Gene Moles

The "doctor of guitars," as he called himself, played with Merle Haggard, Buck Owens, Red Simpson, Tex Ritter and many others. He also wrote surf-rock instrumentals for The Ventures. He was the quality control man for Bakersfield-based Mosrite, which manufactured guitars for several country music stars of the late 1960s, and over the last 30 years he operated a guitar repair shop that traded on his nickname. "He was the most highly thought-of musician in Bakersfield