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Guitars — Detroiters have a continuing love affair
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rom playing pool-hall air
guitar to picking on a front
porch to composing angry
songs of protest, the guitar
is arguably American culture's
principal prop. More than just
an awkward teen-ager's social
entree, the guitar is now one of
this century's more discernable
icons.
Guitar show promoter Gordy
Lupo, owner of Gordy's Music in
Ferndale, says that the annual
Michigan guitar shows have
grown from a 2,700-square-foot
conference-room setting to the
65,000-square-foot arena they
now need.
"It's almost like a religious ex-

F

needs to know whom he's buying
from. It's a tricky issue — buy-
ing a so-called collectible from
somebody you don't know."
Herb David of Ann Arbor's
Herb David Guitars said that
knowledge of a good guitar starts
surprisingly young. Many chil-
dren, actually pre-teens, are ex-
perts on the details of vintage
guitars, colors, models, all of
those little things.
The demand for guitars man-
ufactured immediately after the
seminal late 1940s era has in-
creased to the degree where
there now exists an enormous
vintage-guitar market. The op-
timal period depends entirely on

perience to a lot of people," said
Lupo. "The vintage instrument
business is steady and seems to be
still going in one direction and
that's up. Because of the shows,
our out-of-state sales account for
more than 50 percent of our busi-
ness. Shipping guitars to Europe
and Japan is very common. It's a
good feeling to expand a local busi-
ness into an international one."
"The guitar market is differ-
ent from other collectibles mar-
kets in that there's a utility value
that almost always goes with the
instrument," says Stan Werbin
of Lansing's Elderly Instru-
ments, one of the country's
largest vintage-guitar dealers.
"It's a matter of rarity and de-
sirability. There's a perceived
value; the buyer thinks it's worth
it. There are always good buys

the specifics of the model: Mar-
tin acoustics, for instance, are
most prized if made before World
War II. Gibsons vary wildly,
while vintage Fenders are gen-
erally the "pre-CBS" models —
made literally before the com-
pany was purchased by CBS in
January 1965.

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Sentiment often
stems from history
more than utility.

Some current vintage-guitar
prices are amazing: A mint con-
dition flametop Gibson Les Paul
can sell in excess of $50,000; a
pre-war Martin D-45 can cost
$100,000. A Martin D-28 Her-

$22,000 at the 1993 show.
Is it a uniquely American
paradox that we ardently pro-
mote progress yet fuel it with
nostalgia? Do we love 1957
Chevys, vintage Stratocasters
and baseball on real grass be-
cause they provide recollective
relief? Or are they simply supe-
rior products?
"Indisputably they are better
instruments than those made to-
day," said George Gruhn, author,
consultant, guitar designer and
owner of Nashville's famed
Gruhn Guitars. "I don't wish to
say that all new instruments are
bad. In fact, new instruments are
much better today than they
were in the 1970s. The worst
time, quality wise, was the ear-
ly and mid-1970s. Those models
were so poor in comparison to the
early ones that they actually fu-
eled the growth of vintage pieces.
"The reason for the phenome-
nal recent growth in the market
is the fact that baby boomers —
who either grew up in the folk
boom or developed an interest in
guitars in their early teens —
have gone after this with a
vengeance. They are now able to
buy expensive instruments."
Werbin said that there are
several fine guitar makers work-
ing today, but the sentiment sur-
rounding a certain instrument
often stems more from its his-
tory than its utility.
"The mystique is another
thing altogether," he said. "Age
is part of the value of an instru-
ment."
More than the monetary val-
ue, the guitar remains a tangi-
ble source of providing solaCe, joy
and release. Despite the enor-
mous prices and predatory col-
lectors, the market still revolves
around what turns us on.
"The rock scene still has a lot
to do with it," Lupo said. "A 65
Strat is going to cost between
$3,000 and $5,000. That's a bar-
gain compared to what a Stradi-
varius (concert violin) costs. How
much is a mint Stradivarius?
Over a million? What do the two
instruments do? What's the dif-
ference? A good guitar show gets
gear out of the attic and back
into the hands of someone who
can play and enjoy it.
The Spring Guitar show will
be held April 16 at the Michigan

Q 4.

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