Checking Out a Private Collection

[Greentone]

amazing!!
I wonder which will be the best for tapping and hi-gain settings.
Shreddin'

lol

[AKA]

Wow - Dutchbopper! What a collection!

Reminds me of the time most of the Chinery collection was on the walls of a shop across the street from Bananas at Large in San Rafael (across the Bay from San Francisco). My buddy knew the owner who gave us complete access to any and all of the instruments - D’Aquisto’s, D’Angelico’s, Strombergs, Gibsons of every vintage (I remember being struck by how lightly built the earliest Gibson archtops were), Albanus, Benedetto’s. I fell in love with the Benedetto Knotty Pine guitar and damn near bought it.

That was quite an experience. Did any other NorCal folk visit that spot? This had to be just a few years after Chinery’s death.

Dutchbopper, thanks for the great photos!

AKA

[FourOnSix]

Wow - Dutchbopper! What a collection!

Reminds me of the time most of the Chinery collection was on the walls of a shop across the street from Bananas at Large in San Rafael (across the Bay from San Francisco). My buddy knew the owner who gave us complete access to any and all of the instruments - D’Aquisto’s, D’Angelico’s, Strombergs, Gibsons of every vintage (I remember being struck by how lightly built the earliest Gibson archtops were), Albanus, Benedetto’s. I fell in love with the Benedetto Knotty Pine guitar and damn near bought it.

That was quite an experience. Did any other NorCal folk visit that spot? This had to be just a few years after Chinery’s death.

Dutchbopper, thanks for the great photos!

AKA

I visited the shop and played a very worn D'Aquisto Centura and a Monteleone. I think most of the collection had been sold by that time.

[Stringswinger]

Wow - Dutchbopper! What a collection!

Reminds me of the time most of the Chinery collection was on the walls of a shop across the street from Bananas at Large in San Rafael (across the Bay from San Francisco). My buddy knew the owner who gave us complete access to any and all of the instruments - D’Aquisto’s, D’Angelico’s, Strombergs, Gibsons of every vintage (I remember being struck by how lightly built the earliest Gibson archtops were), Albanus, Benedetto’s. I fell in love with the Benedetto Knotty Pine guitar and damn near bought it.

That was quite an experience. Did any other NorCal folk visit that spot? This had to be just a few years after Chinery’s death.

Dutchbopper, thanks for the great photos!

AKA

Albert,

I visited that shop,it was in San Rafael and was called E-guitars. The owner,Michael owns(owned?) a well known recording studio and bought about half the Chinery collection at a wholesale price and retailed them out of his San Rafael shop and EBay.

By the time I got there, the D'Aquisto's were gone, but I got to play 4 D'Angelico's, 4 Noncut Super 400's and 2 Selmers. I made Michael a cash offer for one of the D'A's but we were 3K apart after some haggling. He did admit that what I was offering was exactly what he would want to buy it for. I watched his EBay stuff and he got his price on that guitar from a buyer in Japan. Even after paying EBay fees and Paypal fees, he did come out much better than he would have if he sold it to me.

If it was meant to be, it would have happened. That was a cool experience. IIRC, Michael told me that he was beat out on a bunch of Chinery guitars by Hank Risan, a noted collector who at one time (or maybe he still does have it) had Johnny Smith's DA.

[steve burchfield]

Is his name Michael Indelicato?

[Stringswinger]

Is his name Michael Indelicato?

Yes

Apparently he wrote a book about the fortune he made selling guitars:

Sorry! Something went wrong!

[steve burchfield]

I used to work for him as a guitar buying agent for several years. He really knows his stuff. I read his book and enjoyed it. He is very skilled at finding great guitars. I learned a lot working for him. I think he owned the Record Plant in Sausalito at one time.

[teeps]

Wow! I am no collector and know relatively little about archtops a so I measure your experience by the reactions of others. It must be fascinating to pay a visit to this exclusive collectors world. Ignorant me thinking ... No ES175 ? Thanks for sharing. I hope that you will get an opportunity to try your favorites out again.