D'Addario

D'Addario is the world's largest maker of strings for musical instruments, and its string-making family traces back to a village in the province of Pescara, Italy, where the family hand-wound strings for lutes, harps and guitars; one history dates that tradition to 1680. Charles D'Addario brought the trade to America in the early 1900s, and a company timeline has Charles and Rocco moving to New York City in 1905.

In 1954 John D'Addario formed Archaic Strings for electric-guitar strings, which merged into Darco Music Strings in 1962; the family later left Darco, and after resigning in 1974, John D'Addario started J. D'Addario & Company with his sons John Jr. and Jim. The founding year is given as 1973, 1974 or 1975 depending on the source. It began with fewer than 20 employees in a 10,000-square-foot facility in Lindenhurst, moved to Farmingdale, New York in 1979 and into a 110,000-square-foot building there in 1994.

The company also sells accessories under the Planet Waves brand and owns Evans drumheads, ProMark drumsticks and D'Addario Woodwinds. It remains owned and managed by the D'Addario family. Guitar Radar follows new string sets and accessories.