The Maple Street Post
Greetings from Maple Street Guitars,
Time sure has flown by! Spring and summer passed within the blink of an eye, and fall is upon us—before you know it the holiday season will be here. The shop has been bustling over the past several months, and we wanted to keep you informed about some of the exciting events and happenings around the store. We have included lots of video links and photos to make it easy for you to see some of the highlights from these events. In this edition, there is also a really amazing "Beatles Guitar" featured and some other news from around the shop.
Shaun Hopper and The Martin Experience
On the evening of April 13th, 2013, Maple Street Guitars welcomed The Martin Experience featuring guitarist Shaun Hopper. If you haven't had the pleasure of hearing Shaun perform, please do yourself a favor and check this guy out. Born and raised in Adel, Georgia, Shaun is the consummate performer and a really nice guy to boot. He is a phenomenal acoustic fingerstyle guitarist, who combines harmony, bass, melody, and percussive elements into a delightful rhapsody of sound. Shaun has been touring relentlessly for a number of years and recently became an endorser of Martin Guitars.
The evening was especially superb for the staff of Maple Street Guitars because Shaun, before catapulting himself into the upper echelon of acoustic fingerstyle players in the U.S., often used to stop in the store—hanging out, talking shop, and playing some guitars. In the years we have known Shaun, we have watched his talents bloom, and for us, it is even more gratifying to see the career advance of player who is so humble and kind.
Martin brought out some great instruments for the evening. They featured a variety of models and various body styles. Shaun continually dazzled the audience with his performance and demonstration of the guitars. Throughout the evening, he played everything from Stevie Wonder, to the "Mario Brothers theme", to Irish jigs, and more. He even stuck around after the event ended to give an additional performance of some of his favorite material. This performance allowed Shaun a little bit more freedom to let loose on his own equipment, without having to switch through the variety of Martin Guitars that he was demonstrating. In the performance afterwards, the lights came down in the shop, and Shaun cranked up his system and gave us a stunning half hour of music. The evening closed out with an excellent rendition of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody. He had the whole audience singing, including several members of the MSG Staff. Shaun is definitely someone who gives back to his fans, and we got the sense that he would have played for us all night if time allowed.
Shaun Hopper Martin Experience
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For more photos of the event, please click the picture below to link to an album of photos from the event.
Eastman Guitars Factory Event
On the evening of May 29th, 2013, we had the pleasure of having Eastman Guitars Factory sales rep Mark Herring in the store. Mark is a really fun guy to be around and one of our favorite factory reps around the shop. We were all excited when we heard he would be joining us. It was really refreshing to hear Mark's presentation on the history of the Eastman company. Around Maple Street, we are all so impressed by the craftsmanship of Eastman guitars that it was exciting to be able to hear about the company's history. Mark took a lot of time to discuss many of the instruments available in the Eastman line, and we had some excellent demos of many of the instruments, including some nice demos from various members of the MSG staff! The highlight for many attendees for the evening was the giveaway of a free Eastman AC120. Lucky MSG customer Walt Richard won the guitar! The following video link below highlights the section of the evening when Mark discusses the company history of Eastman guitars.
Maple Street Guitars Eastman Factory Event- "History of Eastman" excerpt
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*For more photos of the event, please click the picture below to link to an album of photos from the event.
Meet The Beatles...Guitar
Well folks, after many years in the guitar business, I must say that it is a rare guitar that truly ‘wows’ me, particularly from the standpoint of aesthetics. As many of our customers know, I always prioritize a guitar’s sound and feel over its looks, as I am principally interested in its performance as an instrument. However, I am also fond of referring to guitars as “functional art,” given that they are the product of great craftsmanship and their ability to inspire us through the beautiful tones they create. That all said, to encounter a tasteful marriage of functional art and visual art is exceedingly rare, and yet a few months ago just such a guitar came into our store! It raised our eyebrows, it lifted our spirits, and we knew instantly that it was definitely something that all of our friends and fellow guitar fans would appreciate.
The “Beatles Guitar,” as it came to be known in our shop, is owned by our customer, Eric Tunison, a life-long recreational guitarist and owner of Groove Tunes Studios in Alpharetta, GA. Eric commissioned the Beatles Guitar for the sole purpose of exhibiting the extraordinary pyrography of Kimmy Bess (http://kimmybessart.weebly.com/index.html). For the most part, Kimmy’s pyrography has been exhibited on guitars of humble origins (i.e., Asian imports), but Eric felt her art deserved to be presented on a distinctive guitar—a piece of functional art—where both the tone and natural appearance of the instrument would compliment the visual art. Unfortunately for Eric, coordinating this project turned out to be an arduous endeavor indeed! For Ms. Bess to do her work, she requested that the guitar body be sent to her unfinished. However, after contacting most of the major guitar companies, it was clear that none were willing to provide Eric with a partially completed guitar. (I suppose any reluctance on the part of the major companies is understandable, given their need to maintain the consistency of their brand.) Even so, Eric was determined to obtain a guitar for the project that would be an appropriate tribute to the Beatles, his favorite band.
Eric was ultimately able to find a builder willing to coordinate with Kimmy Bess by sending the guitar body to her in mid-production. After the artwork was complete, the guitar body was returned to the builder, who then finished the instrument in such a way as to highlight the pyrography—nothing flashy, just beautiful wood and striking imagery. Simply put, the result is stunning! Eric’s new guitar features: a European spruce top, lava-like quilted Sapele back and sides complimented by a beautiful dark edgeburst, an abalone rosette, Brazilian rosewood binding (including the soundhole) and headstock veneer, a Madagascar rosewood fingerboard, and a Honduran mahogany neck with a carve based on Eric’s ’63 Stratocaster. Eric brought his “Beatles Guitar” by our repair shop to have some elements of the playability refined by our resident repairman and luthier, Jeff Henry, a fellow Beatles geek (there are many among us!). After all was said and done, the Beatles Guitar was playing great and ready to channel the Fab Four for many years to come. Thank you Eric for bringing us such a wonderful conversation piece!
-Lindsay Petsch
For more photos of this exceptional guitar, please click the picture above to link to an album of photos of the guitar.
Keith Hicks visits the Collings Guitars factory
Keith, from the shop, recently went on a road trip through Texas, and while he was in Austin stopped in the Collings factory. All of us around the shop are enamored with Collings consistency in quality and unparalleled voice, so it was exciting to have one of our own team members get to see where all of the magic happens. Keith spent an afternoon around the factory and witnessed the process from beginning to end. Collings runs a one-of-a-kind operation, and their staff was extremely welcoming, accommodating, and informative. Keith was fortunate to have Collings employee Greg White as his guide around the factory. Greg is quite knowledgeable and affable, so it was terrific to have him give the tour. Keith was impressed by the large wood stockpiles and complex machinery—side bending machines, CNC Routers, and a Plek machine—and awed by the skilled craftsmen utilizing such meticulous and precise building techniques. It really was quite an incredible journey to see the instruments begin as raw pieces of wood and result in such beautiful masterpieces. Collings has an exceptional factory that really goes the extra mile to ensure that all their guitars meet the highest of standards.
*Be sure to click the picture below to link to the pics that Keith took at the factory.
Social Networking Effort
In an effort to keep you updated on news around the shop, Maple Street Guitars is on Facebook and Twitter. We try to keep you updated daily with new inventory, interesting articles, and exciting news—such as guitar events in the community. Please click the link at the bottom of the page and like us on Facebook and Twitter, if you haven't already!
We have also been working to keep you informed on new products by filming product demo videos. You can click the YouTube link below and subscribe to our YouTube channel.
Featured Teacher Sam McPherson
The Telecaster and Fingerpicking Techniques
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Please be sure to join us in the store for future factory events, if you can make it! There is a lot of valuable information exchanged at these events that many will find beneficial. You can not only learn a lot about the way certain manufacturers build guitars, but you can also expand your general guitar knowledge, regarding various body styles, building techniques, bracing patterns, and more. As an added bonus, you can often win cool stuff—t-shirts, picks, hats, strings, guitars (on occasion).
In addition, we are working to make this a superb holiday season, so please check out some of our exciting new inventory and groovy new accessories. Please give us a call, e-mail, or stop in the store for any of your guitar or fretted instruments needs.
Your Friends at Maple Street Guitars
