R.I.P. John Pearse

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 1 Nov 2008 8:24 am

John Pearse has died.

http://www.jpstrings.com

Co-Owner of Breezy Ridge strings and accessories, Pearse was very involved with lap steel guitar for many years. He restored a vintage Martin Hawaiian guitar, attended HSGA conventions, developed strings specifically for lap-style guitar, created the John Pearse Thermo-Cryonic tonebar, and even briefly imported a (disastrous) line of Italian-made Weissenborn-style guitars. John did a lot of things well: music, cooking, inventing. He made our little micro universe of steel guitar better for being in it.

Bill Hatcher · Post by **Bill Hatcher** » 1 Nov 2008 8:42 am

Nice fellow. Met him a time or two at trade shows. The absolute BEST acoustic guitar strings I ever used. I hope someone keeps his fine products for sale.

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 1 Nov 2008 9:00 am

That's a real shame. His contributions to the steel guitar world (especially resophonic and lap steel) were immense. My sympathies to his family and friends.

John Bechtel · Post by **John Bechtel** » 1 Nov 2008 9:17 am

I met John, when he came to my house in Telford, Pa. in 1982 to purchase an extra BOSS Chorus Unit that I had. I've been using jPearse steel guitar strings ever since, but; I only met him that one time! I knew that he was in declining health for some years and I'm sorry to hear of his passing! He will be missed!
John Bechtel
Proud jPearse Strings Endorsee

Nick Reed · Post by **Nick Reed** » 1 Nov 2008 10:51 am

Stephen Gambrell · Post by **Stephen Gambrell** » 1 Nov 2008 11:06 am

When I heard that Doc Watson used John Pearse strings, I immediately went "in search of." Now, they didn't make me play like Doc, but I've used 'em for30+ years, now. RIP, John.

Red Kilby · Post by **Red Kilby** » 1 Nov 2008 11:15 am

I too am a John Pearse String endorsee, and use them exclusively on my flat top guitars, and send my condolences to everyone in the organization.

RIP John Pearse

Mark van Allen · Post by **Mark van Allen** » 1 Nov 2008 11:31 am

The Pearce Folks were kind enough to support me with an endosrsement deal years ago, and they've always been just great. Really wonderful products. My heartfelt wishes to everyone over at Pearce.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 1 Nov 2008 12:07 pm

This is sad news.

I sold John the very first Martin guitar I'd ever owned - an old 000-18 - by placing an ad in Exchange & Mart in Britain in 1960. He lived in Crouch End, N8 and I was in Muswell Hill, N10 - I recall that my knowledge of guitars was so abysmal then that I advertised it as a 'Martin country & western guitar'!!!!

He, of course, was an expert back then, and was no doubt happy to see the word 'Martin' in the instruments for sale section - he was on my doorstep in a flash and paid me the 45 Pounds I was asking.

We didn't meet again until 1992! That was at the Orlando Vintage Guitar Show where he, Ray Flacke and I had dinner, and we arranged to meet again in Nazareth at the Martin factory a week later. I was a guest at his home that night, and he showed me some very interesting guitars from his days as an R&D man at Martins.

He actually offered me a chance to import his strings to the UK and be one of the first to do so, but I missed the opportunity fearing that I lacked the acumen to carry it off.

He was a clever and interesting guy and I'm happy to have known him, however briefly.

Tommy Young · Post by **Tommy Young** » 1 Nov 2008 2:50 pm

MY Condolences to his family he sure will be missed.

James Kerr · Post by **James Kerr** » 1 Nov 2008 4:13 pm

When I started out on Acoustic Guitar, he was on UK TV with a program called Hold Down a Chord. I always rememberd the name John Pearse and I think I still have the book from that series.

James.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 1 Nov 2008 5:41 pm

Very sorry to hear this. He was a nice fellow, I've seen and talked to him at trade shows and vintage guitar shows occasionally over the years. Several years back he had a bunch of Weissenborn copies at his booth, man they sounded great.

I agree with Bill's assessment of John Pearse acoustic guitar strings - I put my first set on my old D-35 in the 80s, and they sure did sound better than anything I had heard.

James Pennebaker · Post by **James Pennebaker** » 1 Nov 2008 10:33 pm

Very sad news. I think John made the best set of acoustic guitar strings there was to be had. I got to know him a little bit through the years at NAMM shows. John was a very sweet man who devoted his life to making things better for musicians by making better things for musicians. He was a very gifted musician himself and will be sorely missed. Prayers and condolences go out to his family and friends.

JP

Tony Prior · Post by **Tony Prior** » 2 Nov 2008 1:14 am

Never met John, this is sad, I did buy a whole bunch of JP Strings at the last St Louis convention, sets and singles, they are easily as good and as consistent as any other brand out there.

RIP John..you made a mark

tp

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 2 Nov 2008 9:35 am

Wow, this is really sad news. He was just a great guy; I met him at NAMM years ago and I really liked his laid-back booth and interesting product mix; one that's almost funny in a way is his odd-shaped flatpick, with one of the rounded-edges elongated. I tried one and (as I always played 6-string with a rounded-edge pick) flipped out and bought a dozen - so the next year he saw me, said it had gotten around that I'd posted notes about them on some 6-string forums and "sales had jumped" (we're talking a 25-cent item...he probably made and extra ten bucks that year) and he dumped a huge handful in my lap...and did the same thing each year, always with a big laugh.

He was a character. He's really going to be missed; I hope the business carries on as he had really fine products that are unique.

Roger Rettig · Post by **Roger Rettig** » 2 Nov 2008 11:42 am

I recall an armrest he invented that was located on the lower bass-bout of an acoustic guitar. It was a good idea that doesn't seem to have caught on, more's the pity. It not only allowed the instrument to resonate more freely, it also protected the finish from sweat-damage to the finish from the player's right forearm.

John had one fitted to an outstanding Martin prototype in his collection - one of the very first 'M' series instruments (without serial number), and built around 1977.

A clever idea!

Robbie Bossert · Post by **Robbie Bossert** » 3 Nov 2008 9:14 am

Sorry to hear this. John sold me my first decent steel many years ago. It was an MSA 12 string and I owned it for quite some time. When I went to his house to pick it, he couldn't wait to show me all of the new inventions he had been working on at the time. The 2 I remember was a bar that had a slot cut in the nose for easier slants. And, an instrument that he had been working on in conjunction with Charlie Bunker. It was a twin neck instrument. The top neck was a standard 4 string bass and the bottom neck was a guitar type deal that one had to tap to make chords. The idea was that one could accompany one's self or add a drummer to create a full 3 piece band with just 2 players.

The pickups that were used on this instrument seemed to be what interested John the most. They sustained forever! For instance, if you fretted the bass on the third fret of the E string, That G note would not stop until you took your finger off of the string.At that point it would stop instantly. It was pretty amazing. My description doesn't do it justice I know. You really had to be there.

Also, standing in the corner of his dining room was the most pristine Fender lap steel you've ever seen. He told me that it was the original guitar that Patsy Cline's steel player used to record "Crazy". It seemed to be one of his prized possessions.

I'll say a prayer for John and his family. He seemed like a good man.

RoBo

DeWitt Scott · Post by **DeWitt Scott** » 3 Nov 2008 9:04 pm

John Pearse has been a distributor at the International Steel Guitar Convention for several years and I think he did attend one or more of the Conventions. He has excellent products and my condolences to the family. Scotty

Ben Elder · Post by **Ben Elder** » 4 Nov 2008 12:30 am

A small gang of us ex-OMI dreamers (I was merely an informal Weissenborn ner--...advisor) tried to join forces with JP & Co about a decade ago. (We attempted to get a Weissenborn-making concern going after Gibson shut down OMI Huntington Beach. It was a project we knew Gibson would never continue in Nashville--in fact, for a many months it was not certain that a Dobro resonator guitar would ever come out of Nashville.) We nevertheless had a great NAMM Show that year sharing booth space and testing the waters for a possible cooperative endeavor with John, Linda, Mary Faith, Michelle et al., but it wasn't to be. It was a great time, as was every visit every NAMM show even if just as old friends stopping by. (Somewhere, I think I still have a large stash of the beige Weissenborn by John Pearse t-shirts that I think Mary-Faith iron-applied one by one.)

I hope someone will post some pics of the JP t-shirts regarding guitar possession and marital tranquility.

John was many things, but not the least: he was a huge shot of adrenalin.

I'll just say luv ya John before I weaken and give in to the urge to blurt out something that includes "cryogenic"...

-o0o-

(In case anyone's unfamiliar with the guitar John's playing in the pic on the website and who the other guy is next to him, I'm shortly going to start a thread under Music about Larry Pogreba [don't look for his website--he doesn't do computers--but maybe Dream Guitars or Rumble Seat or Gruhn or Buffalo Bros. have one of his creations]...something I've been intending to do for some weeks.)

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 25 Dec 2008 9:03 pm

I remember he had a documentary on the BBC about building mountain dulcimers back in the 50s when very few people had heard of the instrument. I bought the book that went with the documentary and I learned a lot from it.

Mike Perlowin · Post by **Mike Perlowin** » 27 Dec 2008 10:49 am

I also knew John, having met him at various NAMM shows over the years. He was a good guy.

Besides hos other accomplishments, he also was involved in the production of Pete Grant's excellent "Greetings From California" CD. I'm not sure exactly what he did though.

I stopped by his booth several times at this year's show, and was told each time that he wasn't feeling well and was resting in his hotel room.

R.I.P. John

David L. Donald · Post by **David L. Donald** » 27 Jan 2009 5:51 am

I played Pearse bar and strings for decades.
Some Pearse strings are on the Dobro right now.

RIP John in the Dobro world, you ruled.

Bill Myrick · Post by **Bill Myrick** » 27 Jan 2009 8:24 am

I recently bought two sets of Pearse E 9th # 7100 nickel wound strings from a local music store and strung the first set just this morning. I was so impressed I went to the internet and ordered 3 more sets.
My sincere sympathy to the Pearse family in their loss.

Rick Sharp · Post by **Rick Sharp** » 1 Feb 2009 3:03 pm

I never had theh pleasure of meeting the gentleman, but I've used his strings since I tried the first set years ago...the best string ever made!!

Thoughts and Prayers to his family!