Guitar Story

Likely one of my most prized instruments I've ever had (and still have) is this guitar I bought in Nicaragua. On this day we drove form Granada up to Masaya. Masaya is an artisan craftsman city in Nicaragua. I'd done some reading on a few guitar forums about these two guitar makers whose places were right beside each other just off the main highway. With no idea what to expect, Lisa and I showed up to this place and I told them I wanted to look at and try out some guitars. We went to the bigger place first. There was a tiled floor, some guitars on the walls and small sign indicating acceptance of all forms of high interest, delayed payment. Our reception at the first place (Sergio Zepeda) was a little indifferent, but they gave me an electronic tuner and told me to go ahead and try out any of the guitars on the wall. Some of these ones were really nice and others were really bad.

Then we went to the other place next door (Pilarte). Dirt floor, tin roof, plastic walls. But wow, these guitars were nice. They had character. I tried some. I immediately gravitated towards a nice thin-body, light weight beauty that resonated like a guitar twice its size. I felt pretty self conscious as I quietly plucked away in the 7 or 8 chords I know, singing some of the songs I know to see how my voice sounded with the guitar. The people here, they must've thought I was some kind of spoiled white dude, buying a nice guitar when I couldn't really play squat by their (very high) playing standards. But they were very polite... making little comments about each of the guitars I tried... highlighting one strength in tone here or a feature of craftsmanship there. They left me to take my time. I got comfortable. I got lost in quietly playing some of those guitars...

I went back into the first place after a while and found the guitars there to have a more generic quality of tone than the guitars at the shop with the dirt floor and tin roof.

All in all, I think I spent about an hour and a half picking a guitar. I ended up with the same thin resonant body that I gravitated to originally. I went to the bank machine and took out a small fortune in American cash and paid for my new instrument.

Back home in Vancouver, I grew to love my Nicaraguan guitar more and more. We're getting to know each other. I'm learning how to hit an A without ever buzzing and my guitar is teaching me which parts of the neck and body are best for little percussion taps with my thumb. I recently played out for my first time at the Anza Club and had to use a friend's electric guitar for my songs because my guitar was built with no pickup. While the guitar itself great, I really missed my Nica-Guitar up there. So I brought my guitar to Not Just Another Music Shop to have a pickup installed. Rob (the owner) treated me really well there and had a really nice set of tune-ups done to really bring out more tone and resonance as well as installing a great pickup under the bone. I'm looking forward to playing at the Anza again with my Nica guitar... Now if I can only remember to sing into the microphone... :)

A picture of the guitar maker, Pilarte, and me.