Music Industry Veteran Bill Abel Joins Optek Music

Aug. 25, 2011 - PRLog -- RENO, Nev. (August 25, 2011) — Optek Music Systems Inc. (www.fretlight.com), makers of the Fretlight® Guitar, today announced that music industry veteran, Bill Abel, has joined the company as Director of Music Industry Sales for North America. Abel will be responsible for establishing a network of independent music dealers throughout North America that will distribute the company’s revolutionary Fretlight guitar. He brings over 20 years of industry experience to Optek, most recently as Vice President of Sales for Washburn Guitars.

“I’ve known Rusty Shaffer and the Fretlight Guitar for 13 years and feel very fortunate to be part of this amazing company,” said Abel. “I look forward to helping independent music dealers introduce the Fretlight to guitar players of all levels thereby expanding their market to include a whole new generation of players.”

The Fretlight Guitar has an interactive learning system cleverly hidden beneath the fretboard of a standard guitar.  When connected to a PC or Mac, LED’s automatically show a player the exact fingering positions needed to play chords, scales, songs and riffs in real time. Fretlight Studio software, which is free with every guitar, allows a player to slow down the tempo, loop specific parts, and improvise virtually any scale over custom progressions, allowing players of all levels to learn over 10 times faster than traditional methods.  With the addition of the industry-leading tablature editing software, Guitar Pro 6 Fretlight Ready, a Fretlight Guitar user can download tabs via the internet and watch them instantly come to life right under their fingers.  

Abel has been in the guitar industry for 23 years as an executive and a guitar player. The majority of his career was spent with Washburn Guitars where he worked his way from Guitar Technician to Product Manager to Director of Business Development and Vice President of Sales. He has trained with a number of guitar greats over the years, including Keith Wyatt, Steve Trovato, Dan Gilbert, Danny Gill and Mike Ward, and graduated from the Guitar Institute of Technology (now the Musicians Institute College of Contemporary Music). In his free time, his heavy metal band, Uncle Sam, opens for the likes of Vince Neil, Skid Row, Bret Michaels and Cinderella.

“This is a huge step for our company because independent music dealers are critical to the future of the guitar industry. We believe our innovative distribution strategies and Bill’s vast expertise in the music dealer channel coupled with the Fretlight Guitar, will pave the way toward allowing these dealers to prosper,” said Rusty Shaffer, CEO of Optek Music. “Fretlight has been ahead of the curve for 20 years, but this is our first big push into music dealers. I knew when it was time to begin distribution we’d need a forward-thinking, creative and energetic person to lead our dealer sales effort. Bill Abel has those qualities and much more, and I can’t think of anyone I’d rather have representing Fretlight to our future dealer partners.”


About Optek Music Systems, Inc.
Optek Music System, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Reno, Nev. Developers of the Fretlight® Guitar, this privately-held company manufactures and distributes six-string electric guitars that utilize a truly revolutionary patented technology through its interactive light system that allows the player to learn the guitar quicker and with better retention. Notes, scales, chords, progressions, lessons, songs, riffs and more are easily accomplished through its Fretlight Studio software.  Optek has many U.S. and international patents as well as patents pending for its interactive guitar learning systems and musical instrument manufacturing designs. For more information, visit www.fretlight.com.

Press Contact: Carol Arnold, Arnold Communications, (877) 718-4604 x2, carol@arnoldcomm.com.

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Optek Music System, Inc. was founded in 1988 and is based in Reno, Nev. Developers of the Fretlight® Guitar, this privately-held company manufactures and distributes six-string electric guitars that utilize a truly revolutionary patented technology through its interactive light system that allows the player to learn the guitar quicker and with better retention. Notes, scales, chords, progressions, lessons, songs, riffs and more are easily accomplished through its Fretlight Studio software. Optek has many U.S. and international patents as well as patents pending for its interactive guitar learning systems and musical instrument manufacturing designs. For more information, visit www.fretlight.com.