If you are heading to NAMM in Anaheim California, you might want to rent a car and make the one-hour drive to Tarzana, Califirnia to visit Normans Rare Guitars…

Guitar Aficionado Magazine recently published a feature story on the legendary shop.

Normans Rare Guitars in Tarzana, California

Norm Harris—the Norman of Norman’s Rare Guitars—could have located his store a dozen or so miles southeast in Hollywood or Beverly Hills. Instead, he’s stayed in the relative quiet of the San Fernando Valley since February 1975, when he opened his first storefront shop in Reseda.

“A lot of well-known musicians seek us out because the store is a destination shop that’s far off the beaten path,” Harris says. “This isn’t like the Hollywood ‘guitar row’ stores on Sunset Boulevard, where tourists or average walk-by customers constantly drop in to gawk at the instruments. Celebrities like Robert Pattinson and Hugh Laurie come here to buy instruments because there aren’t any paparazzi hanging around to bother them.” As most customers have to know about the store to find it, Norman’s Rare Guitars has maintained a musician-friendly environment where customers can try instruments without any pressure to purchase and casually chat about any of the 2,000 or so instruments in the store’s inventory.

Read the rest of the story by [CLICKING HERE].

Eric Clapton - Crossroads Centre Auction

The auction is being held to benefit The Crossroads Centre in Antigua.

The sale will feature over 70 guitars and 70 amps which have helped create Clapton’s legendary sound. This is the first time the rock icon has donated his historic amplifiers to auction and gives fans a rare opportunity to purchase a piece of Clapton history.

A spokesman for the Centre says, “The Crossroads Centre is very excited to be the beneficiary of Eric Clapton’s guitar and amp auction at Bonhams which will directly assist those who are in need of addiction treatment. As we know, recovery from addiction is possible and with quality treatment and support, is often lifesaving.”

The auction will be held in New York, on Wednesday 9th March 2011, with pre-sale viewing also planned at Bonhams London during January, and Bonhams & Butterfields Los Angeles in February.

Included in the sale are instruments and amps by Fender, Gibson, Marshall, Martin, Music Man to name but a few. Some of the historic amps are associated with Clapton’s career from the 1970s to the present day. It is the first time that such a large and interesting collection of amps has ever been offered on the auction market. With estimates on amps and guitars spanning from $300-30,000, there’s something for fans and collectors within every budget range.

The auction also includes guitars generously donated by famous musicians such as Jeff Beck, J.J. Cale, and Joe Bonamassa.

Highlights include one of Clapton’s main stage guitars from 2005, which formed one of a pair he memorably used during the Cream Reunion Shows in London and New York – a custom built black Fender ‘Eric Clapton Signature’ Stratocaster, estimate $20,000-30,000; and a pair of circa 1970 Marshall vintage basket weave speaker cabinets, used during the 1970s whilst appearing with Derek And The Dominos, estimate $8,000-10,000.

Viewings will be held on the following dates:

London
101 New Bond Street, London, W1S 1SR
Sunday 23rd January – Wednesday 26th January 2011

Los Angeles
7601 West Sunset Boulevard, CA 90046, USA
Friday 18th February – Sunday 20th February 2011

New York
580 Madison Avenue, NY 10022
Saturday 5th March – Wednesday 9th March 2011

A few days ago I TWEETED this: “I’m trying to justify a new guitar purchase to my wife… What would you do…Buy a new Les Paul Standard or 3 shares of Google stock…”

I know it sounds silly, but it’s actually an interesting question. When we buy stock in a public company, we buy with the expectation that the stock will increase in value over time. Do we have the same expectation when we buy a guitar?

In this video, Premier Guitar’s Brett Petrusek is on location at the Arlington Guitar Show and Auction, talking to vintage dealers about the state of the vintage market.

Is it a bad time for buyers? Dealers? What’s selling? Are guitars really a good investment?

The dealers themselves address these questions in this video.

Credit given to Premier Guitar for this video!

I’m in the middle of reading the book “Million Dollar Les Paul ” by Tony Bacon (a full review will come in a future post).

It’s a fascinating read about “The Burst” as it was known in the late 50′s and how it was the axe of choice for guys like Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. If you can find one of those around today, it could fetch up to $1,000,000.00 – even in our current depressed economy.

Many high-end guitar dealers admit that while there is no logic as to why the value continues to rise on these vintage classics, they still do.

It appears that there is no end in sight as to how high they will go. As long as people are willing to pay more to own one of the few remaining early LP’s, the prices will still skyrocket.

Well, how about a 1960 Burst?

The picture above is a stunning 1960 Gibson Les Paul cherry sunburst that is for sale right now on eBay. Click on the picture and you will link to the auction – as long as the auction is still there…

The auction says: From Norman’s Rare Guitars: Here’s another one from Norm’s personal stash. This is a 1960 Gibson Les Paul Standard Sunburst with original hard shell case and all of the hang tags in dead mint condition. Yep, that’s about all I can say about that. If you have any questions on this guitar or any other guitar we have listed, please feel free to contact Mark at Norman’s Rare Guitars 818-344-8300

The “Buy it Now” price is $325,000. Sounds like a steal to me! It’s a few years “newer” and hey… you can save over $600,000.00!! So tell me, who do you know that has a $325,000 limit on their Visa or Master Card?

Maybe you should just start with the book…