Richard Gere's guitar collection

Very cool-- what a collection....man Richards looking old--- GE Smith looks more and more like the Grinch every year ........

thanks for sharing some iconic instruments in those videos
 
There's a fair amount to unpack there. He's very knowledgeable and the kind of collector I can understand, i.e. he actually plays them. A huge point of agreement is that I feel guitars get better and better the more they are played. Whenever I see an old guitar hanging on the wall that looks brand-new my first thought is that it must be a dog and so nobody has wanted to play the hell out of it over the years.
 
That's a large collection of guitars he has, a lot of History there. Myself I am not as interested in the History part of it. I am more interested in the playing side of things. I just want to have a great playing guitar and have fun with it. I am not a collector of guitars or anything that is collectible. The things that I have I use, if it doesn't get used or have a purpose it goes to someone who can use it , or its done its time and is ready for file 13.
 
RVA said:
Curious to hear everyone's thooughts on his perspective

Part 1


Click to expand...
One of the things I really liked here was when G.E. Smith started talking about not knowing who had owned the instrument and how he wondered about what whoever owned it was playing on it. I have two old guitars and two old amps, and I think about the same thing all the time. I have no clue as to who originally owned them and what they were used for. sometimes I wish they could talk, but the fact that the history is a mystery, really fascinates me and actually makes me want to play them even more. It is part of their mojo in a way. It is cool knowing the history of instruments too, like when they talk about Albert King's Flying V, but there is something special about the mystique of the hidden past of old guitars.
 
well and so... I listened to the whole thing, both part one and part two.

I have little respect for "collectors" and I have little respect for Hollywood types, so I began
with a little prejudice, I confess. I do NOT worship old guitars, even though my life has been
graced with the opportunity to own a few. Personally, I believe that the hype about old guitars
is just Hoo-Doo mixed with a lot of Doo-Doo.

But I grounded all that, and began to believe the man shows respect, and maybe some soul.
Combine that with "too much money" and the collection seems logical. Maybe the man was
"acting" and pretending to have more soul than he actually does. Personally, I don't know if
this is possible. But talented actors can probably do it. That's why we pay to see them
perform.

I'm glad that they added an expert guitarist, to play the old warhorses, and I'm glad that they
installed new strings and set the old guitars up. To hear some of those old Gibsons and Martins
being played by G.E. Smith
gave me some inkling of why people get so enthusiastic about the old ones.

Thoughts then, for posterity:

Richard Gere has been a fine actor, and I never knew he was a musician.
He has earned the right to buy whatever guitars he wants, so to hell with my Hollywood prejudice.
I believe that he kept his guitars well, and honored them, and actually played them... (at least he said
he did).

That's a good thing, because I also believe that guitars which become so valuable that they can't
get out in the world and get sweaty and bonk into mic stands... are just useless museum artifacts, unless
they are kept under security in recording studios, for the use of talented artists. I sold my oldest and most
valuable instruments in 2018 for this reason. So I'm not just blowing smoke.

I believe that lots of great music has been played on instruments of much less pedigree
and as a "journeyman pro" musician who needed each instrument to pay its own way, I can't
say I have ever even seen many guitars like the ones in this collection, let alone been able to
touch them or play them. So the collection and its owner and the Christie's auction house are all
like on some other planet, in my view.

I was fascinated, in spite of this. Thanks for posting. I will continue to be a musician, using my
remaining guitars and my one bass to the best of my ability. Now that I've sold my '66 Fender Jazz Bass,
and my 1936 Martin 0-17, and my '75 Mossman dred, I am reconciled that I will never again see or touch
or be able to play any instrument of such vintage. And that's okay with me, because my newer instruments
make excellent music and I don't have to worry about getting targeted by instrument rustlers.

The old ones are great, but the new ones have their own voice. And the future (if any) belongs to them.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top