With Alan Rogan, guitar tech to The Who, Pink Floyd, Rolling Stones, CSNY and AC/DC. We met in 1976 when I sold him my '64 Fender jazz bass for the Entwhistle collection. Here we are at a Who show in California getting specs on Townshend's Strat for a Guitar Player magazine article on stars' guitars.

I sold this Dan Armstrong to Ron Wood at a Stones concert in Oakland with the help of my record-collecting pal Dave White. Ron said he gave his original one to David Bowie a while after he joined the Stones. At the time, I had seven, so one less I could deal with. He and Keith were funny as hell, very gracious to us, and the show was killer.  Many thanks to Dave White.

Rock legend Rick Derringer stops into the shop to get his new Gibson ES 355 set up for the 2010 Ringo Star all-star tour. Here he is checking out my '59 ES 355. It is exactly like the one he had as a kid when he wrote 'Hang On Sloopy,' 'Rock 'n' Roll Hoochie Koo,' etc.  We had a great chat and as he sat playing, customers came and went. He seemed to dig just hangin' and jammin.' I feel now he is playing the best he has ever played.  www.rickderringer.com is his official site.

On a guitar buy in LA last year I got to inspect Bigsby guitar #002. I've been commissioned by local swing musician and music archivist John Feldman to build a replica of this guitar.

Abq jazz great Michael Anthony stops in the shop and as I was tweaking his Gibson L5, he played my '68 ES 345. He is a tireless music teacher and we are very lucky to have him in Abq. He Played on countless hits and spent time on the Dean Martin Show and the Carol Burnett show where he met his wife, who was a dancer on Carol's show. I am grateful he brings his students by the shop. The guy still has tone to spare!  www.michaelanthonyonline.com is his site.

Michael Anthony's star students Claudio Perez and John Maestas stop in to get work done. John will be off to Berkley soon, and Claudio gigs locally and I am trying to get him a break into the film industry. They are both old souls to Michael Anthony and myself. The future of jazz baby!

After The Handsome Family's set at their recent CD release party for Last Days of Wonder with the HF's Brett Sparks. Brett and Rennie are wonderful folks and discovering their music and tweaking some of their interesting instruments has been a blast. So much talent!

Cyril Jordan of San Francisco's Flaming Groovies was great fun. He came over to my shop to have me refurbish his Dan Armstrong guitar and to try out a few of my vintage Gibsons for a CD project. Interesting tidbit for you trivia buffs: in 1969 Led Zepplin opened for the Groovies at the Fillmore. He is a gas.

Santa Cruz Guitars presidant Richard Hoover and I at NAMM in L.A. When I had days off from my tech gig at Gryphon, I used to hang out at the factory in Santa Cruz, and soak up as much as I could from him.  I am happy he sends me repairs for local Santa Cruz owners, allthough guitars that well-made rarely need much.  He used to go to college in Santa Fe years back, and still loves New Mexico.

Myself and CA guitar maker Paul Gambon got to sit down for over an hour at NAMM and discuss all things Stratocaster with Bill Carson (middle). I could barely write fast enough as Carson told us so much about the guitars we love. He was Leo Fender's right hand man and a great guitarist as well. Carson was involved in body and tremolo design and sales with Fender since the early 1950s and stayed with the company until the late 1990s.