Playing for Keeps
By John ClausenPhoto by Rimas Zailskas
It would be easy to say that Steve Ambrose is obsessed with guitars.
After all, the man does own somewhere between 20 and 30 electric and acoustic guitars and about as many amplifiers. Some of them are extremely valuable and very old. Most are — at the very least — collectors’ items.
The fact is, though, Steve’s real interest is something other than guitars or even music. He’ll readily admit that he really doesn’t play the guitars. “Oh sure,” he says, “I’ve taken lessons for a couple of years from Bill Altman over in Hendersonville, but I’m not what you’d call a guitar player.”
Steve’s genuine obsession is history. He graduated from Columbia University in New York City with a major in history. He eventually found his professional niche as a real estate developer and the owner of a very successful landscaping business. But he never really quit thinking about history.
All of his guitars have interesting pedigrees…and Steve is very good at telling their stories. Take, for example, his 1960 Gibson ES-5 Switchmaster. One of fewer than 500 in existence, this particular instrument has unique patterns in the wood. “The maple looks that way,” Steve explains, “because the tree was suddenly exposed to sunlight. Maybe a tree near it fell and made room, but that was what makes those markings.”
If knowing the history of the wood from whence your guitar sprang seems a bit extreme, consider this short message Steve received from Bob Willcutt, the man whose wood ended up in one of Steve’s favorite instruments: “The one-piece maple top used on the McInturff 25th Gemini was purchased by Bob Willcutt in 1968 from a cabinet maker who said his grandfather stored it in his barn for over 60 years. The tree was from Harlan, Kentucky and has been naturally drying ever since.”
George Gruhn, the legendary Nashville guitar guru, has authenticated many of Steve’s vintage guitars. One of those is a 1964 Hofner electric bass of the type made famous by Beatle Paul McCartney. Another is a Martin style 0-28 made during the 1890s. The Martin, according to Gruhn, was probably repaired in the 1940s. The end of the fingerboard from the 13th fret onward, he noted, had been scalloped to facilitate the player’s picking style. One of his most prized pieces is a Gibson Les Paul Personal model made in 1969. It has a typical mahogany neck and body but with a shape somewhat larger than a standard Les Paul. Mr. Paul, now in his 90s and still playing, was famous for his guitar and recording innovations, says Steve. This particular instrument is fitted with a jack for a microphone that snakes out of “the upper base side bout” to accommodate the player who also sings. This, according to Gruhn, is an extremely rare model.
The collection also includes a Gibson model A Junior mandolin made late in 1924, which according to Gruhn had also been modified slightly with larger frets and fingerboard scalloping to the owner’s large hands.
These intimate details are exactly what Steve is after. He even follows the politics happening in the years his guitars were manufactured. His 1896 Martin, he explains, was one of the instruments favored by pickers in the southern states. However, he says, “Those guitars were made in New York City by Yankees, so some of the southern collectible Martins had the labels pulled out to avoid looking like a Yankee sympathizer.”
“Look at his binding,” he says before putting the Martin away. “It was made of whale baleen [part of a whale’s eating apparatus]. When they replaced the binding, they used material they found in a lady’s hoop skirt.”
At one point, Steve owned Dan Fogelberg’s 1965 12-string Fender, upon which the rock star recorded three number one hits. The collection is kind of fluid, he explains, with guitars coming and going on a constant basis.
At least one of his guitars, though, will almost certainly never be sold or traded. His McInturff 25th Anniversary Model was custom-made by Terry McInturff in July 2005. Among its many unique features — which include a one-piece top made from Kentucky red maple, believed to be more than 100 years old — is a custom zodiac inlay pattern on the neck which displays the positions of the sun, the moon, and the planets on August 29th, 2003, the birth date of his daughter Caroline. By the way, the youngster already has her own guitar, a red flying V model he picked up in a local music store.
“I keep hoping she’ll have the talent in the family,” Steve says.
© 2007 Planet Zeus Media, LLC
