Watch This Year’s SSK&P Benefit Concert

Watch This Year’s SSK&P Benefit Concert

AcousticMusic.Org’s annual benefit concert for The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries is now available on YouTube.

Watch the concert here: https://bit.ly/amobenefit

Shoreline musicians Moving Target, Ebin-Rose, Ian Meadows and Brian Ebin Parker Wolfe return to perform a mix of originals and acoustic covers of Neil Young, Nick Drake, and Cole Porter songs. This year’s show also features some distinguished guests — internationally acclaimed guitarists Stephen Bennett, Guy Van Duser, and Tony McManus all stop by the Guilford, CT guitar shop to perform and raise money for a worthy cause.

Ian Meadows performs his original song “Trouble,” which won first place in the country category at this year’s MerleFest, a popular music festival in North Carolina known for its annual songwriting competition.

Viewers can help by the SSK&P provide food for Shoreline residents by going to https://donatenow.networkforgood.org/SSKP and selecting “Gowrie Challenge” as the designation. Donations will be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Gowrie Group through December 31, 2021.

About Guy Van Duser: Fingerstyle guitar virtuoso Guy Van Duser has been heard on National Public Radio for many years as a player of background and theme music, and as a featured performer on Prairie Home Companion. Since the late ’70s, his many collaborations with clarinetist, saxophonist, vocalist, and pennywhistler Billy Novick have endeared him to listeners with old-fashioned tastes, for Van Duser’s primary working repertoire has always consisted of early jazz, swing standards, and Tin Pan Alley pop tunes.

About Tony McManus: Often called “The Best Celtic Guitarist in the World,” Scottish musician Tony McManus has been listed as one of the 50 Transcendental Guitarists by Guitar Player magazine.

About Stephen Bennett: Stephen Bennett is one of the world’s premiere performers on the harp guitar – an instrument he indirectly inherited from his great grandfather. He has released 10 albums and appeared on Prairie Home Companion.

About SSKP: For 32 years, The Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries (SSKP) has provided food and fellowship to residents in need along the Connecticut shoreline by providing hot meals and groceries. We serve the towns of Essex, Chester, Clinton, Madison, Old Saybrook, East Lyme, Lyme, Old Lyme, Killingworth, Westbrook & Deep River. During the pandemic, residents may attend one of our five pantries each week, with a variety of pre-bagged food delivered curbside for safety reasons. In 2020 we shared 1.6 million lbs. of food and served 159,555 people – a 60% increase. Each household receives a variety of fresh vegetables, fruits, meats, bread and cereals, dairy and non-perishable foods such as canned meats, canned and dried beans and canned and boxed meals. Of our 9 meal sites, 7 are operating with curbside “grab-and-go” meals for all who come. All of SSKP’s sites are located in faith communities, and we employ only a small staff, operating with the assistance of hundreds of caring volunteers.

Good Guys

Good Guys

Leonard Wyeth met up with Guy Van Duser at Acoustic Music over the weekend to shoot a fundraising video for Shoreline Soup Kitchens & Pantries.

Stay tuned for details!

Watch 2020’s Black Friday tribute concert featuring Wyeth and others HERE.

Duane Allman’s Les Paul

The 1957 Gibson Les Paul Gold Top was owned by Duane Allman and used on the first two Allman Brothers Band albums:  Allman Brothers Band  and Idlewild South. It was also the guitar used by Allman for the Derek & the Dominos recording sessions with Eric Clapton. It came to be known as the “Layla” guitar because he recorded “Layla” with it before trading it for a cherry burst Les Paul seven days after he recorded “Layla.” It is said that he threw in $200 and a Marshall amp to close the cherry burst Les Paul deal.

Sold at auction for $1,250,000 in July, 2019.

Duane Allman’s Gibson SG

This 1961/62 Gibson SG belonged to Duane Allman and is the instrument played on the live recording of “Statesboro Blues” from the Allman Brothers Band’s At Fillmore East. The SG was part of the “Play It Loud: Instruments of Rock and Roll” exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2019.

The Gibson fetched $591,000.

Graham Nash Martin D-45

50 years after the second public appearance of the group Crosby, Stills & Nash at the Woodstock Music & Arts Festival in 1969,this Martin D-45 guitar owned and played by Graham Nash was sold at Heritage Auctions on July 20 & 21, 2019. Graham had originally paid for the guitar using advance money received from their first recording contract with Atlantic Records.

Sold for $162,500, including the Buyer’s Premium.

The 2019 NAMM Show

The 2019 NAMM Show

The guys from the shop made their annual trip to the NAMM (National Association of Music Merchants) show in Anaheim, CA. NAMM is known as the “the world’s largest trade-only event for the music products, pro audio and event tech industry” with over 100,000 people in attendance every year. We got the opportunity to browse all the great new products. Above all, we placed orders for some excellent new guitars.

A new excursion into domestic woods and a sustainable guitar at the Bourgeois booth. American Walnut back and sides Redwood top.

Bourgeois sustainable guitars made with domestic wood.

Martin Modern Deluxe

Martin Modern Deluxe guitar line.

The Modern Deluxe features the following:

  • VTS TOP – The vintage appointments offered in the Modern Deluxe Series include a Sitka spruce Vintage Tone System (VTS) top and VTS Adirondack spruce braces. VTS allows Martin’s craftspeople to recreate not only the visual aesthetics of a vintage guitar, but also reproduce the refined tones of fine vintage instruments.
  • TITANIUM TRUSS ROD – One of the ultra-modern features that is new to this series is a two-way titanium truss rod, which makes the neck super easy to adjust, and it is 64% lighter than a traditional truss rod.
  • LIQUIDMETAL® RED DOT PINS – The models also feature Liquidmetal® red dot bridge pins.
  • COMPOSITE CARBON FIBER BRIDGE PLATE – The new composite carbon fiber bridge plate that increases the volume without adding weight.
  • GOLD OPEN-GEAR TUNERS – All four models feature stylish gold open-gear tuners.
  • PEARL INLAID LOGO – All four models feature a gorgeous, pearl inlaid, 1930s style script logo on the headstock.
  • WOOD BINDING – The 28-style guitars feature East Indian rosewood back and sides with a contrasting flamed maple binding, while the 18-style features genuine mahogany back and sides with contrasting East Indian rosewood binding.
  • GOLD FRETS – All four models feature stylish gold frets.

Gibson

acoustics at a lower price point.

Affordable Gibson acoustics.

https://youtu.be/niJh_Hi4wgc

Eastman

brought a variety of new designs and delightful refinements to existing designs and we placed liberal orders. Can’t wait to receive them!

Eastman guitars.

Women Account for Half of Guitar Sales

A report from IbisWorld shows sales growth has been on the rise. Leading the way, according to a Fender survey, are women whom account for 50% of new guitar sales in the US and U.K.

“The fact that 50 percent of new guitar buyers in the U.K. were women was a surprise to the U.K. team, but it’s identical to what’s happening in the U.S.,” Fender CEO Andy Mooney tells Rolling Stone. “There was also belief about what people referred to as the ‘Taylor Swift factor’ maybe making the 50 percent number short-term and aberrational. In fact, it’s not. Taylor has moved on, I think playing less guitar on stage than she has in the past. But young women are still driving 50 percent of new guitar sales. So the phenomenon seems like it’s got legs, and it’s happening worldwide.”

Rooting for a Gibson Comeback

Rooting for a Gibson Comeback

As a kid, Jimmy Page’s Gibson Les Paul was the stuff of my guitar dreams. Fifteen year old me certainly couldn’t afford Jimmy’s Les Paul, but it inspired me to get my first guitar from a local pawn shop. I’ve been noodling ever since. So, it pained me to learn Gibson had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in May 2018. As a fan of guitar music and Gibsons, it was unfathomable that the maker of guitars that provide the soundtrack of my and so many other’s life was in dire straights.

How did this happen? Due to falling revenue, Gibson’s former CEO, Henry Juszkiewicz, pursued diversification and acquired Philips’ audio and home entertainment business in 2014. Competing with the likes of Apple and Amazon in the home electronics business was clearly an overreach. Lastly, Gibson lost their way. Too many overpriced fancy electronics and boutique guitars. Ultimately, Gibson, saddled with $500 million in debt, simply could not get out from under this burden. With new leadership including CEO James Curleigh and majority ownership KKR, Gibson is poised to refocus on what it does best – make guitars.

We here at GuitarsForTrade.Com and AcousticMusic.Org are proud to once again be a dealer of Gibson acoustic guitars.

Some of my Gibson guitar heroes:

Jimmy page

Jimmy page

Angus Young

Angus Young

Slash

Slash

Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton

Joe Perry

Joe Perry

Pete Townshend

Pete Townshend

Bob Marley

Bob Marley

Eddie Van Halen

Eddie Van Halen

Mark Knopfler

Mark Knopfler

The Gibson L-4C & ES-175 Archtop Guitars

Gibson’s Popular Jazz Guitar

The Gibson L-4C, and eventually the ES-175, are amongst the most popular jazz guitars in history. It has been the guitar of choice for guitarists like Joe Pass, Herb Ellis, Bill Frisell, Steve Howe and many others.

A Tribute to Lyle Ritz

Best known as one of the original electric and acoustic bass players for the legendary Los Angeles studio group, the Wrecking Crew.

Lyle J. Ritz, age 87, a resident of Portland, Oregon, died peacefully on March 3rd, 2017. He was best known as one of the original electric and acoustic bass players for the legendary Los Angeles studio group of the 1960s and ’70s, the Wrecking Crew. He was also known for his groundbreaking recordings and passion for a much smaller instrument, the ukulele.

Guitars for Trade Lyle Ritz with Brian Wilson

Lyle Ritz with Brian Wilson in the studio.

Born in Cleveland, Ohio on January 10th, 1930, Lyle Ritz was the only son of Alex and Emnalou Ritz. Eventually, the Ritz family relocated to Bridgeville, Pennsylvania where Lyle attended high school in nearby Mt. Lebanon. Following World War II, they moved to Porterville, California. In the fall of 1950, Lyle entered college at the University of Southern California to study music. He also studied the violin, tuba, and cornet.

During Christmas break of 1951, Lyle was involved in a serious car accident and spent the next several months in the hospital. While recovering, he lost his student draft deferment. Lyle was drafted into service for the Korean conflict and reported for duty at Fort Ord, California on September 2nd, 1952. His talents on the tuba, however, kept him on the mainland as a member of the 6th Infantry Division Band.

Guitars for Trade Lyle Ritz and His Sousaphone Tuba

Lyle Ritz and his sousaphone tuba.

Following his honorable discharge in 1954, Lyle enrolled in the Pasadena ArtCenter College of Design. He would study during the day and play music in the nightclubs and jazz dives at night. In 1957 he recorded How About Uke?, a jazz ukulele album for Verve Records. Playing a tenor ukulele, Lyle tackled standards like “Don’t Get Around Much Anymore” and “Lulu’s Back In Town” in a style more reminiscent of modern jazz than backyard luau. Though the record was not a success on the mainland, that album and its follow-up, 50th State Jazz, found their way to Hawaii and (unbeknownst to Lyle at the time) created a stir, becoming cult classics, and influencing a new generation of players.

Guitars for Trade Lyle Ritz How About Uke?

Lyle Ritz: How About Uke?

Lyle eventually became known for a much larger instrument—the string bass. As a member of the Wrecking Crew in the ’60s and ’70s, he contributed to some 5,000 recording sessions, including “Good Vibrations,” “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” “I Got You Babe” and “A Taste Of Honey.” It wasn’t until he was asked to provide the backing ukulele track to the song “Tonight You Belong To Me,” featured in the Steve Martin movie The Jerk, that he picked up his uke again.

Guitars for Trade Lyle Ritz and the Wrecking Crew

Lyle Ritz and the Wrecking Crew during the Beach Boys Pet Sounds sessions.

In 1985 Lyle received a phone call from Hawaiian ukulele teacher, Roy Sakuma. Sakuma was searching for the guy who made those ukulele albums in the late 1950s. As a result, Lyle, his wife, Geri, and young daughter, Emily, moved to Hawaii in April 1988. Lyle focused on the ukulele for the next decade; arranging songbooks, recording and performing. During this period, the ukulele saw a resurgence of interest both on the islands and the mainland.

In August of 2003, Lyle and Geri moved to Portland, Oregon where Lyle continued to record. In 2007, Lyle Ritz was inducted into the Musician’s Hall of Fame and Museum in Nashville, Tennessee for his studio bass work and also inducted into the Ukulele Hall of Fame. In 2004, Verve reissued How About Uke? on CD.

Lyle had a lifelong love of trains and vintage cars and for many years he owned the car featured in the last scene of the movie, Casablanca. He was also a pilot and was known to fly fellow musicians to Catalina Island for lunch while on break from the recording studio.

Lyle is survived by his wife of 40 years, Geri Ritz, his daughter, Emily Ritz and adoptive son, Thomas Ritz. Thomas Ritz has two daughters, Lauren and Jenna Ritz.

Guitars for Trade Lyle Ritz

Lyle Ritz: 1930-2017