Published: June 14, 2009 12:21 am      

Things with strings draw aficionados

Paramount's 1st Guitar Show a hit

Ashland — You can never have too many guitars.

Guitar players and collectors attending the Paramount Arts Center’s first Guitar Show on Saturday afternoon often had wide-eyed looks of wonder as they gazed at rare, vintage, new and unusual instruments.



Acoustic instruments held the interest of Terry Odell and Jerry Haffelt of Gallipolis, who carried a 1981 Martin Herringbone and a rare Grammer guitar to the show.

“You don’t see them no more,” Haffelt said of Odell’s Grammer guitar, adding the instruments were once quite commonly seen in the hands of country music artists including Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton.

Wearing a vintage Iron Maiden shirt declaring his love of hard rock, bassist Greg Miranda of Ironton said he wanted to check the show’s inventory, with hopes of finding a particular B.C. Rich bass to add to his collection. Miranda, who is playing with a relatively new band still working to find a name everyone agrees on, said he was impressed with the variety of instruments on the Paramount stage Saturday.

“I liked everything. I like the way it is set up. I would like to see more vendors, but this is great for a first-time show,” Miranda said. “They have a great range of prices. I was impressed with that.”

Joetta Reed of Greenup found a seat in the auditorium while her son, Chandler, 13, gave lustful glances toward a Telecaster on display at the Four O’Clock Rock Guitar Shop table.

“He has three guitars and two amps,” she said with a smile, adding the young musician enjoys playing “everything — he goes from Johnny Cash to the Rolling Stones.”

Chandler, who admitted his desire to take a 1952 Reissue Fender Telecaster home that day, said his top three influential bands would more likely be the Beatles, the Stones and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

Adam Barber of Huntington spent several minutes selling his girlfriend on the idea of buying an Eric Clapton-model Stratocaster at a bargain price of $800 from Anthony Boggs. His girlfriend, Laurie Neale, seemed a bit uncertain of the plan.

Barber said he knows the famous guitarist’s endorsement of the instrument won’t make him a better player, but that didn’t rob the guitar of its magic.

“Any hopes that it would make me sound like him would be a positive,” he said with a chuckle, later adding, “All my shows are in the living room.”

Boggs said the reason guitar players tend to have so many guitars is relatively simple: “There’s not one thing that does everything.”

Among the instruments that caused musicians to slow down and take a second or third look were the instruments crafted by Leo Burrell, who builds instruments with a “twisted” neck to make the guitar more comfortable to play. Burrell’s guitars also incorporate graceful bends in the body that provide the player better access and eliminate the discomfort of wooden edges against the musician’s ribcage.

“I do player-friendly instruments,” Burrell said, later smiling as he compared his instruments to “a donkey among cows.” Many musicians, he said, consider his instruments to be “a little too far out.”

Pointing out guitarist Robert Bentle, Burrell said he built Bentle’s red/orange guitar with a built-in amplifier to make it easier for him to play for residents at local nursing homes.

Paul Callicoat of Route 60 Music Co. said the show was an excellent way to let local musicians know about his shop.

“There’s a lot of guitar lovers in the area and this is a great way to let them know we exist,” Callicoat said.

Exhibitor Jeff Preston said he would have great difficulty picking out a single favorite guitar at the show.

“I could pick something from every vendor that I could take home,” Preston said as he scanned the hundreds of guitars, mandolins, banjos and other things with strings on the Paramount stage.

Joe Dobbs of Fret ’n Fiddle Music and Pawn had one of the show’s most interesting instruments, a 1927 ukulele with “The Gibson” inlaid in the headstock.

“It’s been played,” Dobbs said, pointing out grooves in the fingerboard and other signs of a ‘well loved” instrument. Strumming a series of simple chords to illustrate his point, Dobbs said the old Gibson was built at the height of the ukulele’s popularity and would have been the ideal instrument for a musician wearing a raccoon coat.

Dobbs was one of several musicians who got caught up in the unscheduled transition from instrumental workshops to a standing-room-only jam session in the PAC’s Marquee Room. As Dobbs fiddled, Rich Collins provided solos on a gold-top Gibson while Rob McNurlin strummed a D-45 Martin, Chip Holbrook picked his banjo and Phil Osborne accompanied with an acoustic.

Vocalist Brad Mayo, bassist Mike Cochran, drummer Kenny Tully and guitarist Robert Bicknell of the Huntington-based hard rock band Given Hatred used the show to promote their music. Mayo said the band hopes to “bring awareness” to local problems including drug abuse. The band members directed potential fans to myspace/givenghatred1 for a taste of their sound.

Kim Bailey of Betsy Layne also found a seat while her husband, Scott, and son, Zach, made their tour of the stage. While neither is actively playing music as part of a band, she said they enjoy making music.

“They just sit at the house and torture me and the cats,” she said with a giggle, soon adding her son has enough guitars to put on a show of his own.

After making deliberate inspections of each table, the boy said he would most like to take home a doubleneck Epiphone, while his dad set his heart on a classic Gibson mandolin.

“That F-5 mandolin sitting up there — to me, there is no better mandolin,” Scott Bailey said, noting he still owns a Kay brand guitar he got for his 16th birthday.

Mike Allen of Chesapeake, who plays guitar with the band Split Decision and brought a Greco Thunderbird to the event, said he came to browse and hopefully find a couple of amplifiers.

“I would like to have that red Thinline over there,” he said, pointing to a semihollowbody Fender Telecaster at the Fret ’n Fiddle table.

Greg Keatley of Music Box Express enjoyed the attention gained by a triple-neck guitar at his table, as well as the double-takes received by an Ibanez “Lawsuit Model” guitar discontinued after the Gibson company protested the instrument’s extreme similarities to its famous Les Paul Custom guitars.

Keatley said he was highly impressed with some of the custom instruments at the show, particularly those made by Burrell as well as instruments by Bulldog Custom Guitars.

Isaac Stephens of Greenup stood at the corner of Keatley’s exhibit and waited for a chance to apply his nimble fingers to the fretboard of a lightning-bolt model Dean guitar. Stephens said the doubleneck Epiphone at the Four O’Clock Rock table, similar to the iconic guitar played by Led Zeppelin’s Jimmy Page, was likely his favorite at the show. His dad and bandmate, Tom, said he was smitten by a 1958 Gretsch on display.

PAC staff members said they were also pleased with the guitar show, which served as a kickoff for a concert series starting with a Roy Clark concert next weekend.

“I promise you we will do this every year,” said PAC spokeswoman Jenny Holmes.

TIM PRESTON can be reached at tpreston@dailyindependent.com or (606) 326-2651.