Dark clouds skitter overhead, and rain begins to fall.  A shepherd in Salle, Italy moves his flock into a sheltered area, out of the rain.  Storms happen, and they pass.  The shepherd knows this.  He watches the rain from his shelter, thunder sending a skittish wave through the flock.  A light burns in one of the buildings in town, he can see.  It is his own home, and he wonders what his family is discussing as lighting licks at the house.  It is 1687, and in the house, the D'Addario family is discussing musical strings for the first time. 

      This, then, is the beginning.  The D'Addario family starts taking the intestines of the animals to make gut strings for bowed instruments, lutes, early guitars.  Many of the family members must have been musicians, helping to refine and perfect the hand-making of strings which were soon being traded across Italy, and gathering a following. 

      More than 200 years later, in 1905, Charles D'Addario sits in a house on the same spot where his ancestors sat, weighing another decision.  Should he bring the business to America?  His family, indeed his whole life, is here, in Salle.  Millions of people are flocking to America, looking not only for success, but for life in a country that offers freedom and choice and opportunities.  The benefits of America are too much to pass up.  He must try. 

      Months later, he stands at the rail of a ship, shivering, his dark, wool coat wrapped tightly around his throat against blowing wind and chilly drizzle.  Charles has never been much for ships, and this trip has been long, cold, and rough.  Someone in the crowd of hundreds huddled with him shouts.  A murmur runs through the group as they peer through the fog, the haze, the salty spray.  Suddenly, high up, in the distance, a pinpoint of light.  More shouts.  Trembling hands point.  Charles sees it now, as a shadow comes into view through the mist beneath it.  And now she stands before them, Liberty, raising her flame against the rain, guiding them into New York City.  The people cheer at the sight of her, reach out as if to touch her, cry tears of joy.  As tears mix with the rain on his cheeks, Charles stares at Liberty and thinks, I want to be near her always.  I want her to watch over me.  He sets up his home and his shop in Queens, just a few miles from Liberty's island. 

      And she did watch over him, though for Charles, as for millions of immigrants, times were lean and tough.  Making strings by hand in the shop over his home was grueling work, but the clientele began to form.  His business grew and became established, and eventually his son, John, the first generation of D'Addarios born in America, joined.  The company was named C. D'Addario & Son.  John took the company to great success, migrating the string manufacturing to guitar strings, and improving automation techniques.   

      Eventually, the company which became known as D'Addario & Company, Inc., now under the guidance of John's sons, John, Jr. and Jim, came back to bowed strings when they acquired the Kaplan Musical String Company in 1981. 

      Ladislav Kaplan had come to America in the early part of the century with the dream of making strings as well, and had succeeded, as Charles had.  In fact, his invention, the Kaplamatic string winding machine, has been retooled, retrofitted, automated, and computerized by Jim D'Addario and his team of engineers, but is still similar in form to its original design.  Charles and Ladislav had never been what you would call competitors letters show that the two were quite friendly, and shared ideas and materials often. 

      After D'Addario acquired Kaplan, the real revolution of bowed instrument strings began.  Jim reworked the Kaplamatic and the D'Addarios began experimenting and offering new strings under their own name.  Prelude strings appeared first, followed by ProArt strings.  In 1994, Helicore strings, with their unique stranded steel cores, debuted on the market, quickly becoming some of the most popular orchestral strings in the world.  Next came Zyex violin and viola strings with a core made of material used by NASA in space flightthat happened to mimic the sound and feel of gut like no other substance ever had, with none of the temperamental qualities of gut. 

      And so, over three centuries after the D'Addario family first sat together and discussed using their sheep gut to make musical strings, their direct descendants are now running the largest musical string company in the world, and making over 300,000 strings every day.  The D'Addarios in Salle that day could never have predicted that their family name would someday be known the world over, and be requested daily by some of the greatest performers ever to play bowed instruments. 

      From shepherd to immigrant to industry leaders, the D'Addario family has survived by maintaining a quality and an innovative nature that are now synonymous with the D'Addario name.  Inspired by music, D'Addario is now a part of music, and it's a part we will always love to play.