Hungarian American, Joseph Puskas, started playing the violin at age nine. He began studying violin making in 1938 under Paulus Pilate. After completing his studies in 1941, he established himself in New York, but later moved to Los Angeles in 1947 to establish his own shop. Puskas crafted over 150 instruments throughout his lifetime, most of them based on the models of Stradivarius and Guarneri.   

He played the violin and viola semi-professionally and played in the Glendale Symphony in the early 1950s.

His small shop at his home on Larchmont Boulevard in Los Angeles was directly next door to the much larger violin shop of Hans Weisshaar.  An ardent chamber music player, Joseph Puskas would often close his shop at the end of the day and then play quartets with many of his loyal customers.