Don Dean Heritage Dealer- blast from the past

[MartyGrass]

For those who don't know, Scotty Moore was Elvis's main guitarist for a very long time.  He also was a studio musician and an extraordinary player.  Here is a page from his website about his friend and fellow musician Don Dean.

http://scottymoore.net/dondean.html

Some years ago a friend of mine, who is a great player, really wanted a Heritage Johnny Smith.  Both he and I are Johnny fans but he couldn't afford a Gibson.  We searched for a few weeks but found nothing.  Late at night I found one in a national Craigslist search that was in Kentucky.  I called, probably first thing in the morning, and learned that the guitar belonged to Don Dean.  Don had died recently and his widow asked the guy on the phone, a pedal steel guitarist and friend of Don, to sell his many guitars.  The HJS was stored under Don's bed with a couple of other guitars and was found a bit later than Don's main collection.

I drove to Kentucky that morning and arrived in a modest country house with gorgeous scenery.  The seller and his wife were very nice.  I had a meal with them as they talked about the old days.

The seller was a studio musician and road player with Elvis and others.  Scotty and Don were friends to both him and his wife.  Don died slowly with dementia.  They talked about the lean and the better days.  It was great.

He brought the case out.  It looked like someone had vomited on the top and the clean up was less than thorough.  The guitar was mint.  Further, it had the extra rose inlay in the pickguard, which was a $500 upcharge.  I measured it and it was 18" across the lower bout!  To my knowledge there were only two of these made, one finished in rose natural and this one a natural.  Both were special ordered by Don, a Heritage dealer at the time.  Even more surprising was the body depth was between 3 1/4 and 3 3/8", making this truly unique.

I made the long drive back that night.  I emailed my friend to say I got him a guitar.  The next morning he let me know he found a standard HJS while I was in Kentucky at a pawn shop in Ohio and ordered it.

Some time later he tired of his HJS, sold it, bought the 18" HJS from me.  He had Kent Armstrong rebuild the Floating #3 pickup to increased output, something quite a few people did with that pickup.  Eventually I got the guitar back.  It is now my favorite, in part because of the story but also because it plays so well and is stunning.

In Don Dean's photos you can see him playing this guitar.  On the same page you can also see an 18" Heritage American Eagle, probably the only one made.

Here is the HJS in action played by my friend 6 years ago.  It is seasonally appropriate.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xH_0qJ0Pt0&list=PLZKJqrSIMuspiR9CbV8ztncKUecx6o1Qu&index=2

 

[TalismanRich]

It says that Don had a store in Louisville.   I wonder where the store was located.   If he had it from 66 to 97,  I should have run across it.   I thought I knew most of the music stores, especially in the 70s.   Durlaufs,  Tillers,   Music Center, Bizannes,  and more.  

However,  I wonder if his shop is now Steilberg String Instruments.   They were the local Heritage dealer when I got my H-157 back in 2003.   I don't know when Jimmy opened the store, but I know he did luthiery many years ago.  It would make sense if Steilberg took over the dealership.   I'll have to ask next time I'm in the store.

[kennyv4]

Thanks for the post. I enjoyed reading the article as well as watching the video. Great guitar playing.

[Genericmusic]

Very cool story. Thanks for posting. 

[bolero]

Wow. There's a mind blowing amount of nice guitars, and historical anecdotes, on that webpage tribute to Don.

And spectacular playing by your friend!!