Big Poppa
Well-known member
Hello Kids
Dargin sent me a link of Wikipedias segment on Music Man. It is obvious a loyal forumite contributed but there are several errors and issues I have with this.
1. Grover Jackson never tormented us. In the eighties we made so few and were so backordered this wasn't even close to a valid point. I have known Grover jackson since he was an Anvil Case rep in the 70's, before he ended up with Wayne Charvel and later jackson. Grover was not a luthier to begin with but was a quick learner.
Earthwood was shut down the first time due to conflicts with George Fullerton and my father. Music Man and George Fullerton went on to have conflicts with George and so we weerne't in rare air there. We could sell the Earthwoods, George and crew had a hard time making them and then when they were made they had quite a few durability issues. The original factory was in Newport Beach California, not San Luis Obispo. In the early eighties Dan Norton and Ron Saul started making a redesigned Earthwood Bass and half scale soprano acoustic guitars in a space adjacent to our string making factory in San Luis Obispo. We couldn't build Music Man and Earthwood so we put Earthwood on the shelf in favor of Muisc Man.
The comment that I was a long term employee of Music Man is incorrect. I was never on the payroll of Music Man, but was involved in securing Eric Clapton along with other artist relations hookups, Beta testing the Sting Ray and Sabre, and Cutlass basses, betaing all of the amps, and being a helpful godson to my godfather Tommy Walker. Music Man in turn assisted Ernie Ball in their international marketing by introducing them too many of the best foriegn distributors.
Regarding Ernie Ball's participation in the Music Man venture it was purely passive and in a supporting role financially and maintianing general procedures. He was not involved in any design duties whatsoever. All design was handled by a combination of Me and Dudlley .
In the recent years section is says that we produced our own knockoff's, (OLP) We licensed our desins to HHI/Davitt & Hanser to create these products and give us market coverage in this price point. We did it not because of some cashing in scenario but we were creating an opportunity for others to knock us off by ignoring this price point. Also in this day and age if you dont leverage your assets wisely, you may not have a long future.
THe SUB was to prove that you could make a quality instrument without the bells and whistles in the USA. It was a big success and helped us when our main price point was in a slump. Currently the fastest segment of the Guitar biz is over $1,000.00 guitars. The trend is so strong that we make fewer and fewer SUBS each year.
I didn't sponsor the Battle of the Bands, I created it. It is now the largest and longest running live music promotion in the industry.
on Opinions I think that most players prefer post EBMM instruments.
If whoever posted the original is still here would you consider some editng?
thanks
Dargin sent me a link of Wikipedias segment on Music Man. It is obvious a loyal forumite contributed but there are several errors and issues I have with this.
1. Grover Jackson never tormented us. In the eighties we made so few and were so backordered this wasn't even close to a valid point. I have known Grover jackson since he was an Anvil Case rep in the 70's, before he ended up with Wayne Charvel and later jackson. Grover was not a luthier to begin with but was a quick learner.
Earthwood was shut down the first time due to conflicts with George Fullerton and my father. Music Man and George Fullerton went on to have conflicts with George and so we weerne't in rare air there. We could sell the Earthwoods, George and crew had a hard time making them and then when they were made they had quite a few durability issues. The original factory was in Newport Beach California, not San Luis Obispo. In the early eighties Dan Norton and Ron Saul started making a redesigned Earthwood Bass and half scale soprano acoustic guitars in a space adjacent to our string making factory in San Luis Obispo. We couldn't build Music Man and Earthwood so we put Earthwood on the shelf in favor of Muisc Man.
The comment that I was a long term employee of Music Man is incorrect. I was never on the payroll of Music Man, but was involved in securing Eric Clapton along with other artist relations hookups, Beta testing the Sting Ray and Sabre, and Cutlass basses, betaing all of the amps, and being a helpful godson to my godfather Tommy Walker. Music Man in turn assisted Ernie Ball in their international marketing by introducing them too many of the best foriegn distributors.
Regarding Ernie Ball's participation in the Music Man venture it was purely passive and in a supporting role financially and maintianing general procedures. He was not involved in any design duties whatsoever. All design was handled by a combination of Me and Dudlley .
In the recent years section is says that we produced our own knockoff's, (OLP) We licensed our desins to HHI/Davitt & Hanser to create these products and give us market coverage in this price point. We did it not because of some cashing in scenario but we were creating an opportunity for others to knock us off by ignoring this price point. Also in this day and age if you dont leverage your assets wisely, you may not have a long future.
THe SUB was to prove that you could make a quality instrument without the bells and whistles in the USA. It was a big success and helped us when our main price point was in a slump. Currently the fastest segment of the Guitar biz is over $1,000.00 guitars. The trend is so strong that we make fewer and fewer SUBS each year.
I didn't sponsor the Battle of the Bands, I created it. It is now the largest and longest running live music promotion in the industry.
on Opinions I think that most players prefer post EBMM instruments.
If whoever posted the original is still here would you consider some editng?
thanks
