Marty Lanham, Luthier

Marty Lanham has been playing and working on musical instruments for over thirty years. In 1972, he moved his family from Northern California to Nashville to pursue his passion for banjos, guitars and music. Music City was a natural place go... "I was looking for a place to live where music was as much a part of the culture as it was to my life. It was clear to me that playing banjos and guitars, fixing and building them, was what I wanted to do with my life."

Lanham didn't know what to expect in Nashville, but knew he could always keep pushing east to his family's homeplace. His mother's large and musical family nurtured much of Marty's cultural development. His grandpa led the church choir, an uncle played mandolin and several aunts played Appalachian gospel music on piano.

But Marty's talents soon found a home at GTR (later Gruhn) Guitars. He was hired to work the repair shop by office manager Doug Green (a.k.a. "Ranger Doug" of NPR stalwarts Riders in the Sky). He worked at Gruhn's for eight years, restoring hundreds of instruments and refining his building craft. "Gruhn Guitars is still the place to go to find vintage stringed instruments."

Although their modesty and self-deprecating humor will never allow them to admit it, Marty and his wife Charmaine were instrumental -- so to speak -- in Nashville's burgeoning bluegrass scene in the mid-70s. They helped open the Station Inn, which today is still Mecca for bluegrass fans from all over the world. Marty also picked up a regular gig on the Grand Ole Opry playing banjo with Wilma Lee Cooper from 1980 to 1984.

In addition to his musical reputation, Marty built a name as one of the finest banjo builders around. His clients are luminaries such as Chet Atkins, Earl Scruggs, Marty Stuart, David Grier, Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, Pat Enright of the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Johnny Cash and Steve Martin -- Marty built the Florentine reproduction that Martin played during his stand-up years.

Nashville Guitar Company instruments are just what the name implies -- guitars that sound and play like the pre-War classics. Marty uses the highest quality materials to produce custom-built, hand-crafted instruments that will stand the test of time.

Read more about Marty in an article from the August 1997 issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine.