Howard Herbert.

[Robert Herbert]

Hi. My name is Robert Herbert. I am the son of Howard Herbert, whom I’ve seen some older posts mentioning my father who was a guild dealer and helped design the Guild Starfire. I would like to try and talk with the people that posted a couple years ago about my father and his music store. Howard Herbert’s Music center, which was located in the 7000 block of Frankford ave in Mayfair Philadelphia and later moved to 8725 Frankford ave in Philadelphia. I also would like to hear from anyone who may have met or knew my Father or myself. I also taught at the music store at 8725 Frankford ave.

 

[chazmo]

Welcome aboard, Robert. LTG has lots of members from the Philly area so I'm sure you'll get some responses soon. Did your father work at Guild at some point?

Best wishes.

 

[Robert Herbert]

Hi, thanks for the welcome. My dad didn’t work for Guild but was a Guild dealer. He was friendly with the Guild salesman at the time, and he took him to the Guild factory where he spoke to someone higher up and started a rapport with him. This eventually led to my dad ordering a bunch of Starfires with the condition that some of them would be made with the De Armand pickups that he liked so much. I wish I could find a picture with him and his Green starfire. Many older posts mention a Philly music store with a bunch of Star fires on the wall, that was probably my dads Music store. Howard Herbert’s music center.

 

[The Guilds of Grot]

I believe it was @Default who might have posted about your Father's store.

 

[Default]

Yes, that was me. I took lessons at his later store, and bought my first two guitars there.

 

[SFIV1967]

Welcome to LTG! Here are some threads about the topic:

Howard Herbert

I was born and raised in Philly, got drafted into the army in 1966 then moved to Nashville in 1968. Been here ever since. I started playing guitar at age 9 in 1956 and my guitar teacher was Howard Herbert. He owned Herberts Music in Mayfair in North East Philly. I studied with him until I left...

letstalkguild.com

A "green" Starfire 3 with DeArmonds???

letstalkguild.com

Ralf

 

[ReevesRd]

Welcome to LTG.

 

[Robert Herbert]

Yes, that was me. I took lessons at his later store, and bought my first two guitars there.

I was teaching at the second store. Do you remember your reacher?

 

[walrus]

Welcome!

walrus

 

[lungimsam]

Were the lessons downstairs in rooms in the early 80’s?
Was there a black haired, moustschioed guy named Paul who taught guitar there? Would have been sometime 1980-1985

 

[Robert Herbert]

The only guitar teacher we had that fits that description would be Steve Hatton. And yes the lessons were downstairs, Steves studio was Directly across from Howard’s at the the end of the hall. I do remember he was very neat, his room was always in perfect order.

 

[lungimsam]

Trying to remember if it was your shop or not.
The upstairs was smallish and pretty crammed with guitars. I think there was a counter in the middle of the floor that appeared to not be in use. Downstairs had brown dark panelling.
Maybe I got the names wrong. But my teacher smoked outside while waiting for me to arrive. He was kind of grumpy but an excellent teacher and you could tell he was very happy when you came to your lesson well practiced.
Another guy who worked there was chatting with me after my lesson and asked how I liked it. When I told him I liked the jazz lessons but wanted to learn fingerpicking, he grabbed a guitar and started blazing off Classical Gas with a huge smile on his face.
Anyway, that's all the memories I have. Not sure if it was your place but I liked it there alot.

 

[Default]

Bill Watson was my teacher. I remember when I bought my much lamented, sold during unemployment, d25 and he picked it up to make sure it was in tune. He tuned it, strummed a cord and had this wonderful, peaceful, smile on his face. Apparently I was one of the few students that had a really good sounding guitar.

 

[Robert Herbert]

Trying to remember if it was your shop or not.
The upstairs was smallish and pretty crammed with guitars. I think there was a counter in the middle of the floor that appeared to not be in use. Downstairs had brown dark panelling.
Maybe I got the names wrong. But my teacher smoked outside while waiting for me to arrive. He was kind of grumpy but an excellent teacher and you could tell he was very happy when you came to your lesson well practiced.
Another guy who worked there was chatting with me after my lesson and asked how I liked it. When I told him I liked the jazz lessons but wanted to learn fingerpicking, he grabbed a guitar and started blazing off Classical Gas with a huge smile on his face.
Anyway, that's all the memories I have. Not sure if it was your place but I liked it there alot.

Hi. That does not sound like our store or studios. We had a pretty wide open upstairs and no counter in the middle, they were all around the sides. Either way it sounded like a pretty cool place to learn. Thanks for getting back to me. Stay well.

 

[Robert Herbert]

Bill Watson was my teacher. I remember when I bought my much lamented, sold during unemployment, d25 and he picked it up to make sure it was in tune. He tuned it, strummed a cord and had this wonderful, peaceful, smile on his face. Apparently I was one of the few students that had a really good sounding guitar.

I’m sure wish you had that guitar back. I also still regret having to sell my dads green starfire when things got tough. Bill was also my first teacher, great guy.

 

[Default]

Guitarwise, there wasn't that much stock at the time. I bought a Korean hummingbird knockoff that was extremely painful to play, and Mr Herbert ordered the D25. Other than that, I remember two red T-50s on the wall and his Country Club.

 

[Robert Herbert]

Guitarwise, there wasn't that much stock at the time. I bought a Korean hummingbird knockoff that was extremely painful to play, and Mr Herbert ordered the D25. Other than that, I remember two red T-50s on the wall and his Country Club.

I’m not sure if I asked you your name? And I’m guessing you took lessons at the store in pennypack. What years did you take lessons there? I started working there in 82, grunt jobs.

 

[Default]

Eash, somewhere around that time. Parents left town in '81, and I didn't start lessons until after they moved. I didn't take lessons long, because Bill gave up teaching after a few months.

 

[Rick De]

My father built the store at 8725 Frankford Ave for Howard and Howard gave me a Sax (I was going through a jazz phase) and I took lessons at the old store before they moved. I remember Howard was a real gentleman and recall he had a boat that he kept at the wildwood yacht basin ( I also went through the a sailor phase).

 

[chazmo]

^ Welcome to LTG, Rick De!