My collecting history

I got my first guitar from my brother as a Christmas present when I was somewhere around 10 years old. An old plywood job that probably cost 20 bucks. My next guitar came when I was about 13 years old. My Dad and I were doing laundry at a laundromat when he left for a few minutes and returned with a nylon string Navara classical guitar. I played the $#!? out of that guitar. While in the Army Stationed in Wurzburg Germany in 1974 I bought a 12 String EKO. When I returned from Germany in 1975 I was too poor to buy an Ovation so I bought an Applause for $225 that I had to get a loan to buy. I went on a buying drought for a little more than a decade when I came down with a serious disease called GAS. Guitar Aquisition Syndrome. This is a devastating illness that makes the afflicted aquire guitars with reckless abandon. I now will rarely consider buying a new guitar any more. I believe the best values are in the used guitar market. I cruise the pawn shops, garage sales, swap meets, and guitar shows in my quest for instruments. Don't let the so called experts fool you. It is not necessary to spend thousands on a guitar. I have them on both ends of the spectrum and enjoy some of the $200 guitars as much as the ones that are worth $2000+.

What? About me???

I am one of those self taught guitar players that would not know what to do with a piece of sheet of music if it was taped to my forehead. I think reading music would only limit my playing ability and creativeness (In other words screw me up). If you listen to some of the people that have heard me play, limiting might be a good thing. The bottom line is I love to play my guitars and try to get a few hours in a day. I use alternate tunings quite a bit. They have opened up a whole new area of creativity. I also like gadgets like E-bows, Slides, and Multiple Capos.

A special thanks to my guitar playing buddy Rudy for all the help, information, and work that he has done on my guitars!