Thomas Rein started making steel stringed guitars in the early 1970s and apprenticed with Edward F. Rose in Lexington, Kentucky. He founded Thomas Rein guitars in 1975 and by 1980s was also building lutes, theorboes, and gambas. After a moving to the Washington DC area in 1986, he decided to concentrate solely on the classical guitar. Rein's classical guitars have been played throughout the world in concerts and on recordings. In 2007, he came full circle and started building steel string guitars again while continuing to build classical guitars.

Source: Thomas Rein website (19 June 2019)