Ren Wall: Ren-aissance Man of Music
- Todd Beebe
- Jul 24
- 22 min read
Updated: Jul 25
If you haven't yet read the first interview with Rendal find it here on Todd Beebe's own site HERE.
Rendal Wall is a music man of the people. He started working at Gibson Guitar in 1960. During his 22 years with the company he designed priceless tools to help musicians create and perform their best. Among Rendal's many inventions are the famous TP-6 tailpiece, Sustain Sisters, HRW pickups and Equa Strings, which have equal tension across an entire set. Today this concept is used by every string manufacturer in the industry. For the past 40 years he's been at Heritage guitar in Kalamazoo, MI. During this time his inventions have continued.He carries on the legacy of his father, country music artist Rem Wall, who worked at Gibson for 37 years.
Monetary gain has never been a motivator in Ren's world. While many inventors seek to create the next big thing, taking them to Easy Street, Ren's motivation is to help his fellow musicians any way he can. He greets each day with one goal in mind: to make the world a better place for musicians.
He has been appointed Colonel on the Governor's Staff of Tennessee and inducted into the Michigan Country Music Hall of Fame. He is an active member (and award recipient) in countless organizations including R.O.P.E. (The Reunion of Professional Entertainers), of which he is a Lifetime Member. Since that time he has not slowed down one bit. In 2025 he's still making music and performing multiple shows weekly.
Todd Beebe: So you look great! What's new since our last interview?
Rendal Wall: What's new? Well, I'm still vertical! (laughs)
TB: Well that's great! We're happy about that! (laughs)
RW: I had two jobs pickin' yesterday–at the hospital in Borgess and at Upjohn Nursing Home. So I'm still able to pick and grin and have a good time! That's what's really kept me young, you know? Of course you're into music too. You and your wife Connie play and sing and have a good time so you know.
TB: Yes! It's great for sure! Speaking of wives, did your wife ever get into music?
RW: Yeah, I met my wife when my dad played up in Wayland [Michigan]. We've been married 64 years now. We have two boys and two girls. They're all busy and in good health. I've been working at Heritage Guitar for 40 years and I worked at Gibson Guitar for 22 years. It's been a good life!
TB: And you're still going! I'd like to discuss some of your inventions and get some technical insight from you about them. I'd also like to talk some more about your dad.
RW: Sure! I was going to start out talking about my dad. Here's a great thing: The patent for the truss rod cover was issued back in 1923. [Author’s Note: A truss rod is a metal rod that runs through the neck of a guitar for adjusting.] If you look at some of the old guitars you'll see the truss rod cover was actually a metal one with a little bubble. That was because the truss rod nut was above the top surface of the head veneer so the cover had to fit over that nut. So my Dad said, "Why don't you just put a chamfer on the nut?" So if you notice, all the truss rod nuts that go on, it's flat and then it tapers off, so that it clears the top of the peghead. My Dad made $5 for that suggestion. So he was actually the inventor of the first truss rod nut. He worked at Gibson for 37 years.
TB: That's really interesting! Your dad also had the TV and radio shows. The radio show was on WGFG right?
RW: Yes, that was above the State Theater downtown in Kalamazoo. Then we went on to WKZO/Fetzer, where we were on the bigger share of the time. Because of my dad's acquaintance with all of the artists in Nashville, anytime they were on the road they would stop by to be on the TV show. We had the TV show for 37 years plus two radio shows for 40 years. My dad went into the Country Music Hall of Fame for the state of Michigan, and then our whole band was inducted. I think we're the only band in Michigan that went in the Country Music Hall of Fame. If you do a search for Rem Wall, you'll see that he was with Glenn Records and Columbia Records. He was a Grand Marshal in a couple different fairs too. His record Home is Where The Hurt Is sold more than Elvis did in Michigan. Dad and I wrote several songs together too. Writing music is a lot of fun!
TB: Definitely! So he did some great stuff at Gibson too.
RW: Yes. He was a foreman at Gibson and an inspector for the amplifier section. Dad always said, "Son, save your money." But I always spent it along the way so I could have a lot of memories, see? So now that I'm old I've got a lot of memories. And I appreciate you letting me share those!
TB: Oh yeah, It's always great to hear your memories. I know the people reading this will love it too. I think it's fantastic how you're still active, playing music, and, when you solve a problem, you share it with other musicians. The solution and the sharing take top priority, not money.
RW: Well, it's just the way I was raised, I guess, and my beliefs. I've been really blessed that whenever there's a problem, there's input to help me solve it. I've always felt like there's answers around me, if I just ask. I've always done what I've done for the musician because I've been a musician all my life. I know the struggles that musicians go through. But I've been blessed to have great people around me. I've been so fortunate because I've been playing in nursing homes for the last almost 30 years. When you've done that as long as I have, you really appreciate life and the people around you. You think positive and you don't get around negative people. I've met some big artists and they're just in misery. They've got everything that money can buy but there's a little magic something that they don't have. But I've been fortunate to have a good family and a good dad and I'm very thankful. And I love musicians!
TB: Well, we all love you too, and we thank you for all you've done for us! So you started working at Gibson in 1960 correct?
RW: That's right. September 9th of 1960. Julius Bellson was the Secretary Treasurer. They couldn't hire people fast enough in the '60s! People were coming all the way from Alabama. Marv Lamb and JP Moats, two of the original owners of Heritage, were from Alabama. I built a lot of steel guitars for Gibson back then. The 810, 820, the BR-9s and the console type.
TB: We were talking earlier about your terrific idea to change things on the original Bigsby B-6. [Interviewer’s Note: A Bigsby B-6 is a guitar tremolo unit. The strings are wrapped under a roller bar to be manually moved when the player uses their picking hand.]
RW: Yes! Ted McCarty was the president of Gibson then, and John Huis was the vice-president. They bought out Bigsby. Players kept breaking strings where they came over the back of the roller bar. One day I said, "John, I've got an idea. It'll save you money and it'll keep players from breaking strings. Why don't you not drill that hole, not tap it and not use an allen set screw?" He said, "What are you talking about?! If I eliminate everything, how's it going to work?" I said, "Just drill a hole in the bottom and put a pinch pin in the hole and release it. The string will be hooked in but it will come over on a smooth bar." And if you notice, all the Bigsby guitars from then on had that.
TB: So not only were you constantly inventing things, you were also redesigning and perfecting things like the Bigsby. One of your best traits is you are so free with your ideas. You could probably be very rich if you chased after money.
RW: I'm 83 and I've helped so many guitar players. They all know that I'm here for them. If you've got a problem with your guitar, I've already been through the problems that you're experiencing. I don't say "Well, give me $20 and I'll tell you the answer." I just help them, because that's my nature! When you're young and energetic, you have a lot of ideas. I was working for a company, and when I had an idea, I just shared it. I want to make your guitar better for you! That's one of the reasons I think Heritage and Gibson kept me on so many years- because I've always had that mindset. If there's a musician with a need, I'll do my best to help them play better, sound better and live better, if I can give them a hand now and then.
TB: That's great! Okay, we were talking earlier about your time in Nashville when the new Gibson plant was being built.
RW: I went back and forth between Kalamazoo and Nashville and I helped build that plant. I was a liaison between the two. I spent more time at the Opry with all the musicians, building them custom guitars. The Everly Brothers, Little Jimmy Dickens, Shelly and Dottie West–I've got a list a mile long. When I say I, I mean the team at Gibson back then. They even made me a colonel on the governor's staff of Tennessee!
TB: Oh wow, that's great!
RW: Yeah, Leon Rhodes, Jimmy Capps, Joe Edwards, Billy Linneman and all the musicians at the Grand Ole Opry called me to the president's office and said, "We've got something we want to do for you because you've been making all these guitars for all the musicians." Back then I worked with Slingerland Drums so I outfitted the Opry with a drum set. I always noticed that the drummer had perfect timing: no speeding up or slowing down. So I watched the drummer real close and he had a metronome built into his seat! I said, "Wow, I need that!" So I got myself a seat and a 12 inch speaker. When that thing went "BOOM, BOOM" I just about blew myself up!--but I kept time! I worked with the cast of Hee-Haw. Leon got me on Hee-Haw three times. I got to sit by Lulu and sit in the barbershop chair!
TB: Nice! I grew up with that show. So many of us have memories of that!
RW: While I was in Nashville I asked [Nashville guitarist] Leon Rhodes a question:.For the “Nashville sound,” all the big hits have this click to the bass. I asked Leon, "How in the world do they get that?" He said, "Well, there's actually three things. The upright bass is playing, and then I'm playing the six-string bass in unison. Also, the drummer uses a wooden knob on the kick pedal, and that's hitting a moleskin." I'm thinking I'm never going to be able to get that in my studio! So this is one of my inventions: I took two picks and offset one of them so the tip is sticking out and you get this click. I hollowed it out and put a piezo pickup between the two pickups. I ran the wire to a separate channel so when I hit the upstroke on the bass I had the fundamental and the click at the same time. I had the sound on the recording and it was incredible!
TB: Can we talk a bit about your studio you had back then.
RW: My dad and I converted a horse barn into a recording studio. It had a big glass window where you'd look through at the musicians and a cement floor. Before we poured the cement, I ran wires up into ammo cans on the wall. I put inputs on the wall so everyone could just plug in and go directly into the studio. Back then it was the latest thing! I had custom-made, four track Crown equipment. The name of our company was Wanted Records. The logo was bars, like a jail! The first song we recorded in that studio was one my dad and I wrote called “Wanted.” We had so much fun during those times!
TB: One of your best inventions is the TP6. Let's talk about how that came to be.
RW: Well I noticed at the end of a fiddle, they had these little tuners on them, and I thought "Let me see if I can adapt that to the guitar." I was sleeping one night and I woke up and that thing, I swear, was just
hanging, 3D in the air! And I'm thinking, "What is this? Am I having a dream?" I went into work the next day and told my boss, Bruce Bolen, "Boss, I
had a vision last night. I've got this idea!" And he said, "Man, that's something else! Let's get a prototype made!" So they started selling those things. Gibson is still selling them today.
TB: Yes! They still use it on the Lucille model because I know B.B. loved the TP6!
RW: I also invented the TP6 for the bass, but we never got around to doing that.
TB: Wow, a TP6 for a bass! I've never seen this!
RW: Yeah! Speaking of B.B., I delivered Lucille number 17 to B.B. when he played at Wings Stadium here in Kalamazoo. B.B. had a lot of Lucilles through
the years, but mine was number 17, and it had my TP6 and another invention of mine: the Sustain Sisters. Those are two inch brass plugs, about 3/4 inch in diameter. There's one under the bass and one under the treble side. That brass gives it sustain and a particular tone to the instrument. When I delivered Lucille to B.B., my friend Jim Reno came along. We used to work in engineering together. B.B. actually asked two people if they would move out of the front row and give the seats to Jim and I and he dedicated the show to us.
TB: You have a great piece I'm looking at here for acoustic guitars.
RW: Yes! (grabs piece off the table) When Gibson made flat tops, they had to actually build in a contingency on the price because almost all of them came back over time with a split bridge. When people would change the strings, they'd put the pins back in and if the pin was sticking up they'd take a hammer and hit it and then it would crack. So I said, "Why don't you take vulcanized fiber and set it into the bridge base?" They did that and eliminated the problem 100%. I think other manufacturers started using that idea too.
TB: OK, so we're sitting here at 225 Parsons Street in Kalamazoo. Heritage Guitar is now here and they're celebrating 40 years this week, April 1st of 2025. You've been here that entire time, Ren. So when Gibson moved to Nashville, what were you doing before Heritage started up?
RW: When Gibson left and went to Nashville, I didn't want to go. So I stayed here. I had to do something, so I got into learning about how to treat water. I had 10 salesmen under me and I got into deionization softeners for hospitals, nursing homes and homes.
TB: So when did you return to 225 Parsons Street and start with Heritage?
RW: I had heard that Heritage had started and I just walked in one day and picked up a guitar and said, "This is terrible! You guys need help!" So I quit my job and started working here. I did all the computers and if they needed something written I'd do the contracts or whatever needed to be done. One day they said they wanted to connect an artist or two with Heritage. The first guy I thought of was Roy Clark. I said, "Buy me a ticket and I'll go to Nashville and see what I can do." I had a limousine waiting for me at the airport and they rushed me over to Hee Haw. Roy Clark was there with Sam Lovullo, the producer. I looked Roy in the eye and said, "Roy, we're a fledgling company starting out. Would you help us?" He said, "Yeah Rendal! What do you need?" He signed a contract and boom! That was that!
TB: You've built tons of guitars through the years. Some of them were really unique.
RW: Well there was the Eighth Note Guitar. I got a chunk of wood for 50 bucks from Julius Bellson, way back in the '60s. I made the body and then I made the neck like the stem of a note. The fingerboard was interchangeable with a short or long scale. It had a mechanism on the heel that brought the pitch in and out. You could actually change the action by changing the pitch of the neck. It was a heavy sucker! It won first place in the Bizarre Guitar contest, and a doctor bought it. I called it The Eighth Note Guitar because it looked like an eighth note.
TB: You built a guitar for Prince too, correct? Let's talk about that a bit.
RW: That was like a thin Heritage Eagle. He wanted it all white. The guitar was sent out to have special paint put on it, like a lot of
Prince's guitars: purples and pinks. It was beautiful! It was my responsibility to fret file it. Well, it had thick white paint on the fingerboard and on the frets. I had to tape off each fret and score with a razor blade on each side. I had to isolate that fret, file it, level it and round it up without messing up the white paint on both sides. It took me all day to do it!
TB: I'm good friends with Ronnie Gessie. I know you worked with Ronnie and Gerry when Gerry designed The Little One. [Interviewer’s Note: The Little One is a travel guitar designed by Gerry Gessie. It was produced by Heritage Guitar for several years. Unlike most travel-sized guitars, it has a full scale neck and can be used live or in any situation where a traditional sized guitar is needed.]
RW: Oh yes! They were another great husband and wife team like you and Connie!
TB: Yes! A great couple!
RW: I love those Little One models! They're small and you can sit in a chair and play it and it's a full scale. I gave one to my grandson. He's an aerospace engineer.
TB: You've worked with so many great artists, and worked directly on their instruments too. What are a few that really stand out for you?
RW: I worked on Elvis's J-200, the one with the crown in it. I worked on Johnny Cash's guitar. Wes Montgomery's L-5 with the mother of pearl heart. That's a very famous guitar. That's what's fun for me. Those are memories that'll never be taken away, you know?
TB: I have a guitar with me that has an incredible invention of yours: the VIP switches. I just love these! Let's talk about those a bit.
RW: Sure! The VIP stands for "VAR-I-PHASE." I was thinking, "How can I help musicians to get a lot of the different sounds Teles and Strats get?" because a lot of players can't afford several guitars. Well, that phase rolling did it. Over the years Gibson always had that in-phase/out-of-phase switch; It's either/or. With my mind, I said, "What happens if we
varied the phasing from full-in to full-out?" So I'm bringing one coil against the other so it cancels out. But as it's doing that you get the Tele and the Strat sounds. I stayed on this table right here. [The table where the interview is happening]. I slept overnight, two weekends, Saturday and Sunday and I said, "I'm not leaving this plant until I figure out what I want to do!" I give credit to Glenn Seybert who was our electronics guy. He helped me get the schematic on paper.
TB: You've fine tuned many designs so they end up working better for players. You redesigned the tune-o-matic bridge too.
RW: One problem with the tune-o-matic is how skinny it is. There's hardly any lateral adjustment to the inserts. Also the spring that holds the inserts will rattle. So I had another idea: the Top Adjust Tune-O-Matic. The top is angled so the strings will clear in the back. Underneath there are three holes so it could be left or right-handed or straight across. You can replace the inserts with brass, bone, nylon or anything. Now, have you ever seen a 45 RPM music computer?
TB: I can't say that I have!
RW: I'm a pilot too. One day I was flying at 8,000 ft and I was using a Sanderson 6B flight computer. It tells you ground speed, true air speed and what not. Nowadays they've got equipment that does all that. So I said, "There's nothing like that for the guitar player!" So it probably took me a year or a year and a half and I'd say seven or eight prototypes, and then I wound up with this. You're gonna freak out! There's the whole theory of music. (Hands me a wheel covered in music theory!)
TB: Wow!
RW: So the formula for a C major chord is C-3-5. So you have C and then 3 is E, and 5 is G. So I did that with over 50 chords. On the back you line the arrows up at the top. With a pencil put "C major is C-E-G." Then you put it on the fingerboard down here. So you guess where it's at on the fingerboard and then you guess where it's at on the staff. Then you rotate it 180°, line the arrows up and it tells you if you did it right or wrong. If you want to change keys, you line up the key that you're in, put the old key above the new key and it tells you all of the replacement notes of all the chord changes. I had a really big one I used for teaching music theory in schools. Each kid would have one of these. My wife made the pouches and sewed them on a sewing machine. We had a 2 and 1/2 ton press with a little die cut and we'd put the felt on there and cut the shape. Then she would fold it and put these in.
TB: Incredible!!
RW: So to pay for this, I would pick! When I had a gig, that money went back into this project. My dream was to have Gibson buy these wheels. They could have made them for a buck and a half and put them in guitar cases. But it was ahead of its time, really. It's like Les Paul and some of his ideas were ahead of his time. This was before computers! And because I was flying, that was why this idea came to be!
TB: Wow Ren! That is amazing!
RW: I loved teaching! I used to proofread the music books for Hal Leonard too, before they went to market. I love music so much and the people that make it, like yourself. You're a great musician Todd. I listen to a lot of the stuff you do. You've been around musicians your whole life and you love it like I do! And you and Connie together doing your thing, it's just wonderful! I was very lucky I've had the wife I did, because she raised the family. I was a musician–picking and playing on radio and TV and traveling. It takes a good woman to help you out there, that's for sure! So I give her all the credit!
TB: A great companion is everything! So it sounds like you're always keeping an eye on what's happening on the floor and other workers' situations too.
RW: Yes! That's how I came up with an idea for installing side dots on the neck of a guitar. Back in the old days, the guys on the line would be sitting there with tweezers, installing these little side dots which are like a 16th of an inch. They would keep falling out. So I said, "Here, I've got an idea." I got a brass tube with a hole the size of the side dot fret marker. I put a little thing over the top of the fingerboard. You would load it up and just go right down and push the dots in. It saved all kinds of time!
TB: So, where does stuff like that end up? Do you still have that?
RW: That's probably on my workbench somewhere. They saved my bench. They're going to put it in the museum when they get one.
TB: They absolutely should!
RW: Another one of my ideas was the Grabber bass with the sliding pickup. I said, "Instead of having two pickups, just have one pickup that slides here and there." You've heard of the Steinberger right?
TB: Yes! [Interviewer’s Note: Steinberger guitars and basses are "headless." Instead of having a headstock like a traditional guitar or bass, the tuning mechanisms are on the body].
RW: Well before the Steinberger bass came out, I invented The Torpedo. You have a fine tuner and it's hollow in the middle so the string can go through. It has intonation and height adjustment, and goes on the bottom of the bass. Then Steinberger came out with his. I'm not saying mine was copied, but I had this before the Steinberger came out.
TB: Wow! You've invented some things in other fields too. You've done a lot with photography.
RW: Yes. I designed the gray card for photographers, back when everyone was still using film. It's 18% gray with white on the other side. You would adjust your camera settings based on that gray. My idea came when I was flying one day. The sun hit the panel of the aircraft and didn't bounce back in my eyes. I said "What is that stuff?" So when I landed, I got a hold of 3M in Minnesota and we worked out the formula for 18% gray. We sprayed it on a card. We ended up spraying a lot of them here at Heritage for several years and sold them to all the photography stores. That 18% gray was also what we used for the finish on the 101 and the 105 Heritage guitar and bass. You didn't even have to sand it. You just made the body, sprayed it with an 18% gray and that was it.
TB: So, even using technology, you've always kept a hands-on approach with players and helped them with their problems.
RW: Yes! Back in the day I built a utility box with a peghead clamp and an amplifier built into it, so I could work on artists' guitars. I could set up their guitar or tweak it for them before they'd go on stage.
TB: Okay, so do you still have that box?
RW: I do have the box, it's in my workshop but it's no longer used for that. It's just holding junk now! That reminds me: I built a portable amplifier before they came out. It was a little two channel amp with a 10-in speaker and a motorcycle battery was at the bottom. So, I could take it anywhere I needed to!
TB: Wow, another invention that was ahead of its time! OK, I have to mention your incredible HRW [Heritage Rendal Wall] pickups. They're my favorite! They've won numerous competitions around the world too. Every HRW has the date you completed working on it right?
RW: That's right. I always put the gold label on and I scratched the date when I worked on them. I'd use a razor blade or anything sharp. I wasn't neat! You gotta remember, I was trying to put out production.
TB: Do you remember the first one that you put in, or did you keep the first one?
RW: I might have kept the first one. I might have it.
TB: Well HRWs are amazing! But you've invented and perfected several things with other pickups too. I know we spoke about your work to eliminate feedback.
RW: When guitar pickups feedback it's usually because the pickup is floating around or the springs that they use are too weak. So I started taking big, thick rubber bands and putting them around the bottom feet of the pickup. That rubber would act like a sponge and soak up any vibration and stop the feedback. One time I had a preamp built between the pickups for a guitar.
TB: Really?!
RW: Yes! Mid-range, bass and treble. The whole preamp was right between the pickups where you pick. But it was so low that your pick didn't interfere with it. You could set the exact tone that you wanted just by putting your finger through the strings. Instead of going someplace else for a pre-amp, it was right there.
TB: Did that ever come out on any models?
RW: No, it never did. I just invented it because I wanted to!
TB: You mentioned locking mounting rings for guitar pickups too.
RW: Right! See, many pickups have one screw on each side. They will move so I said, "Put a locking mounting ring on there." The strings are angled, so you want the top of the pickup to be even under the strings. So on the side of the mounting rings I drilled a hole with a little allen set screw. Lock it and the pickup is solid.
TB: I know we've discussed the Moderne before. Several people have reached out to you through the years to talk about it. Your name will be forever connected to that guitar as you're the only person that played the original model.
RW: I played it in a production of Bye Bye Birdie at the Barn Theater. I found it in the “morgue,” where Gibson stored a lot of prototypes and stuff that was old. They wanted a rock and roll guitar for Bye Bye Birdie, so I went to Julius Bellson and I said, "You got anything?" He said "Well, check in the morgue." I looked and there it was. I checked it out and played it in Bye Bye Birdie, then put it back. Later on, Norlin/CMI came over and emptied out the whole morgue and took it back to Chicago someplace. But I did play that guitar.
I've heard people say, "Oh, it doesn't exist, you're lying." And I say, "No, I played it!" It had the "Gumby" peg head. It was so ugly! (laughs) I'm a country guy, so I'm not into that type of guitar. But I played it because Bye Bye Birdie called for it.
TB: What songs did you play during the show? Do you remember?
RW: A rock and roll number. I can't remember all that stuff! I can't even remember my own name half the time!
TB: (laughs) So what has changed for Rendal Wall as far as how you look at life in 2025? Do you still view things the same or do you look at some things differently now?
RW: Well, I'm getting more thankful for the time that's left. As you get older, think of it as a yardstick–100 years long and you're up here at 83. You're close to the end right? So all you can do is just look back and say, "I hope I've done good" and try to stay in good health. Try to help others around you when they ask for help and do good things all that you can. I don't like to be around negative people. But music has been so fantastic. It's been my pill. It's been a labor of love for me. Everyone in this business has been beautiful. Music brings out the best in people, you know? If they're celebrating something, a birthday or a wedding. We've played at funerals too, so that's the other end of the spectrum. And we've played for people in a coma. One time we played in a nursing home and the man and the wife were both in wheelchairs. They grabbed each other's hands rocking in their wheelchairs.
TB: That's incredible. Well, I guess that's how I'd like to sign off, Ren. I think it's great how active you are. I love getting texts from you hearing about all the gigs you're still playing and what you're doing. What keeps Rendal Wall going in 2025?
RW: Well, I'm so thankful that our company has still got me. I feel that I am doing good because they have questions. They will come to me because they don't remember a model or specs or something. Or, they're wondering if this was a good idea or whatever, and I can share with them what I went through on the growth of my time with Gibson and Heritage–Gibson for 22 years and 40 years with Heritage now. Plus my Dad's 37 years with Gibson; that's 99 years in our family. Over a million guitars! Life is very short and we never know when that final call is going to come. And when it does, you've got to be ready as they say!
TB: Well, thank you so much for talking to me today Ren. It's always great to spend time with you and thank you for all you've given to us musicians and for being such a great guy too! It's great to call you a friend.
RW: My pleasure! This has been fun! I think a lot of you Todd. You're a great friend and I really appreciate you telling my story.
At the end of our interview, Ren gave me his gold Heritage watch he had made many years ago. It is the only one like it in the world. For Ren to entrust me with such a unique gift that he’s carried with him for so many years feels like a calling. It’s my honor to continue his work of musicianship and, more importantly, kindness and friendship. To say I'm honored is an understatement. I will cherish it for life. Thank you for the incredible watch Ren. More significantly, thank you for your friendship and for all you've done to make the world a better place for musicians everywhere.
Ren is still making music and helping musicians everyday through his work at Heritage Guitar in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Check them out at
Also be sure to check out Todd’s other work including the first interview with Rendal at these fine links and drop him a hello or thumbs up.