Frankfurt show 2012 was a great opportunity for Nicolai from Vintage & Rare to meet Øystein Husemoen from Norwegian Wood Series / Husemoen Guitars.

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In April 2012 Nicolai from Vintage & Rare had a great opportunity to meet Werner Kozlik at the Frankfurt Show 2012. Werner is owner of Stevens Custom Guitars and Munich Repair Shop. At the show they were presenting the whole range of instruments they do in Stevens Custom Guitars Company.

They are mostly focused on development and production of musical instruments, such as Steal String Guitars, Jazz Guitars, Irish Bouzoukis, Acoustic Bass Guitars and custom orders.

Here are some cool pictures and videos of that day. Enjoy!

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Here we have Doc Pittillo from The Guitar Doctor. He told us a very cool story regarding his 1961 Fender Stratocaster.

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Nicolai from Vintage & Rare visited Doc Pittillo in The Guitar Doctor workshop in Fountain Valley in Orange County, CA. Doc presented  his Early 1956 Gretsch Chet Atkins.

You are looking at interesting Gretsch. Most people think it is a roundup because of the western motive and the inlays, just the way it is set up. But this one is actually either late 1955 or the beginning of 1956. There was an ad that came out for the first Chet Atkins signature guitar. This guitar is the first Chet Atkins. After this one he went to what Doc believes was the 6129 style shortly thereafter and started working on his own models. This is a very rare bird. Randy Bachman was the one who told Doc what that was and what the story was.

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Here we have Phil X. He is a great example of how good a Youtube video can help you to get what you have always been dreaming about. Look at what he said to Vintage and Rare about his dream gig – standing in for Richie Sambora in Bon Jovi.

PHIL X: You know, I have got to tell you, Youtube is my best friend. I have got gigs from Youtube, sessions, fans. It just multiplies, everything multiplies. Because if you put a good video, you are going to get followers. That is how it works. The same thing is if you put a bad video, you will get haters. Well, even if you put a good video you can get haters but the bottom line is – somebody sees your video, and then somebody gets a call from mister Jon Bon Jovi. It goes: ”Hey I need somebody to fill in for Richie.”

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Here we have Tom Wittrock. He is showing us Original Vintage Gibson Les Paul 1958 & 1959. Tom Wittrock has owned and operated Third Eye Music since 1976, and is now the most established vintage guitar store in the Springfield, Missouri area. Tom buys, sells and trades all kinds of guitars and related items.

You are looking at two of Toms late 50′s Les Pauls. The first guitar is a 1958 model that Tom had nicknamed ”The other woman”. The second guitar is 1959 model that is nicknamed ”Donna”. He has had both of these guitars for twenty-five years. He brought them to the Arlington Guitar Show because a lot of people almost never get a chance to see these things up close. This way they could look at them closely.

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Here we have Doc Pittillo from The Guitar Doctor in Fountain Valley, Callifornia. He is showing us a very unique piece, a Roy Rogers tribute guitar.

It was actually built in conjunction with Roy Rodgers and Dale Evans shortly before Roy passed away. In fact he passed away during the time when they were doing this instruments in conjunction with Greg Rich who ran The Gibson custom shop for years, Joka did the portrait and she is kind of famous Hollywood artist. Of course Roy and Dale oversaw it.

This is the prototype for that guitar. It is the only one that was signed on the back by Roy and Dale, it is just a unique piece and you can clearly see the signatures. There where only twelve of them made. Mark Taylor may have a couple of them; RC Snuddy and Niles Harper have a couple, those were the ones that were actually with the signed labels. But the guitars never got manufactured. Cowboy and Indian magazine in May of 1999 did an entire expose on the art guitars, history of them and Greg Rich.

Value of this guitar was 100.000 $, but it is not know how much is worth at the moment. This guitar is a part of American history, it is a wonderful piece. Doc said that he is very happy to have this guitar in his possession. Enjoy!

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This reaction may most likely occur when someone sees the nyckelharpa, which is probably one of the most unique instruments in Europe. This article will give a short overview about the history of the nyckelharpa, its construction and its relevance today.

The Nyckelharpa (Swedish: keyed fiddle) can be seen as Sweden’s number one folk instrument. You can still find it today on the backside of every Swedish 50 krone banknote. It is played with the bow in the right hand like a normal fiddle, but instead of pressing down the strings with the left-hand fingers, you use the keys, which are attached to “tangents”. These tangents serve as frets and generate the melody.

Contemporary nyckelharpas are chromatic and have 3 or 4 rows of keys (and 4 melody strings), which were invented by August Bohlin in 1926. Historic types like the “Moraharpa” had just one row of keys and one or two “drones”. The sound of the nyckelharpa can be compared with a viola, but through the use of resonance strings (about 12) the instrument has also a very dense and unique sound.

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Paganini Il Cannone Guarnerious

Paganini is often described as the world’s first virtuoso and is still widely recognized as one of the greatest ever. While the story of Paganini’s life story is fascinating reading the story of his favorite violin – his “Il Cannone” (The Canon) is no less so.

Niccoló Paganini (1782-1840) achieved massive fame throughout Europe and was the most celebrated virtuosi of his time, and today he is considered the father of modern day violin techniques. Sadly he lived before the time of recordings, but this rendition of one of his most famous pieces – his Caprice No. 24 – should give you an idea of what his musical and technical prowess could produce. The artist seen is Alexander Markov. Read the rest of this entry »

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From time to time the unthinkable happens. We all know somebody who knows somebody it has happened to. And we all retell the story to friends and familiars with quacking voices, shivering hands and fear painted in our eyes. I’m talking about a musician’s ultimate nightmare: The losing of your favorite instrument. This was exactly what happened to guitar legend Peter Frampton in November 1980 when a cargo plane carrying his precious 1954 Gibson Les Paul crashed during takeoff in Caracas, Venezuela tragically killing the pilot and co-pilot.

The master piece seen on the picture to the left was presumed lost for 31 years until it finally reemerged last month having spent just over three decades on a little Dutch Caribbean Island called Curaçao. So what happened?

In 2010 (before the reemerging) Frampton gave an interview to rumerz.com as his Gibson signature model of the very same guitar hit the market. Frampton traces the history of how he came in possession of his ’54 Les Paul and it’s clear that he was still dealing with the loss at this point:

[rumerz.com] What is it about your black Gibson Les Paul that you love so much? How did it come about for you to release a signature model with Gibson? Read the rest of this entry »

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