Augustino LoPrinzi was born the third child of nine to an immigrant family in New Jersey. At the age of 8 he began shining shoes in the family's barbershop. By 11 years old he was giving shaves--but, fortunately for musicians everywhere, there was a lot more going on in the shop than haircuts and shaves.

Music had always been a part of Augustino's life. During grade school he took violin lessons and then began tinkering around with violins in a little workshop in the back of the family barber shop. The music teacher discovered to his chagrin, that his student had more of an interest in taking his violin apart than in playing it, so the lessons ended--but the tinkering continued.

Augustino fulfilled the family tradition by becoming a barber, but the little woodworking area in the back of the shop still saw plenty of activity. In 1958 one of his customers brought in a 10 year old guitar and boasted that he'd bought it for $145.00. "For that money," replied Augie, "I'll make one myself." When the customer doubted him, Augie started work on his first guitar, completing it in the back of that same barbershop in Flemington, New Jersey. In the beginning Augie worked all day cutting hair and then worked many nights until two or three in the morning on guitars. He worked in the basement of his home, on the kitchen table, or any other available spot. 

The first three or four years were strictly trial and error. In those days there was no one around to learn from, unless you traveled to Spain, so he read and read some more, looked at other guitars, even took them apart and put them back together again.

Augustino's biggest struggle was procedure. There's a specific order in which to assemble a guitar and you must be careful not to hinder any parts by putting them together in the wrong order. He spent most of his time getting these procedures down and by his second year he began to study sound waves and acoustics. He learned that tonal quality was of the utmost importance in building a good guitar. By the end of his fourth year he had made his first good sounding guitar.

By this time he was getting more and more work for repairs and building guitars than cutting hair. So after barbering for 22 years, he quit. It was 1969. Everyone thought he was crazy, but his wife, parents and brothers had faith in him. By 1972 he and his brother, Thomas, founded the LoPrinzi Guitar Company in New Jersey. They started to sell stock in the company and soon had a successful business going with 17 employees. 

In 1973 his instruments caught the attention of Maark Corporation (a subsidiary of AMF); the firm began buying up a controlling interest in his company as a way to move into the guitar business. Three years later, LoPrinzi Guitars was producing 80 guitars a month for customers in five countries.

After growing tired of overseeing production and fearful of the direction the company was taking, Augie sold his interest to Maark Corporation. He felt the damands of mass production would jeopardize the quality of their instruments. Augie's philosophy of work and success is a traditional one. If you're only out to make money, you'll never get anywhere. You have to disregard the money part. "Do good and the money will come," was the theory instilled in Augie by his father.

Refusing to sign a "non-compete" clause with Maark, he opened "Augustino Guitars" two weeks later--and literally moved next door to his original plant! He continued to produce guitars there until 1978, and then moved to Florida. The AMF--owned LoPrinzi Company continued producing guitars for a number of years, and finally closed the doors in 1980. Years later, Augustino requested his old trademark back. Working with vice president Dick Hargraves, Augie finally had the trademark transferred back officially.

Even though Augie has now retired the Augustino LoPrinzi Guitar and Ukulele line still continues with Donna at the helm.