Vintage Guitars
Rocking in NoHo

Although you can find proponents of every guitar brand, the "holy grails" of vintage guitar collecting seem to be the first solid body guitars made by Leo Fender of that legendary company - Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters from the mid-50s to early 60’s, and Gibson models prior to around 70s. In fact, many ads for vintage gear have three categories: Fender, Gibson, and other.

Andy Brauer with his '56 Fender Stratocaster

Everyone has heard a story like this: A guitar lover spots a garage sale. Is that a guitar case in the corner? Yes! Open it up, and there's a dusty guitar with rusty strings and a busted switch. How much do they want for it? $75. How about 20? They settle on $30. Next week at String Instrument Repair, Nick Roubas restores it with vintage parts and informs the new owner that it's worth $1,500. It doesn't happen often, but it DOES happen. And who knows, perhaps a treasure of a guitar is at a NoHo garage sale at this very moment.

Any guitar that is 20 years old or no longer in production may be considered vintage. Not that true collectors allow a little thing like dating to stop them. International vintage guitar collector Andy Brauer, of NoHo's Andy Brauer Studio Rentals, collects great guitars of all types. "I have more than 125 vintage guitars and about 75 amplifiers," says Andy. Besides accounting for a significant percentage of the vintage guitar business in the area, his reputation is enviable - everybody in the music business knows of Brauer and his world-famous company.

Brauer and guitars go together. He collects them, plays them, rents them, repairs them, records them, consults on them and sets them up for some of the biggest names in the music business. Beginning his career with the pro’s over 20 years ago, Andy has consulted and toured with Quincy Jones, Jeff Beck, John Fogerty, The Rolling Stones, Paul McCartney, and the late Stevie Ray Vaughn. "Quincy Jones, Jeff Pocaro and David Foster urged me to start my own cartage company," he states. "But rather than just storing and transporting gear, we went further," to renting fine instruments for concerts and recording. (ed. nt. Brauer is offering a 2 for one rental special this month.)

Brauer is curator for some pretty fine guitar collectors, too, like Steve Lukather, Lindsey Buckingham (Fleetwood Mac), Walter Becker (Steely Dan), Nathan East (plays w/ Eric Clapton), John Fogerty, Joni Mitchell, and Carl Verheyan. "Guitars are special," Brauer notes. "There's a story behind every one of the guitars I own." You can see some of his famous collection at www.andybrauer.com.

"You can never have enough. I have around 45 guitars these days," says Carl Verheyen, one of L.A.'s busiest session musicians, and an Andy Brauer client. "But if something I like comes along, it'll be 46." "My main guitar is the '79 Fender Stratocaster," states NoHo's Curtis of the Stoney Curtis Band, "but I also own a Gibson '78 Flying V, a '63 SG, a '57 Les Paul, an Ibanez Iceman, a Carvin 12/6 Double Neck, a couple of other Fender Strats, and a Schecter PT." "There's nothing like the feel of a great guitar," states Brad Wilson, leader of the blues-rock trio Stone. "You can never have enough."

Christian Lundberg of Brauer Studio Rentals Playing with a '68 Gibson J 200

They act like they're in love! They admire and caress the curves. They slide their hands down the backs of their favorites. They run their fingers all over the front of them. They lust after new bodies and buy/sell/trade them. Feeding the habit. With stores and on-line services offering new, used and vintage musical equipment, there have never been so many choices for guitarists and collectors. Magazines that cater to the guitar habit include Vintage Guitar and Musicians Hotline, both of which have websites. Numerous Web-based services are also available, such as www.musichotbid.com, an on-line auction service for used and vintage gear, www.guitarHQ.com and www.guitar.net. Helping people determine the value of vintage guitars are books such as Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars and the Vintage Guitar Magazine Price Guide.

Stores galore. From giant retailers like Sam Ash and Guitar Center, both of which offer new and vintage instruments, to guitar shops that specialize in vintage gear, you'll find great guitars in every part of the city. In the Valley, you can see incredible selections of vintage guitars at Freedom Guitars, Traditional Music and Norman's Rare Guitars, and nice choices of great vintage gear at Sam Ash, Guitar Center, Jammin' Jersey, and Oleg's Music. For new guitars, you can visit ABC Music, Cassell's Music, Kaye's Music Scene, West L.A. Music's Universal City location, and Carvin. Need a vintage amp to go along with your purchase? Try the Amp Shop in Sherman Oaks.

Westwood/Santa Monica has more choices from the other West L.A. Music location and Fred Walicki's Westwood Music, to Guitar Traditions, McCabe's, Ace, and Doc's Vintage Guitars, which is by appointment only. Westwood music is one of only two places in the world where you can see a Girl Brand guitar. I went in there the other day and they had two, one with a sign reading "Hold for Meredith Brooks." That's the kind of customer they get.

Hollywood abounds with great vintage opportunities, starting with Guitar Center's Sunset Strip location, but also including Sam Ash, Future Music, Guitars R Us, Johnny Guitar, Mesa/Boogie, Black Market Music, Freedom's main store and Voltage Guitars. Jack Waterson's Future Music is especially fun because he also features the wildest assortment of sound-recording gear. The shop often looks like a Frankenstein's lab for sonic scientists. In your quest for vintage guitars, don't overlook pawn shops such as Pacific Pawn Brokers, Elliott Salter, Traders, and Balboa Collateral & Loan.