NAMM Oral Histories
Interview with Donnie Wade, Chief Engineer
Date of Interview
3-22-2017
Length of Interview
57:41
Digital Publication Date
2-28-2024
Publisher
National Association of Music Merchants
Language
English
Keywords
Gretsch Company, Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Product Engineers, Luthiers, Merle Travis, Guitars
Copyright
See the publisher's copyright and reuse policies.
Disciplines
Music | Music Business
Recommended Citation
Wade, Donnie, "Interview with Donnie Wade, Chief Engineer" (2017). NAMM Oral Histories. 12.
https://digitalcommons.georgiasouthern.edu/nammoralhistories/12
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
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Notes
From the NAMM Oral History Collection:
Donnie Wade "borrowed" his parent’s car when he was 14 years old to drive to a bar so he could hear Freddie King play the guitar! That experience and an earlier encounter with Merle Travis marked the beginning of his passion for the guitar! That passion took him from his own retail shop in Texas to setting up factories in Asia and more recently to Fender, where he is the chief luthier for the Gretsch brand. A career that all started with a car drive.