NAMM Oral Histories
 
Interview with Donnie Wade, Chief Engineer

Interview with Donnie Wade, Chief Engineer

Interviewee

Donnie Wade

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

Disciplines

Music | Music Business

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.

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.

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Interview with Donnie Wade, Chief Engineer

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