Skip Henderson is probably the first person I know who really saw the vintage parts vintage as a real business. He had the vision to see that the vintage guitar market was going in the direction of the collector rather than the player and the all collectors look for all original instruments. I guess that would be around 1984 or so Skip opened City Lights music.

This store was more like a shrine to the musical mojo of everything vintage and cool. You could find vintage guitar parts , vintage cigarette lighters , vintage magazines, memorabilia, blues records  and items that had nothing to do with vintage guitar parts yet fit right in . City Lights Music was the mojo. The store had a mystique  about it being there were no real hours .City Lights  could open 1 in the after noon or 11 at night and could stay open 30 minutes or 8 hours. What a thrill it was to call and here skip say come on down I am open.

For those of you who were never lucky enough to vist the store there is really no way to really describe it. The store sucked you in to a cool space that the outside world could not penetrate . The conversations and business deals are legendary. It was not uncommon to be there when the likes of Billy Gibbons , Randy Bachman , Lenny Kravites , Marshall Crenshaw , Semi Mosley , les leva , G.E. Smith Cesar Diaz, Brian Setzer, and the lsit goes on would just call skip and chat about the latest whatever.

I will never forget one of my first days when I was standing there and Billy Gibbons called and the conversation ranged from black guard tele parts, to restoring vintage cars and a mojo bag he was send up to skip on loan and skip was sending him some blues item that was uncovered down in Memphis were Gibbons was living ata the time. I though I was in the twight zone! and died and went to heaven.

The parts king had set the bar high for any to follow. Many have tried including myself to replicate city light in the past but to no availe. The fact that not only you could come in and get the best vintage guitar parts and the coolest stuff you have ever seen but you got to talk to a guy who actually loved music, loved guitars and loved people who loved the above.

The fact that many were blessed to have seen and been a part City Light Music is a true wonder  in this world . Skip gave us that space and the chance to look , learn and expose ourselves to real comradery in the vintage guitar business which today has lone gone and been replaced with high price tags , egos and and ebay experts. sometimes it truly feels like the end of the world and that I am embarrassed to be apart of what this business has become. Maybe Skip knew something we did not and that is why he quietly left this business to start many charitable and foundations . Maybe He saw the ugliness  that was to become thsi business and his time was better spent elsewhere.

The problem is I still need that city lights news letter in my mailbox every month to pull me through the bad times. and get excited over. I need that place to go were the true lovers and believers of this business can go . I need to keep the Vision City Lights Music alive forever in my mind and with others so I will never forget and the world will never forget that guitar are just guitars , music is a spiritual thing people are people and the business I know today is the bastard child of the greed and not what it started out to be.

Thank you Skip for the education the guidance and insight to remain sure footed in the mess we now call the vintageguitar market.  In the mean time I Will pray and still keep looking for that City Lights Music Flyer in my mailbox for it will be the sign of the times and the sign of better things to come . God Bless Skip Henderson for the joy he has given all of us

Jim Pasch

THE PARTS DRAWER

QUESTION

I have a 1959 Gibson Es-335 Dot neck guitar. The guitar is all original I had a dealer tell me at a guitar show that the tuners were period correct but not correct for this instrument. I took them off they are single line single ring Kluson tuners with the correct d-6400 pat number on bottom. The lunatic said the oil hole was small and al l  1959 guitars  had a large oil hole. Honestly I looked at him and wanted to whack him and said are you kidding me ( i used a few golden words I Will not repeat) I am the original owner and told him to get a life. I went home and now this has been bothering new for months what is the real story of this oil hole

REPLY

Give me a break you have an all original 59 Gibson ES-335 and he is complaining about an oil hole . You are a more patient man than me my friend but I will tell you  what I have found to be true after 30 years of studying these guitars.

For the the beginner the kluson tuner changed in 1959 from having the pat applied for stamped on bottom to now carrying the pat number D-6400. around this time the tiny little hole on back of case tuners know as the oil hole got slightly bigger. most would not even notice but it did. and since the price of guitar has gone up so much people have become anal on all these facts. I would like to make a few things clear that I have found and found over and over again over my years in the business.

Yes the oil hole changed officially in 1959. but I have seen large hole tuners on late 1958 guitars and have seen small hole in 1959. Lets get real here. nobody through anything out just as Fender and Gibson did there was a slight overlap . There is nobody I know who is worth his word who can tell you ALL 1958 has small oil holes and All 1959 had large . People have taken this insanity too far,

Buying a 1959 guitar with a small oil hole tuner would never stop me from buying it or for selling one for a penny less than a large oil hole guitar. If the tuners are original they are original period there are other ways to tell but I Will not go into it in this article. So your guitar is correct I ma sure you can tell him I said so and if you want you can bring guitar and I will verify it in writing for you.

What the hell ever happened to playing guitars. Does Anyone play them anymore,. I am a vintage guitar dealer and a vintage guitar parts dealer but people who argue over the size of an oil hole make me want to just pack up my bags and run . This business is a great business guitar  are one  of our few last enjoyments in life DONT LET AN OIL HOLE RUIN YOU FUN !! If you have any further questions please  e mail me   at THE PARTS DRAWER and I will be glad to answer any further questions . please enjoy your guitar !!!!

By the way any vintage dealer who thinks I am wrong please sell me your small hole 1959 at a discount please !!!

JIm Pasch

In these hard economic times anything helps . I just thought I would share a story that happened yesterday to us.  guy walks in our store and wants to sell us a guitar . It was a vintage danelectro and a Gibson sg from the 1960′s. While we were cutting him a check for the guitar he heard me talking to a guy on the telephone about vintage guitar parts and how we buy guitar in any state of condition and how we also buy and sell parts .

This got home thinking we bought guitars for $3000 and before he left he dais by the way i have a bunch of loose parts in the basement would you be interested and of course we said sure. 2 hours laster he comes back and I thought it was Christmas early. It seems like this guy tinkered with everything like most did in the 1960′s and early 1970′s when he opened up the box there were pre t top pickups , t top pickups abr-1 bridges kluson tuners and a slue of other parts.

Well i went crazy as usual and bought everything we bought $5800 of parts from him. That’s  amazing when you think about it that the parts were worth more than the guitar he brought in and he had actually last year thought about throwing them out !  needless to say he left here happier than me and that was a super day for us.

The moral of this story and to all out there what you think is junk is probably worth cash. you may not have a box full of stuff but simple things like pickups , bridges , tuners and bridge covers bring big money today. I know that there is still tons of parts out there in case pockets. drawers or boxes and that is all found money in this bad economy. Another interesting point is it is much better to sell the parts and keep the guitars. at least you can play the guitars.

These times are the baddest we have seen and every little bit helps be it $100 or $5000 . So look in those old cases and drawers and I will be willing to bet you have money sitting there you did not even know you had. If you have any questions on what a part might be worth just e mail me at THE PARTS DRAWER and send a few picks and i Will gladly tell you the market value for free.

Jim Pasch