Dale Unger was born in 1954 and grew up in Nazareth, PA, home of Martin Guitar where in his teens he became inspired by meeting skilled guitar builders. He started building acoustic guitars in 1977 in collaboration with friend Dick Boak. In 1993 he began an apprenticeship with Archtop guitar builder, Robert Benedetto. Gradually, he started incorporating Bob’s secrets with his own ideas. In 1996, inspired by Bob and Cindy Benedetto, he began offering his own handmade Archtop guitars under the American Archtop Brand. Unger's world-famous instruments are built in Nazareth to custom order and he rarely makes more than 20 per year. He sells solid body electrics using the Unger Instrument brand name and also offers several workshops on the construction of archtop, flat top and electric guitars at the Nazareth Guitar Institute.