Michael DeTemple (born December 15, 1947) is an American musician and luthier known for his handmade solid-body guitars. Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, DeTemple began repairing and maintaining a wide range of stringed instruments at the age of thirteen. Early on, he became acquainted with renowned guitarist Ernie Ball, who retained his services by paying with old guitars. [1]
He began playing banjo, guitar, and mandolin at 12, quickly achieving a high level of proficiency. He began hanging out at the Ash Grove folk club in Los Angeles, where he came into contact with a number of luminaries in the folk and blues genres including Taj Mahal, Doc Watson, Lightnin' Hopkins, Clarence White, and Jesse Ed Davis. At 14, he won his first Topanga Canyon Banjo and Fiddle Contest, winning three more times by eighteen. In 1966, Academy Award winning composer, Earl Robinson invited him to play in the "Winterfest Concerto for Five String Banjo and Orchestra" with the Los Angeles Philharmonic conducted by Lawrence Foster and later with Elmer Bernstein. In the 1970s, DeTemple worked as a studio musician, and contributed to a number of film scores and other projects. A notable studio performance during this period was on Dave Mason's bestselling album, Alone Together . [2] He also developed a close friendship with The Band bass player, Rick Danko with whom he recorded, later playing live in the Rick Danko Band . Danko discovered his guitar work when DeTemple joined in on a jam session in the studio with Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, and Ron Wood. [3] Most recently[ when? ] he has played mandolin on John Fogerty’s DeJa Vu All Over Again [4] and the supplemental disc of Kevin Costner's Open Range DVD Beyond Open Range: (The Making of Open Range) . [5]
In 1995, he founded DeTemple Guitars and began building handmade Stratocaster - and Telecaster -style solid body guitars using original 1950s vintage instruments as templates. His guitars are highly sought after by collectors and professional musicians. Master luthier Rick Turner, has referred to his guitars as "...the one out of 5,000 — the top half of one percent of all these types of guitars... the dream Strat-style guitars that everybody’s chasing after." He claims to have made guitars for Bob Dylan, John Fogerty and some known Jazz musicians. DeTemple is said to employ the "esoteric" centuries-old method of tap-tuning the woods he uses in his creations, [6] although it is unclear whether or not the process is effective for non-acoustic instruments. He also uses "30,000 year-old fossilized Mastodon ivory tusk" nuts, his own pickups, bridges, blocks and other hardware. [7] His guitars sell in mid-to-upper-four-figure range. There has been up to a three-year wait list. There is currently less than a one-year wait list. He lives in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles, California.
Richard Clare Danko was a Canadian musician, bassist, songwriter, and singer, best known as a founding member of the Band, for which he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994.
A luthier is a craftsperson who builds or repairs string instruments that have a neck and a sound box. The word luthier is originally French and comes from the French word for lute. The term was originally used for makers of lutes, but it came to be used in French for makers of most bowed and plucked stringed instruments such as members of the violin family and guitars. Luthiers, however, do not make harps or pianos; these require different skills and construction methods because their strings are secured to a frame.
Ernie Ball was an American entrepreneur and musician who developed guitar-related products. Ball began as a club and local television musician and entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and accessories. "Ernie Ball" is also the eponymous corporation Ball started to market guitar accessories.
Les Luthiers is an Argentine comedy-musical group, very popular also in several other Spanish-speaking countries including Paraguay, Guatemala, Peru, Chile, Ecuador, Spain, Colombia, Mexico, Uruguay, Bolivia, Cuba, Costa Rica and Venezuela. They were formed in 1967 by Gerardo Masana, during the height of a period of very intense choral music activity in Argentina's state universities. Their outstanding characteristic is the home-made musical instruments, some of them extremely sophisticated, which they skillfully employ in their recitals to produce music and texts full of high class and refined humor. From 1977 until his death in 2007, they worked with Roberto Fontanarrosa, a renowned Argentine cartoonist and writer.
Orville H. Gibson was an American luthier who founded the Gibson Guitar Company in Kalamazoo, Michigan in 1902, makers of guitars, mandolins and other instruments.
The mandocello is a plucked string instrument of the mandolin family. It is larger than the mandolin, and is the baritone instrument of the mandolin family. Its eight strings are in four paired courses, with the strings in each course tuned in unison. Overall tuning of the courses is in fifths like a mandolin, but beginning on bass C (C2). It can be described as being to the mandolin what the cello is to the violin.
The Irish bouzouki is an adaptation of the Greek bouzouki. The newer Greek tetrachordo bouzouki was introduced into Irish traditional music in the mid-1960s by Johnny Moynihan of the folk group Sweeney's Men. Alec Finn, first in the Cana Band and subsequently in De Dannan, introduced the first Greek trichordo (3 course) bouzouki into Irish music.
Stagg music is a Belgian musical instrument company headquartered in Brussels, currently a subsidiary of EMD Music. The company produce a wide range of musical instruments, which includes string instruments, percussion instruments, tuned metal, free reed and brass instruments as well as effects units and other accessories.
Semie Moseley was an American luthier and the founder of guitar manufacturer Mosrite.
Wayne C. Henderson is an American guitar maker who specializes in the crafting of handmade, custom acoustic guitars. He also occasionally makes other stringed instruments, such as mandolins, banjos, and fiddles.
Kay Musical Instrument Company was an American musical instrument manufacturer established in 1931 by namesake Henry "Kay" Kuhrmeyer and based in Chicago, Illinois. It was formed when Kuhrmeyer bought out his financial backers in the instrument manufacturer Stromberg-Voisinet. They produced guitars, mandolins, banjos, ukuleles and were known for their use of lamination in the construction of arched top instruments.
Bernardo Chavez Rico was an American luthier specializing in guitars. Known as Bernie Rico Sr. or simply B.C., Rico was born in East Los Angeles, California. Working with his father, Rico began his career building Flamenco, Classical guitars, banjos, and ukuleles in the 1950s. Rico's original instruments were acoustic guitars made under the names Bernardo Rico or B.C. Rico, Not to be confused with the line of import guitars made in the late 1970s and early 1980s. These acoustic guitars are very rare, with about 300 surviving.
Elderly Instruments is a musical instrument retailer in Lansing, Michigan, United States, with a reputation as a "megastore", a repair shop and a locus for folk music including bluegrass and "twang". Specializing in fretted instruments, including acoustic and electric guitars, banjos, mandolins, and ukuleles, Elderly maintains a selection of odd or rare instruments. Elderly is known as a premier repair shop for fretted instruments, as one of the larger vintage instrument dealers in the United States, and as a major dealer of Martin guitars in particular.
Casa Del Vecchio Ltda. is a traditional guitarmaking company headquartered in São Paulo, Brazil. Since its foundation by Angelo Del Vecchio in 1902, it has produced a wide range of acoustic stringed instruments. In the 1930s, Del Vecchio began producing resonator guitars, resulting in their most famous model: the Dinâmico,.
Leon R. White is an American guitarist, author of instructional guitar books, producer, and studio musician. He is also a performer, producer, composer, software producer, and luthier. He has written and edited over 40 books including the guitar instructional books Sight to Sound and Styles for the Studio as well as co-producing the album titled Solo Guitar performed by his friend, Ted Greene.
Gruhn Guitars is a musical instrument store located in Nashville. Founded in 1970 by George Gruhn, an expert on vintage American guitars and related instruments, Gruhn Guitars is known as a mecca for professional musicians and well-heeled collectors of vintage musical instruments.
Jim Scott is an American record producer and audio engineer, best known for his large body of work as an engineer, and his work as a producer with American rock bands Tedeschi Trucks Band and Wilco.
Collings Guitars is an Austin, Texas based stringed instrument manufacturer. The company was founded in 1973 by BillCollings. In addition to acoustic guitars, Collings Guitars manufactures: electric guitars, archtop guitars, mandolins and ukuleles.
Joe Veillette, is a luthier and the owner of Veillette Guitars. He specializes in the crafting of unusual and innovative handmade guitars, basses, and other stringed instruments. Veillette's diverse client list includes John Sebastian, James Taylor, Ani DiFranco, Dave Mathews, John Mayer, Jorma Kaukonen, Steve Miller, Todd Rundgren, Chris Martin, Jimmy Vivino, Tim Pierce, Colin Hay, David Torn, Brian May, Kaki King, Neal Schon, Mike McCready, Eddie Van Halen and other notable players.
Tim Weed is a multi-instrumentalist singer-songwriter known for virtuosity on the banjo. Raised a Southern California surfer, Weed learned the banjo at age 17 and played professionally at 18. He was in various bands and he worked as a studio musician singing and playing electric guitar in the Greater Los Angeles Area. He lived in Japan for a time producing records for Sony-Epic, and he lived on the island of Maui where he rediscovered the banjo. Weed settled in Tucson, Arizona, for eight years, playing in local bands. Working with luthier Dennis Coon he designed and built a seven-string hybrid of banjo and guitar called the "Sevan". He released a solo banjo album: Milagros; in mid-2005 the music was featured on NPR. In 2008 Weed moved to Northern California where he released an album of Americana, world music and bluegrass songs: Soul House. In 2020 he released a classical album, Light and Dark, with the Prague Metropolitan Orchestra. Weed plays concerts and festivals, and he teaches banjo privately.