Don't Mess With the Guitarist

Some of Cousin Dennis' stories from his earlier club-playing days lead me to think that the bottle-throwing, redneck bar scene from The Blues Brothers is not entirely fictional. For playing in the roughest of roadhouses, perhaps this offering from Goldbug Guitars is the way to go. This is a very limited-edition model, and one of the most unique and imaginative guitars I've seen.

Though I do make custom leather guitar straps, I did not have a hand in fashioning the cartridge-belt strap or any of the other leather adornments on "The Hombre". Looks to me like the work was done by a good holster maker.

The price? $11,900.00. Only 56 are projected to be made.

The Job I Wanted to Turn Away

"Are you sure you want to do this?" I asked our customer.

I was the gunslinger, the lead custom shop guy, for the leather goods shop I worked for in Doraville, (Cue Atlanta Rhythm Section), Georgia. The customer was a really nice guy, and he said so little about his music that I figured he was a good enough guitarist to let his playing speak for itself.

Seems he had a new gig, a good one, in a country band, and he had it in mind to "countrify" his guitar. What he wanted was a custom leather piece added to the face, with inlays and multiple rows of closely spaced stitching like you'd see on a pair of good western boots.

Now, I had done my share of that type of design when my old partner and I had worked with Ralph Lauren's folks on his Polo Western line, so I told the customer that it would be no problem, just bring his guitar in and we'd see what we needed to do.

He did. I'm still no expert on guitars and their relative quality and value, but what this guy brought in was a Gibson Les Paul that appeared to my untrained eye to be more than an entry-level model, and it was in flawless condition. The problem? The only way I could see to add the leather panel was to cement it to the face, and that meant (I can feel you guitar aficionados cringing even as I write this) scuffing the gorgeous lacquer finish so that the glue would have a good surface to bond onto.

My job was to encourage customers to have custom work done, the fancier the better, but oh, that guitar; I tried, quietly but earnestly, to talk the guy out of having me do the job, really more for my sake and the guitar's than his, but yes, he was sure he wanted it done.

So I painted a mustache, albeit a carefully-crafted one, on the Mona Lisa. The customer was delighted when he saw the completed work, and my boss was delighted when the customer paid with cash, but I still feel guilty.

I never saw the customer or the guitar again. I hope they're still making beautiful music together.

Art and Music

As we commemorate the 40th anniversary of Woodstock, this old hippie is happily exploring the 21st Century. New website, new blog, Facebook. Shoot, I might even try Twitter.

This blog is going to be about art and music, and one way that the two intertwine. I've been an artist and a lover of music all my life, and have, like so many of my generation, been drawn to the very special role that the guitar has played in the music I've listened to for these five-plus decades.

I'm a leathersmith by trade. Started in 1970, the summer before I entered Georgia State University, and just never got around to doing anything else for a living. I guess that means that I love what I do.

A few years ago, my cousin Dennis, who's played guitar for a living longer than I've worked with leather, complained to me that he couldn't find a guitar strap that he really liked. Dennis became my long-suffering, ever-encouraging lab rat as I developed a guitar strap design we now call The Seventh String.

Along the way, I've been learning a great deal about the guitar, as musical instrument and as art form, and about the relationship between the guitar and its owner. There's an awful lot of romance, drama, and good storytelling to be found there.

As I continue this blog, I'll be featuring guitars which I find to be as much art as instrument, and the good folks who craft them. I hope to collect some stories, too. Any suggestions or input my readers might offer will be greatly appreciated.

Oh, and I did mention that I make guitar straps- to see the present line, and some of the custom work I've done, please visit Seventh String Straps . I promise I'm better at leatherwork than I am as a webmaster, but I'm working on the latter. Life's about love and learning.