AMI MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS CELEBRATES 35 YEARS

Although a more recent entry to the U.S. market, AMI Musical Instruments LLC is celebrating its 35th anniversary this year, carrying a rich history. Since 1984, the company, founded by German luthier Günther Lutz, has offered quality fretted instruments worldwide.

AMI began as a distributor for several brands of acoustic guitars and mandolins, and over the years has grown to be one of the largest distributors of fretted instruments in Europe. In 2011, the Sigma brand name became available and AMI was able to purchase that trademark and began offering Sigma guitars in Europe. Since that time, AMI has expanded the Sigma guitar offering to more than 45 countries worldwide, and they continue to add distributors all over the world. That includes the United States. In the fall of 2017, Lutz decided it was time to bring his guitars to the U.S. market, and due to trademark issues that prevented him from using the Sigma name, he decided to offer them under the company name “AMI” and distribute them through a newly formed U.S. company named AMI Musical Instruments LLC, located in Westlake Village, Calif. With a strong history in the fretted instrument business rich in tradition, Lutz was confident that these quality instruments would someday become a household name in the United States.

Since its official U.S. launch in July 2018, the company’s network of authorized dealers continues to grow, and it is looking to add quality retail stores, such as those run by readers of the Music & Sound Retailer. “We started to offer AMI guitars in 2018 … because we sell our Sigma guitars worldwide to about 45 countries very successfully, and we often had U.S. musicians contacting us and asking where they can buy our instruments. Therefore, we thought it was time to bring our guitars to the U.S. market,” said Lutz.

Although officially started in 1984, AMI’s history dates back to the late 1970s, when Lutz studied American Culture and History at Munich University in Germany. But, as a guitar player for many years, he decided in 1979, after three years of studying, to do something different: to build and repair acoustic guitars, and to open a retail store for musical instruments with his friend Rüdiger Helbig. In 1982, Lutz booked a flight to New York City and visited Nazareth, Pa.-based C.F. Martin Co. with one of his handmade guitars. C.F. Martin agreed to sell guitars to his retail store, since at that time, C.F. Martin did not have any distributor in Germany. C.F. Martin was so impressed by the quality of Lutz’ guitar they asked him to do warranty repair for them in Europe, which he did for several years.

Regarding why Lutz specifically decided to visit C.F. Martin in the early 1980s as opposed to another manufacturer, Lutz told the Music & Sound Retailer: “Our retail store in Munich focused on acoustic instruments, and especially on bluegrass instruments — acoustic guitars, banjos and mandolins — since my business partner, Rüdiger Helbig, is one of the most famous banjo players in Europe. Therefore, many bluegrass musicians visited our store and, of course, bluegrass guitar players want to buy a Martin guitar first.

But at this time, in the beginning of the ‘80s, Martin guitars were not available in Germany. The U.S. dollar was very, very expensive (compared to German currency), and C.F. Martin did not have a distributor in our country. So, we thought when we visited Martin, I would show them one of my handmade guitars, and they would see we are serious and that we know acoustic guitars. Therefore, we were hoping they would agree to ship us some guitars. They agreed, and we started to order about 10 guitars several times in a year.”

In 1984, Lutz established the wholesale company AMI, which stands for “Acoustic Musical Instruments.” The business partner in the beginning was Saga USA/Saga Japan, and AMI sold Blueridge guitars, Kentucky mandolins and Goldstar banjos on the German market. One year later, C.F. Martin offered the distribution of Sigma guitars and Stinger Amps and electric guitars, and since AMI did a good job, it also offered to distribute Martin guitars and strings in Germany. AMI has served as C.F. Martin’s’ business partner in Germany ever since.

Having made a few resonator guitars, and also being the distributor of DOBRO for a while, Lutz decided in 1992 to make metalbody resonator guitars under the brand CONTINENTAL. All metal parts were made in the Czech Republic, and the necks came from Japan. Since business was outstanding the first few years, Lutz spent most of his weekends at the company assembling resonator guitars. In 1992, AMI stated it became the first company worldwide that offered a Tricone metal-body resonator guitar.

In 1993, Lutz established another company: AXL Europe. He became a product manager for AXL Co., China, traveling to China several times a year and teaching guitar factories how to improve the quality of acoustic guitars. That same year, he also showed Chinese guitar makers how to make metal-body resonator guitars, and the first of these resonator guitars were displayed at The NAMM Show in Anaheim, Calif., in 1994 under the brand Johnson.

The following years, AMI grew significantly, as it started to sell all kinds of Chinese-made products, including guitars, amps, violins, cellos, wind instruments and pianos. Since business changed at the dawn of the new millennium, Lutz decided to give up the business with Chinese products step by step, gave up the huge warehouse the company had in northern Germany and focused again just on acoustic instruments, primarily Martin guitar sales.

In 2011, C.F. Martin agreed to sell the Sigma brand to AMI Germany. Lutz had been asking to buy this brand for a long time, and said he would like to re-establish that business that C.F. Martin gave up a few years ago. AMI registered the Sigma brand in countries where it has bought the rights from C.F. Martin, and also registered the brand in many other countries worldwide where the brand was never registered before.

By Brian Berk