Here is bunch of cool pieces I found along the famous Music Row in midtown Manhattan.

These aren’t really guitar stores anymore. They are more like museums, whose customers must be the rich and famous but whose history is undeniable. Below are a few bits that caught my eye.

A 75 thousand dollar Strat (which is just laughable). Hendrix’s invoice for a Harmony, an Epiphone and a Les Paul, the classic sixties tape delay – The EchoPlex (also pictured from another store), and a couple of packs of strings as far as I can read.

I also snapped a quick shot of Dave Glimour’s famous Blacktop Strat.

The most interesting thing on Music Row though was the great “Old Yellow” – the guitar used to demo amps and effects in-store for the famous and the common alike – the coolest looking coke bottle double cutaway Danny I have ever seen – probably the coolest guitar I have ever seen. I mean what a history that thing has. Played by so many of the greats. “Old Yellow” is a legend in its own right now.

Tags: $75000, 1954, 50's, 60's, 70's, acoustic, america, american, amplifier, bands, blackie, blacktop, blues, brooklyn, classic, collector, danelectro, dave gilmour, DC-1, DC-2, deep south vintage, double cutaway, ds vintage, electric, fender, gigs, guitar, guitarist, harmony, hofner, import, ireland, jimi hendrix, jimi hendrix experience, kay, liverpool, mitch mitchell, new york city, noel redding, nyc, old yellow, pink floyd, rare, recording, rock, silvertone, single-coil, soid-body, strat, stratocastor, sunburst, supro, teisco, telecaster, vintage

This is an ultra rare 50′s Kay Stratotone. An early electric built in Chicago to compete with the Les Paul and with many similarities to the Harmony Stratotone of the era. It was also branded as an Old Kraftsman Speed Demon. Think it’s a ’57 but am unsure as I have seen some marked as being early 50′s models.

The neck-thru design and uber fat neck means big tone. The dual single-coil pickups deliver a classic retro sound and are hooked up to the coolest stack pots I have ever seen on a guitar. The neck is ridiculously beefy which matches the sound. Kluson-Deluxe tuners with pegs like old me’s teeth.

This guitar has the most amazing player’s wear. The neck laquer is down to the wood and the ultra-rare Silverburst finish body has a great elbow wear and cracked laquer finish.

Tags: 50's, 60's, chicago, dual single-coil pickups, fifties, gibson, guitar, harmony, kay, kluson deluxe, kraft, les paul, neck-thru, old kraftsman, rare, sixties, speed demon, stratotone, vintage

This is more commonly known as the Jimmy Reed Model for it’s association with the late, great blues man. It’s a much sought-after instrument. Its a heavy, fat-necked beast because of the huge pickup magnets and the electronics hidden behind the expansive pickguard and all fastened to a solid block that extends from the neck to the bottom of the body.

All this gives it great warmth and body. It’s a great playing guitar, fast frets and a really beautiful piece of 50′s design. Sounds amazing with lovely feedback tones up and down the neck, huge bottom end and a lush mellow presence.

The 1381 dates from ’55 / ’56. The Kay version was Jimmy Reed’s preferred guitar but Howlin’ Wolf and his sideman Hubert Sumlin also played these beauties.

Tags: 1381, 50's, blues, chicago, danelectro, electric, fifties, guitar, harmony, howling wolf, hubert sumlin, jimmy reed, kay, lipstick pickup, nathan daniel, rare, recording, sears, sears and roebuck, silvertone, slide, vintage

This is the guitar that started it all for me. It was the first vintage guitar I ever bought after being the proud minder of a Silvertone Twin Twelve (possibly the greatest sounding guitar amp ever made) for a friend of mine. After hearing that I was convinced this was the way to go so I hunted down a U1.

And I found this little mutant, which was put together by some other slide guitar loving friends of mine in Woodstock Atlanta Georgia. I think this is a modded ’59  as it has the top mounted jack out, and the Georgia lads handmade tele-style bridge and pickguard for her and also added the phat studio style control knobs.

Amazing sounding short scale lipstick tube pickup glory…

The Silvertone 1304 Wishbook model was the only model offered from the Sears & Roebuck “Wish Book” Catalog. This odd changeling was only available for 3 years between 1958 and 1960, with each yearly model having a few subtle differences like a top or side mounted jack, a circular cut-out or metal back panel or a straight or sweep cutaway.

All were a mid-positioned single lipstick (just like the classic 1448), but this was a unique pickup placement for the U1 series family, only available on these models.

This guitar has a coke-bottle headstock, loads of player wear on the neck, plenty of nicks and scratches, a circular back panel cut-out, and a straight cutaway unlike the 1960 version.

Tags: 1304, 50's, 60's, blues, chicago, coke-bottle headstock, danelectro, electric, fifties, guitar, lipstick pickup, masonite, mid-positioned lipstick pickup, nathan daniel, rare, recording, sears, sears and roebuck, silvertone, sixties, slide, u1 body, vintage, vinyl sidewalls

The guitars of the 50′s, 60′s and 70′s, their designs, innovation and features are a cut above the rest. It was the Guitar’s heyday and a highpoint in guitar manufacturing. The time and the music created a huge market where a lot of large small and tiny music manufacturers could survive for a short period of time.

There was a lot of cool guitars and yeah there were lots of nice Fenders, Gretsches and Gibsons and they are the guitars that everyone remembers but the “Coolest” guitars, the most innovative guitars, the guitars that pushed design and feature boundries – well they were the Silvertones, the Danelectros, the Kays and Harmonys, the Hofners and all the other weird and wonderful small Japanese, American and European guitars.

They might have borrowed a few ideas from the big boys of guitar design and building but they in turn had their ideas adopted by the bigger companies when their ideas or designs were ahead of the game. Their affordable price enabled a generation to create a golden era of music, like cheap synths and drum machines enabled andother golden era of innovation and like the computers and software of today are doing as we speak.

These guitars are now collectable in their own right, especially as all the Fender and Gibson prices rise and rise these guitars are still relatively cheap in the collector’s guitar market for what they deliver. It’s the sound of the instruments, the pickups and the amps. It’s also the sound of the records we love and its the sound of the records, the kit and the instruments – it’s what we will always remember and connect with. The first time u play a guitar like this or any decent vintage kit – you will get it – you will make the connection. You will always remember the sound of it cause its what you have always been listening to and trying to emulate.

Tags: 50's, 60's, 70's, acoustic, airline, america, american, amplifier, bands, barcelona, beck, berlin, blues, brooklyn, classic, collector, cork, danelectro, deep south vintage, design, ds vintage, dublin, electric, electronic, england, europe, fender, france, germany, gibson, gigs, gretsch, guild, guitar, guitarist, harmony, hofner, hollow-body, humbucker, import, ireland, jack white, japenese, josh homme, kay, les paul, lipstick pickup, liverpool, london, manchester, martin, new york city, nyc, paris, queens of the stone age, rare, recording, rock, scan, scan's guitars, scotland, silvertone, single-coil, soid-body, spain, strat, supro, teisco, telecaster, the white stripes, uk, vintage, wales