Our story
Built to
Stay In Tune
A family-run string company from Akron, Ohio, started by a guitar repairman who got tired of strings that wouldn't hold their tune.
Lay's Guitar Repair
It started at the repair bench
Virgil Lay owned Lay's Guitar Repair and Staff Music in Akron. His shop was a certified Gibson repair center, and Gibson brought him in to help train their own repairmen. On one of those visits he got to hold "The Log," Les Paul's own handmade prototype.
Virgil was a tinkerer. When a repair called for a tool that didn't exist, he built it. One problem kept coming back: guitars he had just set up would drift out of tune before he could hand them back to their owners. He traced it to the strings themselves. The wire wrapped around the ball end could slip under tension.
Since 1980
The strings that stay in tune
His fix was a bonding process that locks the twist at the ball end so it can't slip. At first he applied it to other brands' strings. Clients and artists kept coming back to ask what he had done to them, and whether they could buy strings from him. From 1978 to 1980 he bought strings and put them through his Stay In Tune process himself.
In 1980 Virgil incorporated and began making his own strings: the first strings guaranteed to stay in tune. The first was a nickel electric set. In 1986 it got the name Power Wound, and it's still our flagship today.
Our history
Through the years
From a repair shop in Akron to players around the world: a look back through our archive.
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1978–80
Stay In Tune is born
Virgil puts other brands' strings through his Stay In Tune process at the shop, and players start asking to buy them.
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1980
S.I.T. makes its own strings
Virgil incorporates and starts crafting his own strings, beginning with a nickel electric set.
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1983
Steve Lukather
Steve Lukather in an S.I.T. ad.
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1984
Rockin' n' rollin' with the best
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1980s
Want to get spoiled?
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1985
Buddy Emmons Signature Series
A signature set for Buddy Emmons, one of the best-known pedal steel players of all time.
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1985
Factory Fresh hangtag
An original S.I.T. hangtag.
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1986
Power Wound gets its name
Our original nickel electric set becomes Power Wound, still our flagship today.
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1987
Made on our own machines
The first Power Wound nickel string made on S.I.T.'s own machines.
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1990
World Tour Starpower
Our 1990 World Tour artist poster.
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1991–92
S.I.T. around the world
Our international catalog.
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1990s
The S.I.T. Files
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815 South Broadway
S.I.T. String Corp on South Broadway in Akron.
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Trade shows around the world
For decades we've exhibited at trade shows around the world, including NAMM, meeting the players and dealers who use our strings.
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Guaranteed
A trade show display with the Stay In Tune guarantee.
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Today
2493 Romig Road
Every S.I.T. string is now made at our factory on Romig Road in Akron, and we're still family-run.
Why S.I.T.
Every string matters
Strings shape how your instrument sounds and how it feels under your hands. We have never forgotten that. From the start, S.I.T. has put the player first, and we've spent decades working alongside musicians to get the details right.
That's why we build many of our own machines and keep improving how we make strings. We pay attention to every string, so the set you buy today plays like the last one you loved.
- Stays in tune: the first strings guaranteed to stay in tune, thanks to the bonded ball end
- Consistent: made and checked the same way, set after set
- Player-driven: developed with the musicians who use them every night
The players
Trusted on stage for decades
From touring rock players to the pedal steel greats, musicians have played S.I.T. for generations. Some of our favorite pieces of history hang right here in the shop, including a shirt signed by a group of pedal steel players such as Scotty DeWitt.
Family
Still family-run
Virgil started it, and his grandson Eddie runs it today. Eddie's mom worked here for many years, and so have his brothers. Now Eddie's wife and three sons are part of the team too.
Generations later, every set is still made in Akron by people who care how it plays.
Made in the USA
Made in Akron, Ohio
Every S.I.T. string is made in our Akron factory, the same way Virgil intended: built to stay in tune.