RIP John Billings

Douglas Schuch · Post by **Douglas Schuch** » 10 Dec 2022 5:45 pm

It seems forum member John Billings has passed away. He was a rather active member for many years, and was in particular a valuable resource to owners of Performance and Kline steel guitars. He was also pretty knowledgeable about vintage Sho-Buds.

For more info, here is his obituary: It seems he passed away in Oct:

https://obituaries.neptunesociety.com/o ... s-10968248

You may want to review this thread where Michael Yahl was trying to locate John, which led to us learning of his death:

viewtopic.php?t=386964&highlight=

I considered John a forum friend, having turned to him a few times for information and always enjoyed chatting with him when we did. Rest in peace, John.

J R Rose · Post by **J R Rose** » 10 Dec 2022 6:27 pm

John and I become forum friends several years ago. He was all ways helpful to me and had lots of knowledge about steel guitars. I had not been able to get any reply from him in quite some time. My Thanks to Doug for searching out his obit. So sorry to here of his passing. And John did work at the Performance,(Jerry Brightman) factory for some time. He put them together and got them tuned up. RIP John, you left us too soon. J.R. Rose

Skip Edwards · Post by **Skip Edwards** » 10 Dec 2022 7:21 pm

Sorry to hear about John's passing. He was a regular presence here on the Forum.
He'll be missed.
Vaya con Dios, JB...

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 10 Dec 2022 7:47 pm

Sad that it took this long to recognize our members passing. John was a knowledgeable contribution to the forum. RIP John, thanks for sharing your talents.

Post by **Dave Mudgett** » 10 Dec 2022 8:16 pm

I found that obit right after Michael posted Thursday. I suspected, but had no way to verify, that it was JB. I'm very sorry to hear that his passing has now been confirmed.

I would see JB at guitar shows periodically - like me, he was a serious guitar afficionado, especially vintage guitars - and discussed many things with him here too. Good guy, good player. I, and I'm sure many, many of us here, are going to miss him. RIP John.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 11 Dec 2022 5:36 am

He was a good guy liked him alot and we were both from the same area near Cleveland Ohio.

RIP John.

Bill Sinclair · Post by **Bill Sinclair** » 11 Dec 2022 8:39 pm

I always enjoyed John's posts and exchanged PMs a few years back about some tube amp stuff. A helpful and good-natured guy. His last post was a reference to a song by his friend guitar virtuoso Neil Zaza that John apparently played steel on. RIP John.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Puov93SDltM

Jim Cooley · Post by **Jim Cooley** » 12 Dec 2022 6:41 am

I learned a lot from John's postings about vintage guitars and equipment. Rest well, John. We will miss you.

Mark Shuda · Post by **Mark Shuda** » 15 Dec 2022 2:26 pm

I had done more than a few deals with John. A good guy with a good heart! Sad to hear.

Craig Stock · Post by **Craig Stock** » 17 Dec 2022 2:20 pm

I ran into a friend from my town on Friday who knew John and visited with him in Ohio. I told him about the discussion, and he didn't know that John has passed, said he hadn't heard from him in a few years but said he had a stroke and last he knew he was in a nursing home.

Dustin Rigsby · Post by **Dustin Rigsby** » 20 Feb 2023 9:39 am

I remember John and I had a few conversations. He was involved with Performance guitars, and knew and worked with Neil Zaza, a guitar virtuoso from the Cleveland area. RIP John.

Bob Watson · Post by **Bob Watson** » 20 Feb 2023 6:30 pm

I'm sorry to hear about John's passing. He was very knowledgeable about playing music and gear and was always pleasant in all of his interactions. He knew a lot about tube amps, old Fenders and Dr. Z's in particular, and I always thoroughly enjoyed all of his comments and posts. He will be dearly missed, may he RIP.