Music entrepreneur finds his rhythm

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Friday, July 24, 2009 | By: Patti Payne - Puget Sound Business Journal

Zino Society awards $50K to help Sam Sudore develop his guitar tuner

Sam Sudore is just back from the NAMM summer show in Nashville. NAMM, formerly known as the National Association of Music Merchants, is the trade association of the music-products industry. Sudore, who is president and CEO of a 1-year-old Seattle company called Zero Crossing Inc., was showing off a product that is resonating with guitar lovers and creating tremendous enthusiasm.

The product, N-Tune, in the $70 to $80 range, is a guitar tuner that automatically mutes and tunes a guitar. The high-tech device can be easily added on to an instrument without changing its look, or built into a new one.

Although it’s only one year since this new company launched, in challenging economic times to say the least, 200 retailers in North America carry the tuner, and it’s available in 36 countries around the globe. Not bad, any way you twang it.

Bands — like Black Eyed Peas, Band of Horses, Robert Randolph & the Family Band — all love the thing. And the website has countless testimonials from guitarists like G. Moe, of Earth, Wind and Fire.