History of Kramer Guitars

Kramer Guitars is an American manufacturer of electric guitars and basses. Kramer produced aluminum-necked electric guitars and basses in the 1970s and wooden-necked guitars catering to hard rock musicians in the 1980s; Kramer is currently a division of Gibson Guitar Corporation. The company was founded in the late 1970s by Dennis Berardi and Gary Kramer, a close friend and associate of Travis Bean, to manufacture aluminum-necked guitars. Gary Kramer, Dennis Berardi, Peter LaPlaca (a Vice President at Norlin, parent company of Gibson), and investor Henry Vaccaro joined forces to open a plant in Neptune, New Jersey. Soon thereafter, Gary Kramer moved to Los Angeles, and his connection with the company would be in name only. Kramer was endorsed by several famous musicians, such as Eddie Van Halen, Richie Sambora, Mick Mars, and Vivian Campbell.

History of Washburn Guitars

The Washburn guitar company started making guitars in 1833 in Chicago. The factory would later be involved and located near a musical movement in Chicago in the 1920s. The movement was a “Delta Blues” movement, which came as a result of an influx of African Americans to the area. This type of blues would change the way blues music was played, and would also change rock and roll. This blues movement helped in the success of Washburn guitars.Washburn guitars were very popular during the 1920s. The musicians played the guitars as well as making them by hand. The Washburn guitar and the blues movement that it was involved with are associated with Maxwell Street. This street is only a few blocks from the factory, and where Washburn guitars were first embraced. Today, Washburn guitars have embraced the image from its origins and the blues movement. Many famous and successful artists play Washburn instruments, and endorse Washburn instruments. Musicians like the guitar players for Matisyahu, Sum41, Avril Lavigne, CKY, and The Allman Brothers are all endorsed by Washburn. Washburn makes electric guitars, acoustic guitars, electric basses, acoustic basses, banjos, mandolins, travel guitars, and amplifiers. The company also makes accessories including guitar cases, clothing, and other parts like tuners, pick ups, and straps. Washburn is mostly known for its electric guitars and acoustic guitars. The company makes eight different styles or “Series” of both electric and acoustic guitars

History of Dean Guitars

Dean Guitars was created in 1977 by luthier Dean Zelinsky who began building guitars at an early age. Zelinsky thought that rock guitar design had stagnated and decided to do what he could to change things. The first Dean guitars were released in the mid-1970s and featured designs including "pointy" guitar bodies and large V-shaped headstocks. These designs quickly gained in popularity because of the radical look and also because of the improved tone and sustain of the guitars. They also had a unique neck.[citation needed]
Dean's marketing campaign, which featured models holding the guitars in alluring poses, was widely copied by other guitar manufacturers until the onset of the grunge rock movement in the 1990s. (Advertising-heavy magazines from this time, such as Guitar for the Practicing Musician, heavily influenced "lad mags" such as Maxim.) Dean has since revived this practice.
In 1986, Zelinsky decided he did not want to continue making guitars and sold the company to make furniture. He has attributed his decision to the popularity of the "superstrat", which he derides as a "Floyd Rose trem with a guitar attached to it." In the late 1990s, Elliott Rubinson (CEO of Dean Guitars) revived the brand name, later bringing Zelinsky back aboard as an executive and creative consultant. Since then, Dean Guitars has grown in to one of the leading guitar companies in the world.[citation needed]
Their online BBS community continues to be the most active in the entire industry with close to 10,000 active users and growing.

History of Ibanez Guitar

The Hoshino Gakki company began in 1908 as a musical instrument sales division of the Hoshino Shoten bookstore company. In 1935 they began manufacturing their own stringed instruments. The company had little presence in the Western world until the mid-1960s.
They started on importing Spanish guitars from the famous Spanish luthier Salvador Ibáñez (1854 - 1920), but when the Spanish workshop was destroyed during the Spanish Civil War (1936 - 1939) and the original guitars became unavailable (and very much sought after because of their excellent quality), they bought the rights of the trademark Ibanez and started making Spanish and acoustic guitars on their own, first as "Ibanez Salvador", and later as "Ibanez".
Harry's Rosenbloom, of Medley Music, based in Ardmore, Pennsylvania, was manufacturing handmade guitars under the name "Elger." By 1965 Rosenbloom had decided to stop manufacturing guitars and chose to become the exclusive North American distributor for Ibanez guitars. At the time, the phrase "made in Japan" was considered to have negative connotations of low quality, so Hoshino Gakki and Rosenbloom wanted to distribute the instruments under a "non-Japanese" name, so it was decided to market all the instruments (and not only the acoustics) under the Ibanez brand name. In 1981 Hoshino purchased Elger Guitars, renaming the company "Hoshino U.S.A." and retaining the company headquarters in Bensalem, Pennsylvania as a distribution and quality-control center.
In the early 1970s Hoshino began making Ibanez guitars that were almost exact copies of popular models by Gibson, Fender and Rickenbacker. Using somewhat cheaper materials and greater automation in manufacturing, they were able to sell these guitars for a significantly lower price than the originals. The low price combined with the relatively high quality of the guitars made these models very popular. Many guitar aficionados feel that the early- and mid-70s mark a low point in the quality of guitars from the major manufacturers, which helped contribute to the popularity of the Ibanez copies. These guitars have become known as "lawsuit" guitars and have become highly collectible.
The actual lawsuit referred to was brought by the Norlin Corporation, the parent company of Gibson guitars, in 1977, and was based on an Ibanez headstock design that had been discontinued by 1976. Hoshino settled out of court, and by 1978 had begun making Ibanez guitars from their own designs.
Abandoning the strategy of copying "classic" electric guitar designs, the newer models began incorporating more modern elements into their design, such as radical body shapes, slimmer necks and flatter fingerboards (which allowed for faster playing), higher-output electronics and colourful finishes. This led to an increasing popularity with heavy metal musicians. The company also began an extensive program of consulting with well-known guitar players, such as Kevin 'Noodles' Wasserman, Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Paul Gilbert, Munky, Andy Timmons, George Benson, John Petrucci, Herman Li and Sam Totman, creating signature models made to the players' specifications.
Hoshino also manufactures Ibanez electro-acoustic and acoustic guitars, both nylon and steel-stringed. The logo used on the headstocks of the acoustic guitars is the original Spanish Ibanez logo. Most Ibanez guitars were made for Hoshino by the FujiGen guitar factory in Japan up until the mid to late 1980's and from then on Ibanez guitars have also been made in other Asian countries such as Korea and China.

History of Gibson Guitars

Orville Gibson (born 1856, Chateaugay, New York) started making mandolins in 1894 in Kalamazoo, Michigan USA. The mandolins were distinctive in that they featured a carved, arched solid wood top and back and bent wood sides. Prior to this mandolins had a flat solid wood top and a bowl-like back (similar to a lute) made of multiple strips of wood. These bowl-back mandolins were very fragile and unstable. Disdainful of the shape, Orville Gibson characterized them as "potato bugs." Gibson's innovation made a better-sounding mandolin that was immensely easier to manufacture. Orville Gibson's mandolin design, with its single-pieced carved sides and a single-pieced neck, was patented in 1898; it would be the only innovation he patented.[2]
In 1902, the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. was founded to market the instruments.
During the 1920s and 1930s, the Gibson company was responsible for many innovations in guitar design, and became the leading manufacturer of arch-top guitars, particularly the Gibson L5 model. In 1936 they introduced their first "Electric Spanish" model, the ES-150, generally recognized as the first commercially successful electric guitar.

1996 Gibson Les Paul Studio Limited Edition Gem Series Topaz
As a result of the strong sales of the Fender Telecaster in 1950 Gibson decided to make a solid-body guitar. This was despite the fact that Gibson, like most other guitar manufacturers, were contemptuous of the concept of a solid-body guitar. Although guitarist Les Paul was one of the pioneers of solid-body electric guitar technology, the guitar that became known as the Les Paul was developed without any input from its namesake. After the guitar was designed, Les Paul was asked to sign a contract to endorse the guitar to be named after him. At that point he asked that the tailpiece be changed, which was his only contribution. (Ironically, this tailpiece was changed in 1954.)[3] The Les Paul was released in 1952. The late 1950s saw a number of innovative new designs including the eccentrically-shaped Gibson Explorer and Flying V and the semi-acoustic ES-335, and the introduction of the "humbucker" pickup. The Les Paul was offered in several models, including the Custom, the Standard, the Special and the Junior. In 1961, the body design of the Les Paul was changed, due to the demand for a double-cutaway body design[4]. Les Paul did not care for the new body style and let his endorsement lapse, and the new body design then became known as the Gibson SG. The Les Paul returned to the Gibson catalogue in 1968 due to the influence of players such as Eric Clapton and Peter Green. Both the Les Paul and the SG later became very popular with hard rock and heavy metal guitarists; Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin , Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band, Joe Perry of Aerosmith, Slash of Velvet Revolver (formerly of Guns N' Roses) and Ace Frehley of Kiss are known for their preference for a Les Paul Standard. Pete Townshend of The Who, Angus Young of AC/DC, Frank Zappa of Mothers Of Invention and Tony Iommi of Black Sabbath are some of the more well-known SG players.
Between 1974 and 1984, in a move that is still controversial to this day, production of Gibson guitars was shifted from Kalamazoo to Nashville, Tennessee in an effort to reduce the costs associated with high-wage, unionized workers in the Industrialized North. Norlin continued to struggle with cost and quality issues. In early 1986 the Gibson Guitar Corp. was bought by Henry E. Juszkiewicz, David H. Berryman and Gary A. Zebrowski. The survival and success of Gibson today is largely attributed to this change in ownership. Currently, Juszkiewicz stands as CEO and Berryman as president of the company. More recently new production plants have been opened in Southern and rural areas, such as Memphis, Tennessee as well as Bozeman, Montana. The Memphis facility is used for semi-hollow and custom shop instruments, while the Bozeman facility is dedicated to acoustic instruments. The quality of current production instruments from these facilities has played a major role in the resurgence of the brand.

History of Fender Guitar

The company began as Fender's Radio Service in late 1938 in Fullerton, California, USA. As a qualified electronics technician, Leo was asked to repair not only radios, but phonograph players, home audio amplifiers, public address systems and musical instrument amplifiers. (Technical note: at the time, most of the above were simply variations on a few simple vacuum-tube circuits). All designs were based on the research developed and released to the public domain by Western Electric in the 30s, and used vacuum tubes for amplification. The business also sidelined in carrying records for sale and the rental of self-designed-and-built PA systems. He became intrigued by design flaws in current musical instrument amplifiers, and he began custom-building a few amplifiers based on his own designs or modifications to designs.
By the early 1940s, he had partnered with another local electronics enthusiast named Clayton Orr (Doc) Kauffman, and they formed a company named K & F Manufacturing Corp. to design, manufacture, and sell electric instruments and amplifiers. Production began in 1945 with Hawaiian lap steel guitars (incorporating a patented pickup) and amplifiers, which were sold as sets. By the end of the year, Fender had become convinced that manufacturing was more profitable than repair, and he decided to concentrate on that business. Kauffman remained unconvinced, however, and they had amicably parted ways by early 1946. At that point Leo renamed the company the Fender Electric Instrument Company. The service shop remained open until 1951, although Leo Fender did not personally supervise it after 1947. The first big series of amplifiers were built in 1948. These were known as tweed amps because they were covered in the same kind of cloth used for luggage at the time. These amps varied in output from 3 watts to 75 watts.
Fender moved to Tolex coverings for the amps in 1960 with the exception of the Champ which kept its tweed until 1964. Fender also began using Oxford, Utah and CTS speakers interchangeably with the Jensens; generally the speaker that could be supplied most economically would be used. Jensens and Oxfords remained the most common during this period. By 1963 Fender amplifiers had a black Tolex covering, silver grille cloth, and black forward-facing control panel. The tremolo was changed to a simpler circuit based on an optical coupler and requiring only one tube. The amps still spanned the spectrum from 4 watts to 85, but the difference in volume was even larger due to the improved clean tone of the 85w Twin.

Steve Vai

Listen Steve Vai playing now :


Steven "Steve" Siro Vai (born June 6, 1960 in Carle Place, New York) is a Grammy Award winning guitarist, composer, vocalist, and record producer.

Where Vai's contributions to others' material has been constrained by the largely rock or heavy-rock style of those bands, his own material is somewhat more eclectic. Vai's playing style has been characterized as quirky and angular, owing to his superb technical facility with the instrument and deep knowledge of music theory. Vai has been credited with the first use of the 7-string guitar in a rock context, first appearing in the David Lee Roth video Yankee Rose, and has used double and triple neck guitars on many occasions.

An interesting point to note is Vai's commitment to practice. In several guitar magazines and texts, he expounded a practice regime called "The Ten-Hour Guitar Workout".

Personal life
Vai is married to Pia Maiocco, former bass player of Vixen, who can be seen in Hardbodies. Steve and Pia have two children, Julian Angel and Fire. In his spare time Vai enjoys keeping bees, which regularly produce a crop of honey that Vai sells for his Make a Noise Foundation.

Discography
Band History - not including guest appearances
* Frank Zappa (1980-1982)
* Steve Vai (1982-1984)
* Alcatrazz (1985)
* David Lee Roth (1985-1986)
* Public Image Ltd. (1985-1986)
* Frank Zappa (1986)
* David Lee Roth (1987-1988)
* Whitesnake (1988-1990)
* Solo (1989-present)
* Ozzy Osbourne (1995)

Solo albums
* Flex-Able (1984)
* Flex-Able Leftovers (1984)
* Passion and Warfare (1990)
* Sex & Religion (1993)
* Alien Love Secrets (1995)
* Fire Garden (1996)
* The Ultra Zone (1999)
* The 7th Song (2000)
* Alive in an Ultra World (2001 )
* The Elusive Light and Sound, volume 1 (2002)
* The Infinite Steve Vai: An Anthology (2003)
* Real Illusions: Reflections (2005)
* Sound Theories (2007)
(wikipedia)