I'm going to see Richie Havens tonight...

[jsped]

... at a small local concert. I figure that all of you Guild Acoustic lovers might appreciate it. I wonder how many guilds he has gone thorough over the years.

 

[taabru45]

You're lucky. I have only seen him twice, not nearly enough.......brilliant man and musician. First saw him way back in my first folk festival, Mariposa, in the 60s, then in Montreal around '69.......he has always been a favorite of mine, and for a while was trying to master, or have some of his percussive style rub off on me......well that would have been nice :lol: I'd recommend anyone here go see him if you have the chance..he is a fabulous performer...Steffan

 

[12 string]

If you search around the intertubes you can find an interview in which he says he was going through about two guitars per year, and he says something about believing that the Guild company wasn't too happy with him. I guess that the fact that there is a signature model would mean they worked it out.

Enjoy the show. I've always liked his concerts much more than his recordings, except for "Mixed Bag", which is one of my all-time favorite albums.

' Strang

 

[Appalachian Blues]

Jsped, Hans Moust wrote The Guild Guitar Book, copyright 1995. It chronicles the first 25 years ('52-'77) of Guild history. Richie Havens contributed a foreward and wrote in one paragraph that he had gone through 22 guitars, wearing holes in the tops from his percussive playing.
You gotta get your hands on this great book. Hans put his heart and soul in it.

 

[taabru45]

Maybe they'll come out with a RH model with a carbon fiber top. :lol: :lol: Steffan

 

[jsped]

Just got home. Awesome concert! When he played Freedom/Motherless Child, I felt like I was at Woodstock. In addition to his own stuff, he played some Dylan, Beatles and Who. It was an outdoor concert and I was closest to him, about 25 feet away in front.

His Guild sounded really good. I checked it out after the concert; it was build in the Tacoma factory. He sure plays it hard, with a pounding rhythm.

He told one story from the '60s, where he heard a wonderful song and asked the person performing it to write it down for him. He said that it took a week to learn (rather than the usual day or two). He said that every verse was like its own story. He played it at a club after learning it and gave credit to the guy that wrote it down. When leaving the stage, another guy said that it was the best version of the song that he had heard. He thanked the guy and kept walking. Before exiting, Dave Von Ronk pulled him aside and said, "do you know who that guy is?" Richie asked who, Dave said that it was the guy that wrote the song that he had just performed. The song "All Along the Watchtower". The guy was Bob Dylan.

Anyway, I'm really tired. Off to bed.....

 

[gmcdeadhead]

i seen richie about 10 years ago , heard that story from him back then to.

 

[SmithfieldFair]

I just saw him in February here in Baton Rouge. Great concert - over too soon. Just Richie and Walter Parks. First rate, but the man is rough on guitars. He's the reason I play in Vestapol tuning exclusively (even though when we shook hands his swallowed mine and I felt elven) and one of the main reasons I only play Guilds. Love the sound, the tonality and the projection. Cheers! dbs