John Craviotto, the founder of Craviotto Drum Company, died on July 15, 2016 at the age of 69.

Born November 21, 1946 in San Francisco, he moved to Santa Cruz as a youngster and was a long-time resident of Santa Cruz. He started playing drums at a young age and throughout the 1960s and 1970s he toured and recorded with such artists as Buffy Sainte-Marie, Ry Cooder, Captain Beefheart, Arlo Guthrie, and Moby Grape. He was especially proud of his work in the summer of 1977 playing with the Santa Cruz-based band The Ducks with Bob Mosley, Jeff Blackburn, and Neil Young.

During that period Johnny became interested in the history and construction of drums. He developed his own formula for producing drum shells from a single piece of steam-bent hardwood. He first began building drums in a makeshift shop in a residential garage. In the mid 1980s, Johnny founded the Select/Solid Snare Drum Company with drummer Bill Gibson (Huey Lewis and the News). In 1993, Johnny formed his own company, Craviotto Percussion, and partnered with Drum Workshop. They produced a line of steam-bent solid-shell snare drums.

In 2004, with the help of a business partner, Johnny established the Craviotto Drum Company. While continuing with his tradition of building solid-shell snare drums, Johnny also created the world’s first completely solid-shell drumsets.