11/10/2020 Ernie Ball - Wikipedia

Ernie Ball
Ernie Ball (born Roland Sherwood Ball; August 30, 1930 –
September 9, 2004)[1] was an American entrepreneur and Ernie Ball
musician, best known in the development of guitar-related Born Roland Sherwood
products. Ball began as a club and local television musician and Ball
entrepreneur, building an international business in guitars and August 30, 1930
accessories that would eventually gross US$40 million a year. Santa Monica,
"Ernie Ball" is also the eponymous corporation Ball started to California, U.S.
market guitar accessories.
Died September 9, 2004
(aged 74)
San Luis Obispo,
Contents California, U.S.
Early years Occupation Entrepreneur,
Musician musician, innovator

Entrepreneur Years active 1957-2004

"Slinkys" Spouse(s) Nova Gail Conley

Marketing innovation Children Sherwood Ball

David Ball
Battle of the Bands
Sterling Ball
Ernie Ball: The Pursuit of Tone Nova Ball
Ernie Ball: String Theory Parent(s) Roland Adelbert Ball
Personal life Frances Shankland
Death Musical career
See also Genres Rock
References Instruments Guitar, bass guitar
External links
Ernie Ball corporation
Type Private
Early years
Industry Musical instruments
Ball was born Roland Sherwood Ball in Santa Monica, Founded 1962
California, and grew up in a musical family, the son of Frances Headquarters San Luis Obispo,
(née Shankland) and Roland Adelbert Ball.[1] His paternal California, United
grandfather, Ernest Ball, wrote the standard "When Irish Eyes States
Are Smiling"[2] and his father was a car salesman who taught Global
Area served
Hawaiian steel guitar on the side.[3] Although Ball initially started
to play steel guitar at age nine to please his father, he became Key people CEO Brian Ball
bored and gave it up. In his early teens he began to take a Products strings
renewed interest in the instrument, practicing as many as three
Divisions Music Man
hours a day. Within a year he was a member of the Musicians
Union.[4] Website ernieball.com (htt
p://ernieball.com)

Musician

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ball 1/5
11/10/2020 Ernie Ball - Wikipedia

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.[5] 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.[6] The position soon gained him wider recognition in the Los Angeles music scene and led
to studio work and teaching jobs.[7]

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.[8] When music sales representatives criticized him for
refusing to sell drumsticks and other musical 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.[9] Eventually, the products spawned from his
company would sell in more than 5,500 stores and be exported to more than 70 countries of the
world.[10]

"Slinkys"
With the guitar-based rock revival of the 1960s, Ball noticed that beginning students were having
difficulty playing the bestselling Fender #10 medium gauge strings,[11] particularly in holding down or
bending the stiff .028" third ("G") string. At the time, it was common for a set of strings to have a
"wound" 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 also began to notice the practice of "slack stringing" among players who discarded the bottom
sixth string and added a banjo first string on top. This resulted in an overall lighter gauge set with a
plain third string. Again, he contacted Fender with a suggestion for a lighter set and was turned down.
He then approached Gibson, who also turned him down. So, once again he ordered from the
manufacturer naming the product the Ernie Ball Slinky.[12] "Slinky" strings traveled the country with
the pro musicians who used them and before long, Ball was receiving mail orders from individuals
and stores.[13] 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 are used by many world-famous guitar players including Jimmy Page, Paul
McCartney, Angus Young, Keith Richards, and Joe Bonamassa.[14]

The characteristic packaging of Ball's guitar strings was designed by Disney Imagineer, Rolly
Crump.[15]

Marketing innovation
Ernie Ball did not 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 by establishing distributors in Europe and Asia.[7] Jimi Hendrix, Eric Clapton, Pete
Townshend, and other rock icons were stringing up Slinkys, a trend that continues into the present,

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ball 2/5
11/10/2020 Ernie Ball - Wikipedia

making Ernie Ball the second biggest string manufacturer in the country. He was unorthodox in his
management methods, disregarding market surveys, preferring instead to test products in the
marketplace to see if they would succeed.[16] He regarded profit-and-loss as necessary evils and
trusted his instincts. In the early eighties the company bought the Music Man Company,[13]
expanding into the production of high quality guitars, basses, and amplifiers with Leo Fender making
the instruments and Tom Walker building amps.[17] Ball, 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.[18]

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.[19]
The company established an annual Battle of the Bands contest and participated in other trade events
nationwide.[20]

Battle of the Bands

In 1997, the very first Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands kicked off at the San Francisco date of the Warped
Tour. The Battle of The Bands 1 had 18 stops in its first year and developed into a long-lasting
relationship with Kevin Lyman and the Warped Tour.[21] In 2016, the Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands
was rebranded to Ernie Ball: PLAY Warped. Starting in 2000, Sterling Ball partnered with Chris
Robinson VP of Electro Voice to promote the growth of the tour. The 2016 marked the 20th
anniversary of the Ernie Ball/Warped Tour Battle of the Bands relationship.

Ernie Ball: The Pursuit of Tone

In 2016, Ernie Ball launched Ernie Ball: The Pursuit of Tone,[22] an AT&T Audience Network
documentary series that focuses on the sonic journeys of some of today’s most interesting and
compelling guitarists, including Buddy Guy, Mike Ness (Social Distortion), Billy Duffy (The Cult),
Tom Delonge (Blink-182, Box Car Racer, Angels and Airwaves), James Valentine (Maroon 5) and
Hunter Hayes. Created and produced by Ernie Ball, the documentary series profiles the world’s
greatest guitar players and their lifelong search for their own unique sound.

Ernie Ball: String Theory

In 2016, Ernie Ball launched Ernie Ball: String Theory,[23] a web series that focuses on how today's
top guitarists and bassists came to play the specific alloy(s) and gauge(s) of guitar strings that help
them achieve their signature sounds. Artists have included Kirk Hammett (Metallica), Justin
Chancellor (TOOL), Joe Bonamassa, Courtney Barnett, Paul Gilbert (Mr. Big, Racer X), Kenny Wayne
Shepherd, Mike Herrera (MxPx), Steve Stevens (Billy Idol), Butch Walker, Bobb Bruno (Best Coast),
Dustin Kensrue (Thrice), Joe Don Rooney (Rascal Flatts), Ilan Rubin (Nine Inch Nails, Angels and
Airwaves, The New Regime), The White Buffalo, and more.

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 to Nova Gail (Conley), and had three
sons, Sherwood, David, and Sterling Ball, and a daughter, Nova.[24] His granddaughter is actress
Hannah Marks.[25]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ball 3/5
11/10/2020 Ernie Ball - Wikipedia

Death
Ball remained active in his company until his death 42 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 at San Luis Cemetery in San Luis Obispo, California.[12]

See also
Michael DeTemple

References
1. "Person Page 2667" (http://www.newenglandballproject.com/g2/p2667.htm#i66670). The New
England Ball Project. 1993-10-08. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
2. Music Trades, No. 9, Vol. 152; Pg. 177; ISSN 0027-4488 (https://www.worldcat.org/search?fq=x0:j
rnl&q=n2:0027-4488): Ernie Ball; Deaths; October 1, 2004
3. Guitar Pioneer Ernie Ball Dies At 74; Knight Ridder Tribune Business News, Pg. 1; September 10,
2004; Huff, Ryan
4. "History" (http://www.ernieball.com/history/). Ernie Ball. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
5. Music Trades; October 1, 2004
6. Ball: SLO Man-Made Name In Guitar Strings: 'Ernie' Ball Dies'; The San Luis Obispo Tribune, A-
SECTION; Pg. A1; September 10, 2004,
7. Music Trades
8. [1] (http://www.ernieball.com/history) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20070206173901/htt
p://www.ernieball.com/history) February 6, 2007, at the Wayback Machine
9. Ball: Slo Man-Made Name In Guitar Strings; 'Ernie' Ball Dies; The San Luis Obispo Tribune, A-
SECTION; Pg. A1; September 10, 2004,
10. Guitar Pioneer; Knight Ridder September 10, 2004
11. 1966 Fender String Catalog, Page 2 http://www.thewho.net/whotabs/gear/guitar/strings.html
12. Music Trades, October 1, 2004
13. Country Boy: A Biography of Albert Lee, S. 189 f. Online (https://books.google.com/books?id=DA
dThNYQoMwC&pg=PA189&dq=Ernie+Ball&hl=de&sa=X&ei=iOsdUdmCLIWctAboqYC4Dw&ved=
0CFQQ6AEwBQ#v=onepage&q=Ernie%20Ball&f=false)
14. http://www.ernieball.com/bonamassa/us
15. Tim Forster, "Carte Blanche", Record Collector, #440, May 2015, p.136
16. Pioneer
17. "History" (http://erinieball.com/history). Ernie Ball. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
18. "History" (http://ernieball.com/history). Ernie Ball. Retrieved 2014-03-24.
19. SLO Man; Tribune, September 10, 2004
20. "Battle Of The Bands" (http://www.battleofthebands.com/). Battle Of The Bands. Retrieved
2014-03-24.
21. "History" (https://web.archive.org/web/20070206173901/http://www.ernieball.com/history). Ernie
Ball. Archived from the original (http://www.ernieball.com/history) on 2007-02-06. Retrieved
2014-03-24.
22. Inc., Ernie Ball. "Ernie Ball Presents The Pursuit of Tone" (https://www.ernieball.com/thepursuitoft
one). www.ernieball.com. Retrieved 2016-08-15.
23. "Ernie Ball: String Theory" (https://www.ernieball.com/stringtheory). Ernie Ball. Retrieved
2016-08-15.
24. SLO Man, September 10, 2004

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ball 4/5
11/10/2020 Ernie Ball - Wikipedia

25. http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/06/28/v-print/2123127/hannah-marks-actress-spider-man.html
(http://www.sanluisobispo.com/2012/06/28/v-print/2123127/hannah-marks-actress-spider-man.ht
ml). Retrieved July 8, 2012. Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links
[2] (http://www.music-man.com)
Ernie Ball/Music Man Company (http://www.ernieball.com/)
Ernie Ball Battle of the Bands (http://www.battleofthebands.com/)
Guitar Player story (http://www.guitarplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=74&storycode=16918)
Captured 7 April 2007

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ernie_Ball&oldid=976053250"

This page was last edited on 31 August 2020, at 22:49 (UTC).

Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. By using this
site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia
Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ernie_Ball 5/5