The company was founded by Charles Stromberg, a Swedish immigrant to
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1906, who had learned the trade at the local
Thompson & Odell company. His oldest son, Harry, worked with him until 1927, and in 1910, his son Elmer (later praised as responsible for "some of the finest archtop jazz guitars ever made") joined him in the business. Initially Stromberg was making mainly
banjos and
mandolins, but when in the 1920s the guitar began to replace the banjo among professional musicians Stromberg followed suit and in 1927 produced their first carved-top guitars. The first series was the G-series, 16 inches wide. In the 1930s, Stromberg followed the direction indicated by
Gibson and other companies, and began increasing the size of their guitars, widening the G-series (G-1 and G-2) and the Deluxe models to 17 inches.). Innovation came from Elmer, who devised a new system to brace the top of the guitar. Charles Stromberg died in 1955, followed at the end of the year by Elmer and is now under new ownership. ==Legacy==