Carl M Grefenstette

On February 9, 1964, when a young Carl Grefenstette saw The Beatles on Ed Sullivan, he could not have realized that some day he’d be an expert on the instruments used that evening, even down to the serial numbers. And he couldn’t have imagined that someday he would be a nationally respected authority on Hofner Basses, the brand that Paul played that day. Or that Paul McCartney would spend thirty years of his life playing a guitar once owned by Carl.

Carl started buying guitars as soon as he was old enough to do so. In the mid-1970s a show called Beatlemania debuted on Broadway and Carl was hired to provide the show with period correct instruments. This led him to open a shop of his own, Pittsburgh Guitars.

Established in 1979, Pittsburgh Guitars introduced generations of folks to the wonder of the guitar. As he bought and sold thousands of guitars Carl followed his passion for the history of the instrument, continually expanding his knowledge base. And along the way he amassed a personal collection of rare and historically significant guitars. He once owned an extremely rare left-handed 1960 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst which found its way to Paul McCartney’s hands in the mid-1980s. McCartney still uses it today. Carl continued to grow the business and developed Pittsburgh Guitars into a nationally known, premier independent guitar store. He retired from the retail business in 2011 after 30+ years, but Pittsburgh Guitars continues to serve customers worldwide.

Today Carl still spends his time buying guitars and studying their history, attending national guitar shows, collaborating with other vintage guitar collectors, and keeping current on guitar trends. He shares his knowledge and highlights unique pieces from his guitar collection by producing the YouTube video series “Musicians with Guitars Drinking Wine.” And he still maintains the same level of passion about all things related to guitars, an obsession that began with a band on a TV show in 1964.