Guitar CollectionKen Hendricks

About this book

It has been said that the guitar is the most seductive of musical instruments. Like the ancient Greek Sirens it’s enchanting music and shapely curves seduces the player and claims his whole body and soul. It may start with one or two but can quickly overtakes his life until there are hundreds all calling for attention and playing time.

This book is the Fall 2010 edition of the as yet small collection of Ken Hendricks.

Guitar CollectionThe Guitar Collection of Ken Hendricks

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IntroductionGuitar collecting isn’t something new. Indeed guitar collections have been assembled since guitars have been built.

So why collect? And why do some choose to amass so many more guitars than they could actually use?

The answers to these questions go beyond guitars. I think that the phrase “I collect because I can” is very appropriate. Collecting can start early. Some people collect baseball cards, comics, stamps or quilts. The wealthy collect art, vintage automobiles or aircraft. I collect guitars.

One type of collector plays but also has a great admiration for the artistry and craftsmanship of the instrument. For those, guitars are akin to works of art or fine furniture.

Others are interested in the history of guitars. Lutes and classical guitars have been around for a long time but the moderns acoustic and electric guitars are recent inventions. The history is recent enough that it is fresh and fascinating. I suppose one answer to the collection question would be in the form of another question, “Why do people study history?”

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Martin D35, Soprano Kaloha

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Many players amass guitars as tools meant to achieve a variety of tones. A working professional might find the need for a nylon string, a steel string, a Telecaster, a Stratocaster, a Les Paul and so on. But to consider this person a collector is to bend the definition.

The scope and variety of any collection is entirely dependent upon the collector. Some collections are all about a given brand such as Gibson, Fender, Martin or Epiphone, while others may may be more defined such as the inexpensive brands of the 60’s such as Danelectro, Tiesco, Wandre, Noble, Elk and others. The collection can be as eccentric as the collector himself.

So what kind of collector am I?

I appreciate the artistry and craftsmanship of the instrument. I appreciate the wood. Perhaps the most sought after tonewood, Brazilian Rosewood, has been scare for almost thirty years now. In the early 1990s Brazilian Rosewood was added to the list of endangered species under the Convention of International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). As an endangered species the harvesting and exporting of new timber has been largely banned. As a consequence Brazilian rosewood guitars have become scarce and expensive. The same may be said for Adirondack Spruce, Honduras Mahogany, Ebony, Hawaiian Koa and Swamp Ash. The scarcity of good tone woods adds urgency to acquiring and collecting top quality instruments while they are still available and affordable.

I also collect for historical purposes. While none of my guitars can be considered true vintage, most share some historical significance. Like the muscle cars of the 60's it can be said that the greatest guitars have already been designed and built. Everything else is a derivative or attempt to recapture the past.

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Kenny Hill Hauser Classical, Martin HD-35

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I collect because I like to play. I don’t find it satisfying to have a closet full of guitars which I scarcely look at. Great guitars are great because of the sound they make. I can both feel and hear the difference between highly crafted and budget guitars. I prefer to play and to own those instruments which feel good and produce great sound.

Mostly I collect guitars because I like them.

Although I don’t know of a family precedence, part of my genetic makeup is a love of music and songs. Most people can remember the music of their High School years. I remember listening to Johnny Cash’s “Folsom Prison Blues” which was recorded in 1957 and Elvis Presley’s “Return To Sender” released in 1962, when I was six. Later influences included The Dave Clark Five, The Zombies, Herman’s Hermits, The Beatles and the Rolling Stones.

My first guitar was a Sear’s plywood acoustic which was handed down from my older half-brother. It had steel strings and action so high that it turned my fingers to pulp within a few chords. But I stuck with it and somehow learned a few songs. At the time, The Monkees, Beatles, Rolling Stones and Creedence Clearwater were King. In my mind they are still the Kings of Pop (sorry Michael). In Junior High, I learned to play ”Something” and ”Hey Jude” by the Beatles and “Proud Mary” by Creedence.

That year my parents bought me an electric guitar and a small amp for Christmas. We also received the Beatles’ “Revolver” and Beach Boy’s “Pet Sounds” albums so the year might have been 1966. I wanted a sunburst Fender guitar that I saw displayed in a shop in Wenatchee but instead got a cheap copy from the Spiegel catalog. I was disappointed but still excited.

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At the time I wanted to be a rock guitar player. In those days we had live bands to play for school and community dances. Instead, I played trombone and baritone in the Jazz and Concert High School bands. Not much of an example of reaching for your dreams.

Eventually I became an economist and software developer. Now I purchase guitars and take lessons from guys who are full-time musicians and struggle to make a living with their music. Who would have guessed?

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A Brief History of Electric Guitars

There is a lot of misinformation regarding who invented the electric guitar. Some people attribute it to Leo Fender and his Telecaster and others give the credit to Les Paul. In truth, the modern electric guitar required 30 years of evolution and has changed little since that time.

It was bound to happen anyway but there were two factors which pushed the development of the electric guitar. The first factor was the popularity of Hawaiian music. Hawaiian music took the country by storm beginning in 1915 and ran for the next 30 years. Hawaiian lap steel guitars were the first instruments that required amplification. In 1931 Adolf Rickenbacker produced the first amplified Hawaiian guitar, also known as the Frying Pan. Both Gibson and Fender also produced steel guitars and only later attached their pickups to Spanish Guitars.

The second factor was the need to get more sound out of the guitar. At the time guitars were part of small orchestras and were over powered by the louder horn instruments. In 1936 Gibson débuted the pickup equipped ES-150 electric guitar and its companion EH-150 amplifier. Though other guitar manufacturers may have gotten there first, because of Gibson’s marketing and distribution advantages, the ES-150 is considered the world’s first electric guitar. ES stands for Electric Spanish and 150 was the initial cost of the guitar. The problem with the ES-150 was its propensity for feed back.

Guitars can vibrate and these vibrations occur at particular frequencies. In fact, the structural vibrations of an acoustic guitar and the acoustic resonances of the guitar enclosure are coupled and serve to color the sound of the guitar. These harmonics are what distinguish the sound of a particular guitar. Feedback occurs when the guitar starts vibrating excessively at a particular frequency and this vibration produces an audible tone. Acoustic or hollow guitars with crude pickups are particularly prone to feedback.

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Gibson ES-335 (not part of my collection) 9

Fender Telecaster

The Fender Telecaster, also known as a Tele, is simplicity itself. It’s simple yet effective design and revolutionary sound broke ground and set trends in electric guitar manufacturing and popular music. Introduced for national distribution as the Broadcaster in the autumn of 1950, it was the first successful solid body electric guitar.

Leo Fender was a consummate tinkerer and an enthusiastic maker and mender of things, never seen without a screwdriver and a pair of pliers in his pocket. He was not a musician and certainly could not even tune those instruments which bore his name. But he was practical and had a strong entrepreneurial streak. He was not even the first to create a solid body electric guitar. Rickenbacker in California was the first with a pickup employing the electromagnetic principle and launched a semi-solid guitar in the mid 1930s. Around 1940 in New Jersey guitarist Les Paul built a electric with a solid central block of pine. And in 1948 Paul Bigsby made a solid body through-neck guitar for Merle Travis. But it was Leo Fender who first designed and produced a commercially viable guitar. Along the way he changed modern music forever. The original name, the Broadcaster, was deemed too close to Gretsch’s drum line Broadkaster and Fender was forced to come up with another name. The name Telecaster was selected to match the then new emergent television technology. From that time to the present, the Telecaster has been in continuous production in one form or another, making it the world's senior solid-body electric guitar.

My blonde Tele was a 2002 Christmas gift while living in Littleton, Colorado. Kathy, knowing little about guitars, went to the local Pro Sound and asked for their best guitar. The result was the ’52 reissue Telecaster. The thin neck and low action make it very easy to play and remains a favorite of mine. It became my first professional electric guitar and started the ball rolling. As seen in the photograph, I used it for several years in the Second Wind band in Colorado.

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Fender ’52 Reissue Telecaster. Kari Oborn, Laura Butler, Mark Bingham and myself playing in Colorado.

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Les Paul Standard

Les Paul was an enormously popular recording artist during the mid 1940’s and 1950’s. He was also an electronic tinkerer and is credited with creating the modern multi-track recording system. Paul was dissatisfied with the feedback created by attaching pickups to acoustic guitars and began experimenting with a few designs for an electric model on his own. In 1940 he built “The Log” which was nothing more than a length of common 4x4 with a bridge, guitar neck and pickups attached. For the sake of appearance he attached the sides of the body of an Epiphone hollow-body guitar sawn lengthwise with the “The Log” in the middle. By eliminating the acoustic cavity the hope was to eliminate the vibrations of the top and thereby eliminate feedback. He took the guitar to Gibson but they were not interested at the time.

By the early 1950’s Gibson become interested in solid body guitars and in 1952 introduced its own solid body electric guitar endorsed by non other than Les Paul. There is disagreement upon whether the credit for the guitar’s design belongs to Les Paul or Gibson’s President, Ted McCarty, but in either event the Gibson guitar was as beautiful as it was functional including a gold finished carved maple top and two P-90 single coil pickups.

The years 1957 through 1959 are considered the golden years of the Les Paul where everything came together to produce the best sounding electric guitar ever. Guitars from this era routinely sell for between $500,000 and $1 million. However, by the mid 1960’s the public had lost interest in the Les Paul and Gibson quit making them in favor of the lighter SG being played by rock legend Eric Clapton. In the 1970’s players such as Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin and Duane Allman brought renewed interest to the Les Paul. It was during this period that a Les Paul or an SG played in front of a wall of Marshall amplifiers defined the essence of Rock-n-Roll. A renaissance period occurred from 1982 to 1983 as Gibson sought to recapture the magic of the early instruments.

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1983 Les Paul Standard 13

Fender Stratocaster

Fender upped the ante in 1954 with the Stratocaster featuring three single coil pickups and a contoured body. Likely the most popular guitar ever designed, the Stratocaster gained popularity with young artists such as Buddy Holly and The Crickets primarily because of its low cost and tonal variations. In 1956 the Stratocaster was refitted with a redwood fretboard as well as color choices other than sunburst, including a variety of colorful car-like paint jobs that appealed to the nascent surfer and hot-rod culture pioneered by such bands as the Surfaris, the Ventures, the Beach Boys and Dick Dale.

I feature two Stratocaters here. The first is a black American Standard Stratocaster which I received as a birthday gift. The second is a 50th Anniversary Gold Deluxe. Fender guitars are built on three levels; the American Standard, the American Deluxe, and Custom built. This Gold Deluxe is about as close to a custom recreated Stratocaster as you can get. I purchased this guitar in the fall of 2008 when I was thinking back on that Sunburst Stratocaster I saw in the shop window of the Wenatchee music store. What if my parents had purchased that early ‘60s Stratocaster and I had kept it in good condition?

The third guitar is the Fender Mustang introduced in 1964 as the basis of a major redesign of Fender's student models then consisting of the Musicmaster and Duo-Sonic. It was produced until 1982 and reissued in 1990. In the 1960s, it was used in Surf music. It attained cult status in the 1990s largely as a result of its use by a number of alternative rock bands. Early examples are generally the most collectible of all the short-scale Fender guitars.

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Fender 50th Anniversary Gold Stratocaster, American Standard, Fender Mustang 15

Gibson Flying-V and Explorer

In 1955 Gibson Engineer, Seth Lover, invented the humbucker pickup. In any magnetic pickup, a vibrating soft- magnetic guitar string induces an alternating current in its coils. However, magnetic coils also make excellent antennas and are therefore sensitive to electromagnetic interference caused by high powered amplifiers, processors, mixers, motors as well as crisscrossing power lines. Guitar pickups pick up this noise, which can be quite audible, sounding like a constant hum or buzz. A humbucker has two coils with opposing windings and polarities. The string motion induces current in both coils in the same direction, since the reverse winding and reversed phase of one coil create a signal in the same direction as the other coil. Electromagnetic interference, on the other hand, induces current in opposing directions in each coil because it is only sensitive to the winding direction, which is reversed for one coil. When the signals from both pickups are summed together, the noise is cancelled while the actual signal is increased.

Despite Gibson’s innovations the electric guitar war was clearly being won by Fender. To counter their conservative image, Ted McCarty released the Flying V and Explorer in 1959. The first prototypes of the Gibson Flying V were designed and built in 1957 by Ted McCarty, who also helped create the Gibson Les Paul. Gibson wanted to create a guitar that had a design that looked great and something that would look like it came from the future. They did exactly that by designing a guitar that looks like something that would be in a Jetson's cartoon. Another futuristic model that they created at the same time was the Gibson Explorer.

Initial production began in early 1958 and ended just one year later due to poor sales. However, the Flying V was not out of production for too long, as Gibson began manufacturing the guitar again in 1966. Built to compete with the Fender Stratocaster, the Flying V was designed to be stylish and futuristic, as well as a quality instrument built in Gibson's rich tradition.

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Heavy Metal God with Flying V 17

Flying V and Explorer18

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Rickenbacker

In the early 1960’s, Rickenbacker became forever wedded to one of the biggest music upheavals of the 20th century: the invasion of the mop-top Beatles from Liverpool, England.

The Rickenbacker 325 features a short scale, dot fret board inlays and a small body. These instruments were originally intended to be student models, but gained prominence due to John Lennon’s use of a 325 during the early years of The Beatles. Lennon obtained his first 325 from a Hamburg, Germany music store in 1959. Although in latter years, Lennon could have any guitar he chose, George Harrison maintained in an interview with Guitar Player Magazine that Lennon bought the 325 "on the knocks—ten percent down and the rest when they catch you!"

George Harrison's 360/12 (the second one made by the company) defined a new tone at the other end of the audio spectrum. Its ringing sound embellished "You Can't Do That," "Eight Days a Week," and "A Hard Day's Night," to name just three cuts from the 1964-65 period. Thus the Beatles created unprecedented international interest in Rickenbacker, which many fans actually believed came from Britain. Roger McGuinn of the Byrds fame bought a Rickenbacker 360/12 after seeing the movie "A Hard Day's Night”. The jingle jangle of the electric 12 string along with the sitar (also introduced by the Beatles) literally define the sound of the 60’s.

The Rickenbacker 325 was the first guitar that I purchased for collecting purposes. Later the 360/12 was purchased from Rich Dixon – a professional jazz player in Utah. Rich’s complaint with this guitar is that the strings are too close to comfortably play. I agree that it’s difficult to play but is a necessity for any serious collection.

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Rickenbacher 325 and 360/12 21

Gretsch Nashville

Gretsch was founded in 1883 by Friedrich Gretsch, a young German immigrant. His Brooklyn shop was made for the manufacture of banjos, tambourines and drums. In 1895, at the age of 39, Gretsch died and the successful company was taken over by his son Fred. By 1916, Fred had moved the company into a larger 10-story building in the Williamsburg district becoming one of the most prominent American musical instrument makers.

Many feel that Gretsch's best years started in the mid 1950s, after Fred's son Fred Jr. had taken the reins. It was during this time the company introduced several distinctive models of electric guitars including the Country Gentleman, Nashville, and White Falcon.

The single biggest contribution to Gretsch's success was the addition of Chet Atkins as an endorser. Atkins gave Gretsch a fighting chance against Fender’s Telecaster and Stratocaster and the Gibson Les Paul. Gretsch ultimately sold thousands of guitars with Chet's name on the pickguard, most notably the 6120 Chet Atkins model, one of which was purchased in 1957 by a young guitar player named Duane Eddy. The worldwide success of Duane's "twangy" instrumental records, television appearances, and extensive touring helped expose the Gretsch guitar to a huge new market of the teenage rock and roll fan. Many rockabilly players followed in Eddy’s footsteps including Eddie Cochran, Elvis Presley and George Harrison.

The guitar pictured here is a Gretsch Nashville 6120TMSP. It was a special run of roughly 200 back in 2003. I received this instrument as a Christmas gift in 2004 - the year Kelly returned home from his mission. I initially hired my fitness trainer, Randy Nelson, to photograph my guitars. It was his idea to create a picture combining the red Nashville with train tracks for this classic picture. “Blood on the Tracks” is the title of a Bob Dylan album.

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Gretsch Nashville 23

Kris, Kelly and the “Big Dog”24

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Gretsch Country Gentelman

Anything the Beatles touched turned to gold. I have already mentioned their affect upon Rickenbacker. Other companies to directly benefit from the fab four included Gretsch. George Harrison played a Gretsch Country Gentleman on the Ed Sullivan Show. In the following 12 months the number of Country Gentleman guitars sold jumped from the mid 50’s to over 2,000. George Harrison also played a Gretsch Tennessean and John Lennon briefly used an orange Gretsch Nashville.

Beginning in 1966, Gretsch had additional television exposure when the company supplied the guitars and drums for The Monkees. This had an effect analogous to Jimi Hendrix’s adoption of the Stratocaster and Eric Clapton’s of the Gibson Les Paul; Gretsch was unable to keep up with demand. As the sixties waned into the seventies, Gretschs were seen in the hands of Stephen Stills, Neil Young and Pete Townshend of the Who who played an orange Gretsch 6120 (given to him by Chet Atkins) on their 1971 “Who’s Next” album.

Despite a promising start by the end of the 1970’s interest in Gretsch had ran aground and in 1980 production ceased. In 1967 Baldwin Piano had purchased Gretsch and effectively ran it into the ground. In 1985 the Gretsch family reacquired the company and restarted production. This time, however, they concentrated on small production batches of high quality instruments. Today, Fender owns the marketing, production and distribution rights to Gretsch.

My Nashville was one of those high quality instruments. I purchased the 76 Country Gentleman 7670 during the summer of 2007 from an EBay auction site. I was only “window shopping” when I entered the bid. The next morning I found that I was only person to have bid so I won. I have not regretted the result although I was somewhat anxious to explain it to Kathy.

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Gretsch Country Gentleman

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Gibson WRC

The early 80's were a difficult time for guitar manufacturers. Rock music evolved into Disco, Techno, and Rap and the guitar Gods had scattered like dust in the wind. Especially hard pressed where those manufacturers such as Fender and Gibson who had married themselves to corporate giants. Fender had sold to CBS in 1965. Gibson, already a publicly traded company, was the victim of a corporate raid by E.C.L Industries in 1969. But by the 1980’s the corporate owners had drained the cash drawers and both companies were put on the auction block.

Henry Juszkiewicz, David Berryman, and Gary Zebrowski were three Harvard graduates that were looking for a company to invest in. In 1985, when Gibson was put up for sale, they jumped at the challenge. Juszkiewicz had played guitar throughout college and it had always been a hobby of his. After seven months of negotiations the three bought Gibson in January 1986 for around five million dollars.

With the rebirth of the new Gibson, experimentation and some new models showed up in 1986. One of these examples is the guitar in question – the WRC. Apparently, the new boys at Gibson thought a Strat-style Gibson guitar with high-end electronics would be well received. It wasn’t.

Wayne Charvel had made a name building guitars for heavy medal artists. In 1987 he made a namesake model, the “WRC Signature Model”, for Gibson but production was short lived due to a lawsuit filed by Jackson. Charvel had previously sold his company to Jackson including the right to the Charvel name. Only about 600 of these guitars were built. While living in Morrison, Colorado, I visited a small shop on west Colfax and purchased #144. As a side note, this guitar is the instrument played by Wayne in the movie Wayne’s World to get the attention of a sales representative.

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Gibson WRC #144 29

Paul Reed Smith

The PRS Guitar Company was established in 1985 by luthier and musician Paul Reed Smith. Paul built his first guitar when he was challenged by his music professor to build one for some extra credits. Smith did an amazing job on his first guitar and got an "A" from his professor in return. This experience helped him realize his passion for building guitars he decided to pursue his dream of building guitars for a living.

Smith started off slowly at first finishing maybe one guitar a month. Once the guitar was finished, Paul would then test it out by using it during one of the gigs his band would play. He would then make any changes according to what he felt and heard or from any feedback his band mates would give. Over the first few years, Paul went through many changes with his guitars including body designs, tremolo designs, different headstocks and testing a combination of many different types of woods to get the right sound.

Smith would often bring his guitars backstage at concerts and eventually got his break when Derek St. Holmes, of the Ted Nugent Band, agreed to try out #2, the second guitar Smith had ever made. St. Holmes played the guitar for the first few songs of his set. Smith told him that after he showed it to some other musicians he would fly out to Detroit and give it to him.

Smith then contacted Ted McCarty, former president of Gibson and creator of the Explorer, ES-335 and Flying V guitars, and McCarty became his mentor and adviser. The result of their collaboration was the current line of PRS Guitars which include solid and hollow-body guitars. After collecting more than 50 orders for his guitar, Paul made two prototypes to take on a business trip to all of the guitar dealers he could find up and down the East Coast. When he got back from his business trip he had enough orders to attract investors to start production.

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PRS Satin Trim Singlecut 31

In 1998 PRS released their Singlecut guitar, which bore some resemblance to the venerable Les Paul. Gibson Guitar Corp promptly filed a trademark infringement against Paul Reed Smith. An injunction was ordered and PRS stopped manufacture of the Singlecut at the end of 2001. Federal District Court Judge William J. Haynes, in a 57-page decision ruled "that PRS [Paul Reed Smith] was imitating the Les Paul" and gave the parties ninety days "to complete any discovery on damages or disgorgement of PRS's profits on the sales of its offending Singlecut guitar."

PRS appealed the decision and in 2005 the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit reversed the lower court decision and ordered the dismissal of Gibson's suit against PRS. The decision also immediately vacated the injunction prohibiting the sale and production of PRS’s Singlecut Guitar. Paul Reed Smith Guitars announced that it would immediately resume production of its Singlecut guitars.

In fairness to Gibson, nothing sounds like a Les Paul. It is an instrument that stands on its own merits, and seemingly the players who wanted a Les Paul were not going to choose the PRS and vice versa. These were decisions made through the collective wisdom of the guitar-buying public. They did not need to be settled in a court of law.

The Gibson Les Paul is an American icon, and the sounds it has created have made an indelible mark on rock and roll. Without it there could have been no "Live at Fillmore East" and no "Led Zeppelin I." Without the Les Paul the big bad dog that we call "Rock" would have had no balls. It's that simple.

If the Singlecut is a Les Paul knock off then the Mira is guilty of being a SG clone – only better. In the fall of 2008 I recruited a few players to form another band. The result was the Highland Highway which played extensively that summer.

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Highland Highway at Highland Fling, PRS Mira 33

PRS Custom 22 Red Flame Top34

Treker American Glory

On one of our many trips to and from southern Utah I noticed a sign along I-15 advertising custom guitars and basses. Eventually I did a search on google for custom guitars in Utah. I found Treker guitars. Treker is owned by the Bunker father and son combination. The senior Dave Bunker resides in Washington state and the younger lives just north of Mona.

Their player lists contains guitarists from BTO; the Osmonds; Heart, Earth, Wind and Fire; Alabama; Fire Fall; Chris Ledoux; Eric Clapton; the Allman Brothers; Red Hot Chili Peppers; the Spin Doctors; Poco and the Eagles; and the US Navy Band.

Next I checked out their instrument catalog. There I found my holy grail of guitars, the American Glory 20. I had wanted a flag guitar for several years for our summer gigs. I had even debated building an American Flag guitar myself but wasn’t sure that I could do it justice.

I considered purchasing a Buck Owens Fender Telecaster. Most of you won’t know who Buck Owens was but he was one of the first modern country artists. I remember watching him on television when he traded his trade mark butch hair cut in for longer hair. He was also the star of Hee Haw which ran from 1969 through 1986. However, I already own three Telecasters and wanted something more musically versatile.

After finding the Treker website I pulled the trigger and ordered a custom American Glory hoping to have the guitar by the end of July for our summer gigs. He didn’t get it completed for last summer but I still hope to use it next summer.

Dave took us to his wood shop for a tour of the facilities. It had to be short because the dust in the air irritated my lungs and caused a coughing fit. I had only recently been diagnosed with stage 4 lung cancer and had recently had surgery to correct a pleurodesis. I have been fortunate to have toured the Martin, Fender, and Larrivee guitar factories and the Kamaka Ukulele factory this September in Hawaii. Most manufacturers use computer controlled routers and advanced spraying booths to keep quality up and costs down. Dave has access to the same advanced equipment through his association with the cabinet business at Rocky Ridge and makes a great instrument.

After leaving Mona we stopped briefly at the Red Barn in Santaquin. From there we got back on the highway to return to Highland. As we were entering the highway Dave and a couple of other fathers loaded down in their mini Vans and Suburbans with scouts passed us heading out for a weekend camping trip. Thanks Dave and good luck on the camping trip.

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Treker American Glory 37

StringBender

A next logical step in the development of my guitar chops was to build a guitar of my own. I had a High School friend who built a guitar but that was mostly because he couldn’t afford a real one. My experience as a builder is that single production runs are expensive and you could buy a great “off-the-shelf” guitar for less than you can build. However, you can’t design it like you would like.

Woods

My first attempt was a Telecaster clone with a gorgeous and expensive walnut body. I was inserting the final screws on the control plate when I split the body. I was sick. After an appropriate cooling period I purchased a new less expensive body which had horizontal stripes. I named the guitar the “Woods”. Later, I added a Roland GR-20 guitar synth to allow for sax and background vocals.

Herman Munster

The next guitar was conceived in the fall of 2008 and was given a Halloween theme. This guitar I named the "Herman Munster" guitar. Also a Telecaster, the body was air brushed by an artist in St George. I posted a video of myself on You-Tube playing the Munster Theme wearing a Herman Munster mask. Completed 2007.

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Stringbender Tiger and Herman Munster 39

Camero SS

I was inspired by my half brother, David Adams, to build this next guitar. David was an avid race driver in his early twenties and at one time had a Camero SS painted yellow with black stripes. When I asked him if I could drive the car his reply was that he didn’t think I was man enough and that the car would eat me up. I don’t know what he was thinking, I did have a hot VW beetle. Man enough indeed! I’m sure that I could handle it now but the car is long gone. In its honor, however, I built a Gibson SG, orange with a black racing stripe. The hardware and pickup are gold plated. Completed 2009.

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Stringbender Camero 41

On The Horizon

My guitar collection is relatively young and has plenty of room to grow. I recently saw a television interview with Tom Petty. Petty has over 100 guitars! Of course, he has sold over 60 million albums. I’ve sold none.

Just a few guitars that I am thinking of acquiring include the following.

Paul McCartney played one of the most sizzling guitar solos ever on a Epiphone Casino and this guitar certainly deserves its place among the other great Beatles‘ instruments. A similar instrument is the tobacco burst Gibson Es-335 which looks similar to the Epiphone but is of better quality.

The Gretsch White Falcon is perhaps the best looking guitar in the world and would nicely complement the Nashville and Country Gentleman.

Missing also is the Fender Jaguar and Jazzmaster and a Gibson SG. I also need a shredder guitar, maybe a BC Rich, Charvel, Ibanez, Jackson and Kramer.

Futuristic designs including the Steinberger and Parker Fly are also a must. Two years ago Parker introduced a Python skin Fly. The original price was set at $5,000 but has since then dropped to a more affordable amount.

As any collector will tell you, the only arresting factors are a place to store and display them and the resources to purchase them.

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Gibson ES-335, Gretsch White Falcon

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Current Collection

1. Martin D-35 2. Fender ’52 Telecaster 3. Fender American Standard Stratocaster 4. Fender 50th Gold Deluxe Stratocaster 5. Fender Mustang 6. Gibson Explorer 7. Gibson Flying V 8. Gibson Les Paul 9. Gibson US-1 10. Gretsch Nashville 11. Gretsch Country Gentleman 12. Kaloha Saprano Ukuele 13. Kenny Hill Hauser 14. Rickenbacker 325 15. Rickenbacker 360/12 16. PRS Singlecut 17. PRS Mira18. PRS Custom 22 Red Flame19. Stringbender Woods 20. Stringbender Herman Munster 21. Stringbender Camero SS 22. Treker American Glory23. Taylor Baby

Photography by Randy Nielson, Evelyn Nelson, and Mark Bower

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And in the end the love you get is equal to the love you give.46

Guitar Collection

Ken Hendricks Fall 2010