Deke Dickerson - The Strat in the Attic 2: More Thrilling Stories of Guitar Archaeology

Deke Dickerson

Then the negative reviews start popping up, and you better get a thick skin, and quick. Some guy complains because THIS BOOK IS NOT JUST ABOUT STRATOCASTERS! IT IS ABOUT OTHER TYPES OF GUITARS, AS WELL! Well, er, yesand Im guessing this same serious gentleman was probably disappointed when he read Of Mice and Men and discovered that it too was about other subjects besides mice and men! Then another reviewer quipped the book always seems to come back to the author and his quest to own everything, and then gloat. Boy, does that guy miss the point. Half of the crazy guitars that wound up in my collection would probably have been thrown into the trash if I hadnt said: Wait a minute, theres something really cool going on here. This is something that should be preserved, a piece of history.

I dont need to own everythingmy collection is somewhat less than a hundred guitars. While that may sound like a lot, many of the collectors Ive interviewed have hundreds of instruments, and my friend Rob Lurvey in Springfield, Missouri, has over three thousand! Gloating? Anyone who reads these stories as gloating completely misses the point. Many of the instruments in my collection are so homely and valueless that only a mother could love themor a hopeless guitar geek like myself. Thats love, sirnot gloating!

My book was all about the love I have for old guitars, and wanting to share that love through funny and entertaining stories. For the most part, people got where I was coming from, and it stirred something inside them. Other than a few sour apples out there, a lot of people thought the book was engaging, fun, and worth taking homewhich pleased me to no end.

The absolute best thing that came out of writing the first book were all the emails, coming from all corners of the globe. I was super happy to get every one of these, from teenagers who were excited about finding a $200 Danelectro at a garage sale, to retirees who had rekindled a lost love with old guitars through the stories in the book, to people who had exceptional stories that wound up as chapters in this second book. People were excited about guitarsand that made me happy!

It seems like the thing that were all fighting the most in this day and age is apathypeople just not caring about anything anymore. As a guy who finds this life on earth genuinely entertaining, that makes me sad. After all, what could be more boring than people just sitting around checking their smartphones all day long? The emails that I received were full of passion, and that made me feel like I had actually achieved something. A typical email would read: Im going to start hitting the garage sales on Saturday morningthis book has got me motivated! That, by far, was the greatest thrill from seeing my first book publishedthe feeling of genuine excitement I received from so many people who read it.