January 2010



Hard to believe another year has come and gone! The G.A.S. site had just shy of 25,000 visitors since my June 2009 update and should cruise past 75,000 the end of this month and hit 100,000 by mid year.  Along with all of those visits has been some great emails sharing stories and instruments including my personal holy grail, the prewar Gibson ES-250N. A perfect example of the emails I receive, the grandson of the original owner found the G.A.S. site while researching the instrument. It was offered and VERY tempting however the $19K asking price could not be justified since it was more than the value of my entire GIBSON FAMILY! 

By mid-2009 vintage was no longer in my vocabulary as I turned over a new leaf pursuing guitars from the 1970s right up to today that were reasonable and great players. Of course there is nothing like playing a piece of musical instrument history but for the far majority of folks, just not in the financial game plan. The lawsuit era was the wake up call for the American manufacturers who fought and won the court battle but ultimately lost the war. Japan and Korea emerged with their own designs as well as slight variations of the classic American tone machines.

We have more choices today than ever before. Seems like every day a new importer appears selling very reasonably priced instruments with their own brand name all coming from the same factories in China and Indonesia. I'm one of them since GUITAR FUEL started importing hawaiian (Weissenborn) and electric steel guitars from a Chinese manufacturer. The craftsmanship is impressive and we are able to offer a reasonably priced quality product to the market.

The G.A.S. site is currently under going a complete makeover to make it easier to navigate. I crammed so much in 10 pages the load times were becoming short naps so the site has been upgraded to unlimited pages. You'll note each month of the MONTHLY G.A.S. ATTACK now has its own page. Soon the G.A.S. GALLERY will also follow the one instrument per page format allowing me to post more photos and information. Although it will not occur overnight, I'm committed to documenting my Adventures in Guitar Collecting for all to enjoy!

Peace & Enjoy!

Tighe (Ty)
FOUNDER
GUITAR ACQUISITION SYNDROME
seriousgas@aol.com

June 2009



Time for a mid year update and a new direction for the G.A.S. site. The visitor counter keeps clicking steadily blowing past 50,000 last month (May). That didn't take long! With about 1000 hits weekly the G.A.S. site continues to attract a diverse international audience. I certainly appreciate all of of the complimentary emails and personal G.A.S. stories that I receive but by far the majority are seeking a resource for guitar identification and value.  

I've become somewhat disenchanted with the vintage guitar world which is not easy to say considering my, "Adventures in Guitar Collecting". Although I rarely purchased an instrument from a dealer, the "VG 25" and their influence on the overall vintage market prior to the U.S. economy tanking was very evident. Vintage guitar prices have adjusted far greater than recent articles will imply. In my opinion, they won't bounce back after the economy improves either. All those baby boomers with expendable income just lost 25-50% of their 401Ks in the market. The next generation has neither the interest or income to keep the market fueled like the past 20 years. Dropping $5000 for a "student" slab of wood with one P90 pickup (Les Paul Jr.) just can't continue. With the choices of new guitars staggering, quality of imports always improving and clean/original vintage instruments dwindling the shift to the affordable instruments of the '70s & '80s has already begun. 

My adventures resulted in a collection beyond my wildest dreams but at the same time the challenge chasing vintage pieces started to wain. The next logical step would have been the hunt for names like Stromberg, D'Angelico, D'Aquista, etc. but at the prices they command it would have been like starting all over again. I certainly achieved my goals and then some owning guitars I never even thought about worth thousands of dollars. After those 10 years using $10K of seed money, I had accumulated well over $100,000 of fine vintage instruments which I enjoyed and documented thoroughly. Of course being asked to contribute to noted author, Andrew Duchossoir's latest work, Gibson Electric Steel Guitars was the crowning achievement prior to exiting the vintage world.

       

So where do I go from here? G.A.S. just doesn't go away it changes, takes on new forms and obsessions. Collecting vintage instruments gave me an appreciation for the art and craftsmanship often overlooked for a solid chunk of wood with pickups. Of course I'm speaking of archtop guitars and in general, acoustic instruments that are pure without their tone changed by the conversion to an electrical impulse. Archtops, unfortunely, never kept up with their solidbody brethren in the vintage market for primarily two reason. Rock stars don't play them and the "VG 25" decided the demand for a few solidbody models that continue to be manufactured today warranted ridiculous prices. When a "student grade" slab of wood with one P90 sells for more than most vintage Gibson archtops something is seriously wrong with the market.

The Monthly G.A.S. Attack for June, a Art & Lutherie Cedar, was the start of a new direction for the G.A.S. site. No more high end vintage pieces that the average joe can only dream (or drool) about but guitars that are bargains, undervalued or easily turned into a great player. That doesn't mean that vintage pieces or reissues won't show up but they will be reasonable and not require a second mortgage. I guess what I'm trying to say is, "been there, done that"! I owned that $10K Martin D28 and she was very sweet but I'm just as happy with my Simon & Patrick Mini Jumbo that cost all of $250 used. 

I've been building guitars and the like (CBGs, amplifiers, etc.) for a few years now with an emphasis on "modding". Not '80s modding or "hot rodding" which usually involved just a pickup swap, paint job and maybe a new neck. I'm talking building fire breathing monsters from the ground up packing them with high performance pickups and active electronics. It was the reason why I launched GUITAR FUEL Performance Products. Basically the time I spent searching for the next vintage treasure is now spent in my workshop building my own little pieces of musical instrument history.

As always, thanks for being part of my, "Adventures in Guitar Collecting"! as I continue to live with

GUITAR ACQUISITION SYNDROME! 
 
PEACE & ENJOY!

Ty

Tighe Falato
Founder
Guitar Aquisition Syndrome
seriousgas@aol.com

January 2009

The G.A.S. site has far exceeded my expectations with over 25,000 vistors in the first year and another 10,000 in just the past two (2) months. Actually 35,000 came on New Year's Eve just 14 month's after I uploaded the site for the first time! Not too shabby for a site that has never been advertised, doesn't sell a product and relies on word-of-mouth, web forums and GOOGLE searches for traffic. So what does this tell me? There are a lot of folks who are living with G.A.S.!

Certainly a highlight during 2008 was being asked by noted author, Andre Duchossoir*, to provide pictures of specific pieces in my collection. His book, Gibson Electric Steel Guitars, published by Hal Leonard will be available in April. A true labor of love, Andre packed his tome with 400+ photos of Gibson's complete line from 1935 to 1967. It will be the most comprehensive book of its kind. Needless to say I'm humbled by being asked to contribute after such a short time as a collector.

On a similar note, MyRareGuitars/Eastwood Guitar Company, picked up the Monthly G.A.S. Attack for its monthly newsletter in April of 2008. Along with well-known industry publication contributors such as Michael Wright ("A Different Strummer" - Vintage Guitar), it brought a new audience and additional traffic to the G.A.S. site.

Twelve new instruments were "procured" in 2008 (well it was a few more than that.....LOL) and several still (and will) reside in the collection at least for now. Decisions, choices and of course, anguish when the time comes to purge for the continued evolution of what I started 10 years ago. 

The realization that collecting in excess (a noted symptom of severe G.A.S.) leaves many instruments unplayed which has begun to resonate in the back of my mind. I don't agree with the line of thought that you should only own what you play and anything beyond that is hoarding or keeping them out of the hands of deserving players. The problem is, how many of those deserving players have the chunk of change to buy a vintage piece? And even if they did, would they really gig with it or still take out the "road dog"?

On the other side of the coin I'm not sure folks who have the 100+ collections are doing the instruments justice from a playing standpoint but that may no longer be their purpose. Of course someone like Johnathan Kellerman can afford a full time tech to care for his 120+ piece collection after selling millions of best sellers but what about the majority of collectors? For me finding a happy medium makes the most sense so those instruments that are consistently played because of endless tone or those rare birds that have both historic and investment value will be maintained for the long term.

It's hard to believe that 2 years have already passed since leaving the comfort of my six figure corporate job but as the saying goes, "time waits for no man"! Thanks again for being part of "Adventures in Guitar Collecting". I look forward to providing you another year of entertainment as I continue to live with

GUITAR ACQUISITION SYNDROME! 

PEACE & ENJOY!

Ty

Tighe Falato
Founder
Guitar Aquisition Syndrome
seriousgas@aol.com

*Andre Duchossoir's Other Books

Fender Stratocatser
The Fender Telecaster
Gibson Electrics: The Classic Years
Gibson Electrics
Guitar Identification (4th Edition)

     
Adventures in
Guitar Collecting

                   
"Guitars have become the art of the baby boomer generation"!


I have lived with
GUITAR ACQUISITION SYNDROME
for most of my adult life however
the vintage affliction began only a short 8 years ago!
 
One day in late 2000 I was on my way home from work when I spied a keyboard being thrown out by a neighbor. I mentioned to my wife who walked across the street and asked if they were actually throwing it out. She came back with a vintage Wurlitzer 200A electric piano! It was in great condition and even included the original sustain pedal, chrome legs and music holder. Although a vintage treasure it took up to much room in my small studio so I decided to sell it on eBay. I had already sold some of my studio equipment on eBay with very good results after being offered just pennies to the dollar by the local Guitar Center. What my neighbor had thrown in the trash ended up selling to a NYC studio for $700. They even sent a couple of guys with a van to pick it up. This is when the light bulb went off!
 
eBay changed the world by allowing anyone with a computer to buy or sell goods with anyone else in the world. You didn’t need to go to estate or garage sales to find collectibles or anything else for that matter. Just a few clicks of your mouse and you could practically find anything your heart desired. I like to think of this period as the time for the Internet Age Collector and I wanted to jump aboard that train! Sure there are drawbacks purchasing guitars or anything for that matter on eBay, which is built on a foundation of trust and honesty, but it has changed the way we shop and made the world your market place. Of course there is always one or two bad apples but overall it has proven to be a great vehicle to establish, build and refine my collection.
 
About this same time I started becoming more interested in vintage guitars particularly those made by Gibson. After doing some research and checking out dealer prices I quickly realized it would require a substantial investment to own more than just a few. Perhaps it was providence but my mother had just given me $10K as a gift which became my “seed” money. Since her passing in January 2004, I like to think of her as my “angel investor”. Now in the vintage guitar world $10K is not a lot of buying power and could easily be spent on just one or two guitars but I was looking to build a diverse collection. Based on my eBay experience thus far I knew that the profits from selling could be turned back into buying. Between work and family I didn’t have enough time to spend going to garage and estate sales so I needed a plan and it was lap steel guitars.
 
An overlooked segment of the vintage guitar market at that time they have now almost reached mainstream with numerous custom builders and cheap Chinese models being sold by internet retailers. Fender even reissued their Princeton model. Vintage lap steel guitars were relatively inexpensive and certainly plentiful due to the Hawaiian craze of days gone by. On a historical note, the first electric guitars were actually lap steels which made them even more interesting. Many of the models had small matching tube amplifiers which by themselves were sought after by guitar players for that desired vintage tone and vibe.
 
Although I had never even played a lap steel guitar before I felt this would be a great and inexpensive way to get my feet wet in the vintage world. Armed with my Gruhn's Guide to Vintage Guitars I began buying them on eBay. I was amazed by the sheer number of manufacturers and models. Many were very art deco in appearance and the high end models offered the same fine craftsmanship as their guitar cousins. It’s no secret but bargains on eBay are not normally found in the proper category. Many folks had no idea what they had when cleaning out Aunt Annie’s attic so they were often titled lap guitar, slide guitar, Hawaiian guitar and steel guitar. Odd, little, antique and small guitar were also used which really reduced the numbers of bidders. I even recall one being listed as a Kluson guitar because of the tuners! 

Catalog steels, sold by Sears and Montgomery Ward under their house brand names, were plentiful and often purchased for less than $100. Typically the condition was excellent with just the need for some new strings, tuner buttons (which had crumbled with age) and the pots sprayed. It took no time to build up an inventory and in turn begin selling with all of the proceeds being immediately turned back into purchasing more inventory. I also began buying high end lap steels from the likes of Gibson, Fender, National and Rickenbacher which were bargains as compared to their guitar counterparts. It didn't take me long to find out the market for small vintage tube amps was much hotter than lap steels so I focused even more resources ($) on that segment searching for bargains to turn especially those manufactured by National Valco. Entry and mid level acoustic and electric guitars followed which, along with the lap steels, became the starting point for my collection. By that time I had already amassed a beautiful collection of 50 lap steels with the intent of making them the core of my collection but that soon changed!

Amazingly I had bought and sold more than 300 lap steels within my first 5 years on eBay which probably made me one of the largest dealers of these instruments. I can say with confidence that very few models did not pass through my hands. Add several hundred small tube amps, acoustic & electric guitars, parts, case candy, etc. and my initial goal of building a collection with only my seed money had become a reality. Only eBay could have allowed me to buy a guitar or amp and then turn it for a profit to support my G.A.S. without ever leaving my home! 
 
Fast forward to today. After less than 8 years of buying and selling on eBay I have built a guitar collection beyond my wildest dreams! Of course compared to collectors who have been doing this for 30+ years or those with deep pockets my collection is undoubtedly nothing spectacular except for the fact it was built with just $10K of seed money and within a relatively short time frame. Since I was fascinated by the historical value the core of my collection is made up of the prewar Gibson electric instruments however lap steel guitars, acoustic Hawaiian, acoustic & electric archtops, flat tops and “other” stringed instruments are all equally represented in my collection.

Like many of you I've made a lot of tough choices with so many beautiful instruments passing through my hands however I became focused on a theme of primarily rare Gibsons with a few notable Rickenbacher, Martin and Weissenborn models thrown in for good measure. Of course there are the dozen or so vintage amplifiers which compliment the collection since many are the match for a specific instrument. G.A.S. extends to amps too!

I’ve tried to collect clean all original examples sometimes buying and selling until I found the right one. All have their original case and the overall condition is an 8 or better on my own picky scale. The majority were purchased from eBay seller's who were not guitar dealers, or even musicians for that matter, but just uncovered the treasure in an attic or at an estate sale. Although my collection will undoubtedly continue to evolve I have shifted my focus to properly maintaining the musical instrument history that I have been entrusted to preserve.

However, there is always “just one more” but isn’t that what G.A.S. is all about?
 
Of course I have not neglected today’s fine guitars and have continued to add models to my home studio collection. In fact my every day players are not vintage pieces but guitars that combine fine craftsmanship with incredible electronics. I love shredding on my Ibanez JEM or Artist but my own creations, Catalyst Guitars, are now part of the mix. The studio is where my love of the solidbody guitar becomes apparent but oddly enough you won’t find a Gibson anywhere in sight. And yes, I own a Fender Stratocaster!
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I must take a moment to thank my loving wife, Debbie, for putting up with and supporting my G.A.S. over the past 8+ years and really our 25 years of marriage. She has been a tremendous help by taking an active role in my eBay endeavors and allowing me to take over various parts of our home with both my collection and inventory. Even the garage has not been spared since it is now a fully equipped woodworking shop for my CBG and guitar building endeavors.  A lot of wives would have committed their husband to the asylum for the guitar insane but I am a lucky one for sure!
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After spending 23 years in international operations with FedEx Express I decided it was time to pursue my passions so I closed that chapter of my life a month before my 48th birthday in 2007. With the book now wide open it's all about enjoying every day! I created this website to share my passion for collecting musical instruments. It is truly like no other hobby as you can play or entertain with a piece of American musical instrument history while you watch your investment grow year over year.
 
Peace & Enjoy!

Tighe (Ty) Falato

Founder
seriousgas@aol.com