Everything about Ernie Ball totally explained
Ernie Ball (1930 –
September 9 2004) was an American
entrepreneur, musician, and innovator, widely acclaimed as a revolutionary in the development of
guitar-related products. He began as a club and local television musician and small business entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and accessories that would eventually gross
US$40 million a year.
Early years
Born
Sherwood Roland Ball in
Santa Monica, California, USA, “Ernie” Ball grew up in a musical family. His grandfather wrote the standard,
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling and his father was a car salesman who taught
Hawaiian steel guitar on the side. Although Ball initially picked up the steel at age nine to please his father, he became bored and gave it up. In his early teens he began to take a renewed interest in the instrument, practicing as many as three hours a day. Within a year he was a member of the
Musicians Union.
Musician
While still in his early teens, Ball began playing professionally in
South Central Los Angeles beer bars. By age 19 he joined the
Tommy Duncan Band playing
pedal steel guitar. Duncan, the former lead singer with
Bob Wills and His Texas Playboys, took the band on tour through the
Southwestern United States. During the
Korean War, he did a tour of duty in the
United States Air Force Band, playing guitar and bass drum. After the military he returned to
Los Angeles and continued playing in barrooms and lounges, until landing a job on the 1950s “Western Varieties” program at
KTLA television. The position soon gained him wider recognition in the
Los Angeles music scene and led to studio work and teaching jobs.
Entrepreneur
Sometime in 1957 or 1958, Ball opened what was arguably the first music store in the United States to sell guitars exclusively, in
Tarzana, California. When music sales reps criticized him for refusing to sell
drumsticks and other instruments equipment, Ball replied, “I just want to sell guitars.” He was repeatedly told that a guitar store would never be a success, but the words rang hollow as people began to come from miles around to visit the shop. Eventually, the products spawned from his company would sell in over 5,500 hundred stores and be exported to more than 70 countries of the world.
"Slinkys"
With the guitar-based rock revival of the 1960s, Ball noticed that beginning students were having difficulty playing the bestselling
Fender #100 medium gauge strings, particularly in holding down the 29-gauge third string. He approached the Fender company
with the problem, suggesting a lighter gauge but was rebuffed. Ball convinced a string manufacturer to make him custom sets with a 24-gauge third string which he sold in his store. It was the beginning of the Ernie Ball brand. Located not far from
Hollywood, the store began to attract a large patronage of professional musicians, including
The Beach Boys,
Merle Travis, and
The Ventures. Ball began to notice a trend with players who were increasingly discarding the sixth string and adding a banjo first string, resulting in an overall lighter gauge set. Again, he contacted Fender with a suggestion for a lighter set and was turned down. This time he continued the quest with
Gibson who scoffed at the idea. So, once again he ordered from the manufacturer naming the product the
Ernie Ball Slinky. Slinky strings traveled the country with the pro musicians who used them and before long, Ball was receiving mail orders from individuals and stores. Still not a string company, he ordered separate strings in various sizes and displayed them in a makeshift case allowing musicians to experiment in creating their own sets. It took off, and in 1967 he sold the store and moved his string business to Newport Beach, California.
Today, Ernie Ball Slinkys advertise the guitarists who use these strings on the packaging. A very small sampling of these guitarists includes:
Eric Clapton,
Jimmy Page,
Slash,
Steve Vai,
John Petrucci,
Jeff Beck,
Albert Lee,
Buddy Guy,
Angus Young,
The Edge,
Synyster Gates,
John Mayer,
James Hetfield,
Kirk Hammett,
Brad Paisley,
John Fogerty,
Dave Navarro and
Charles Gallant.
Marketing innovation
Ernie Ball didn't create anything new, he simply saw a demand and improved upon existing products and found ways to better fulfill market demands. By the early 1970s he took the company global establishing distributors in
Europe and
Asia.
Jimi Hendrix,
Eric Clapton, and
Pete Townshend and other rock icons were stringing up Slinkys, a trend that continues into the present, making Ernie Ball the second biggest string manufacturer in the country. He was unorthodox in his management methods, disregarding market surveys preferring to test products on in the marketplace to see if they'd succeed. He regarded
profit-and-loss as necessary evils and trusted his instincts. In the early eighties the company bought the
Music Man Company expanding into the production of high quality
guitars,
basses and
amplifiers with
Leo Fender making the instruments and
Tom Walker building amps. He along with former Fender employee,
George Fullerton, was instrumental in the development of the first modern
acoustic bass guitar, introduced under the
Earthwood brand in 1972. Although unsuccessful, surviving models are highly collectable.
In 1985, the company was moved to a new
facility in
San Luis Obispo and remained there with all of it operations until early 2003, when the company relocated its string manufacturing to Southern California’s
Riverside County. Under his leadership it grossed more than $40 million per annum. The company established an annual
Battle of the Bands contest and participated in other trade events nationwide.
Personal life
Ball had diverse interests including collecting cars,
surfing and
flying airplanes. He also authored a series of books and manuals on guitar playing. He was married and had three sons, Sherwood, David, and
Sterling Ball, and a daughter, Nova.
Death
Ball remained active in his company until his death forty-two years after its founding. He died from an ongoing, undisclosed illness on
September 9 2004, leaving the business to his sons and other family members. He was buried near his home in
San Luis Obispo, California.
Further Information
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