It was founded by Les Trubey and its first location was opened on Central Avenue in St. Petersburg, Florida (explaining the name). The late 1950s through the early 1980s represent the peak of the home organ industry in the United States. In its beginning, Central Music represented the Wurlitzer brand of home organs and pianos for the Tampa Bay area of Florida. Shortly after its founding, Central M
usic also became the dealer for Rodgers Instruments to serve the musical needs of the area’s churches. One of the most popular organs found in churches and homes alike is the Rodgers organ. Central Music enjoyed great success with Wurlitzer. Due to this early success, Central Music was faced with a need for a larger location. It was also at this time that Les Trubey and Nelson Newby of Illinois became acquainted. In 1973, Trubey built a new home for Central Music – a 15,000-square-foot (1,400 m2) building at 5175 Ulmerton Road, Clearwater, Florida 33760 (where Central Music still resides today). It was the first building along that stretch of highway, with pastures for dairy cattle on both sides. However, the area has grown up around Central Music with an international airport within 2 miles (3.2 km) and a new eight lane road in front of the building. In 1977, due to health issues, Les Trubey decided to retire. Thru their mutual experience with Wurlitzer, Les Trubey decided to approach Nelson Newby, a proven salesman from Illinois. In November 1977, Nelson Newby with his wife Sharon and son Timothy moved to Florida and became Central Music’s new owners. At that time, Central Music had three locations throughout the Tampa Bay area. These locations not only offered new and used instruments for sale but were also locations where private lessons and group lessons were available. Around 1980, Wurlitzer began to struggle due to challenges from competition, a worsening economy and what was the beginning of the decline to the home organ industry. To compensate, Central Music took on a new brand in the musical instrument field, Yamaha. Yamaha, quickly rose to prominence in both the piano and (albeit declining) home organ industries, and Central Music became a Top-10 dealership for Yamaha in the United States. In recognition of Central Music’s sales and customer service, company president Nelson Newby was nominated to the National Association of Music Merchants (NAMM) Board of Directors in 1984. The highlight of his tenure was as co-chairman of the committee that created NAMM University and as a workshop presenter in its inaugural season. NAMM University remains a major focus of the organization to this day. Over the years, Central Music’s church organ division steadily became a larger and larger portion of the company’s revenues. In the mid-1980s, Central Music began to shift its attention away from home products, to focus on the needs of churches across a larger geographic area. Today Central Music serves Florida, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, and the Caribbean. In 1992, Central Music’s success was noticed by Fratelli Ruffatti’s National Director for US Sales (and concert artist) Ted Alan Worth. Headquartered in Padua, Italy (26 miles from Venice), Fratelli Ruffatti is the largest European supplier of pipe organs to the United States. Upon meeting, the Newby family and Mr. Worth quickly became friends and Central Music added Ruffatti to the list of fine musical instruments it offers. Timothy Newby grew up in the family business from the age of 6 and upon his graduation from the University of Miami, Nelson and Sharon’s son was announced as Vice President of the firm. His focus was on marketing, installation design, and the new pipe organ products from Fratelli Ruffatti. In the late 1990’s and early 2000’s, Tim made several trips to Italy to apprentice with Francesco Ruffatti at their factory and in churches all throughout the beautiful country. At the turn of the century, Nelson and Tim sought out a piano brand that would complement the extraordinary classical organ products they offered, and they found such an instrument in Bluthner. In 2001 Central Music was named the Florida representative for Bluthner pianos of Leipzig, Germany. In 2016, Nelson had to considerably scale back his role within the company due to health issues (likely related to his service as a draftee in the Vietnam War) and in 2018, Tim succeeded his father as the 3rd President of Central Music. Central Music is a "Global Top-10 Dealership" for Rodgers and in 2021 was #1 in North America.
