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Dear friends,
some of you may know that I had a kind of special relationship to our dear friend Patrick who passed away much too early about two years ago. Although we never met in person, there was a passion and a kind of understanding and friendship that we shared. When I was looking for my first Heritage guitar here on the forum, he actually reached out to me and after some conversation and a few phone calls, he generously agreed to get Heritage to build me a Golden Eagle (He was a Heritage representative at the time). There is a large number of things that went wrong along the way, but eventually I received a guitar that I will definitely never part with.
Now this is classic Patrick - he drove up to Alaska to secure an amazing piece of spruce for his next build - I believe that is the guitar that has been known here in the forum as the 'Super Patrick' - to me, the most amazing an prettiest guitar I've ever seen! If the current owner ever wants to part with it - please send me a mail! Anyways, the top of that guitar was made from that piece of Alaska spruce - but what Patrick brought was more than what he needed for his build. So he agreed, without even knowing me, that the remainder of the billet was used to build my Golden Eagle.
So it happened and some time in late 2012 I received delivery of this wonderful Golden Eagle (note that it has no cloud inlays on the fretboard since I did not like them). I have played that guitar pretty much every day ever since and I absolutely love it. It was the first carved top guitar I ever owned and it blew me away from the first tone on.
Ever since Patrick took a lot of interest in my further guitar adventures and we had frequent exchanges of opinions. We had a plan to meet up for the last guitar that Heritage built me with a lot of help and input from Patrick (an acoustic Super Eagle), but tragically he passed away before that could happen.
Eventually, Heritage built four guitars for me (and two additional ones I acquired via other routes). They form the core of my guitar collection and I can not imagine to part with any of them ever.
I had a sentimental moment today and I thought I should honour Patrick and all his enthusiasm and love for beautiful instruments. Hence, I recorded a piece that I really love - a gypsy Waltz called 'Valse Rosenberg'. It is a complicated piece of music and I do not really do it justice. But I really love it. I tried to gypsy pick it (I have been studying that for a while now), but unfortunately it did not happen. I was always falling apart. I play it at a much slower tempo than the original (165 ppm compared to something like 250 (!!) in the original). Even that is pretty much the limit of what what I can do (or beyond). It is beyond my comprehension how Stochello (or Joscho) pulls this off at 250 bpm with seemingly no effort, but these guys *are* superhuman :-)
Anyways, here is the video. I hope some of you like it a bit. In any case, it is just meant to remember a person that many here considered to be a friend and who was universally respected for his deep insight and his passion for music, beauty and instruments.
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11-05-2017 05:24 PM
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Great Tribute, lucky you that you and Patrick got along so well and he helped you along in your build(s). Like all of us our time is not promised, so life and love fully.
Big
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Thank you very much Big! I know you have many of the guitars from Patrick’s collection and I am sure that they are all amazing! Could not think of a better place for them!
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Well done man, tasty.
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Hi Frank -- Thanks for the nice tribute to Patrick2. Great playing! I didn't know Patrick except through his posts on the Forum. But I was fortunate to purchase his 1996 Gibson L5 CES, thanks in part to our Forum's Marty Grass and Patrick's family. I thought I'd share a few pictures. Cheers, Joe
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When I was looking at videos of Citations after winning mine I found Joscho Stephan playing a blondie and the cat wasn't even breaking a sweat. What a player...
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Frank - Thank you for reminding us that there is more to "provenance" than physical data, and that the human stories each instrument could tell contribute to the soul of the guitar and its music.
Oh, and great sounding Super Eagle - rich and full and balanced!
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Frankie you handsome devil you!
That was great sir. Really great. Patrick had such an impact on the lives of so many people here. It’s Amazing how great people are doing tributes about him after all this time.
Anyway, great story, excellent playing and it was very thoughtful.
Joe D
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LAJoe, I don’t know if you know this but when I bought Patrick’s “Wesmo” I asked him why he was selling the Wes and not the CES. He told me it’s because he liked the CES better. True story.
Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
Beautiful guitar bud.
Fran and Christopher thought the world of you too, after you bought the CES. You did it right Joe.
Joe D
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I seem to remember that two tops were needed for the Super Patrick - during carving, the first top revealed a "pitch pocket" that made Patrick unhappy, so Heritage scrapped that one. It's a swell guitar - here it is in its current state: Originally Posted by FrankLearns
HeritageSP_9754 by Nate Lamy, on Flickr
HeritageSP_9758 by Nate Lamy, on Flickr
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Joe, all this time I had no idea it was you who bought Patrick's prized L5CES. Well done sir, she's beautiful! Originally Posted by losaltosjoe
Hi Frank -- Thanks for the nice tribute to Patrick2. Great playing! I didn't know Patrick except through his posts on the Forum. But I was fortunate to purchase his 1996 Gibson L5 CES, thanks in part to our Forum's Marty Grass and Patrick's family. I thought I'd share a few pictures. Cheers, Joe
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Frank,
You brought much joy to Patrick. He loved helping you get the Heritages you wanted.
Mark
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Frank.....fantastic playing. That is a super hard tempo to play. Your Heritage is a stunning axe.
I am sure Patrick is smiling down from above.
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Guys,
Enjoyable thread. Brightens a gray day on the East Coast.
Great guitars and great associations with a good man (the late Patrick "2" D'Amato).
Going to go home and play my "P2" Super Eagle tonight, for sure.
GT
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[QUOTE=losaltosjoe;814928]Hi Frank -- Thanks for the nice tribute to Patrick2. Great playing! I didn't know Patrick except through his posts on the Forum. But I was fortunate to purchase his 1996 Gibson L5 CES, thanks in part to our Forum's Marty Grass and Patrick's family. I thought I'd share a few pictures. Cheers, Joe
QUOTE]
Thanks so much Joe!
These pictures of Patrick and his collection are legend!
Actually, I did inquire about this very L5 CES - but it was already gone when I asked :-)
It could not have found a better home! I hope you enjoy it for a long time to come! Guitars that Patrick called special must indeed be special.
He kept telling me that "only a L5 will sound like a L5" - even when he was a Heritage representative.
This is how honest of a man he was. He said point blank that if you want *that* L5 tone, buy a L5.
Little did I understand about the thickness of carved tops then - but I trusted him on the Golden Eagle being a particularly special instrument as well - and he was right. Now I own both types and they really are pretty different - each fantastic in its own right of course.
Sigh ... I miss Patrick and his candid opinions.
Thanks so much again Joe! Your kindness is much appreciated.
And thanks to everybody here for the nice comments and the family feeling :-)
Cheers,
Frank
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Joscho is a force of nature - No doubt about it! I took four workshops with him (I actually learned "Valse Rosenberg" from him ... not sure he would be proud of me :-)). I never heard him play a single wrong note in all those hours of playing. He keeps saying that he learned the theory of music from his students - all the names of the scales and arpeggios. It all comes so naturally to him. He does not need to know the names, he just "knows" what is right in the moment and no amount of quizzing will let him say anything else. That is a level of musicianship that, I am afraid, guys like me cannot learn, but only admire from a long long distance. Originally Posted by BigMikeinNJ
He is not only an absolutely amazing, jaw-dropping guitarist - he also is the nicest guy ever. He would sit down with us every evening and jam until the mosquitos ate us alive. He is one of those rare musicians who doesn't care whether he has an audience of five or 5000. He is just one with music. It is a truly humbling - and rewarding - experience.
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Thanks so much k! Much appreciated! I truly enjoy this forum. There are truly exceptional people here with true skill and love and passion. It is wonderful to share all that. I just love it that modern technology let's us do this across continents. Originally Posted by citizenk74
Frank - Thank you for reminding us that there is more to "provenance" than physical data, and that the human stories each instrument could tell contribute to the soul of the guitar and its music.
Oh, and great sounding Super Eagle - rich and full and balanced!
And thanks so much for the nice comment on the tone! It is actually a Golden Eagle (17'') as opposed to a super eagle (at 18''). It is a truly wonderful guitar, rich and balanced. It also has such pleasing acoustic tone. More often than not I just don't plug it in. That is really different with the Gibson L5 that feels like twice the weight (it is not) and has virtually no acoustic tone. Plugged in they both sound fantastic in their own way and they are both a pleasure to play, just really really different guitars.
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That is a very generous comment Joe. Thanks so much! You are a hundred times the guitar player I could ever be. Originally Posted by Max405
Let's keep sharing music and stories and celebrate community across culture and boarders! I feel that this more necessary than ever. My wife is American and we live in Germany and sometimes all the things that happen around us at both ends of the world make us sad. But we do feel that there is so much that unites us and these ties reach deep.
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Aaaarrrrghhh Hammertone .... I did not need to see this :-) Originally Posted by Hammertone
I seem to remember that two tops were needed for the Super Patrick - during carving, the first top revealed a "pitch pocket" that made Patrick unhappy, so Heritage scrapped that one. It's a swell guitar - here it is in its current state:
HeritageSP_9754 by Nate Lamy, on Flickr
HeritageSP_9758 by Nate Lamy, on Flickr
Well, it is as wonderfully, stunningly pretty as it ever was and I am sure it also sounds like it! Please enjoy this guitar ... that I feel, in many ways, is the big brother of my Golden Eagle :-)
Cheers from Germany!
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Thank you so much Mark! It means a lot to me that you say that. I truly appreciated Patrick and it really made me very sad that he left us so early. Whenever I look at my Heritage guitars I am thinking of him and all the counsel he gave me - all of it was good! He really knew what he was talking about. Unfortunately, I never heard him play - but I know that he was playing professionally for a while. So I assume that he was excellent. Originally Posted by Marty Grass
I am really glad that you do so much to here for the art and science of guitars. It is a wonderful community!
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Thank you so much Vinny! This really is about the fastest tempo where I can kind of, sort of halfway pull it off. All these triads are hard to play that fast. It is crazy to think that Stochello plays it almost twice as fast! If I am perfectly honest, I like it better at a somewhat slower (if you call that slow) tempo. At these crazy speeds the notes all blend together and it sounds like a machine gun fire. But there are beautiful melodies in there that I enjoy to hear and play. Originally Posted by vinnyv1k
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Man, Greentone, what a stunning guitar this is! Patrick was all about quality ... and he knew how to get the aesthetics of it right! I hope you had/have a nice evening playing this beauty! Originally Posted by Greentone
Cheers,
Frank
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I remember when Joe D called me and told me he was gone. I was in shock. The day before I talked to Patrick for a good hour. I bought a Guild from him. Apparently the last thing he did was box up the Guild X700 for me. He then went to bed and woke up in Heaven.
My belief system is we are all just Pilgrims passing thru. I will see him when it is my turn to go to the clouds of Glory Land.
Till then.......RIP P2 see ya soon :-)
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