Deke Dickerson - The Strat in the Attic: Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology

Holy Grail. 1950 John DAngelico Excel archtop. Nigel Osbourne/Redferns/Getty Images

What is it about vintage guitars that gets our blood flowing? Collectors of all stripes, be it car freaks, comic book hoarders, numismatic nuts, or the like all have intensely passionate relationships with the artifacts they collect. All these collectors also share the thrill of uncovering rare finds. Still, there is something special about vintage guitars and the people who treasure them.

Deke Dickerson, age three, learns about the mesmerizing qualities of the guitar with the girl next door. Kitty Dickerson

Perhaps its the fact that unlike coins or stamps, vintage guitars can be played. They are able to go from an antique artifact to a music-making joybox, magic delivered live in person. Acoustic guitars vibrate their delicate wooden boxes, and electric guitars can be plugged in and cranked up. In that sense, guitars are living things. They can exist under a bed or in a basement or in an attic for decades, and when they are cleaned up and have new strings put on, they live again!

Vintage guitar enthusiasts can go into great detail about why older instruments are better than anything you can buy new. One thing is undeniable: the deplorable quality of guitars made in the 1970s started a trend of players seeking older guitars that played and sounded better than what was available at the time. Ever since that decade, guitar players and collectors have all hoped to capture some of the magic that existed in previous eras, through reissue models, custom shop builds, and even relic guitarsnew instruments aged to look beat-up and old. The furor over vintage is a bit much, but there are facts to support it.

Magic guitars happened for a reason. A civilian might be unaware of the factors involved, but just ask guitar geeks and they can rattle on for days. The combination of expert craftsmen, trained designers, high production values, and unbeatable raw materials all came together to make vintage guitars magical, special objects.

Want some real evidence about the superiority of older guitars versus newer guitars? Vintage guitars used hardwoods and metals that are either unavailable now or too expensive to reproduce. For example, prewar Martin and Gibson flattops have tops made of the best spruce youll ever see, with the tightest grain. You can get quality spruce for soundboards today, but it doesnt hold a candle to the tops found on those older instruments. The wood simply doesnt exist anymorethe really, really good stuff has been overharvested, depleted. There might be wood that nice in a hundred years if the trees are carefully forested, maintained, and harvested, but there wont be any in our lifetime.