THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, November 7, 1994 TAG: 9411060002
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E01 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY TOM HOLDEN, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 198 lines
THE HOLY GRAIL OF American rock guitars may be the 1959 Les Paul Flametop. Stumble across an original and you could sell it for $50,000.
Take hold of the hefty maple body, stained red to show off the gorgeous tiger striped wood grain. Check out its Brazilian rosewood neck all jazzed up with plastic that looks like mother of pearl. Feel the soft, creamy white pick guard. Plug into the nationwide network of vintage guitar dealers and maybe, just maybe, lightening will strike.
Yes, $50,000.
That gleaming symbol of rebellion and revolution, the electric guitar, has come of age. Once considered the simple tool needed to get the rock 'n roll job done, vintage American rock guitars are gaining value like old Chippendale tables and Tiffany lamps.
Brad King doesn't know beans about antique furniture, but as owner of Virginia Beach Vintage Guitars he would stomp on an old Tiffany or burn a Chippendale to cinders, to own a Les Paul Flametop, built by Gibson Guitars.
``I know where one is,'' says King, with a hint of boyish conspiracy rising in his voice. ``It's right here in the Beach. Only the guy won't sell it. And I know where a Les Paul Goldtop is, too. It's pretty much the same thing as a Flametop, only it's painted gold. It goes for $20,000, but that guy won't sell either.''
When King speaks of these fabled axes, named after the man who is widely credited for designing the first solid body guitar, he can't help but look disappointed, as if he had once come close to the very Grail itself only to let it slip away.
But no matter, there are other treasures in the trade, gems that keep King's rent paid and spirits high.
In his new shop on Virginia Beach Boulevard there hangs a handsome collection of collectibles - old Gibsons, Martins and Fenders and a few Gretsches. Long out of the shop, they come complete with cracks in the finish, dents in the wood, blond fret boards worn black, scratches here and there, and price tags that would make the uninitiated blanch.
Not all of them are so worn. Others look surprisingly fresh for their age, while others are meticulous reproductions of original models, built by companies eager to cash in on the market for vintage look-alikes.
King's pride and joy, nestled comfortably in a worn black case, is a pretty 1961 Gibson Sunburst ES 335, a model he will part with for a modest $4,000. The original asking price was $260 and change.
He's got a 1966 Gibson Firebird with an unusual Pelham blue finish that's out the door for $2,200. Original price: $400. His oldest guitar is a 1936 National Style O Resonator. It's made of metal, has palm trees and canoes etched on it, and the price is $3,000. Originally, it sold for about $185, case included.
Every day King hooks into a thriving nationwide circuit of guitar collectors, people from Hampton Roads to Portland, New York to Nashville, who buy, sell and trade any number of these cherished instruments.
``I've always played guitars, and I've always loved them,'' said King, a husky former Marine who once patrolled the grounds of the Norfolk Naval Station before he left the service and set up shop.
``When I got out of the Marines, I decided to get into this business because I always heard that you should do something you like so you'll be happy.''
Why anyone would pay such money for a guitar may be a mystery to most people, but not to Tom Wheeler, the former editor at Guitar Player magazine and an authority on antique guitars.
The answer, he said, lies somewhere in the mystery, the mojo if you will, about pop heros, their music and the times we live in.
``If you're carrying a guitar case, what does that say about you?'' said Wheeler. ``It says you're a musician, and that says something about how you relate to other people. You play an instrument associated with ground-breaking music and, occasionally, with revolutionary music.
``Look at the evolution of music that came to be called rock 'n' roll. Look at Chuck Berry, The Beatles or Elvis. These were true revolutionaries. I think that revolutionary spirit has rubbed off on the guitar itself,'' Wheeler said.
Guitars have potential. They seem easy to play. Untold legions of college students have carried them into dorms, on camping trips, to friends' apartments, for the sheer pleasure of figuring out songs. Some will even muster the courage to stand on stage and play, hoping someone, anyone, will notice.
``Most instruments can require a lifetime to master, and the guitar is one of them,'' said Wheeler, who now teaches journalism at the University of Oregon. ``But few instruments are so readily assessable to the beginner as the guitar.
``You can sit down and in a matter of hours, if you can master a few chords, you have literally hundreds of songs at your disposal. And it's fun. It's the songs you grew up with. It's the songs you hear on radio today.
``But if you want to talk about a production guitar, one from the catalogue, then the Les Paul sunburst from the 1950s is indeed the Holy Grail,'' he said. ``Why would a guitar that cost $247.50 when it was new go for $10,000 to $50,000 or more today?
``Why is one stamp worth $100,000 and another just 29 cents? One won't send your letter any further. Same thing here. With the Les Paul, just the fact that so much mystery and history surround them makes them fabled. They're worth a lot because people want them a lot, like any collectable.''
The market for these instruments emerges from the old records, new CDs and car radios that each day pump out the hits for each generation's rising pop stars. Lured by fame, fortune and promises of excess, countless young people drop hundreds of dollars for lesser models to learn their chops and hope fame strikes.
But often, they know no more than what they hear, or what looks good to them. That's where people like King step in.
For some of his customers, getting the right sound for a band is everything, even if they don't know which guitar will give them the sound they crave. Some like the rich, fat notes of a Les Paul (there are many styles besides a Flametop), while others strive for the bright notes of another company's top sellers, the Fender Telecaster or its more muscular sounding cousin, the Stratocaster.
``A lot of times people are looking for a style,'' King said. ``They know who they like and what sound they want to emulate, but they don't know what guitar they want. I help them find the right guitar.''
LIKE SEEMINGLY EVERY CONSUMER product, guitars have undergone near constant change since the first electric Hawaiian instruments emerged in the late 1940s. They have been refined, upgraded, improved and changed all for the sake of a sale and a new market. Like automobiles, there seem to be an infinite variety of new guitars available today, each with a special finish or electronics package to produce sounds as varied as today's music.
In some modern guitars, the so called ``Super Stratocaster,'' the magnetic picks ups are designed to soak up vibrations so that even a gentle pluck brings forth a mighty sound. But to King's ear, no matter how many gadgets or tricks used, the sound of many modern guitars is still thin.
``Look,'' he says plainly, ``you can drive a Gremlin at the Indianapolis Speedway. It'll go around the track, but it's not the same thing.
``The wood matters,'' he added. ``The best way to pick out an electric guitar is to pick one up and play it without plugging it in. If it sounds good that way, it'll sound good when you plug it in.''
Old wood is one reason that the market for certain acoustic models makes even the Les Paul Flametop seem cheap by comparison.
While the world is hot for electric guitars, the first ones were acoustic instruments made by craftsmen who learned their skills making violins and mandolins. Among the most respected brands - apart from relatively unknown private makers - are C.F. Martin, of Nazareth, Penn. and the electric giant, Gibson.
Martin acoustic guitars are considered among the best in the world because of their rich sound and sturdy construction. The company lists its lines with a simple system of letters and numbers. The top of the line is a D-45, and in the years before World War II, the company stopped making this model for a while - much to the everlasting delight of collectors.
Construction of D-45s stopped on Oct. 9, 1942 and did not resume until 1965. A typical pre-war D-45 now sells for more than $100,000. None are commonly found today, and for that reason alone, the D-45 does not have the same allure as the Flametop, of which more than 1,400 were built. Many of them are still turning up in people's attics and closets.
``I've had people call me at least twice in the last year asking if their Les Paul was a Flametop,'' said Walter C. Carter, the Gibson company historian. ``The Les Paul is an interesting case because the earliest models are not the most valuable. It did not reach its peak until a few years after it was introduced, so rarity is not as big a factor as say the pre-war Martin D-45.''
The people who buy the high-profile instruments are typically not musicians, he said, but rich businessmen.
Akira Tsumura, the head of a Japanese toiletries empire, owns 1,0001 vintage banjos, while Scott Chinery, the New Jersey native who made a fortune in Cybergenics sports vitamins products, has a famous guitar collection. He also owns the original Batmobile.
The increasing prices for older models has not gone unnoticed by guitar manufacturers. Today makers like Fender and Gibson churn out a steady stream of modern versions of their old classics for less money to buyers anxious for a good guitar at a reasonable price.
David S. Culpepper, a 43-year-old contractor from Western Branch in Chesapeake, collects reissues of Fender's Stratocaster and Telecaster lines an an occasional remake of a C.F. Martin acoustic.
``I'm what you'd call a living room guitarist,'' Culpepper said recently. ``I like to play old tunes. I take lessons mostly off of videos tapes. I've only reassociated myself with the guitar in the last year or so.
``It's a wonderful pastime,'' added. ``And the thing is, if I want to get rid of them, someone will probably want to buy them.''
The competition to find rare electric gems, however, has bred a class of collectors who note every imaginable difference in style and manufacturing technique. Each subtle difference is cause for celebration. No detail is too important to miss, no matter how insignificant.
``These people get into the kind of wrapping on the wires inside the control cavity,'' said Wheeler, of the University of Oregon. ``They get into dimensions of incredibly precise tolerances, down to small shifts in the chemicals mixed to create a finish, slot head verses Phillips- head screws.
``The most persnickety detail I ever heard of was in a reissue of a Gibson Les Paul Sunburst. On the back of the guitar, there is a hole where they put the controls. It's covered by a plastic plate. The floor of the hole has been angled to precisely match the angle of the floor of the original!
``Folks, we're talking persnickety.'' ILLUSTRATION: Staff color photos by DAVID B. HOLLINGSWORTH
Brad King, owner of Virginia Beach Vintage Guitars, plays a 1961
Gibson ES335.
A reissue of the 1959 Les Paul Standard sells for $3,000, but an
original can bring as much as $50,000.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
The 1959 Les Paul Flametop, made by Gibson, is the Holy Grail of
American rock guitars. It sells for as much as $50,000.
by CNB