In conversations, Ross recalled having dreamed up a guitar design in around 1966 and approached the folks at Holman about it.Or shall we say Wurlitzer guitars, or Alray, or LaBaye, or 21st Century, or Mistic.While a fair number of questions remain to be answered about Holman guitars, we can relate enough of the history to give you a decent idea of these wonders from Kansas.
Assuming you know that Kansas sits almost smack dab in the middle of the lower 48, Neodesha is a tiny little burg nestled in the southeastern corner of the state. About the only recognizable landmarks within a 25-mile radius is another small town you may have heard of, Chanute, home of Bud Ross and Kustom amplifiers and guitars. In fact, speaking of Oz, Dorothy might very well have come from somewhere near these parts. Head 100 miles or so straight north on route 75 and youre in Topeka. Add another 20 miles or so to the northeast and you hit Kansas City. Southeastern Kansas may seem an unlikely place for a couple of guitar factories, but there it is. Holman and Victor A. Woodell. Holman hailed from the little town of Independence, Kansas, a few miles to the west, where he ran a local music store, the Holman Music Company. Woodell was the money man, described as a former industrialist with experience in electronics manufacturing who had already retired to Sarasota, Florida. The new factory was located upstairs in the Fawcett Building at 515 Main Street in Neodesha. Two other key players were G. S. Stan White, a local with manufacturing experience who was responsible for setting up the factory and handling public relations, and Harold Wheeler, an engineer whod worked with other electronic and manufacturing companies. One other management person mentioned in another newspaper account was Clement Hall, function unknown. ![]() This first-ever Holman guitar gig featured Doyle Reading on lead guitar, backed by Randy Blumer on drums, Norman Blumer on rhythm guitar, and Larry Blumer on bass. Reading was the Holman-Woodell production supervisor and, based on evidence from interviews and his own testimony, probably the chief guitar designer at the company. During this debut, various Holman guitars were displayed and Stan White announced production to be at about 50 guitars a week. White and Reading fielded questions, and Holman also announced that national distribution would be handled by the Wurlitzer Music Company, the famous piano and organ manufacturer and instrument distributor. Reading was, by some accounts, once a woodshop teacher in the local schools, so he had a good knowledge of the art of woodworking. He was also a pretty good guitar player, specializing in fingerstyle, in a Merle Travis sort of mode. Indeed, understanding Readings preference for fingerstyle in many ways explains the sound of Holman-made guitars, which have pretty good separation and clarity, but will never, ever push an amp into distortion. Of course, the Travis-picking country style was still especially influential in Middle America during those pre-psychedelic days of innocence. Reading left Holman in 1967 and hooked up with Kustom to make their guitars. Indeed, it was Reading who played a major role in the design of Kustom guitars.
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