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The nature of the vintage guitar business is that it appeals to a select few. Its club members are enthusiastic, but most people, including many guitarists, aren’t familiar with the vintage mindset. I believe that once a player gets his or her hands on a quality vintage instrument, they will be bitten by the bug like all of us!
The vintage guitar market is a direct result of the dismal state of the American guitar industry since the seventies. It seemed like the manufacturers had lost touch with the needs and wants of professional players. The major companies had figured out how to make great guitars even through the late sixties, but they all focused too much on the bottom line, and how they could save on materials and workmanship to cut costs. There were shortages in quality tone woods and other guitar-making materials.
During the seventies, foreign manufacturers figured they could do as good or better in making guitars than American companies, and they went out to prove it. Ibanez and Yamaha made some pretty good guitars, and soon enough began taking away business from the American major companies. Gibson, Fender, and Martin, to some extent, scrambled, trying to come up with “new” designs. Does anybody remember the Gibson Marauder or the Fender Bronco?
Companies like Ibanez “got it,” though. They produced models that were based on the classic original Gibson designs. These later became known as “lawsuit” models. From Les Pauls to Flying Vs, from ES-175s to Johnny Smiths and L-5s, the Japanese made pretty good copies. They were also far less expensive than the American made Gibsons. Takamine’s copies of Martins were likewise pretty good guitars that flooded the US market. Aria made models based on Fenders and also began to take business away from the American big three.
In the early eighties, prices on vintage American models escalated, and the big American companies began realizing that one of their biggest competitors was themselves! As a result, they began to make reissues of their own original designs. The early reissues were pretty good, and the companies realized they needed to reestablish themselves as the standard of excellence in design and quality. As the years went on, the American majors took back the big market share of the guitar-buying public.
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Through our connections to the majors, Norman’s Rare Guitars tried to advise the major companies how to help improve the quality of their products to make guitars authentic to their original designs. I often would let them inspect the vintage instruments in my collection so that they could build the best reissue possible. Gibson, Fender, Martin, and Rickenbacker did guitars to our specs, and we tried to point out the little things that the companies were overlooking or didn’t think were important.
Players would show up at the store, wanting to check out these new reissue guitars and stack them up against the old. One of the first of these players was Dave Amato. Dave is an excellent guitar player and singer, and is a true believer in the vibe and mojo of vintage instruments. He was an early convert who wants other people to “see the vintage light.” He also purchased many of our reissue guitars that we were involved in helping to redesign.
When I first met him, he was playing and singing with Ted Nugent. Over the years, Dave would come in regularly and has built an impressive collection. But they don’t just hang on the wall. He plays and records with them, avidly.
Gibson 1967 Byrdland with factory master volume. (Photo by Jen Angkahan)
Dave hooked us up with Ted Nugent and, of course, Ted bought several early Byrdlands from us. The short-scaled, hollow-bodied, carved-topped Gibson Byrdland was an unusual choice, but he definitely made it work for him. In fact, it gave Ted quite an unusual look back in the seventies, when it seemed everybody else was playing Les Pauls. It was a brilliant branding strategy that has paid off, as Gibson has reissued their own “Ted Nugent Byrdland.”
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For the last twenty-plus years, Dave has played guitar with REO Speedwagon, replacing Gary Richrath, who was another early customer. Before that, he played with Cher for quite a while, and being from the Boston area, he was friendly with a lot of big bands that probably had no idea what Norman’s Rare Guitars was. But they would soon find out. Dave showed up one day with Brad, Joe, and Steven from Aerosmith. I believe they were impressed with our selection, and I think they liked the loose vibe that we had.
Dave Amato also first brought Richie Sambora to the store. In fact, I think it was Dave who convinced Richie that he needed some vintage guitars. He said, “Just check it out, I think you’ll dig them.” And dig them he has.
One day Richie was in the store and was looking at a pretty expensive guitar. At the same time, Dave was looking at a 1954 Stratocaster. I pulled Dave aside and told him that if Richie purchased the guitar, I would sell him the 1954 for $7,500. At the time, 1954 Stratocasters were going for about $10,000. Of course Dave went to work on Richie, and they both left with great guitars. Both of the guitars they walked away with have appreciated greatly, so they’re not hurting.
Through the years, Dave also turned us on to Keith Nelson from the band Buck Cherry, Derek St. Holmes from the Ted Nugent Band, Tommy Shaw and the boys from Styx, and so many others I can’t count them all. Recently Brad Whitford came to LA to play a show. Brad and Dave were hanging out in town and had a few hours to kill. What else would Dave say but “Let’s go to Norm’s.”
Dave, Kevin Cronin, and the REO guys were even kind enough to play a gig for The Midnight Mission (LA’s premier homeless shelter). Dave is good people and has a lot of friends that are good folks as well. Thanks again, Dave Amato, our number-one advocate!