Bob “Bobby” Pieper is a Connecticut native who honed his dual crafts of playing and building/fixing guitars as a teen around New Haven. A friend passed Pieper a guitar when he was 11; the gift ended his dream of playing professional hockey but opened up a new world. Pieper originally modeled his playing on Jimmy Page, Richie Blackmore, and Eddie Van Halen. Today, he’s known as a shredder but surprises listeners with deft, bright playing that showcases superb technique along with a deep understanding of music.

Pieper played clubs in New England and New York – including with the band Starstruck – before moving to France to join Terry Ilous and Pat Fontaine of XYZ. The band moved to Los Angeles in 1984 and signed an artist development deal with Atlantic Records in 1985. Pieper, the band’s original American guitarist, left XYZ for good in 1987 but, as Bobby Pieper’s XYZ Revisited, plays occasional gigs around his home in Connecticut.

He reunited with Terry and Pat to play an acoustic version of “Souvenirs,” a song he co-wrote, at The Vault Music Hall & Pub at Greasy Luck in New Bedford, MA, in July 2019. For the gig, he installed a Baggs LB6 pickup into an Ibanez Talman electric/acoustic guitar and strung GHS Silk and Steel acoustic 10-42 strings to get a similar – but brighter - sound to nylon classical strings.

In 1987, he auditioned for Ozzie Osborne – finishing in the top 20 out of 360 - and was hired to play with hard rock band Kingdom Come, but left soon after over creative differences. He toured with Heaven from 1988 to 1989, then played briefly with Jag Wire; after Jag Wire folded, he wrote music and performed with drummer Joey Pafumi (XYZ, Jag Wire, Walter Trout, Paul Nelson) and bassist Joey Christofanilli (Ratt, Rough Cutt, Jag Wire, Magic). As Blue Ruinn, they played clubs on the Sunset Strip from 1989 to 1993 with singers Larry Leon, Neil Turbin, and Pavel Volykhine.

Pieper is working again with Pafumi and Christofanilli on an album of their original Blue Ruinn music with their original singers, which they hope to release in 2021.

By the mid-1990s, Pieper had turned a sideline of building and repairing guitars (he built the Charvel Explorer he played on XYZ’s “Rainy Days” album in high school) into a business. Since high school, he had learned his craft at a number of well-known guitar stores: Brian Guitars in New Haven, Rudy’s Music in New York City (where he was famed guitar maker John Suhr’s first apprentice), and Ace Music in Santa Monica, Calif. He started a mobile guitar repair service for New York City musicians, including those in the bands for the Late Show with David Letterman and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and the New Haven-based repair and retail shop One Flight Up Guitars/Amity Music. Since 2010, he has been operating the retail and repair store GuitarFixer Bob LLC in Seymour, Connecticut.

Pieper has been using GHS Boomer 9-42s – with occasional forays to the 10s - his whole musical career. Today, he plays with them on the Charvel Explorer he put together in 1980 and on his black 1976 Gibson Les Paul custom. His Guild F-47 acoustic guitar is always strung with GHS 11-50 Phosphor Bronze strings.

“GHS strings have the tightest tension, ring very true, and I can attack them with my pick to get the in-your-face sound I want,” Pieper said. He also exclusively sells GHS strings in his store, and recommends them to all his retail and repair customers.