Past Exhibitions

Over the lifetime of a piano, it needs consistent service to make it a responsive musical instrument. A neglected piano will become less and less capable of musical expression over time and will tend to lead the player to frustration and disappointment. Regular service performed by a competent piano technician is simply a necessary part…

The term “Harp Guitar” today refers to guitars with a number of floating strings in addition to fretted strings on the neck. Most commonly these are additional bass strings (anywhere from 1 to 12); occasionally, mid-range or treble “harp” string banks are included. Extremely diverse in form and stringing arrangement, their shared defining element is…

The Museum of Making Music’s fully interactive exhibition will introduce you to innovative instruments on the market today, and will open your ears and eyes to the many – perhaps surprising – ways that music is currently being made. Groundbreaking products showcased in the exhibition include the ROLI Seaboard Rise MIDI Controller, ROLI Blocks, Aerodrums,…

The NAMM Museum of Making Music is honored to feature 29 photographs of famed artist and musician, Graham Nash. Speaking directly and indirectly to the world of music, his images remind us that both the visual and musical arts share common ground. Through themes such as motion, emotion, repetition, expression, mood and texture, his images…

In 1833, guitar maker Christian Frederick Martin crossed the ocean in search of freedom from restriction and the opportunities of a new land. Settling in Nazareth, PA, his arrival marked the beginning of what is now a 6-generation continuously family owned and operated company, C.F. Martin & Co., and a tradition of American guitar building.…

Casio Computer Co., Ltd. was founded in 1957 by Tadao Kashio and his three brothers with a goal to make the world’s first all-electric compact relay calculator. Today, almost 60 years later, Casio is known for having accomplished that original lofty goal, and also for developing a diverse product lineup that includes watches, digital cameras,…

San Diego was not immune to the post-World War II guitar craze that swept America. At a time when many guitars were manufactured in the Midwest or back East, a few independent Southern California luthiers were building custom guitars of exceptional quality. In his San Diego garage, Walter James ‘Jim’ Harvey, a Chief Metalsmith in the United States Navy…

In broad acoustic terms, “bass” refers to sounds that fall below 262 Hertz on the frequency spectrum. In musical terms it can refer to the instruments that make those low sounds as well as the sounds themselves. Its presence in music is critical. The pulse laid down by the bass is like an engine. A…

When Adolphe Sax received his patent for the saxophone in 1846, Europe throbbed with the beat of the Industrial Revolution. It was a time of invention and innovation. That year, the first practical sewing machine unleashed a garment industry. Publishers praised the first cylinder printing press. And Charles Darwin shook the scientific community with his…

Centuries before oboes, clarinets, and saxophones came to America, cultures in the Middle East, Persia, Central and East Asia were inventing and playing a wide variety of reed instruments. As they travelled, they brought along these instruments. Some went east to Asia, some south to India and Africa, and others north and west to Europe.…

The decoration of musical instruments is a longstanding tradition in which instrument bodies serve as canvases for carved, inlaid or painted designs. While this practice continues today, it is also experiencing significant shifts. Technological advances have given artist-luthiers access to a wide variety of materials that they now incorporate, often times unconventionally, into their work.…

Today is the golden age of effects pedals. There are more available now than at any other time in history. The varieties of artistic expression that go into the design and construction of these devices is both surprising and mind-boggling. Thus, the exhibition has been developed to focus on the look of the pedals, as…