planning on a winter wedding in early 2009. That way no one will be sweating their asses off. Mainly me!! I also love to cook and bake. Always experimenting with different things in the kitchen. Everyone says that I should do it for a career, but that will only take the joy out of it.
- Marshall Gravley
Not much to say.Tatooed freak with a lot of free time. 6'2" 210 Lbs. L.T.B.P.I. Reclusive,Dont like to get out much. I live in a small town in Georgia (u.s.a.). In Oct. of 2005 I had about one or ten too many beer's and decided to go for a walk down by the tracks behind my home.After about an hour I was on the way back and heard the train coming.
- Robert de Lange
I've been playing guitar for about 25 years now. It's been possibly the most rewarding activity I do. I am attracted to things that involve both a technical and creative aspect to them. Therefore computer applications have also been an interest for many years. I can build software in Flash, DHTML, ASP, XSLT, and Delphi, but I prefer guitar work these days.
- Doug Baines
I'm Doug. I live in Seattle, but I grew up in Niagara Falls, Ontario.
- Simon Lee
I make CYCLOTRON Guitars from Recycled material and NOT tropical hardwood.
- Chris Thomas
always in the midst of an idea that never goes away, collecting each drop, three chords at a time with a tape recorder and a bottle of wine. likes long walks in da woods.
- Tyler
Hello, I'm the guy that make's these over-the-top Joe Maphis Mosrite Special replicas. I loved these guitars the first time I saw Joe Maphis and Larry Collins play them on Town Hall Party. A series of very fortunate events put me in direct contact with Semie Moseley in 1957, the original maker of these very special guitars. In my teens and still in high school, I had the privilage to work and learn with Semie in the days before the Ventures model was even a dream.
- Pete Beer
Hey Folks, I guess if you're reading this you probably either know me or your interested in thefreecakeproject. Otherwise this could be pretty boring for you. To be honest, it might be pretty boring anyway: who wants to read a happy story? I don't have much interesting stuff to put on here: no music, no artwork, no witty blog.
- Dave Blackburn
My name is Dave Blackburn, and as you can see, I own and operate "Blackburn Custom Guitars". I am a small guitar manufacturer out of Deckerville, MI. I consider myself more of an artist really, as I hand make my guitars one at a time with all custom parts and designs.
- Luca
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