Play It Loud at the MET

[pauloqs]

Anyone visited the Play It Loud exhibition at the MET? I’ve had the opportunity to go and it’s absolutely amazing. My favorite was being able to see Jimmy Page’s #1 Les Paul in person. It was also the first real burst I’ve seen in person  Here are some pictures:

[uncle fester]

Pretty cool - would like to be able to plug it in and put it through it's paces.

[Filbert]

Yeah, nice but a shame to see it stuck behind plexiglass. Get it played!

 

Edit: By that what I mean is, lots of museums "own" Stradivarius violins but they loan them out to top virtuoso's to play and demonstrate to the general public. I think the same should happen to vintage guitars.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Filbert

[jdgm]

Yes I'd like a go on that.

And although I may not be a top virtuoso....🎸.........but hasn't it just been loaned to the exhibition by Jim? 

[Brytam]

Pretty cool to see Stevie Ray Vaughan's Strat in the background of one of your pics... Would love to see that exhibit!

[pippy]

58 minutes ago, Brytam said:

Pretty cool to see Stevie Ray Vaughan's Strat in the background of one of your pics... Would love to see that exhibit!

 

In that same picture the other guitar is the ex-Jerry Garcia owned 1979 Doug Irwin crafted 'Tiger' which AFAIK is still owned by Jim Irsay. I had never knowingly heard of Jim Irsay - who I believe owns the Indianapolis Colts(?) - until around four months ago when he was the winning bidder on David Gilmour's legendary 'Black Strat'. I had, as it happens, read quite a bit about his collection previously but didn't put the numbers together until I was re-reading a rather sumptuously printed & bound coffee-table book called 'The Collections' (published by Guitar Afficionado Magazine) and there he is with (amongst other droolworthy instrumentss) the ex J.-G. 'Tiger', an ex-George Harrison Gibson SG; an ex-Elvis Presley Martin D-18........well, I'm sure you get the idea.

Apparently, though, he is not just some wealthy git who makes a habit of collecting important guitars of the extremely famous; he's absolutely passionate about everything to do with these things as well as being, seemingly, a very competent player himself and who can count several world-famous guitarists - Steven Stills for example - as jamming buddies and good friends. He seems to be an all-round good bloke who appreciates that he is just the temporary custodian of these important instruments so good luck to him.

Not that it matters but he paid $957,000 for 'Tiger' in 2002. In June of this year the 'Black Strat', as we know, cost him quite a bit more(*)

Pip.

* $3,975,000 (including buyer's premium).

Edited October 5, 2019 by pippy

[pauloqs]

On 10/4/2019 at 1:46 PM, Filbert said:

Yeah, nice but a shame to see it stuck behind plexiglass. Get it played!

 

Edit: By that what I mean is, lots of museums "own" Stradivarius violins but they loan them out to top virtuoso's to play and demonstrate to the general public. I think the same should happen to vintage guitars.

It is listed as still being part of Jimmy Page’s collection. However, it’s my understanding that this exhibition is moving to Ohio as we speak to be permanently at the Rock n Roll Hall of Fame. The ones that gave me a sad feeling were the pieces of Pete Townshend’s SG and a small chunk of Jimmy Hendrix Strat. The other one for quite the opposite reason, was Bob Dylan’s 1964 Strat. That thing is pristine, not a single scratch. Only a crack on scratchplate near a screw, that’s it. That guitar looks like it got very little playing time and 0 playing when it switched hands to a collector. The other instruments in the exhibit looked like they were properly played in abundance. 
 

Yes that is SRV’s Strat and Tiger in the back. Wolf was also in this exhibit. There were so many, dare I say it, iconic instruments. Chuck Berry’s  ES-350, Clapton’s Blakie, EVH’s Frankenstein, Clapton’s The Fool, Page’s Dragon (Telecaster), Clapton’s 000-42 used in the MTV unplugged, among others. It was a pretty amazing experience. 

[pippy]

4 hours ago, pauloqs said:

The other one for quite the opposite reason, was Bob Dylan’s 1964 Strat. That thing is pristine, not a single scratch. Only a crack on scratchplate near a screw, that’s it. That guitar looks like it got very little playing time and 0 playing when it switched hands to a collector.

 

I could very well be mistaken, pauloqs, but if it's the one I'm thinking about the story behind that guitar is quite odd - and explains why it is in almost new condition. I'm a bit vague about the details but this is sort-of what I remember;

Dylan had it (when it was new) and, after one particular gig somehow it was left behind in a 'plane. The record company didn't respond to the calls from the aircraft owners(was the bill unpayed?) so the pilot / pilot's company kept the guitar as 'payment in kind'. It was forgotten about and remained (unplayed) with the pilot(?) until someone, somehow, put the pieces of the jigsaw together and, after it was verified as being bona-fide, was sold at auction just a year or two ago.

I'll try to find out more later on...

Pip.

EDIT : Here' a link to the one I'm thinking about - and the 'particular gig' (which, embarassingly, I had totally forgotten) was the famous 'Dylan Goes Electric!' Newport folk festival.........;

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/experts-bob-dylans-long-lost-newport-folk-festival-electric-guitar-found-in-new-jersey-243268/

Edited October 6, 2019 by pippy

[uncle fester]

5 hours ago, pauloqs said:

Yes that is SRV’s Strat and Tiger in the back. Wolf was also in this exhibit. There were so many, dare I say it, iconic instruments. Chuck Berry’s  ES-350, Clapton’s Blakie, EVH’s Frankenstein, Clapton’s The Fool, Page’s Dragon (Telecaster), Clapton’s 000-42 used in the MTV unplugged, among others. It was a pretty amazing experience. 

Just very cool.  I may have seen Jerry Garcia playing tiger back in the late '80s, not sure if he had it then.  Really cool to just be able to see them, anyone ever see any of these guitars played live?

[merciful-evans]

6 minutes ago, billroy said:

Just very cool.  I may have seen Jerry Garcia playing tiger back in the late '80s, not sure if he had it then.  Really cool to just be able to see them, anyone ever see any of these guitars played live?

 

He did have it according to wiki, which further states it was his main guitar between 79 - 89. 

In which case, I've probably seen it a few times also.

[pauloqs]

5 hours ago, pippy said:

 

I could very well be mistaken, pauloqs, but if it's the one I'm thinking about the story behind that guitar is quite odd - and explains why it is in almost new condition. I'm a bit vague about the details but this is sort-of what I remember;

Dylan had it (when it was new) and, after one particular gig somehow it was left behind in a 'plane. The record company didn't respond to the calls from the aircraft owners(was the bill unpayed?) so the pilot / pilot's company kept the guitar as 'payment in kind'. It was forgotten about and remained (unplayed) with the pilot(?) until someone, somehow, put the pieces of the jigsaw together and, after it was verified as being bona-fide, was sold at auction just a year or two ago.

I'll try to find out more later on...

Pip.

EDIT : Here' a link to the one I'm thinking about - and the 'particular gig' (which, embarassingly, I had totally forgotten) was the famous 'Dylan Goes Electric!' Newport folk festival.........;

https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/experts-bob-dylans-long-lost-newport-folk-festival-electric-guitar-found-in-new-jersey-243268/

That’s an amazing story. Thank you for point it it out. The MET lists the guitar as the one used to debute his electric band at the Newport Folk Festival in July 25, 1965. The folk purists didn’t appreciate the move to electric. It appears to currently belong to Jim Irsay, which I just noticed is the same guy you mentioned owned Tiger.