Vinny Fodera

Co-founder, with Joey Lauricella, of Fodera Guitars, launched in 1983 out of a 1,000-square-foot shop on Avenue O in Brooklyn before the company relocated to Industry City in Sunset Park in 1990. The shop hand-builds instruments in-house, including its Standard, Imperial, Monarch, and Emperor series, rejecting 20 to 30 percent of incoming wood during selection and logging 30 or more hours of labor per custom instrument. Fodera develops proprietary hardware, pickups, and preamps with outside specialists, including EMG, Seymour Duncan, and bass designer Mike Pope, and hand-winds its own strings at a Pennsylvania operation. Instruments have gone to bassists including Victor Wooten, Anthony Jackson, Marcus Miller, and Oteil Burbridge. Vinny Fodera's daughter, Laura Fodera, now serves as the company's partner and CEO.