Candleblog

I don’t talk much about it on this blog, but I’ve played guitar since I was about 16 or so. I started playing to impress a girl and when that didn’t work out, I delved into the instrument anyway. I’ve always been mostly a solo player (I’ve never been in a band) and it’s only ever been a hobby for me. Sure, I fantasized about being a rock star like every other kid, but I was always conscious that it was just a fantasy for me and never something I actively pursued, despite my long hours spent with the instrument.

I’m writing this post because I think I’m one of the luckiest guitar players in the world.

I’ve played a lot of guitars in my life. I’ve probably owned 15 of them over the years (of varying brands and types) and if you count guitars I’ve played in music stores and ones that belong to friends, I’ve played hundreds of the things. About 10 years ago I picked up an electric guitar that was the finest electric guitar I’d ever played. It was a Time guitar, manufactured in a small factory in South Burlington, Vermont sometime in the 80s. (Time made overly engineered and under-priced guitars and basses and were only in business for a short while — Phish played them early on and one of the luthiers at Time — Paul Languedoc — became Phish’s sound man and custom guitar builder.) I bought it. It cost me $525 used. I still own it and it is still the nicest electric (in terms of tone and playability) that I’ve ever plugged into an amp.

Owning the nicest electric guitar I’ve ever played makes me one darn lucky guitar owner. Not many players can say that. Well, as of a couple of weeks ago, I now own the nicest acoustic guitar I’ve ever played.

My brother Rob lives in Naples, Florida with a luthier named Donny Heyser (he used to have a web site but I can’t find it now). Donny makes crazy-beautiful guitars and for years, whenever I would visit Rob, I would inevitably wind up spending hours playing this one particular acoustic. I absolutely loved it. After a while, Donny and Rob just started calling it “Bill’s guitar.”

I have owned Taylors, Martins, Washburns, Ovations, Guilds… and I’ve played hundreds of acoustic guitars. I have never loved one as much as this. It’s tone is bright and balanced, it’s action is smooth, light and buttery (almost like an electric) and it is a gorgeous piece of woodwork.

This Christmas, Rob purchased the guitar for me. I now literally own the two best guitars I’ve ever played. I’ll never be a rock star (or a famous finger-style acoustic instrumentalist/folk singer), but few actual working musicians can make that claim.

Pictures are below. The top photo is of the three guitars hanging on my office wall. The Time is on the right, the Heyser custom is in the middle. The Batman guitar on the left was another gift from Rob — an electric he built for me in Donny’s shop. Below are detail shots of the Heyser…