Mecca for guitar heroes

Wednesday July 21, 2010

It's one of the best starspotting locations in London, but few fans know the secret of 65a New Kings Road.

Who drifted into the Vintage Guitar Emporium last week? "It was fairly quiet," said owner Rick Zsigmond. "Ozzy Osbourne came in, Bon Jovi were in town, and Slash [ex Guns n' Roses] came by on Sunday..."

Rick's shop is a temple to guitars, and a mecca for guitarists. Many of the models in the racks that clutter the floorspace are from the past decade but it's the older classics - especially ones with a traceable heritage - that really excite aficionados.

You have to admit there's something supremely elegant about the 1972 Gibson Les Paul custom black on sale at £3,650, for example. Noel Gallagher is a regular and has been ever since the day he hesitantly passed Rick his debit card, unsure if there would be enough in the account to pay for a £499 guitar he'd been eyeing up.

"Twenty years on, he and I are still haggling over new guitars," said Rick. "He could only just afford his first one."

Vintage guitars have become an inflation-proof investment and Rick is one of the most knowledgeable guys in a specialist market which appeals to rock legends looking for a different way to stash their riches.

"There's plenty of investment potential, especially in old Les Pauls," said Rick. "It's the ultimate guitar. Jimmy Page always played one in Led Zeppelin. He lives fairly locally, and does pop in. They all come in from time to time to see what we've got; he needed a guitar tuner last time.

"Eric Clapton lives a mile that way and Bryan Adams is just round the corner, but we get everyone in here."

Being a destination specialist shop, the Vintage Guitar Emporium is not so subject to the whims or budgetary restraints, but Rick does admit that his turnover has suffered along with every other retailer in the past year.

"We have a lot of internet clients, and we do deal with a lot of bands. Bands come to visit us any time they're passing through London," said Rick, who grew up in Liverpool.

He has been selling guitars for 25 years, and knew a lot of big-name bands in their earliest days.

"I see them on the way up and, unfortunately, on the way down as well," he said, adding that investors were his other main customer group. Pick the right one and you're laughing.

"A 1959 Les Paul can be worth £150,000. Gibson made that particular model between 1958 and 1960, and maybe 1,100 were made in total. To find good, clean, original examples is a worldwide hunt," said Rick.

"I know where there are a dozen or so; the Germans and Japanese love them. I know one guy who owns six. It's the ultimate guitar."

The weak pound and the strong euro have been a big factor in persuading European investors to buy from New Kings Road in recent years.

Jimmy Page's connections with SW6 are deeper than merely calling in to the guitar shop. Led Zeppelin used to jam and practise at the Kings Head in the high street. Rick went to watch them play a secret gig there a decade ago, where for a laugh they billed themselves as a Led Zeppelin tribute band.

Some of the pub regulars who weren't in on the joke commented that although the band was fairly good they weren't a patch on the original.

Rick, who originally had a shop in Earls Court, opened the emporium in New Kings Road in 1997.

"This is a fairly good area," he said. "I live down the road, and there are no other shops like this one around here, outside the congestion zone."

The shop is regularly used for filming, and Rick loans guitars for TV and film work, as well as photoshoots.

One familiar-looking fellow walked in and wanted to rent a Fender Stratocaster to use in a television programme about his university days, when he had played in a band. Rick watched in amusement as he signed the agreement 'Tony Blair'.

George Harrison was a customer Rick recalls very fondly, with a quiet, clever sense of humour that out-Pythoned Monty Python.

"George once brought in his Magical Mystery Tour psychedelic guitar and showed me the bits that had been painted with Patti Boyd's nail varnish!"

Call 020 7371 0100 or visit www.newkingsroadguitars.co.uk.