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Guitarlington 2022


currypowder

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We're about 6 weeks out from our every couple of years or so trek to the Three Amigos Arlington guitar show. 

Before anytime says it's not the same, or there's really not much to see, we know. It's more about the getting together with friends scattered across the country for a long weekend than serious guitar hunting.

Anyway, wanted to check to see if any HFC members will be there on Saturday. If so, perhaps we could get together while there, maybe grab some lunch. Feel free to reach out to me directly.

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Whoops, almost missed the cue and opp for shameless self promotion haha ... here's new pickup demo instruments for my P pickup, my J pickups, and my SPA-90 trio for Strats I'll have in Arlington. These replace pickup demo guitars we sold at the spring show in Dallas.

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11 hours ago, Jeff R said:

Carondelet will have a booth up all weekend. Come say hey.

 

Thanks Jeff. We will certainly come by to say hi.

On a separate but related note, I actually rented a booth at a guitar show in Columbus in January, my first (and last) foray into being on the other side. The one thing I noticed is that I loved it when someone would stop to chat, regardless if they were interested in buying. I'm planning to make an effort to be more chatty with the booth owners as I've typically been more of the "walking by, looking, but don't talk" type of attendee.

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The Dallas show was my first as a vendor and it was a learning experience. My shop is by appointment and typically one-on-one interaction. When you get a half dozen or more players in a booth all wanting to try stuff, ask questions, offer feedback, however, it can be difficult to give everyone the attention they deserve.

I can't do it alone, my booth sidekicks are my wife, Vonnie (she handles the booth business) and one of my best friends, David Harbour. David's last gig was with King Diamond, "House of God" era. Before that, he was with Tony MacAlpine and Chastain. He lived in DFW for a couple decades and he knows so, so many people at the Texas shows. His playing tends to draw people too :)

 

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The chat-at-shows concept to which currypowder is referring is known as "schmoozing"... No ego intended but I think I did that very well when I worked a booth at shows. The Vintage Guitar booth scenario was a bit different on accounta we were just peddling subscriptions and price guides, for the most part, but I was allowed to bring a few instruments to sell or trade as long as I didn't "hawk" them.

And there were (now-former) magazine contributors who did indeed (try to) exploit the opportunity at the magazine booth. Definitive example was in California back in the '90s. Some guy who'd written a couple of articles got a satin exhibitor stickie like the rest of us, but when he showed up at the venue, he hung out inside at the entrance, trying to snag walk-in instruments, and never set foot in the booth.

I could cite plenty of other examples of how journalists or self-appointed experts/historians act like they don't know **** about the real business facet of guitar shows but that CA recollection is enough (for now) to get the point across, and I don't want to come across (at this point) as a curmudgeon.

As noted last March, the Franklin show was (supposed to be) the last show that I will "work", due to health reasons. I still may be able to "attend" a show (hang out for a few hours and maybe get some photos of certain instruments for potential future articles).

And I've always enjoyed talking with readers, subscribers, dealers, and notable attendees. I became friends w/ a lotta decent folks, thanks to a common love of old guitars.

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11 minutes ago, kizanski said:

 

What? No 1972 Fender Tab Benoit Fanboi Signature Series Telecaster Thinline?

Sorry, not for sale. If it was, I have a line of people from Baton Rouge to Houma that have put their name in the hat.

Thinline.jpg

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17 minutes ago, Jeff R said:

Sorry, not for sale. If it was, I have a line of people from Baton Rouge to Houma that have put their name in the hat.

No, I know that.  I just meant to showcase your formidable (albeit unpronounceable) pickups.

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^^^^According to some marketing research from a couple of years ago, Baby Boomers are still driving the vintage guitar phenomenon, Gen Xers aren't particularly interested in old instruments but Millenials are interested. I'd think the bulk of players from '77-97 were Gen Xers, so one wonders what kind of correlation can be made with the "doesn't exist" category. Some might even think there ought to be even more of such instruments available if players from that era weren't interested.

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Thanks for the reminder. I keep wanting to go every year but I always forget to put it on my calendar early enough so that I don't book a gig on those dates. This time is the perfect scenario for me to go. I have no gigs booked that weekend AND my wife is going to be out of town so no excuses this time. Looking forward to finally going. 

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39 minutes ago, kizanski said:

Dude... How big is the guitar that pickup is for??

image.png

Actually, Kiz, it is a normal-sized hb. The Baron was actually quite short for his era at 4’-5”. The auld devil was cheekily known as, “The Dwarf of the North”, a sobriquet he eventually learned to embrace. True story. 

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  • 1 month later...

Had a great time at the show yesterday. I ran into a few friends and met some HFC'ers for the first time. Hamerica, Currypowder and I forget the other gentleman's name from San Francisco. (sorry) Great bunch of people. I was bummed to find out that Jeff "Ree-chard" decided not to go. There were a lot of nice guitars but nothing I had to have. I was disappointed by the lack of Hamer guitars. There were only a few. This was my first time at Guitarlington and only my 2nd guitar show ever. I am looking forward to the Dallas guitar show in the spring. 

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I'm so sorry I had to pull our booth late in the game. My wife had hip surgery a few weeks ago and she wasn't ready to work a trade booth just yet. We moved our Arlington deposit to our space at the Nashville show in March. I assure you too, we will not miss the Dallas show next spring, even if I have to pay my pickup artists to load in/out the booth and man it for me.

The gentleman from SF to whom you refer is the one and only Mr. Fung a die-hard Hamer collector and brand ambassador and a good friend. I look forward to seeing him, all y'all, in the spring.

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Got back last night from another great guitar show trip with a great group of friends and got to meet a few HFC friends as well, Hamerica (who I had met at a previous show), Shankyboy and PFung. Always great to meet these guys in person.

It was a smaller show than in years past (though not small). There was only one large room of booths vs 2 in previous year. But no problem, still a lot of great pieces to gawk at and admire. I did not walk away with anything, but came close. There was a cool metallic green Gretsch Setzer HotRod that kept calling to me, but I was finally able to resist. Coolest piece, IMO, was Dave Edmunds 1960 blonde 335 dot neck for a cool $119K. I did get to hold and play it for a bit in the hopes that a small amount of his mojo would rub off on me.

I saw 3 Hamers, but only one that was truly worth considering, a natural Monaco III. The others were a seriously butchered 1993 Special (described as 1981) and another butchered Vector that I couldn't figure out (serial # indicated 1981, but the Hamer logo did not have USA behind it). Was routed for a Floyd, then had a Wonderbar installed.

Here are a few pics of some interesting guitars.

Dave Edmunds 335

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Almost came home with me.

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Very cool Burny Explorer with Futura headstock. A CME guy was purchasing it as I go there or I would have definitely bought this one.

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Robin

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y4mWJ_4f3bqUC5o6eNaUFLBG4TG9GfruAzxT1XmQ

Kiz's favorite model. If I didn't already have one, would have definitely jumped on it for this price.

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Very clean Greco SA-900 from 1978, priced right at $1,100

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Monaco III

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Very nice playing 8-string Kramer, but weighed a ton

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y4m3D6PV13POlESC98l92dF3Yhap_S3sOxcPYAFa

Eric Johnson's Strat

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A 78 Greco Ric 12 string that I used to own. 

y4mm1eh4KeL4iExEYbUbSIgEV2rHw_MV5fBrzt21

Butchered 93 Special

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Butchered Vector Headstock

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