Who is Michael Kelly?

We get that question a lot, so we thought we would answer it right here. The founder’s name is Tracy Hoeft; we will let him explain the brand name:

“When founding this guitar company I wanted it to have a family name. My motivation was all about accountability and commitment. I had seen other founders with their name on their product and the crazy amount of commitment they had to their products; I wanted to assure that for this line of instruments.”

“However when your name is Tracy Hoeft you do wonder, ‘Who would want that on their headstock?’ An idea hit me. Since the goal was a commitment I could never forget, I decided to name it after my then very young children. Michael was only 6 and Kelly 3 at the time. I knew if I named the brand after them, I would never be OK with anything less than great. So Michael Kelly Guitars was born. My daughter, Kelly, would tell you now that a better name would have been Kelly Michael Guitars, but being 3 at the time, she didn’t get a vote.”