Tuesday, August 5, 2008

Dave's Guitar

Double-neck Rick
Nope, that is not my guitar.

I'm talking about Dave's Guitar of Lacrosse, Wisconsin. It is a great and wonderful place.

Their electric room has all the basics and some really nice upper-end pieces. I was able to pull down and plug in a B-Bender Tele, plug in, and play enough to believe that, if I owned one, I would actually be able to make music with it, not just sounds.

Larivee Parlor Slothead I am sure my house could fit in their acoustic room. It contains some wonders, like several Nationals, a Kona weissenborn-style and an old Oahu with the high nut for lap playing, several nice and beautiful Martins and Gibsons, and the pictured Larivee parlor-sized slot-head. For most of my acoustic playing, my Fender electro-acoustic dread works well, but this would be just the one for sitting around and fingerpicking. Isn't it just beautiful?

the Fender triplets But the real reason to visit is upstairs. That's where Dave's stash is. A good ... 200? ... of some of the coolest instruments ever. This picture is 2 pink paisley Teles and a blue flower Tele. There's also sunburst Customs, blackguards and other great Telecasters.

Plus the Strats.

Plus the Gretsches.

Plus the Rickenbackers. (Pictured above.)

Plus the Explorers, the Moderne, and the Flying Vs.

Lonnie Mack-style

A Flying V with a Bigsby. Just how iconic is that?

While I was there, I got my lap steel appraised. It's a National or Supro, they say, without a serial number. Worth about $350, they say. That's a good $200 more than I paid for it.

If you're ever in western Wisconsin, it is well worth your while to visit.

2 comments:

Stratoblogster said...

Whoa! I'm jealous--what a road trip destination!

Now be honest, how long were you in that place, AND did your family wait out in the car?

Dave Jacob said...

Well, it was about 2/3 of the way there, not the destination, but yeah, it was cool.

I was there about an hour. Maybe more. And they did not. The wife looked at ways to get our music stuff organized, the 6-year-old picked up a Backpacker, the 11-year-old drooled at stuff, and the 13-year-old went all Nels Cline with a guitar with a whammy bar.