Pete Hillenberg is an electrical engineer --with a psychology degree -- who would rather be a guitar player. He got his first guitar at age 8 and was immediately hooked for life. Pete played with Impasse bass player Don Smith in Shyan Stokes and Tinkers Dam. He also played with McCallister in between those two. His next band will be The Promise Band, Never Never Band, or Moe and the Lawns. (Pete never gets to name the band!)

Pete has a couple of vintage Gibsons (older than Kari), 2 Carvin strats, a Paul Reed Smith, 5 Peaveys, and a few other assorted 6 & 12 strings. He currently plays a cheap Peavey Firenza with soapbar pickups (go figure). Pete says, "It may be cheap, but it sounds like a cross between a Fender Strat and an old Gibson SG special, only without the noise. It has a wide-thin maple neck with a mahagony body and a 25" scale, same as Carvin and Paul Reed Smith. I have 4 Firenzas with soapbars and I love em. They don't make them anymore, so I'm stocking up for the future. So many guitars, so little time...".