|
   FOR ORIGINAL SOURCE CLICK HERE
In this interview, Clay Harrell talks about his experiences collecting vintage guitars, especially pre-1964 Gibsons, Martins, Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters, Nationals and Dobros. Based in the Detroit area, Clay can be reached via his website, Vintage Guitars Info, which is a member of our Hall of Fame. I grew up in upstate New York in Rochester, and started playing guitar when I was about 10 years old. We had this place in Rochester; called the House of Guitars. It was this huge independent music store, I think it was the largest in the world at that time. Originally, they just sold used guitars, and the place kept getting bigger and bigger and bigger. It was literally an old house that they kept adding on to. When you walked in there, they always had their old guitars in their display cases, and this was long before people were seriously collecting guitars. I would always see these Strats and these Gibsons hanging there. When I went with my dad to buy my first guitar, they were steering me towards a new guitar. And I kept looking at the old stuff going, “God, that looks so cool, though.” I don’t know. I just had this draw to it. The other thing, too, is I was a huge Hendrix fan, and when I started playing, Hendrix was dead. He had already died, but I was still a fan. I had all these Hendrix posters in my room with Jim playing small headstock Strats, pre-1966 stuff, earlier in his career.
|
