Over the last 60 years, what has been heard more on recordings? A lot of guitarists, musicians and even casual music fans would answer something like the Martin dreadnought or the Fender Precision Bass.
Those aren’t bad guesses but the answer is actually something that all of those choices have in common.
The success of the strings in and of itself is noteworthy, but it is only one part of the company’s extraordinary history over the last 60 years.
The brands are internationally recognized icons, and their products are embraced by everyone from the world’s best-selling artists to beginners.
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The president of Music Man says he is proud of the company’s 60 years of existence. A lot of great things happened with us. My father was the one who began it all. My dad made a change to the industry. It is too easy to use the past as a crutch. We are thinking about the future while we focus on the present.
We are changing the industry with my son Brian now running it. We figured out how to serve guitar players. We have consistently been determined to deliver what they want and need. It’s all about the player.
Ball was inspired by his own experiences as a musician when he decided to dedicate his life to guitar playing. After serving in the United States Air Force during the Korean War, he played pedal steel in various bands around Los Angeles and became a member of the house band on KTLA television.
Ball became an early endorsee and product tester for Fender after meeting him around this time. Ball’s first music retail store was located in Tarzana, California, in the San Fernando Valley, where he was looking for a more reliable way to make a living.
Ball’s store was considered controversial by the traditional-minded music industry because it may have been the first store in the US to only sell guitars. Ball opened additional stores in Canoga Park and Thousand Oaks after the store struggled at times.
The place to go if you wanted to play guitar was my father’s store. All of the guitars my dad sold were set up by my father. Because of that, players from all over Southern California would come in to buy Teles. We insist on doing that. We spend at least 45 minutes setting up every Music Man guitar and bass so it performs at its best before we ship them out, which is a lot more effort than most other companies do.
My dad would set up all of the guitars that he sold. Players would come in from all over Southern California to buy Teles and Strats from us because of that
Electric guitars were usually shipped from the factory with strings with a wound G, and replacement strings were the same gauge or heavier than the original ones. Many of his young students and customers struggled to bend strings, and he also knew that many pro guitarists were using lighter gauge strings on the recordings that these kids were trying to imitate.
Ball began setting up the instruments he sold with lighter strings and putting together his own packages of custom light gauge string sets by changing the fifth through first strings into the sixth through second strings.
In 1962, Ball introduced his first string set. There were eye-catching dayglo colors in the packages.
Rolly and my dad were good friends. Rolly was an art director at Disney and designed the It’s a Small World ride. When I was a kid, my dad would call all of the kids in the neighborhood to the store, which was a block from our house.
My father had a stack of string wallet designs with different colors and black and white on them. The kids were asked to pick their favorites. He went with the dayglo colors because the kids loved them. His market research was done that way.
The Rock N Roll string sets were available in a variety of custom gauges. The word about these strings spread quickly as touring guitarists showed them to other players and order requests came in from musicians and retailers across the country.
In 1967, the string production business overtook the retail stores’ income, which led to the closing of the stores and the move to Newport Beach to concentrate on making strings and accessories.
The retailer packs of individual strings that were sold separately allowed guitarists to put together their own sets.
The sound of music recordings featuring the electric guitar can’t be overstated.
In California during the early ’60s, the company’s Slinky strings played a major role in the surf guitar phenomenon, as well as pop/rock records by bands like the Beach Boys and the Byrds.
When the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Yardbirds and Cream toured in the U.S., they often returned home with strings from music stores.
The brand of strings used by most rock guitarists was made by the same company. Although the company had carved out its own unique niche for most of the ’60s, eventually numerous competitors, including Fender and Gibson, who had initially rejected Mr. Ball’s ideas, began to offer sets in the same.009-.038 and.012-.046 configurations
In response to its growing competition, the company expanded its selection of custom gauge electric guitar string sets and made strings for a wider range of instruments.
Leo wasn’t a musician, so I brought the player’s perspective to the StingRay’s design
Sterling Ball
In 1972, Earthwood was introduced in a big way. The first instrument produced by the company was the Earthwood acoustic-electric bass guitar.
Based on the Mexican guitarrn but equipped with a fretted neck, the Earthwood bass’s revolutionary design included a 34 inch scale length and massive body measuring between 8 and 12 inches deep.
Even more impressive was the fact that it was equipped with a Barcus Berry Hot Dot pickup that allowed it to be amplified.
Bonnie Raitt, John Entwistle and Brian Ritchie are just a few of the players who own Earthwood basses. There are a limited number of Earthwood acoustic guitars.
The company experienced a spike in sales thanks to the efforts of the son of the company’s founder. When he was 9 years old, Sterling ran the store’s cash register. In 1973, I joined the company as a road rep.
The sales manager told me I didn’t need to be a sales rep in Southern California. I was willing to do it for 10% of the increase in sales. I went to every dealer I could find. At the end of the year, I had set a new sales record.
He also played bass in Music Man, a post-Fender band. Back then, we called it “bandstanding”, he says. The prototype of the StingRay bass was developed by my father and Tommy Walker and I would show it to bass players to see if they liked it.
During the next decade, a major game-changing development will be led by this collaboration. The company’s sales and success continued to grow after Ernie Ball handed over the full-time responsibility.
The company outgrew its Newport Beach facility. The main headquarters of the company are located in central California, 200 miles up the coast.
I realized the company was probably going to end up in the hands of their Japanese distributor, so I went to my dad and suggested we buy the company
Sterling Ball
The purchase of Music Man by the company in 1984 was one of the most important events in the history of the company.
The music man was going down. The partners were fighting when G&L was started. I went to my dad and said we should buy the company because they were going to be in the hands of their distributor.
The purchase was just some inventory, a warehouse and a small amount of trademarks. It was more of a decision than a transaction. We didn’t have a factory after buying a guitar company. I need to figure it out quickly.
He says he didn’t think he was picking up where Leonardo left off. It was all about moving the guitar forward. The StingRay bass was the only Music Man product that musicians were willing to accept at that time.
When he hired Dudley Gimpel he found a great guitar designer. The two met for the first time in 1981 when Gimpel was working at Knut Koupee Music and he ordered custom Telecasters for himself and his father.
Gimpel moved to California to work for Valley Arts Guitar, and when he heard that Music Man had been bought, he asked to be hired. Gimpel asked Sterling if he could steal an employee from the dealer, but he wouldn’t. The Music Man factory was built by Gimpel and the others.
The first StingRay bass hit the market in 1985 and the second in 1987.
Two years later in 1987, Music Man introduced its first guitar model, the Silhouette, featuring numerous innovations and enhanced features, such as a truss rod wheel that adjusts without needing a special tool, a compact headstock with a 4×2 tuning configuration and a molex connection that allowed guitarists to quickly
The people laughed at the Silhouette. They called me a genius when they played it. Richards said in a Guitar Player magazine interview that the Silhouette has the chance to become a classic electric guitar.
The first artist signature guitar was introduced by Music Man. An eye-catching solidbody with a modernistic compact angular design was often seen in the hands of Albert Lee, although that guitar wasn’t officially released until 1993 as the Albert Lee model.
Interest in Music Man guitars began to grow when players like Lee and Richards supported the brand. The next artist to join the Music Man guitar roster, Eddie Van Halen, instantly transformed the response to the company from interested raised eyebrows to dropped-jaw, eyes- wide-open amazement.
During the ’80s, Van Halen endorsed Kramer guitars, but they never produced a signature model. The Music Man Edward Van Halen model was the first official signature model created by Van Halen and was designed in close collaboration with Gimpel and Sterling Ball.
If the factory were able to produce that many units, the company could have easily sold tens of thousands of units a year.
The company’s emphasis on maintaining its highest standards throughout the production process kept output somewhat limited, and as a result Van Halen jumped ship in 1995 to Peavey, who was more willing to deliver.
We don’t have contracts with our artists. I never wanted a piece of paper to determine whether someone played our guitars or not
Sterling Ball
Music Man’s reputation is still “sterling” even though its relationship with Van Halen was short-lived.
Steve Lukather collaborated with Music Man on his first of manyLuke signature models, introduced in 1993, the same year the Albert Lee model finally made it’s debut.
Music Man chief engineer Drew Montell co-designed the six-, seven- and eight- string versions of the JP and Majesty models, as well as contributing to the design of many others.
Artists don’t have contracts with us. I didn’t want a piece of paper to tell me if someone played our guitars or not. I wanted to make sure we got that privilege. Most of our artists have been with us for a while. It’s all about family
Working closely with well-known touring and recording musicians and supporting up-and-coming talent is what the Music Man has always done. Since 1997, the company has sponsored the battle of the bands on the Warped tour.
Post Malone and Katy Perry are just a few of the better-known examples who played on our stages when they were starting out
Sterling Ball
A lot of people in the industry thought the guitar was dead when the battle of the bands began. There were more than 30,000 tapes that proved they were wrong. Brian was involved with the contest.
Musicians were given a chance to play on the Warped tour after meeting us. The first time we met James, his band was playing there. A few of the better-known examples who played on our stages when they were starting out are Post Malone and KATY PERRY!
Brian Ball, who started working for the company in 2000 and later worked his way up the ranks through sales, marketing and artist relations, became the CEO of the company in 2019.
The Mariposa guitar, Tim Commerford and Joe Dart bass artist signature models were all designed by Brian.
He oversaw the creation of the Kaizen, a seven- string multi-scale guitar with a tailpiece co-designed with Tosin Abasi, as well as the DarkRay bass featuring built-in distortion, EQ and preamp circuits designed by Darkglass Electronics.
Music Man has signature models for a variety of players. The Stephen Egerton,Dustin Kensrue, and St.Vincent models are among the guitars.
Music Man makes bass models for some of the biggest names in rock and roll. The production models that remain successful are the Axis, Cutlass, Sabre, Silhouette and Sting Ray guitars.
Despite handing over the reins to Brian over the years, he still remains involved with the co-design of many models, such as the St.Vincent.
Ball continues to be a leader in string technology under Brian Ball. His contributions have included the high-output Cobalt and M-Steel electric strings, ultra-high- strength Paradigm acoustic and electric strings, revolutionary aluminum bronze acoustic strings and half-gauge sets featuring E strings measuring.0085,.0095 and.0205 that further expand players’
Scott is the company’s vice president and oversees factory operations.
The chances of success and growth decline with each new generation of family businesses. It has been the other way around with us. The growth of this company under Brian has been amazing. He has doubled our business since he took the wheel.
We are proud of our heritage but it is not a pillow we sleep on. We support our artists by getting up every day. The families of our workers are important to us. We want to create new tools for artists.
The primary goal is growth. Growth has never been a priority for us. We’ve grown because we’ve come up with better ideas and made products that other companies may overlook. We pay a lot of attention to making the best strings, picks, straps, cables and everything else as we do to making the best guitars and basses.