Greven Guitars Background

John¹s high school years were spent in Moorestown, New Jersey, where inspired by a left-handed custom Brazilian rosewood Gibson Mastertone, he made his first five-string banjo. Greven set up his own shop in Ithaca, New York, in 1967, where he built his first steel-string guitar.

In 1969 he moved to Chattanooga, Tennessee, to work with John Davis and started building a line of acoustic steel-string guitars from their shared shop space. There George Gruhn discovered Greven¹s pearl work, engraving, and carving talents and hired him to take over the repair shop at GTR (now Gruhn Guitars) in Nashville. He worked for Gruhn until 1975, when the Greven Guitar Company was officially born.

In 1977, Greven moved from Nashville, Tennessee, to Nashville, Indiana. Between 1977 and 1990, Greven turned out over 500 guitars. Eric Clapton, Jimmy Buffett, George Harrison, Buffy St.Marie, John Denver, Stefan Grossman, Stephen Stills, Steve Martin, the Dirt Band, Johnny Cash, and Mary Chapin Carpenter own at least one Greven original.

Greven now lives and works in Portland, Oregon where he¹s made over 1100 guitars.