Posted by Joe Caruso on Sat, Jan 30, 2010 @ 07:56 PM
One of the nicest exchanges we had at the recent NAMM show was with the new guitar-building team of Willie Carter and Eric Poulsen. We've known Willie for several years, going back to when he first displayed at the Newport Guitar Festival in '05. He's been immersed in the luthier world for over 10 years, having studied with master builder Serge DeJonge in 2000. He also headed up the sales floor at Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto for several years, so he knows both sides of the business. Eric Poulsen is a master wood worker and designer and headed up production at Santa Cruz Guitars for more than a decade. Together, these guys make an awesome team.
I got a great vibe from talking with them and playing their guitars. They have loads of passion, an outstanding breadth of knowledge, and a design sense that is refreshingly modern. We're proud to be Carter Poulsen's first dealer and look forward to seeing more of their guitars in the shop.
J-Model in Englemann spruce and Indian rosewood, now in stock. There's a 00-sized G-Model on the way, as well. Stop by and check them out.
Posted by Joe Caruso on Thu, Jan 28, 2010 @ 08:24 AM
Our never-ending quest for the perfect guitar can lead us through some pretty dark emotional spaces. What to buy, where to buy it, how many to own and where to store (hide) them all. Sometimes, even the seemingly simple decision of whether to keep or return a guitar can drive us, and those we love, to despair. Fortunately (or not), in guitar retail, we have the 48-hour approval period.*
To my mind, an hour is about all one needs to determine if an instrument is a keeper or not. In fact, I've witnessed many of the strongest bonds between player and guitar occur within minutes. The 2-day approval period gives you an extra 47 hours during which you will either be enrapt with your latest acquisition or fraught with the agony of buyer's remorse. A tortured few may even go so far as to extend the 48 hours, for various reasons, some valid, some not:
- Have to leave town suddenly on business
- Need to have my teacher (bandmate, spouse, dog) have a listen and they're not available until Tuesday
- Death (of anyone), hard to argue with death
And sometimes, Providence can play a forceful hand.
A long-standing customer of mine purchased a very expensive vintage Martin from a reputable dealer and had it sent to him with the requisite 48-hour approval period. He'd done it many times, but this particular transaction proved fateful.
This is a man who has had some of the greatest guitars pass through his hands. He's kept them for a while but has never really been satisfied with any of them. Always eager to find the next guitar that will truly rock his world, he's bought and traded, bought and returned, very often at a significant loss. In his early collecting days, I sold him quite a few guitars, each time thinking that a sound and lasting match had been made, only to be shocked to later see those very guitars adorning the cyber-walls of a competitor's website. At one point, I actually had to break ties with him. You're seeding my competition, I told him. We need to take a break. So, he started doing all his buying on line. Fair enough.
It finally all came to a screeching halt. During the aforementioned Martin purchase, on the second day of his approval period, with his mind as yet still unmade, he suffered a heart attack. Fortunately, his wife was there to call 911. The EMT's came, resuscitated him, and loaded him on the stretcher. As he slowly came to, the seriousness of his condition dawned upon him and he urgently beckoned to his wife. She leaned over to him and heard in a gasping tone: Call Elderly...let them know...I need more time...48-hour approval...need more time to decide...
You can be sure that his wife, who up to that point had been extraordinarily tolerant of her husband's proclivity towards guitar buying, put a firm stop to his madness. At least for a time...
He's back. Heart is on the mend. And the quest continues; the interminable search for the One. I still sell him the occasional guitar, but not without a good heart-to-heart beforehand. And my new lifetime approval period (for special cases only).
Folks, when buying your next guitar, do your necessary research, consult your trusted local shop owner, be deliberate and confident in your purchase, and please consider those nearest and dearest to you. Will they be available during that critical 48 hours?
*A word of explanation for the uninitiated: most dealers ship out guitars to prospective clients with a 2-day test-drive period, during which time the buyer can decide whether it's the right guitar, or ship it back without penalty. A call beforehand is always appreciated.
Posted by Joe Caruso on Mon, Jan 25, 2010 @ 10:39 AM
Here's an interesting bit of trivia: in the mid-70's, some British music stores banned or fined their patrons for playing the opening riff to "Stairway to Heaven" because it was played so often. Urban myth or not, this comical image was immortalized in the classic man-child, musical adventure Wayne's World.
And while STH may not be as ubiquitous in today's music store as it was then, there are certainly a handful of songs that I wouldn't mind retiring to the Music Emporium rafters.
- The first to come to mind is the old Elizabeth Cotten tune, Freight Train. A favorite among the budding fingerstyle player, it's rather innocuous upon first listen, but tends to wear thin after the hundredth rendition.
- The Allman Brother's Melissa is a wonderful tune and oddly enough still has some staying power when it pops up on my car stereo. But something happens to it when arranged for solo guitar, sans vocals, played in dirge time. Having a friend solo along definitely helps.
- Zeppelin's Over the Hills and Far Away is a guilty pleasure I admit. I can still remember how thrilled I was the day I learned to play this tune, oh so many years ago, and I'd hate to begrudge anyone from letting it rip on a nice high end guitar. It's the rough renditions played on inexpensive, poorly tuned 12-strings that really raise the hackles. (Remind me to stop carrying those nasty things).
- Beatles fans are not going to take kindly to this next one, and I really never imagined that this harmless ditty could take on such notoriety, but the number one most-played tune, to the point where a warning sign may indeed have to be posted, is Blackbird. Lovely as it is, eyebrows will certainly be raised upon its opening bars.
I write all of this with a knowing and sympathetic smile, because deep down I can still remember the unbridled joy I experienced when I learned each of these tunes. And music is, after all, for the sharing. As a budding guitarist, the first thing I'd do when I found myself in a guitar shop was to systematically run through my top ten classic rock riffs, in the hopes that I could prove my worthiness to the store's proprietor, or anyone else who happened to be listening. It's what we did, and still do, as recreational guitar users. And if these tunes bring such a thrill on our ho-hum guitars at home, how much better must they sound on a $4000 Collings!
Here are a few of the tunes I played incessantly during my early guitar years, and still break them out from time to time:
- My Sweet Lord
- Pinball Wizard
- Ramble On
- Message in a Bottle
- Blackbird (yeah, so!)
I invite you to share some of your top tunes, cherished, worn thin or guilty pleasure. And when you're next in the store, if the mood calls for a little "Stairway" or "More Than a Feeling" by all means, crack a smile and let 'er rip! You'll definitely get our attention.
Posted by Joe Caruso on Wed, Jan 20, 2010 @ 08:12 PM
A couple of months ago, a customer came in with one of the cleanest Gibson A model mandolins I'd seen. Perfect like the day it first left the factory in 1916. He came in to sell it. I'm always curious why folks decide to sell their instruments, particularly vintage pieces and I make a point of finding out the details before negotiating a deal. Here are some reasons I've heard in no particular order:
• I don't play it anymore. It just sits around gathering dust
• I'm bored with it. I think there's something better out there.
• I need the money (very common these days and always hard to hear)
• My husband/wife (95% the latter) says I have too many. One has to go
• Found it at a garage sale and heard they're worth a lot of money
This particular customer gave me the first on the list, gathering dust. I just don't use it anymore, he said, and I feel like someone out there should play it. I gladly negotiated a deal with him, he left with a nice check and I had a fine mandolin to sell, which I promptly did the following day. A nice turnaround and exceptionally quick. I wish they were all that easy. However, this one had an interesting twist.
A couple of days later, the seller came back in the store and rather sheepishly asked if I still had his mandolin. He regretted selling it and asked if I would reverse the deal and return it to him. Uh oh. He explained how he had first acquired the mandolin, some 20 years prior, what he had paid (peanuts) and how fond he was of the memory of that purchase. My heart went out to him and it was with great difficulty that I told him of its sale the previous day. Naturally, he was completely dumbstruck by this news, but there was nothing I could do.
The gentleman who purchased the mandolin was a long-time customer with whom I'd done a lot of business. He'd been looking for just such a piece and happened to walk in the day I was cleaning it up on my bench. He didn't even bat an eye when I gave him the price. It was a very satisfying transaction, not so much for the profit gained but the thrill on the his face when he found the mandolin of his dreams. Clearly not something I was about to undo with a request for the mandolin's return. In the end, the original seller left, quite dejected, and I went back to my business of facilitating matches between buyers and sellers, somewhat sobered by the exchange.
This brings me, rather belatedly, to the point of this article: never sell an instrument unless you absolutely have to. And before you decide to sell a piece out of boredom, do the following first:
1. Change the strings. Fresh strings inject sparkle and life into any instrument, no matter the quality.
2. Consider having it set up by your local repairman. Poor action can diminish an instrument's musical returns.
3. Put the instrument away for a few days. A certain day's mood can temporarily dull the enjoyment derived from what has been up to that point a favorite guitar or mandolin.
4. Have a friend play it. Note his reaction and listen to how it sounds out in front. In short, get a second opinion.
If you still feel like it's time to move on, come on in to the shop. I'll be there to offer a final consult.
Happy picking!
Posted by Joe Caruso on Sat, Jan 16, 2010 @ 10:31 AM
Last night I was at the annual Martin Guitar dinner. Usually a very lavish affair, this night's offerings were a bit on the light side but I suppose it's a fair reflection of the year we just finished. Happy to still be in business but let's exercise some fiscal restraint as we move forward into 2010.
At dinner, the conversation turned to guitar collecting and we shared stories of some of our more interesting clients and their notable acquisitions. One in particular stood out for its level of excess. A guest across the table from me, a passionate but modest collector, described how he had been invited to visit a very sizable collection. It involved being blindfolded, driven to an undisclosed location, and led into a secret warehouse filled with shelves and shelves of the rarest vintage guitars in the world. We're not talking about a couple of Gold Tops and a handful of 50's Strats. Hundreds upon hundreds of guitars; a shelf full of nothing but scores of 1959 Les Paul 'Bursts, dozens of Gold Tops, rows and rows of early 60's strats in every conceivable custom color, Gibson Citations by the score.
While mind-boggling in its sheer scope and size, my thoughts turned to the inevitable day when the collection would be sold and the potentially devastating effects it would have on the vintage market. It's largely been the baby-boomer generation that has driven the vintage guitar market's 30 year escalation and the question is, what is the next generation going to collect, if anything? Will the current followers of Guitar Hero and Modern Warfare wake up one day to discover the wonders of guitar collecting? Or will the current holders of these vast collections find an empty marketplace on liquidation day? I tend to think not, but I would still put my money on great acoustics guitars. Far fewer made, more craft, and a timeless design. Let's bring this up again in a couple of decades.
Posted by Joe Caruso on Fri, Jan 15, 2010 @ 10:09 AM
A busy first day at NAMM. I spent the better part of the day in Hall E, sometimes referred to as the acoustic room as it's where makers such as Collings, Goodall, Bourgeois and the like set up. It also tends to have a much lower noise level than the main rooms. Here are some of the highlights of my day:
Amazing ukes at the Collings booth where Steve and Alex unveiled two concert ukes with the most amazing koa bodies. Apparently, they'd had a few left-over guitar sides with no matching tops or backs. What does one do with such small pieces of wood? Take a look at these beauties:
Some pretty amazing figure. We snagged both ukes and hope to have them back at The Music Emporium early next week. Bill Collings showed up later in the day with a one-of-a-kind archtop ukulele! Incredible. Here it is held by the lovely Angela Wade:
The other nice addition to the Collings line was an MT2 Mandola. As you would expect, it's a fabulous instrument. Prototype Serial # 001 is a lovely black-face A-style and will be coming home with us as well. (pics to follow)
The Martin booth was bustling. Got to take in a great performance by Jorma as he debuted his new signature M-30. Amazing player with any guitar in his hand, though I'll have to admit the Martin has some very attractive elements: Italian spruce, colorful wood marquetry purfling, and the superb comfort of the M body. Seems more and more players are waking up to the M's unique balance of size, tonal strength, and balance.
Spent a little time at the Cole-Clarke booth. Interesting guitars out of Australia. They're gaining wide acceptance among some well-known players, Jack Johnson being the most notable. I wasn't overwhelmed by their acoustic response but plugged in, wow! They have a very unique pickup system that combines a Takamine-inspired saddle pickup with Cole-Clarke's own tone bar sensor which runs the length of the top in much the same way a major brace wood. The effect is jaw-dropping.
More later...
Posted by Joe Caruso on Thu, Jan 14, 2010 @ 06:41 AM
MARTIN GUITAR ANNOUNCES THE 2010 DEBUT OF THE "PERFORMING ARTIST SERIES" OF ACOUSTIC/ELECTRIC GUITARS
Nazareth, PA – January 4, 2010 – C.F. Martin & Co. is proud to announce the launch of the “Performing Artist Series,” an innovative line of acoustic/electric guitars set to debut in 2010. The three models that form the foundation of the new series include the “DCPA1” Dreadnought, “OMCPA1” Orchestra Model, and the new Grand Performance “GPCPA1.” These acoustic/electric models provide flexibility and professionalism for guitarists, from small coffee houses to large arenas to simply recording with your laptop or in a professional studio.
These new models combine Martin’s legendary tone and styling, while adding player comfort and on-stage performance capability. The DCPA1, OMCPA1 and the modern Grand Performance GPCPA1 all share the same aesthetic blend of contemporary and traditional features. Additionally, all Performing Artist Series guitars are equipped with Fishman’s newly designed onboard sound reinforcement system, the F1 Aura®.
“A good percentage of the market wants to plug in their acoustic guitars, either for performance, studio or home recording,” said Chris Martin IV, Chairman and CEO Martin Guitar. “As musical trends evolve, we will remain committed to providing the finest acoustic guitars available in both acoustic and acoustic/electric configuration.”
Each model in the Performing Artist Series offers its own distinctive acoustic and plugged-in sound for the discerning player. The DCPA1 offers the powerful and resonant Martin Dreadnought tone. The OMCPA1 is well balanced, offering warm bass response with crisp clear trebles. The new GPCPA1 shares characteristics from the big rich sound of the Dreadnought and the clarity of the Orchestra model and combines them into a new sonic signature all of its own. All three guitars share the same well-known Martin construction including solid East Indian rosewood back and sides, a solid Sitka spruce soundboard with hybrid scalloped bracing, a genuine ebony headplate, fingerboard and bridge, and a patented mortise and tenon neck joint.
The Performing Artist Series features many firsts for the company, including a more parallel neck profile with a slimmer taper at the 12th fret, giving the guitar comfortable width in the first few frets plus a faster feel for lead-work as you move up the neck. The new smaller bridge design reduces mass and increases the soundboard’s tonal response.
Striking new aesthetic features include a pearl Martin block-style logo inlaid into the ebony headplate. New fingerboard inlays use traditional squares in colorful blue paua, flanked by arrow designs adding to the guitar’s sleek modern style. A newly-designed two ring rosette borders the soundhole with a stunning combination of blue paua and wood fiber inlays. Finely polished gloss lacquer highlights the body’s beauty, while a durable satin finish on the guitar’s neck adds to the quicker feel and player’s comfort.
The new Fishman® F1 Aura® features the stunning realism of award-winning Aura Acoustic Imaging technology in a distinctive and easy to use onboard preamp system. State-of-the-art features include: digital chromatic tuner, volume and blend controls, independent 3-band EQ for both pickup and image signals, compressor, phase control and an automatic anti-feedback filter with up to 3 notches. The heart of the F1 Aura is its ability to replicate the sound of nine different world-class studio microphones. Fishman engineers have carefully captured images of the sound that these high-quality microphones "hear" and allow you to blend it in with the legendary Gold+Plus under saddle pickup. The preamp design utilizes low-noise components, 32-bit internal processing and 24-bit audio conversion for an incredibly clean and quiet output.
A Limited Lifetime Warranty covers all “Performing Artist Series” models purchased from authorized Martin dealers in the U.S. and Canada. To protect your investment, each guitar includes a brown hardshell case.
For more information on the “Performing Artist Series,” please visit:
http://www.performingartistseries.com/ and
http://www.martinguitar.com/
Posted by Joe Caruso on Wed, Jan 13, 2010 @ 07:19 PM
Arrived in less-than-sunny Annaheim,CA this afternoon. Hard to tell the cloud cover from the smog, but it's still nice to see green grass and palm trees in January. I'm here for the bi-annual music retailers trade show, the biggest and most widely attended of the two, the smaller being the summer show in Nashville. Today is set-up day for the event. Thousands of manufacturers and vendors hauling in truckloads of keyboards, amps, drum sets, pianos, brass and woodwind, and of course guitars. It's a thrill to walk around the halls before the official start of the show and witness the controlled chaos as folks scramble to get things set up before the big event. Not only is it the quietest day of the event, it's also a chance to get a sneak peak at any new products. I ambled over to the Collings booth, which was set up surprisingly early this year. A couple of years back, Steve McCreary and crew showed up the day before the show with newly designed booth fixtures and didn't finish assembly until 2am Thursday, after numerous trips to the local Home Depot for spare screws and such. This year, everything is up and ready to go, but no instruments are out on display yet. Have to wait until tomorrow. Word has it that they'll be bringing a couple of MT2 Mandola prototypes plus a very cool AT16, the color and style of which has yet to be revealed. Knowing Bill Collings, I imagine these instruments won't be arriving until sometime late Thursday or Friday, as soon the finish cures.
The National Resophonic booth looked very enticing, with at least 2 dozen of their lovely resonators gleaming under the hall lights. I saw a very interesting square neck Polychrome and a few of their steel single-cones in eye-catching new colors.
George Lowden and crew were putting the final touches on their booth. Some gorgeous guitars in koa, Brazilian, "sinker" redwood and walnut. You've got to hand it to Lowden, after all these years, there really isn't anything that looks or sounds as striking as their guitars. The new Pierre Bensusan Signature model is particularly nice and will surely be coming home to grace TME's showroom (pics to come soon).
Probably the most intriguing offering is from Martin Guitars. Their new Performing Artist Series has been receiving a lot of buzz over the last week, in part because design-wise it's a real departure for the ultra-conservative CF Martin and the fact that it bears an uncanny resemblance to a very well known model from our friends in El Cajon, CA. There will be three models in this series, DCPA1, GPCPA1, and OMPCA1. All spruce and rosewood with ovangkol body and neck bindings and Fishman's new F1 Aura system discreetly and attractively installed with a minimum of visible controls. I'll be getting more details at the guitar's unveiling tomorrow. For now, check out Martin's press release.
~Joe Caruso