 | Dave’s Guitar Shop in La Crosse, Wisconsin is a guitar haven in itself; racks upon racks of guitars and amps sit waiting for you to plug in and tune out. But when word came down that we had the opportunity to spend a few days amidst Dave Rogers’ personal collection, taking up the sprawling second floor of his shop, we went into a temporary gear coma. After coming to, and embarking on a long drive north, we spent two days surrounded by classic pieces of guitar history. Fenders of all shapes and sizes; a row of custom colored Jaguars, with some maple boards thrown in for good measure; mid-‘60s Esquire Customs, an Antigua Tele, a handful of Blackguards, all out in the open for the store’s guests to enjoy; two-tone, tweed and brown tolex Fender amps arranged neatly; rare Gibsons, Rickenbackers, Epiphones, Martins and Gretsches covered every wall. And nothing is behind glass. No one is hovering over you. There are no signs warning you not to touch. You are left to enjoy the beauty of the instruments on your own. It was the definition of gear nirvana. |
| » Online Photo Gallery Click Here to see a photo gallery with pictures from Dave Rogers’ collection we couldn’t fit into the article » Podcast Interview Click Here to listen an exclusive podcast interview with Dave Rogers. |
All of our favorite stores have had good people, who, in addition to being knowledgeable, make you feel comfortable and welcome. Being respectful of your customers seems like a no-brainer, but how many stores have you been in with “Do Not Touch!” or “Please Ask for Assistance” signs on all of the guitars?It is akin to walking into someone’s living room with plastic covering all of the furniture, making it perfectly obvious that no one actually uses the room for anything close to living. Oddly, the stores with the admonishing signs are generally the places that are plagued with the most inadvertent dings and scratches. Asking to take a guitar down in a cool shop is more often than not met with the same response one would get after asking a good friend if it would be okay to grab another beer.
Making your way around, after the initial rush of seeing all of the amazing guitars in the main showroom, your eyes eventually wander over to the staircase, situated by a mess of Fender Custom Shop Teles. There is a velvet rope with both ends hanging on a hook at the base of the stairs, but it is rarely strung across. Taking the staircase leads to a small landing which spins you around 180 degrees, displaying a few framed photos of famous guitarists with famous guitars. As you complete the turn, Dave’s collection hits you square in the face.
They’re all there, lined up on the wall, treated like true art. Soft lighting from above beams down at the various mahogany and maple tops. We walked slowly past the rows, chattering excitedly amongst ourselves, wiping up drool when appropriate. It’s amazing that something many of us grew up with in our hands, learning and playing, has attained this sort of reverence. Dave’s collection celebrates a day where craftsmanship was paramount. Over 500 photos and a lot of scribbled notes later, we headed back south. We flipped through them on our digital camera, discussing our favorites and debating the best. The Fiesta Red Strat. The Reverse Firebird. The ’59 Flying V. Being hungover, we kept the loud voices to a minimum.
Until next time, La Crosse.
The 2007 Dallas International Guitar Festival was proof positive that things are indeed bigger in Texas. Held at the Dallas Market Hall April 20-22, exhibitors came prepared to buy and sell vintage guitars at one of the nation’s top shows. Dealers seemed serious about doing business this year, and prices reflected this. Many dealers we spoke to seemed to be there for specific pieces, and judging by the amount of cases exchanging hands, few were disappointed. Great weather, great music, and – most importantly – great guitars, stretched as far as the eye could see.
Greeting visitors to the right of the entrance was the Holy Grail Guitar Exhibition, sponsored by PRS Guitars. With security in full force at the entrance, festival attendees knew they were in for something special, and the exhibit didn’t disappoint. Highlights included the first electric guitar made by Lloyd Loar – an electric harp guitar, no less – on loan from Skip Maggiora’s collection. Other great pieces from Skip’s collection included a gaggle of Les Paul Goldtops, V-front Fender Pro and Super amps, and some amazing early Strat examples. Guitar Center’s Hollywood Vintage Room supplied the holiest of grails in the yes-it-is-the-original Blackie, flanked by Stevie Ray Vaughan’s celebrated Lenny and Clapton’s Cream-era cherry ES-335 all sitting in a display case together. Having three of rock’s most iconic guitars together in one place was almost too much to digest, and it really did take a moment to fully absorb and comprehend what you were seeing. Other rarities included a split headstock Explorer, Tiny Moore’s Bigsby electric mandolin, and several guitars from Paul Reed Smith. For even the passing fan of vintage and rare guitars, it was truly spectacular.
Exiting the Holy Grail Guitar Exhibition brought attendees to the main floor of the Dallas Market Hall, where all of the dealers, manufacturers and massage therapists were set up, with the latter being greatly appreciated by the time day two rolled around, owing to the size and scope of the show. Amazing guitars and amps were everywhere, with the Vermont Collection, Olivia’s Guitars, Fuller’s Vintage Guitars, Dave’s Guitar Shop, and, of course, Jimmy Wallace Guitars, all having their breathtaking wares on display. Fuller’s, Dave’s and Jimmy Wallace all vied for the “hugest booth” award, having what amounted to goodsized stores within the hall. The breadth of exhibitions was such that if you couldn’t find what you were looking for, you weren’t looking hard enough. Gibson was also there in full force, demo-trailers in tow, offering patrons a respite from all of the commotion of the hall and a welcome chance to chill with a nice Gibson and a Line 6 POD. The performance stages were located around the perimeter of the hall, both inside and out, with music scheduled all day, every day. Highlights included Bugs Henderson and Bernie Marsden, formerly of Whitesnake, tearing it up Friday night on the Jimi Hendrix Liquid Experience stage. Bugs egged Bernie on, with Bernie returning the favor, resulting in one of the tastiest and most electrifying Texas blues jams in recent memory, each solo surpassing the next. Saturday afternoon saw Johnny A. take the Samuel Adams stage, located inside the Dallas Market Hall. The dark lighting in the room lent itself perfectly to that thing that Johnny A. does so well, which is a unique combination of beautiful textures and smoldering chops. His ability to effortlessly switch between the two in compositions also showcased his band’s great command of genre-hopping chops and wide dynamic sensibilities. Rick Derringer played both Friday night and Sunday afternoon. Unfortunately, we missed his Friday performance, but his Sunday afternoon show demonstrated that Rick hasn’t given anything up since his early days with the McCoys. Playing in a three-piece format, Rick fired off one tight, explosive riff after another, with his voice sounding as strong and clear as ever. His band didn’t miss a beat and kept the energy level building throughout the set. It was great to see him so happy and successfully conveying his joy through his music and performance.
Chris Fleming from Fender’s Custom Shop gave daily demonstrations on relicing guitars. I’ll spare the details and ensuing grief that a partial and brief explanation would cause in relicing efforts, but I definitely suggest checking out Fender’s relic clinics if the opportunity presents itself. It was extremely interesting, and there are certainly some new tricks to be learned for people interested in doing their own relics. Also interesting was Chris’ response to a question of where he learned his relicing techniques. It seems this relicing business is anything but new and has been used for quite some time in stringed instrument repair to match repairs on vintage violins and cellos to the instruments’ original weathered and aged finish. Cool stuff, indeed. 
We also met Texas’ own Ace Pepper from Thunder Tweak amplifiers. Keep an ear out for this guy’s amps, and if you get a chance to play one, don’t miss out – they will amaze you. Teye Guitars was also in attendance, with Teye eager to get people playing his amazingly crafted guitars. St. Blues Guitars was in full force and had some great new guitars to show, as well as about the coolest vibe of any booth. Keep checking their website as new developments are on the way. We ran into the good people from Godlyke Distributing who were there with some new Tokai models bound for the U.S. market, which were fantastic. They also had the new Guyatone Optical Hybrid effects on display, which sounded incredible. A couple of the more notable non-industry exhibitors included Samuel Adams brewery (go with the Boston Lager) and the Invisible Children Movement, who provided a screening of their documentary film, Invisible Children on Sunday. There were almost too many standout vintage guitars to list, but some notable ones were a nice selection of Wandres, a couple of custom color Esquire Customs, many slab-bodied Les Paul Juniors and Specials, several SG-shaped variants of the same, and lots of nice SG Standards and Customs, including a couple of ebony-block Standards. The selection was truly amazing, and if you could think of a guitar you wanted, odds were there were at least two or three to choose from, which is one of the many benefits to attending this show. Another benefit is that if and when you couldn’t see straight from all of the eye-candy, a good band and nice cold beverage were waiting just outside the hall, providing a great way to rejuvenate.
All in all, it was a perfect way for guitar fans, or music fans in general, to spend a weekend. Our thanks go out to all of the exhibitors, attendees and especially Mark Pollock and Jimmy Wallace for making this year’s Dallas International Guitar Festival so special.
| » Podcast Listen to our exclusive podcast, live from the floor of the Dallas International Guitar Festival |
Dallas Intrntl Guitar Festival 30th Anniversary
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When you started playing guitar, what kind of sounds were you hearing that influenced your tone?
When I first started playing seriously as a young teenager, I was trying to emulate a lot of the rock guitar players that I heard. The main guy of course was Eddie Van Halen. Back then, I really didn’t understand the difference between tone and a characteristic sound. I thought that as long as I could get a guitar to sustain and have a lot of distortion, I would have the sound of Black Sabbath or Van Halen, even though that’s not the case at all. To my ears back then, that was the case.
When I would walk into music stores as a young kid I never understood why people would plug into those big Marshalls, because they wouldn’t distort unless they were cranked way up. I’d always plug into little solid state practice amps that had tons of gain at the front end and do a bunch of crazy licks. As I got older and more sophisticated, my ears started to understand tone better. I started to realize that there’s a big difference between getting sustain and getting the feel of saturation in the front end of the amp. It really has to do with tone.
That’s when I started to experiment with buying old Marshalls and the Tom Scholz Power Soak. It enabled me to turn the amp way up. I basically put everything on ten and dropped the volume down. It was great; it was the perfect sound. To this day it’s still the perfect sound – it’s just really hard to do that without blowing up an amp every couple of months!
So you were going for your version of the Brown Sound.
Yeah, sustain with tone. After I understood that you could interact with a tube amplifier, it became all about trying to get the output stage to drive as hard as possible – a warm, sustained tone. I guess that’s the Brown Sound, basically any instrument that sounds good like a piano or a saxophone.
