An American Treasure

For anyone that stumbles across this page that has a fetish for guitars, more specifically a passion for arch top guitars as I do, I want to spend some time here talking about a man I met in the late 90's when i was working in NYC. Spending my days in mid-town, five days a week, I was, like so many others, drawn to 48th st. during my spare time. This, the mecca in New York for musical instruments, houses some of the most spectacular music stores found anywhere on earth. The treasures available, if you have some dollars to leave behind, will make your head spin. Some of these shops are huge and can cater to every need of your band or orchestra if you have one. Whether you are in need of new or vintage equipment, if you can't find it here then you might as well be home trying to build it yourself.
In a somewhat lesser known, no glam or glitter shop on the north side of the street, called "Alex Guitars", there can be found a true gentleman and icon of the American guitar. His name is Carlo Greco. There is no end to the amount of talented luthiers building guitars in this country today. Carlo however, is royalty among the lot. Having been the general foreman of Guild Guitars from 1959 to 1977, and one of it's founders, this is a guy who has forgotten more about building guitars than most will ever learn. I have had an affinity for Guilds for nearly twenty years and have owned a number of them. I have always considered this company to be the most underrated of all American guitar companies. Years ago while living in Stonington Ct., I met another guy who worked along side Carlo for many years. His name is Gil Diaz. Gil stayed on with the Guild company when they moved to Westerly RI. in the late seventies. Though retired when I met him, he and his son Carlos ran a small music store in Westerly. I was fortunate enough one day, to be standing in the store when a guy named Hans Moust walked in. Hans, working his way up the east coast on a trip from his native Holland, was in the states on a hell bent search for Guild guitars. He is possibly the most knowledgeable guy in the world on the subject having published the "Guild Guitar Book" in 1995. This is the most comprehensive history of the company, it's people and instruments ever compiled. I have mixed emotions about that day. On one hand I was thrilled to meet the man behind such exhaustive research. He was another true gentleman, as have been, everyone I've met connected to the Guild name. I was sorely out of money at the time and in possession of one of the finest guitars I've owned in my life. This was a Guild "Nightbird". A semi-hollow body electric , with a gorgeous spruce top, gold hardware and active EMG pickups. I'm fairly sure this guitar is no longer in production but I could be wrong. Hans had started his trek in Nashville and was nearing the end when he walked into the shop on that fateful day. We got to talking and wouldn't you know it, the one guitar he'd failed to find in his search was the Nightbird. I had really not intended to sell it but I liked the guy so much, needed the cash and realized it would never have a better home than with Hans. I agreed to sell it. For his part he said I'd see it one day again pictured in the next Guild book. The first book had covered the company from it's inception in 1952, to it's move in 77'. He had plans for another book that covered the years since. Another odd thing about that day was that I agreed to sell this beauty to a guy who was out of money at the time. He'd already spent his wad on a pile of instruments he'd purchased on this trip. I went home, picked up the guitar and brought it to him anyway. He promised a check when he landed back in Holland. He made good on his promise. To this day I miss that guitar more than any other I've owned for some reason. I think it's not only because it was such a fine instrument but because it was a financially forced sale. Hans however did not get out of the country before signing my copy of his great book, to this day a treasured part of my collection. I have yet to see the second edition come out but perhaps it has. I will search that out when I finish here...

Skip ahead to the day I walked into Alex Guitars with an old Kay arch top I'd recently purchased . A huge blond thing that had apparently been sitting in an attic or barn for many years. It was filthy with some sort of mold, it needed a neck reset and the usual fret work, but seemed pretty sound. No cracks, no warped anything. It was the perfect time to find the man himself. I'd had a good idea of who I was going to meet but i was not ready for the most unassuming, humble guy standing before me. He looked over the guitar and wrote out a claim tag for me. "Two weeks" he said. Though my memory is less than stellar these days, I seem to recall the same time frame for every instrument I've dropped off since. He was never late with any.
I remember nearly falling on the floor the second I walked into that shop, as I gazed into a little glass case just inside the door. Sitting in there was an arch top built by the master himself. He told me that it had been commissioned by someone who'd backed out on the deal, after he'd built it. I cannot imagine the reason but it had nothing to do with the quality of the work. The price at the time I think was around nine thousand dollars. Worth every penny. Unfortunately I've never had nine grand to blow on anything. The last time I saw the guitar it was still there but the price had at least doubled. There are few luthiers who can demand such prices for their work. Carlo is at the top of that list. You have D'Angelico and D'Aquisto, Stromberg and a host of other greats. All dead as well. Along with a few other living masters such as Dale Unger, stands Carlo Greco.

The list of famous and not so famous players he has built for is quite staggering. From Tommy Smothers to Mark Knopfler. I need not go into that here.

I guess the point I'm trying to make is that still walking and working among us is a national treasure in the form of this man. To a gun collector I would assume that meeting Sam Colt could register the same sort of awe and respect I have for Carlo.

I will say here that if you were to look up "hack" in the dictionary, my picture would appear. I am most certainly not the sort of player that deserves to even own an axe built by such a legend. He has however, over the years set up and repaired a number of guitars for me including everything from a strat, to a 1961 D-40 that I still have.

All I have tried to do here is perhaps raise some awareness for those who might find themselves in New York, in need of a good luthier and intrigued enough to go meet this guy and maybe put your guitar in his able hands for "two weeks". He's told me some great stories of the old days, he was with Gretsch before moving to Guild. He told me of Alfred Dronge, the owner of Guild, offering him the world if only he would move to Rhode Island with the company. Carlo declined because he could not bear the thought of moving away from his extended family.
I believe, and tell me if I'm wrong, that he was behind the first celebrity to endorse a guitar. That guy was Chet Atkins and the guitar was the Tennessean, also designed by Chet. In a city where you would be hard pressed to walk out of a door in mid-town, throw a rock and not hit a guitar player, there are so very few old school guys left of this caliber, anywhere. Do yourself a favor, stop in to pay your respects to a master, one hell of a nice guy, and a chance to marvel at his work.