Obsession 4

Father and son.

On the left is my guitar, on the right is my father's. I don't know, this is one of the regrets I will have in my life. I wish I could have dome more with my dad. Would I have appreciated it growing up? I'm not sure. Dad worked second shift and came home at midnight. He earned a little extra cash and kept the family 100% debt free. But I never saw him except on the weekends. He experimented with playing flamenco guitar, but gave up once the kids were born. Too much interference from the peanut gallery. He went golfing instead. If he could have shared this with us? Water over the dam...

The instruments:

Gibson Les Paul Traditional Pro Made in America! This is the guitar other guitars aspire to be! Between coil-tapping on the pickups, and the switch, there are eight possible tones from this wonderful instrument! Gibson knows how to select wood, and how to put it together. She is full voiced, and will sing with you as you play. If you want warm and rich, she can do it, if you want bright and articulate, she can do that too! Foreign makers try to imitate her, but very few succeed.

Jose Ramierez 1961 Flamenco Made in Spain: A legal immigrant from Europe! Acoustic guitars need careful manufacture and specific woods to sound right. This wasn't the top of the Ramierez line of guitars, Flamenco was considered the "pop rock" of the '40's. Playing flamenco demanded a lot of abuse from the instrument in the form of hard strumming and tapping the top for percussion as well. Even worse, for correct tone, a soft spruce top was necessary that could not stand up to being tapped repeatedly. Most instruments of this type had a short lifespan. As such, Ramierez reserved the wood with the most beautiful and flawless grain patterns for their classical instruments. There might be a small knot or two to be found in this guitar, but the wood still resonates with each clear clean note!