E.W. Littlefield, Jr.
Ed was 20 years old when he first heard Weldon Myrick's steel playing on Ian & Sylvia's version of Jinkson Johnson. Ed said "I don't know anything about pedal steel, but I'm going to learn!" The hook was set, the lovely sound of pedal steel reeled him in, and he's never looked back. It was clear right away that Ed had a natural talent and feel for this complicated instrument. Ed started young as a session musician and was very active in the Pacific Northwest music scene. He hit the road when he joined Lance Romance, the Great Northwest's own swingin', cosmic cowboys. He toured with them relentlessly (50 weeks a year for 5 years!) until he got hit by "back to the land fever" and built up an organic, horse driven farm while raising a family on his property north of Seattle. http://littlefieldfarmblog.blogspot.com/.
No dang farm was going to keep Ed away from music for long. Ed built a recording studio on the farm. This facility was run by legendary engineer Matt Sutton, and quickly became known in some circles as the best recording studio in the Pacific Northwest. Ed's studio, now supervised by Daniel Prothroe and Matthew Gephardt, remains a legend in the NW folk scene.
Owning a fully equipped deluxe recording studio is certainly not Ed's only musical pursuit. 2011 marks the 25th anniversary of his band Marley's Ghost (www.marleysghostband.com). Get yourself a copy of their anniversary album to hear Ed's sweet 14 string Sierra. He's sounding better than ever while he let's his hands and heart do what they do best, make music!
Tom Baker
Tom knew music was going to be big in his life after seeing his first episode of the Monkees. He dove into guitar at age 12. His Sho-Bud playing aunt was the person who first introduced him to what would later become his vocation.
Tom rocked out with numerous bands before getting a "real job" in the music industry. He was hired by Fender to work at the newly acquired Sunn amplifier plant in Tualatin, Oregon. Soon after that, he assisted in the set up of Fender's own new Oregon facility. After 5 years with Fender he came across an interesting job opportunity at Sierra Steel Guitars. As they say, "the rest is history." 23 years and a heck of a lot of steel guitar building later, Tom is well known and highly respected in the steel community for his expertise and encyclopedic Sierra knowledge. Tom's specialty is steel guitar assembly and set up, he's a master at it!
Tom is excited about utilizing all this experience as he, along with Ed, navigates the twisty path towards a new and special Sierra Pedal Steel Guitar.
Ross Shafer
Ross Shafer’s professional background has been entirely based on his passion for making things. Ross is the founder and former owner of Salsa Cycles, one of the early mountain bike frame and component producers. Salsa's products earned a reputation for quality, reliability and innovation which garnered Ross his 1991 induction into the Mountain Bike Hall of Fame.
After selling the bicycle company in ‘97, Ross began doing free-lance product design/development, prototyping and custom fabrication for clients in and out of the bicycle industry.
His inherent need to make things related to his interests outside work drove Ross to indulge in his longtime goal of building himself a guitar. Not at all a woodworker, he jumped into the deep end with an archtop building apprenticeship with the renowned luthier Taku Sakashta (RIP). And down the rabbit hole he went.
Years later, the folks from Sierra Steel Guitars approached Ross about doing some R&D on a new steel design.
