Roger MayerInducted in 2018
As a young electrical engineer who studied acoustics for the Royal Navy, Roger Mayer’s free time in the early ’60s was often spent watching bands on the flourishing music scene in southwest London, which was heavily influenced by American music – and laden with flashy young blues-rock guitarists. Read full 2018 VG Readers’ Choice Awards.
Bill CollingsInducted in 2017
As founder and guiding force behind Collings Guitars, Bill Collings was responsible for developing some of the most revered modern instruments. Born in Michigan, he grew up in Ohio and moved to Houston in the mid ’70s, where he worked in a machine shop and began building guitars using basic hand tools. Read full 2017 VG Readers’ Choice Awards.
Tom ScholzInducted in 2016
There’s a healthy dose of do-it-yourself grit involved in learning to play an instrument, write songs, and create music. Search far and wide, you likely won’t find a bigger DIY guy than Tom Scholz. Find all the details in the 2016 VG Readers’ Choice Awards.
George Beauchamp
Inducted in 2015
George Beauchamp’s importance in guitar history is often overlooked – at least in part because his name never appeared on an instrument. Nonetheless he was a pioneer of amplification, perhaps the single most important contributor to the birth of the electric guitar. In the mid-1920’s Beauchamp, a vaudeville Hawaiian guitarist, commissioned the Dopyera brothers of Los Angeles to build a guitar with a resonating metal cone instead of a wooden soundboard. Find all the details in the 2015 VG Readers’ Choice Awards.
Inducted in 2015
George Beauchamp’s importance in guitar history is often overlooked – at least in part because his name never appeared on an instrument. Nonetheless he was a pioneer of amplification, perhaps the single most important contributor to the birth of the electric guitar. In the mid-1920’s Beauchamp, a vaudeville Hawaiian guitarist, commissioned the Dopyera brothers of Los Angeles to build a guitar with a resonating metal cone instead of a wooden soundboard. Find all the details in the 2015 VG Readers’ Choice Awards.
Randall SmithInducted in 2014
Founder of Mesa, his Mark I amplifier – dubbed the “Boogie” by Carlos Santana – was the first guitar amp with a “cascading” gain stage. It introduced high-gain tone without deafening sound-pressure levels and rose to prominence after being used by Santana on Abraxas. Find all the details in the 2014 VG Readers’ Choice Awards.
Ernie BallInducted in 2013
In the “realm” of the guitar, his name is well-known. But the “why” behind that reality is much less-known.
Born Roland Sherwood Ball, he grew up in Southern California and learned to play Hawaiian-steel guitar when he was just nine years old. As a young adult, he toured with the Tommy Duncan band and in the ’50s enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, where he played with the USAF Band. Afterward, he returned to SoCal and resumed playing guitar in local clubs and lounges. His profile increased, however, when he scored a gig on “Western Varieties,” a weekly show on Los Angeles’ KTLA-TV, and from there better opportunities arose, including studio work and teaching. Find all the details in the VG Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2013.
Mike MatthewsInducted in 2012
A true child of the ’60s, he jammed with Jimi James and sold $10 fuzz pedals before founding Electro-Harmonix. The iconic guitar-effects company nearly died twice, but thanks to Matthews’ foresight and savvy, it has flourished since being re-launched in the mid ’90s. Read more on Mike Mathews or find all the details on the VG Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2012.
Seymour DuncanInducted in 2011
The man who has done more than anyone to make the world aware how critical the pickup is to guitar tone, he has an incredibly deep appreciation for music, and started working with pickups simply to keep his own guitar in working order. After a stint playing music in Londonw and working in repair and research at Fender Soundhouse, he moved to California and established contact with music-industry luminaries including Leo Fender and Seth Lover. In 1978, together with his then-wife, Cathy, he started Seymour Duncan Pickups. Find all the details in the VG Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2011.
Paul Reed SmithInducted in 2010
After building guitars one at a time for years, in 1985 he launched a company that today is emblematic of an innovative large-scale American builder. His passion as strong as ever, he remains very much part of the day-to-day process in all of his shops – electric, acoustic, and amps. Find all the details in the VG Hall Of Fame’s Class of 2010.
George FullertonInducted in 2009
Hired by Leo Fender in early 1948, he started in amplifier repair then helped his boss design the guitar that would become the Telecaster. Later, they teamed up on the Precision bass and the Strat. When the time came for both to move on, post-CBS, he put the G in G&L. George Fullerton Feature.
Floyd RoseInducted in 2008
In 1977 he introduced the locking-design vibrato and with the help of Eddie Van Halen, the device played a major role in how the solidbody electric guitar would be built and played for the next 15 years. More recently he introduced the Speedloader bridge design. Floyd Rose Feature.
Dick DenneyInducted in 2007
A trained electronics engineer, in 1955 he built a 15-watt amplifier and tried to sell it to Tom Jennings, who sold organs and Univox accordions with amps. Instead of placing an order to buy more amps, Jennings hired him. They adapted the name to Vox and as Chief Engineer from 1957 to ’67 he was responsible for the legendary AC15, which begat the AC10 and AC30.
John D’Angelico
Inducted in 2006
His New Yorker and Excel models were at once influenced by the Big Apple’s Art Deco aesthetic and hugely influential to every archtop builder of the 20th century. Instruments of exceedingly high quality, today his designs are considered the pinnacle of the form (especially for playing chord melodies) despite having been developed in the 1930s!
Inducted in 2006
His New Yorker and Excel models were at once influenced by the Big Apple’s Art Deco aesthetic and hugely influential to every archtop builder of the 20th century. Instruments of exceedingly high quality, today his designs are considered the pinnacle of the form (especially for playing chord melodies) despite having been developed in the 1930s!
John and Rudy Dopyera
Inducted in 2005
Violin and cabinet makers who, in the early 1920s, started manufacturing banjos, they were one day approached by vaudeville guitarist George Beauchamp, whose acoustic guitar couldn’t be heard over the orchestra. Thus was born the National/Dobro concept of placing aluminum resonators in a guitar body – and the guitar was reinvented.
Inducted in 2005
Violin and cabinet makers who, in the early 1920s, started manufacturing banjos, they were one day approached by vaudeville guitarist George Beauchamp, whose acoustic guitar couldn’t be heard over the orchestra. Thus was born the National/Dobro concept of placing aluminum resonators in a guitar body – and the guitar was reinvented.
Hartley PeaveyInducted in 2004
His innovations proved it was possible to produce good-quality, inexpensive, guitars and amps in the U.S. They made the company bearing his name one of the largest instrument builders in the world.
Lloyd LoarInducted in 2003
An acoustic engineer for Gibson from 1919 to 1924, he conducted visionary experiments with electric instruments as soon as amplification was invented. He also developed Gibson’s Style 5 Master Model instruments; the F-5 is considered the ultimate mandolin design, the L-5 led the way for large-bodied archtops. His signature on an instrument’s label puts its value amongst the elite.
Paul Bigsby
Inducted in 2002
Best known for his line of vibrato tailpieces, arguably his most important innovation was a thin-bodied, cutaway, solidbody electric guitar he built for Merle Travis, ca. 1947. It had many of the features that later became standard on more prominent guitars.
Inducted in 2002
Best known for his line of vibrato tailpieces, arguably his most important innovation was a thin-bodied, cutaway, solidbody electric guitar he built for Merle Travis, ca. 1947. It had many of the features that later became standard on more prominent guitars.
Adolf Rickenbacker
Inducted in 1999
In the 1920s he was machining parts for National’s new resonator guitars, which led to being approached by George Beauchamp with the idea to build the first electric. Their company, Ro-Pat-In, began building the Frying Pan lapsteel – the first truly successful electric guitar – in 1932, and received a patent for their “horseshoe” pickup in ’37.
Inducted in 1999
In the 1920s he was machining parts for National’s new resonator guitars, which led to being approached by George Beauchamp with the idea to build the first electric. Their company, Ro-Pat-In, began building the Frying Pan lapsteel – the first truly successful electric guitar – in 1932, and received a patent for their “horseshoe” pickup in ’37.
Jim Marshall
Inducted in 1998
A lack of good public address and bass guitar amplification equipment in Britain prompted him to start building. Upon hearing the equipment, guitarists began approaching him to build an amp that could “dirty up” their tone, and the rest is history. All this from a drummer!
Inducted in 1998
A lack of good public address and bass guitar amplification equipment in Britain prompted him to start building. Upon hearing the equipment, guitarists began approaching him to build an amp that could “dirty up” their tone, and the rest is history. All this from a drummer!
Seth Lover
Inducted in 1997
In 1957, he set about to make a pickup that wouldn’t produce the electromagnetic hum so pronounced in single-coils of the day. What he got was a pickup that produced higher volume. Ten years later, distortion was the rage in rock and roll, and humbuckers were the pickup of choice.
Inducted in 1997
In 1957, he set about to make a pickup that wouldn’t produce the electromagnetic hum so pronounced in single-coils of the day. What he got was a pickup that produced higher volume. Ten years later, distortion was the rage in rock and roll, and humbuckers were the pickup of choice.
C.F. Martin, Sr.
Inducted in 1996
A German emigrant and one of America’s first guitar builders. His company is now more than 160 years old, still family-owned and operated, and produces some of the world’s most renowned instruments.
Inducted in 1996
A German emigrant and one of America’s first guitar builders. His company is now more than 160 years old, still family-owned and operated, and produces some of the world’s most renowned instruments.
Ted McCarty
Inducted in 1995
President of Gibson for 16 years, he had a hand in many of Gibson’s most famous designs, including the ES-335, Flying V, Les Paul, Explorer, and Firebird.
Inducted in 1995
President of Gibson for 16 years, he had a hand in many of Gibson’s most famous designs, including the ES-335, Flying V, Les Paul, Explorer, and Firebird.
Les Paul
Inducted in 1993
He is credited with many innovations, including tape delay, overdubbing, “sound on sound” and multi-track recording. Plus you probably have a guitar or two that bear his name on the headstock.
Inducted in 1993
He is credited with many innovations, including tape delay, overdubbing, “sound on sound” and multi-track recording. Plus you probably have a guitar or two that bear his name on the headstock.
Orville Gibson
Inducted in 1992
He revolutionized mandolin-building in the late 1800s and applied the concepts to guitars, as well. Oh, and some of the greatest guitars ever made bear his name.
Inducted in 1992
He revolutionized mandolin-building in the late 1800s and applied the concepts to guitars, as well. Oh, and some of the greatest guitars ever made bear his name.
Leo Fender
Inducted in 1991
He gave us the Tele and the Strat, and the Precision Bass, but many point to his amps as his crowning technological achievement.
Inducted in 1991
He gave us the Tele and the Strat, and the Precision Bass, but many point to his amps as his crowning technological achievement.
