Shulte

Clarence Eric Schulte (1923 - 2015) grew up in Malvern, Pennsylvania and first became interested in guitars in the 1930s. Shulte served in World War II in an engineering unit and after the war worked as an auto mechanic. In the 1950s Shulte began customising guitars and the went on to start building them. He usually made copies of the iconic American designs - like the Fender telecaster, but in 1957 he launched his own Schulte Custom design - a single-cutaway semi-hollowbody.

In 1973, he was hired by Philadelphia Music to repair guitars. He also began making his own versions of the Les Paul. In the 1980s he made ES-175 style guitars for George Thorogood which became the Schulte Custom CES-135 TD model. By the 1990s Schulte was established as one of the top custom guitar builders on the East coast and he went on making guitars into the 2000s.