Forrest White

[Big Poppa]

Old Guitar Player

We would love to ask Tom, but he died two years ago at his home two blocks away from the Music Man Factory in San Luis Obispo. You are still way off on your history. Forrest was terminated from Music man before G&L, he applied with Leo at G&L and Leo didn't hire him. When I bought Music Man he applied with me and I didn't hire him, either. I was trying to be nice earlier but Forrest can be cannonized for his oriinal work at Fender, but in my opinion and Tommy Walker's he became very test and diffficult to work with . Thats how he ended up selling water softeners.

 

[kbaim]

Sad ending to a really good read.
Thanks guys.

 

[OldGuitarPlayer]

Thanks for setting the record straight... : )

Old Guitar Player

We would love to ask Tom, but he died two years ago at his home two blocks away from the Music Man Factory in San Luis Obispo. You are still way off on your history. Forrest was terminated from Music man before G&L, he applied with Leo at G&L and Leo didn't hire him. When I bought Music Man he applied with me and I didn't hire him, either. I was trying to be nice earlier but Forrest can be cannonized for his oriinal work at Fender, but in my opinion and Tommy Walker's he became very test and diffficult to work with . Thats how he ended up selling water softeners.

WOW... My apologies for not being correct there, seriously. It wasn't intentional. It's been a long time, and I was just a Guitar Player, enjoying free meals, and interesting conversation with a very interesting guy with great stories.
As to the MusicMan thing, I seem to remember Forrest having a desk there, at that time [this was in 1977-78, as I recall], but from what you are saying, that clearly wasn't the case. Maybe he was using someone elses office, when I stopped by? Maybe he was just visiting, or trying to give me the impression that he was still there? It really doesn't matter now, and it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I have pictures of he and I, touring the plant, so... I did go there, and he did "appear to me" to still work there. ??? How weird... lol

YES, I knew that he didn't work with LEO at G&L, although they we're still good buddies. I didn't know the real reason, but what you say makes total sense! Yes, he was a very DIRECT individual, and working with him might have been difficult, especially if he wasn't in charge of everything, I can certainly see that.

I really didn't mean to be way off on the history, I was just sharing what I remembered from the era. Thanks for setting me straight.

 

[OldGuitarPlayer]

WOW... My apologies for not being correct there, seriously. It wasn't intentional. It's been a long time, and I was just a Guitar Player, enjoying free meals, and interesting conversation with a very interesting guy with great stories.
As to the MusicMan thing, I seem to remember Forrest having a desk there, at that time [this was in 1977-78, as I recall], but from what you are saying, that clearly wasn't the case. Maybe he was using someone elses office, when I stopped by? Maybe he was just visiting, or trying to give me the impression that he was still there? It really doesn't matter now, and it doesn't make a lot of sense, but I have pictures of he and I, touring the plant, so... I did go there, and he did "appear to me" to still work there. ??? How weird... lol

YES, I knew that he didn't work with LEO at G&L, although they we're still good buddies. I didn't know the real reason, but what you say makes total sense! Yes, he was a very DIRECT individual, and working with him might have been difficult, especially if he wasn't in charge of everything, I can certainly see that.

I really didn't mean to be way off on the history, I was just sharing what I remembered from the era. Thanks for setting me straight.

ONE MORE THOUGHT...
Back in those days, I worked a day job at a Christian Bookstore in Santa Ana, and I did Studio Work at night. Forrest ALWAYS had time to stop by during the day for lunch, and NEVER seemed too busy, which would be a RED FLAG for someone involved in the day to day operations of a business such as a MusicMan factory. I really never thought about it much till now, but that was clearly the case.

 

[Big Poppa]

O.G.P

no worries why dont you hang around...this is a pretty good forum

i was playing around OC the same time I bet we know some mutual players

 

[OldGuitarPlayer]

Do You Know Any Of These Guys?

O.G.P

no worries why dont you hang around...this is a pretty good forum

i was playing around OC the same time I bet we know some mutual players

Let's see...

John Wickham [guitar player/producer pal of mine] Hadley Hockensmith, Jeff Lamb, Dean Parks, Jay Sessum, Ronnie Tutt, Keith Edwards, Abraham Laboriel, Alex Acuna, James Felix, Michael & Stormie Omartian, Bill Maxwell, and Jeff Baxter. Oh yea, Tommy Tedesco, how can I forget him... : )

Know any of those guys?

I haven't talked to most of them in 20 years, although I still do Vocal Studio work in Nashville [I'm a BASS vocalist now], and I talked with several of my old pals last year, who are still playing, but back there now. Hadley, Ronnie, then Bill Maxwell we're playing with Neil Diamond's tour, last time I checked. These days LA is the land of SYNTHS and no longer what I remember in the 80's. Although, I hear there are still some REAL good players out here, it's just that a lot of today's music doesn't require the chops.

 

[Texas T]

Old Guitar Player

We would love to ask Tom, but he died two years ago at his home two blocks away from the Music Man Factory in San Luis Obispo. You are still way off on your history. Forrest was terminated from Music man before G&L, he applied with Leo at G&L and Leo didn't hire him. When I bought Music Man he applied with me and I didn't hire him, either. I was trying to be nice earlier but Forrest can be cannonized for his oriinal work at Fender, but in my opinion and Tommy Walker's he became very test and diffficult to work with . Thats how he ended up selling water softeners.

I had the good fortune to work with Forrest in the late 80s to early 90s. I was his boss at Circuit City in the Appliance Dept at the Laguna Hills Mall location across from Leisure World. He worked for me for about a year until I moved to the Huntington Beach location and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure to know. I stayed in touch over the years, even after I moved to Texas in the early 90s. At that time he was involved in planning out the office layouts for the new corporate offices for Southern California. The man was a logistical whiz. He built a number of spreadsheets for me to help me in my work as a Sales Mgr and never asked for anything in return; he just did so because he enjoyed doing things of that nature.

Somewhere in that time frame Guitar Player magazine did a feature story on him and I had Forrest autograph a couple of copies for me, and I still have those tucked away somewhere. I did lose touch with him after his gig at the corporate office so he may in fact have gone to selling water softeners, but that would have been at some point after 1991.

Brian

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

I had the good fortune to work with Forrest in the late 80s to early 90s. I was his boss at Circuit City in the Appliance Dept at the Laguna Hills Mall location across from Leisure World. He worked for me for about a year until I moved to the Huntington Beach location and he was one of the nicest guys I've ever had the pleasure to know. I stayed in touch over the years, even after I moved to Texas in the early 90s. At that time he was involved in planning out the office layouts for the new corporate offices for Southern California. The man was a logistical whiz. He built a number of spreadsheets for me to help me in my work as a Sales Mgr and never asked for anything in return; he just did so because he enjoyed doing things of that nature.

Somewhere in that time frame Guitar Player magazine did a feature story on him and I had Forrest autograph a couple of copies for me, and I still have those tucked away somewhere. I did lose touch with him after his gig at the corporate office so he may in fact have gone to selling water softeners, but that would have been at some point after 1991.

Brian

.
Hi Brian.

I actually have that article (somewhere). I'd put it aside to look at latter. I'll have to dig it out.