The Roland Ball Story

 

Roland S Ball(Ernie) gigs around LA with Tommy Duncan band LA(1949-1950). At this time the name "Roland" was not suitable for stage use and the name "Ernie" was given by his bandmates. During the Korean War, Ernie enlisted in the Us Air Force and joined the Air Force Band. In or around 1953, while Ernie was living in Arizona, he heard about a radio repairman named Leo Fender who was making solid body electric guitars and steel guitars. Ernie took leave and drove to Fullerton where he and Leo hit it off! He then became a beta-tester for Leo and became an endorsee.

He spent some time giving guitar lessons throughout the 50's where he discovered that bending the strings was a bit difficult with thicker gauges of guitar strings. He opened the first ever electric guitar store in the mid-50's and was warned by nay-sayers that he would go broke, which he did several times until 1958 when things started to turn around.

 

He developed a mail order catalog system in the early 1960's where guitar accessories quickly became his focal point. The Slinky brand was born in 1962 , when he started making customized gauges of guitar strings for touring musicians.

 

The Ernie Ball brand has been endorsed by many artists over the years from Merle Travis and the Ventures, Cream, The Byrds, Keith Richards (Rolling Stones), Jimi Hendrix, Jimmy Page (Led Zepplin), Jeff Beck, and the list continues to grow.

 

Experience in the Business

 

For nearly 70 years, Ernie Ball has produced top quality guitar strings and accessories. Shouldn't you trust a name like Ernie Ball to create that sound you've been looking for?

 

6-String Slinky Short Scale Bass Guitar Strings

Item Number	Model	Gauge
EB2837	6-String (Short Scale)	.020w-.090

 

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