The Vintage Guitar News and Views April Edition,"Music the Universal Language"
As I looked at my cards the dealer had given me contemplating my odds. The gentleman seated to my left gives me a shrug. Seeing my cards he knows my chances as well as I do.I fold my hand, that is the beauty of 3 card poker. Each player is only playing against the house or dealers cards and it is not uncommon to show your hand to fellow players. The local player to my left strikes up a conversation noting I was wearing a shirt with a guitar on it."Do you play the guitar?' he asks. I answer that I play as well as sell guitars,his eyes register that universal acknowledgment among all guitarists. He then asks "what type of guitars do you sell ?" So I produce a small booklet of some of my inventory that I carry with me for just this very reason. He flips through the pages and stops at certain guitars and asks various questions, which I answer to the best of my ability. He too has the same love and admiration for these fine stringed instruments, a fellow guitar lover. He begins telling me of his guitars which draws the attention of another fellow card player at the next table. We all sit out the next few hands of three card poker at the nearby bar discussing various pieces of equipment. Some we own, some we would like to own, and some we can only imagine owning one day.After an hour of so of conversation our group has grown to over seven fellow guitar enthusiasts, all local residents, each taking turns looking at my booklet and each fielding their own unique questions. All of us smile and nod our satisfaction. I listen with earnest as they tell me of their guitars, or "girls" as I call them and they are all amused at the phrase I have taught them to call their guitars. Most of their guitars are the classical style, made with local exotic tone woods, which leads to the discussion of the exotic wood shortages faced by most guitar builders today. We are joined by several Americans who have overheard us talking about our guitars and want to share stories about their own guitars,( we are so one track minded) and as the evening progresses we exchange addresses and email information and I give everyone a business card for Greg's guitars, they all accept and as we file away ,each of us feeling a little better, a little luckier, we settle back into our tables to once again play cards. I can not help but smile , even though three languages were spoken over the course of our guitar conversations we all understood each other, and who says that mathematics is the only true universal language? So may all your days be memorable, all your friends stay true and may all your riffs be killer , until next month this is Greg at Greg's guitars.
