Guitars

I've been messing with the guitar since I was in the 7th grade. It's been a great creative outlet and a source of much fun and fulfillment. Here are some guitars in my life and related goodies.

          
                   Playing with pal Warren Williams at Cornerstone Church, St. Cloud, Florida

                                    Me with my son, Nathan            photo by Stacey Philgreen

Martin D-18

	Me and my '72 Martin D-18 when we both were a lot newer.   Sometime in '73, I think.  More about the D-18
One of my very first guitar buddies was Larry Robinson. In fact, he took the picture above with my camera.  Here we are at a little reunion at my folks' house sometime in the '80s. We're still pals and working on a system for long distance collaboration. Watch for the CD coming soon!  Well, someday I'm sure.

 Ty Tabor Signature Model Yamaha RGX-TT 

Me and Ty Tabor of King's X	True signature edition	More of RGX-TT

The Traveler
Here's an innovative guitar, the "Traveler." It was designed by an Air Force pilot (or he may have been with the airlines.) It has a full scale neck but is only 28" long. I plan to take this with me wherever I go. My days of looking all over for a guitar to borrow on trips is over. Here's a link to the factory:  http://www.travelerguitar.com/ These are available direct from the factory, but I paid about $100 less buying mine from a guy who sells them new on Ebay. There are a couple of guys who have been selling them there new.

                                         
                            Playing in a hotel room                         More on the Traveler guitar
                                 in Minsk, Belarus                                                   

Dean Exotica QSE

My son Nathan's Dean Exotica QSE. The time came to get him his own guitar so I could get my Martin back. This is a really beautiful and nice playing guitar for not a lot of money. When I saw it in the store it kinda leaped out at me. I knew it was the one, especially when I saw the price. It has a beautiful quilted maple back and sides and a solid spruce top with striking abalone trim. The name and logo are inlaid in the headstock in abalone and mother of pearl.  Take a look at more pix of Nathan's guitar. You won't believe the back. For more on this guitar, see the Dean web site

                       
                                                                                                       photo by Stacey Philgreen
'62 Reissue Strat

	This is an American made '62 reissue Fender Stratocaster built in the late '80's. I bought it for Nathan for Christmas a few years ago from one of my students at the college. We modified it a bit by putting a Seymour Duncan "Hot Rails" pickup in the bridge position which provides radically broader tonal options. I also installed a 5-way switch in place of the vintage 3-way.
	Nathan fronting "Cape Good Hope"

The Russtone Shark

During a video shoot trip in Russia, we had a day in Moscow at the end of the job. A fellow crewmember wanted to look for a guitar. We couldn't find her a decent acoustic, but this thing caught my eye in a case and on a whim I bought it for 153,000 rubles. (about $200 or so at the time) I recently sold it for $200 on Ebay to fund the purchase of an acoustic for my son. Click here to see more pix of it.

Effects page

If this page inspires you to learn to play or to learn to play better than you do already, check out the guitar teaching video I made with my pal, Roger Zimish. It's available in the on-line store on this site. There's a long description of it there.
Here's a link to it: "Guitar from A to Z with Roger Zimish"