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After freelancing for Rolling Stone, Tom served as the Editor in Chief of Guitar Player and the founding Editorial Director of Bass Player. He left Guitar Player in 1991, which according to the National Guitar Museum signaled the end of what it called the magazine’s Golden Era.

His first hardcover encyclopedia, The Guitar Book: A Handbook for Electric and Acoustic Guitarists (foreword by B.B. King), was published by Harper & Row. An updated Japanese version was published in 2000. His next book, American Guitars: An Illustrated History (foreword by Les Paul) was called by one retail catalog “the best book ever written about guitars.”

His 2004 book, The Stratocaster Chronicles (foreword by Eric Clapton), was named Book of the Year by Vintage Guitar magazine. Tom also wrote The Soul of Tone: Celebrating 60 Years of Fender Amps (512 p., foreword by Keith Richards).

His latest book is The Dream Factory: Fender Custom Shop (600+ color plates, nearly 600 pp., foreword by Billy Gibbons), named Book of the Year by Guitar International. Tom’s books are internationally distributed and appear in English, Dutch, German, and Japanese editions.

Tom has interviewed Muddy Waters, B.B. King, Chuck Berry, Eric Clapton, Les Paul, Leo Fender, Ted McCarty, Keith Richards, and hundreds of other artists and key figures in the history and evolution of the modern guitar. He co-edited Richard Smith’s Fender: The Sound Heard ’Round The World, and also wrote the foreword. He was a consultant to the Smithsonian Institution and to the publishers of The Guitar Collection: An Elite Gathering of 150 Exceptional Guitars. He wrote the foreword for The PRS Guitar Book and contributed chapters to Gibson Guitars, 100 Years of an American Icon; The Electric Guitar; Electric Guitars of the Fifties; and Electric Guitars of the Sixties; among other books. As an artist, he collaborated with Paul Reed Smith and other players in the design of the PRS Signature guitar.

Tom has been interviewed by The New York Times, The Chicago Tribune, The Wall Street Journal, U.S. News & World Report, Irish Public Radio, American Public Radio, MTV, NPR, the BBC, and CNN. He appears in the Smithsonian Channel’s documentary Electrified: The Guitar Revolution, serves on Fender’s Hall of Fame Selection Committee, and was the writer and host of informational videos for Fender and Guild.

Tom holds a Juris Doctor degree from the Loyola School of Law, is currently a professor at the University of Oregon’s School of Journalism and Communication, and plays guitar with soul singer Deb Cleveland and also with The Blue Valentines.