Dave Dobson doesn’t consider himself a collector.
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The Newnham-based guitar technician may have some interesting instruments in his workshop but he never set out to build a collection.
“What I’ve accumulated, I seem to hang on to,” Dobson said.
People are looking in garages, wardrobes and under the bed in the hope of finding a piece worthy of going on show at this month’s Vintage and Rare Guitar expo – the first of its kind to be held in Launceston.
Alongside Dobson’s own 1969 Marshall Amplifier and treasured 1974 Gibson Les Paul is a loaned 1965 Vox AC30.
Made famous by The Beatles, the amplifier typifies the look and sound of the British Invasion of the 1960s.
Dobson’s interest in music, and the electric guitar, stretches back to his childhood growing up in Northern Tasmania.
“I had an acoustic when I was a kid, then I got a Maton Flamingo, which I’ve still got,” Dobson said.
The circa 1964 hot pink Australian-made solid body guitar sits on a stand among some of his newer purchases.
“I actually sold [the Maton] and ended up getting it back. It was orange – I had a Leyland P76 car in orange and we took the guitar up to the panel beaters in Scottsdale and they painted it that Leyland colour,” Dobson said.
After setting up his repair business about 15 years ago, Dobson has managed to convert his love of music into a full-time profession, allowing him to see up-close some amazing instruments, and meet some excellent guitarists.
“I’ve repaired ‘64 Strats, a ‘64 Precision Bass and a lot of old Gretches,” he said.
“All guitars have a story, they’re all different and people are very passionate about guitars”
One of Dobson’s regular customers was Fergus Adkins, a local collector.
“I was collecting military firearms and after ‘96 when we had to hand them all in, I was looking for something to collect and friend suggested guitars and I started with my Marshall amps,” Adkins said
Adkins is a keen collector with an eye for detail, and boasts a collection of about 100 instruments.
“Some people don’t like a guitar that looks pristine, I do. If I want to buy something that’s older, I don’t want one that’s been beaten up, I know for some people they do, and I’m fine with that,” Adkins said.
With some instruments, such as his luxury Paul Reed Smith 2009 Private Stock guitar worth north of the $10,000 mark, Adkins is quick to point out his interest in the instrument didn’t start with the deluxe models.
“My first electric guitar was a second-hand one from a shop on Invermay Road called Chappys, and was the worst thing I’ve ever owned,” Adkins laughed, as he recalled his early days.
Before his ill-advised early foray into the secondhand market, Adkins learnt to play on an acoustic that his father bought locally from Barratts Music in the 1960s.
Now that the bug has bitten Adkins, he makes regular trips interstate to add to his collection.
“I like that you can have a vintage guitar from the 1960s or earlier, you can have what they call art guitars, like the Harley Davidson Fender Stratocaster, there’s just so many different things,” he said.
The pricetag is pretty high but it’s made from recycled timbers and the body wood is part of one of the old seats from the Hollywood Bowl.
- Collector Fergus Adkins
“I saw a photograph of one in Melbourne this week that I would love to have. The pricetag is pretty high but it’s made from recycled timbers and the body wood is part of one of the old seats from the Hollywood Bowl.”
Unlike BB King with his famous guitar Lucille, Dobson has never named any of his guitars and Adkins has done so only once.
“I named one, it’s called Lorna. The reason for that was I bought it from a shop in Sydney and it got lost on the way from Sydney to Tasmania,” he said.
“It went missing for three months, and a there was a woman who worked for Hunter Express in Melbourne called Lorna and she found it – it was a 1970s Tele.”
Dobson and Adkins have kicked about the idea of a guitar expo for years before Barratts Music came on board and helped get the event off the ground.
“For me it was just so people can see the stuff they don’t normally see, just an interest thing,” Dobson said.
“Personally it was something me and Fergus wanted to do, just for the hell of it really and it just creates a bit of interest around the town.”
As the cost of vintage instruments continue to rise, so does the breadth of the market that is considered collectible.
While Adkins insists on American-made models in mint condition stretching back to the 1970s, many musicians have their eyes set on quality Japanese pieces from as recently as the late 1990s.
With guitars, as in art and life, the saying that beauty is in the eye of the beholder rings true.
And as for the second most divisive popular music question behind, The Beatles or The Rolling Stones?
Which is more iconic, the Gibson Les Paul or Fender Stratocaster?
Dobson did his best to be diplomatic.
“A ‘59 Gibson Les Paul is the holy grail of guitars” Dobson said.
“But the Stratocaster. You wonder how Leo Fender could design something so perfect in basically those first two guitars.”
The Rare and Vintage Guitar Expo is on at the Hotel Grand Chancellor Launceston on October 14 from 10am to 5pm and October 15 from 10am to 4pm. Entry is free.