Hi,

 

I am a long time customer of Dan's.

 

It really did not occur to me that he was also a friend till I heard of his passing, and found myself wishing I could go walk around the store, and talk guitars with him again, and really missing him. This really hit me hard. 3rd friend in 3 Christmas seasons.

Was plannig to buy a toy for myslef for the holidays, going to wait a while now, seems somehow disrespectful to just go buy another guitar from some stranger.

In fact I stopped there on the 22nd, saw the closed due to illness sign. Wish I had made it by there the week before, not just for the toy, but that was apparently the last chance to talk to an old friend.

 

The room filled with guitars / amps I have acquired from him through the years is a bit painful to be in at the moment also. I'll get over that, but I now find myself remebering a lot of little things when I look at them, there is a bit too much of the past in the air in there.

 

I have been searching the net just wanting to let someone who knew him know that he was not just a business owner in town, but a friend to those who knew him. I am puzzled that I can't even find an obituary in the local papers web sites.

 

I have read with some annoyance of him being hard to deal with, I never found him that way, even when returning something. I heard stuff like that about him before, but now it is particularly iirritating.

He was not always happy at the store, but who is at work? Particularly with the stresses of running a business, and dealing with customers who think you should give them things, and who can't seem to understand that you have to have a roof over your head at the end of the day, just like they do, and they don't work for free or give things away either.

 

I recall being young, and stupid at the first store on 1st Capitol, and him taking time with the dumb kid making minimum wage looking at used guitars.

 

I recall asking about the 57 Flying Vee and him just laughing and telling me I could not afford it.

Not mean, a bit blunt perhaps, and it never really offended me, because it was absolutely true.

 

He was a bit more tense at the big store, in fact I just didn't like the place for several years.

I thought some of the kids working in the store were a bit snotty, and I never really got to talk to Dan much during that time, it was just another big music store to me.  A couple of years down the road, I simply learned that if Dan wasn't there, I would just leave, and come back when he was.

 

I thought he was a lot happier at Empire Guitars. The good guy who loved the guitars and had the cool store from the old days again.

 

The last time I was in the store, he gave me a set of strings.

I did spend a lot of money there at times, but I can not recall him acting any different when I didn't spend a penny.

 

Once when buying a guitar, he laughed and said  "You don't have to buy a guitar every time you are here".

I also recall asking him how he could sell me some of the things he had, as cheap as he did. ( I tend to buy good instruments, so they were cheap prices in terms of what they were, not cheap, but great deals on great guitars ).

He remarked that he believed that what you did in this life comes back around to you.

 

When he closed the big store, I had a 1967 J45 in there for repair, I got worried that it was just gone,

and he could have easily just kept it, but he sent it back through the pawn shop by the new store and I still feel bad for doubting him..

 

I decided to try my hand at building guitars last year, started with a Ukulele. I took it in to let him see it last spring when it was done, he seemed like he got a kick out of it, and made me feel like I had built some exotic high dollar instrument, not just a Stew Mac kit.

 

I bought a rather expensive National resonator from him, he let me take it home, owing him 500.00.

I always used cash, and did not have enough on me to pay for it, he trusted me, and told me to pay him the balance when I could get back there.

He apparently trusted me, and that says a lot these days.

 

Maybe he was wrong, and life does not pay you back. I can't say.

 

I will always consider him to have been a friend, and will think of him often when I am around the wonderful guitars I have.

If they are going to sell off the shop, not in a whole store, but one guitar at a time, please let me know. 

 

I wish I could by one more guitar from Dan.

I really wish I could just sit an talk about old guitars with Dan one more time...

 

Thanks for reading this, pass it on to his family, or anyone else, if you think they would want to read it.

 

-Darryl

Email from Brian

"I remember fondly the first and only trade I made with Dan. It was my used
Gibson for his new Kramer or some other junk guitar. I bugged him for 25
years on how he came out on that one. All he would ever tell me was he
wished he had hung on to that one himself. I also had the pleasure of riding
with him in his limo to The IL state fair a long time ago. Hall & Oates were
headlining and he had an old acoustic guitar he wanted to sell to John. I
think it was a DeAngelo. If you can't tell I don't know much about guitars.
Of course he wasn't expected but we got past security with his silver
briefcase and went backstage and had dinner with the band. When he finally
pulled out that guitar it was showtime and he was the star. Dan wanted
$10,000 for it and John wasn't buying so we left. What I had just witnessed
was a master at his craft and the only time saw him use the art of silence
during the negotiations. On the way home I asked him why he didn't come down
a little and make the sale. The answer I got was an hour long diatribe about
how it was his job to drive up the prices of all vintage guitars in the
entire world and if he lowers the price to what he wants to pay it cheapens
the value of all guitars. It was over the top but he truly believed it. The
night got even better when on the way home we tuned in to Jim White on KMOX
and he was talking about the National Inquirer and why people buy such
trash. We concluded that people read the tabloids because it makes them feel
better about themselves to read about the misery of others. So Dan says call
Jim up and tell him what you think and handed me this car phone about the
size of a brick with a cord attached to it and we called up Mr. White and
talked to him. What was really great was listening to the show while we were
on hold. It was a world wind of a day and night and I will never forget it.
When my daughter started playing guitar I went to Dan to get her started.
She plays acoustic and one year for Christmas I wanted to get her an
electric. He told me she won't play it don't waste your money. He was right
but I wanted to do it anyway. He sold me the 50 year anniversary Fender
Strat and told me to put it under her bed. When I gave it to her I told her
if you don't want to play it that Dan said to put it under your bed and
forget about it. And, don't let your kids and grandkids pawn it or tear it
up. And that is where it is. Maybe someday it will be a valuable vintage
guitar. I have read that Dan was a very private person. I agree he was hard
to get to know but if you really knew him a was a good friend and a very
interesting character. These stories only mean something to me but I thought
I would share them here. Dan will be missed.
Brian