The music-products market lost a specialized manufacturer and supplier with the death of Ronny Bennett, a lap steel guitar builder and former country music performer. Mark Pugh, founder of UK retailer Stones Music, confirmed Bennett passed away on August 21, 2026, following a period of ill health, according to a report by Music Instrument News. Pugh first met Bennett about 25 years ago while seeking a supplier for lap steel guitars, eventually coming to know him as a gentle and humble man who had been a quiet star of country music from the 1960s to the 1980s.
Bennett provided hundreds of lap steel guitars to Stones Music over the years. He also used his engineering mind to make his own instruments, creating incredibly complex mechanisms including a keyless tuning system in his workshops on the Wirral and later near Inverness. His facility served as a place for making, repairing, fixing, and tweaking instruments sent to him from all over the world. Pugh noted that Bennett performed with The Hillsiders, the first British country act to play the Grand Ol’ Opry. Pugh stated he will miss Bennett’s chats and quiet wisdom, but knows the last decades of his life were happy ones filled with hospitality and generosity.
For more information, visit musicinstrumentnews.co.uk.
