Musical instruments, especially guitars, are living and breathing. The player imbues each guitar with his or her energies and dreams. Holding someone else’s guitar is like holding a lightning rod during a storm. The electricity simply swims through your body lifting you up. If a legend used that guitar, merely holding it is a holy experience. Now imagine owning an electric guitar played by John Lennon and George Harrison at the zenith of the Beatles’ fame…

In May, Julien’s Auctions will auction off a VOX custom-built guitar played by both Lennon and Harrison. The auctioneers expect the guitar to go for upwards of $300,000! It will be the centerpiece of the “Music Icons” auction. In the article, “Beatles Guitar Auction: Instrument Played By Lennon and Harrison Set For Bidding Block at ‘Music Icons’ Sale,” Reuters reports, “Harrison used it to practice the 1967 song “I Am the Walrus,” while Lennon played the guitar the same year while recording a video session for “Hello, Goodbye.” Both songs were included on the “Magical Mystery Tour” album. This is musical history, folks!

Chances are you do not have $300,000 to purchase the holy guitar, but it is nice to dream. For more information on the auction, you can find the Reuters article here.

Crafting your own holy guitar

While you may not ever hold a custom-built Beatles guitar, you can always customize your own holy guitar. Texas has always been fiercely independent, and that attitude has rubbed off on our guitars. The state is home to many famous crafters of custom-built guitars. Hill Country Guitars is happy to be a part of the Texan custom-built mystique.

There are many advantages to a custom-built guitar. Firstly, for a beginner, it is easier for them to learn on a custom-built guitar, as it caters to playing styles and physical capabilities. Each player has his or her own unique style. Such styles flourish with custom-built guitars. Not only that, but custom-built guitars are a way to highlight your personality. It is a declaration of your independence. Every legendary guitarist has many custom-built guitars. We are much more than beautiful and unique snowflakes. We are beautiful and unique custom-built guitars!

There is a sense of mystique and holiness surrounding custom-built guitars. The Lennon and Harrison guitar will certainly fetch a lot of money. While it is a Beatles, there is something else at work here. Like a fine piece of art, a custom-built guitar is an example of that fierce and indomitable human spirit. It stands the test of time, representing an era and lifestyle. It is an archaeological treasure, something that anthropologists will study far off in the future. Imagine in two hundred years, a group of alien anthropologists standing over your custom-built guitar as it rests on a table. One will say, “This is holy. This is Texas. This is music.”

For all your custom-built needs, look no further than Hill Country Guitars.

If you are interesting in the auction, you can find the article here.

-Dwain

*Image courtesy of Library of Congress

To know your guitar, is to love your guitar.

The bond a musician builds with his guitar is, for lack of a better word, deep. The guitar becomes an extension of the musician, a communicative outlet with which emotions can be emitted and expressed in a way unlike any other. Thus, we offer the Guitarist’s Creed:

This is my guitar. There are many like it, but this one is mine.
My guitar is my best friend. It is my life. I must master it as I must master my life.
My guitar, without me, is useless. Without my guitar, I am useless.

Some of the most influential musicians throughout history have held true to this sentiment, and built an unbreakable, unique bond with their guitar. These musicians have created timeless melodies and riffs that continue to echo through the years.

Artists like Joan Jett, John Mayer and Neil Diamond know the power of the music they produce, and even more so, the important role their guitars play in the production of it. Each of them eloquently express this idea in their own words:

“My guitar is not a thing. It is an extension of myself. It is who I am.” – Joan Jett

“I’m singing what I want to sing based on the emotion of what that day feels like. That’s what comes out of my mouth and guitar. That impacts people. They know anything can happen.” – John Mayer

“I’ve looked at photographs of myself during concerts and it sometimes looks as if I’m in a fencing move, with a guitar in my hands instead of a sword.” – Neil Diamond

It is said that music, whether listened to or played, is among the most therapeutic outlets available. Music is able to elicit emotions within its listeners, heightening their preexisting emotions and provoking a powerful feeling without a physical touch or spoken word.

Given this knowledge, it is safe to say that music is perhaps the most powerful language available; it is expressed and understood, heard and felt. If you’re lucky enough to speak it fluently, whether through your guitar or another instrument of choice, as Jimi Hendrix puts it simply, “you’re gonna be rewarded.”

According to the state map, Austin is at 34%. Get some moisture in your case, room and or house. Here in the shop, we have two floor humidifiers running and a central AC unit that feeds moisture.

It even gets so dry that we mop the floor at closing time and leave it wet. By Sunday evening, the forecast has the winds switching back from the southeast. With this comes tons of moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, easily pushing the humidity level upwards of 65%. This cycle continues on and on making it difficult at best to keep your guitar in that optimum area of 45-50% relative humidity.

Not only does it wreak havoc on a finished guitar, it can make the building process a challenge as well. If you get a chance to take the Collings Guitars tour, ask Mark or Angela about the time and effort that went into controlling this issue. Under ideal conditions, the stress that your guitar is under when strung to pitch is enough. There is just no sense in adding to that stress, by subjecting it to extremes as in the following example.

Years ago, I had a customer return one of my Walkabout Dulcimers that had the back split along the joint line. When I asked about the environment in which he kept his instrument he responded with, “I hang it on the wall next to the wood stove”.