Anatomy of a Sickness

My latest obsession continues to get worse. Last night, several times during the night I dreamed of the Dean Soltero guitar. I’ve noticed that in the past, this is the next-to-last-step before buying the guitar sight unseen from either e-bay or some other internet retailer.

Hoping to stave off the inevitable, I stopped by Springfield Music. Springfield Music is owned by the owner of Swarthmore Music, about which I’ve already written too much. The owner himself was in today. I asked about the Soltero, and he indicated that he thought he might have heard of it. Then he said he had some Deans at his other location, and called to check . Then hung up. A good 5-10 minutes later, he called back to find out if they had any. So this “inventory check” took between 10 and 15 minutes. I tried to walk out twice, but he stopped me both times with promises of things to come. Finally, he took my name and phone number, and wrote down what I wanted to know into a computer that must have been 15 years old. It shouldn’t have been hard, but I had to repeat it several times:What is the difference between the $3500 model and the $400 model ($3100, said the keyboard instructor overhearing our conversation).

So now I’ll wait and see if he calls me back. I hope he does, so I have some reason NOT to spend the $3500 on the expensive version (which has a beautiful figured maple top and is made in America).

Dean Soltero

This guitar reminds me of my experience looking for a Parker Fly. In both instances, my search started with dealers so that I could find, and perhaps purchase, the instrument. In the initial phases of an obsession, I tell myself how important it is to play the instrument before buying. In both instances, I visited the manufacturers website to identify local dealers. In both cases, I contacted theose dealers through the e-mails provided by the manufacturers. And in both cases, I heard nothing from the store(s).

The next step is to visit the surrounding large chain stores. Around here, that means Guitar Center and Sam Ash. When I did this looking for a Fly, none of them had any in stock. Although they both did have examples of the new Parker Strat-like guitar that has been reviewed well in magazines, but has a bolt on neck and other significant differences from the Fly I was after. So no sale.

I will shortly start to make the rounds of Guitar Center and Sam Ash. My daughters are on vacation this week, so running out to look at guitars is more problematic than usual. Still, it is the next step.

In both cases, it is about this time that I start wondering how important it is to play an instrument before buying it. I am an intermediate level player (on a good day) so some of the subtleties between individual examples of a particular model are often beyond me. But not always. But if I tell myself this, then I can start also looking on e-bay.

In the case of the Parker, I quickly concluded that almost all Parkers on e-bay, unless new, have a chip somewhere in the carbon fiber body coating. Some are pretty bad. And the new ones all cost the same. After several months of watching, I was able to find an example that had no chips, and had been rarely used. What’s more, I was able to get it for a fair, but not great, price. I’ve been very happy with the Parker.

But the Dean is a new guitar. It hasn’t been made long enough for gently used ones to start showing up on e-bay. As a new instrument, I also feel a greater need to play it before buying it. While I may not be able to notice certain subtleties, I also know there are some guitars that just don’t work for me. Surprisingly, a genuine Gibson Les Paul does nothing for me, but I have no such problems with Epiphone Les Pauls (go figure!).

And again, it is the difficulty I experience finding an example of this guitar to play that leads me top the conclusion that there is an untapped niche of guitar players in the Phialdelphia area that must be having the same difficulty as me. Surely others are interested in playing a Dean Soltero guitar. but are there enough? And if they find me, and play my Soltero hanging on the wall, will they go home and order it off the internet?

Wish I knew the answer…

Guitar store

Sometimes, even when all the evidence suggests I should give up on an idea, I can’t. i find it is that way with my idea of opening a guitar store So I continue to think of possibilities for what a successful store might look like.

In the last issue of Music Trades, there was a column written about older, but still active, Americans adopting new hobbiew in later life. The example the author chose was of a gardening club, and how many of the people there are there as much for the company and learning experience as because they always wanted to garden. The author wondered if something like that existed for music, and was disappointed to discover that, at least in his big city, it didn’t.

I suspect my answer would be the same. i know it would be if I was answering for my small town of Media. but I also think that my answer would be no for Philadelphia. Since Philadelphia is enjoying an inflow of empty-nesters seeking to enjoy a more urban life, I am thinking that they might represent an untapped demographic of potential customers.

I’ll write more in future posts about what a store might look like. It should help me clarify whether the idea has any legs to it.

Guitar Blogging

I took my advice and reserved a domain name for AdultGuitar. And then, lo and behold, life intruded. First came the holidays and then came my wife’s health procedures. But now, I look back at the past several months and try to learn something.

What did I learn? I find it very difficult to work completely unstructured from November through January. In the past, this has manifested itself in a long period of not playing my guitars at all. By February, the pent-up music making bursts forth and reasserts itself as a priority, and IU return to playing. In many years, February is also the month I have purchased a guitar. This has happened enough that my two daughters asked me several times during February if I was going out to buy a new guitar. I have not bought a new guitar. But, for the record, I have been practicing since the beginning of February. Not just practicing, but practicing with concentration and purpose that I often lack. Using a metronome, focusing on learning some theory, not just looking to play another song at my current skill level.

But the acquisition bug is never far away. These days, my longing seems focused on two Dean guitars: the Leslie West Signature model, and the rest of the Soltero line. Unfortunately, my nearest dealer is the dealer I love to hate: Swarthmore Music. I’ve put in an e-mail, through the Dean Guitars website, but have not yet had a response after two days. And I’m not surprised.