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[Jeff] I first heard about Norm's store,
it was like this famous place that you have to go to,
but it was in Tarzana, California. Is that how you say it?
Which I always thought was east of LA, you know,
like towards halfway to Phoenix.
And so I'm going, "Well, I'll never go out to where--"
And then you find, oh, no, it's right...
It's just over on the 405, just over. Oh.
Then the problem becomes that you're gonna go to Norm's
and he's gonna have these incredible guitars,
and oh, maybe you'll see Tom Petty,
you know that myth and true,
but this like Shangri-La, this oasis
for guitar players.
♪ As I felt would never end ♪
♪ I see shadows Cast over my eyes ♪
♪ Not much longer... ♪
And it's like making a pilgrimage to a place you should go
if you are serious about the guitar.
You should all go to Norm's Rare Guitars
if you're at all serious about playing the guitar.
It's one of those places.
♪ The creator Built a home inside ♪
♪ Won't be trouble when I rest my head tonight ♪
♪ 'Cause the only loser Is the one that begs to hide ♪
♪ I've seen hard times ♪
♪ I've seen days ♪
♪ Days I've felt would Never end ♪
♪ I've seen shadows Cast over my eyes ♪
♪ But not much longer will The shadows haunt my mind ♪
♪ Mm-hmm ♪
[rock music playing]
Throughout the store's history,
we've had some of the most iconic guitar players
in the world come through.
Welcome to Norm's Guitars.
[Norman] From George Harrison to Bob Dylan to Tom Petty.
[announcer] Eddie Van Halen bought his first guitars from Norm
when both of them had more hair.
I bought a bunch of guitars from Norm's.
[announcer] See, the instruments at Norman's are, well, unique.
This guitar here is probably a $35,000 guitar.
[announcer] Norm Harris has been collecting and selling vintage guitars, lots of them.
This is Norm. This guy has sold guitars to every single person
that's ever walked into Hollywood for the last 25 years.
So you're gonna have a million stories.
[Norman] There's some stories, there's some good ones,
-there's a couple involving you too, my man. -Oh, no.
I just stumbled into Norm's,
and it's been a revolving door in my life for 35 years.
[Norman] A lot of the international acclaim
basically came from the Japanese I would say.
I mean, there are those of us who are just waiting
for the right piece to show up.
Pretty much a place of legend.
For a small ma and pa shop, Norman's Rare Guitars is world famous.
[announcer] The real celebrities, though, are the guitars.
Musicians claim the ones made in the '50s
just sound better.
The pickups, the design,
the woods that they chose, the finish they put on,
it's really cool stuff.
The independent store will always be the place
that you go for connection.
[Taylor] 'Cause, I mean, half the people
that you see here when you walk into Norm's,
they're just fucking hanging out.
I'm not talking about the people working here,
I'm talking about the people that just,
half the time, they're coming in just to shoot the shit,
and, like, maybe think about buying that guitar eventually.
I've spent too much money there, but I want to spend more.
There's nothing like this store. Nothing.
Got into town, like, three days ago.
I'm like, "I gotta go to Norm's."
Everybody knows about Norman's Rare Guitars.
It's just like, you go to LA, you go there.
This is an experience being in Norman's. Norman's has a warmth to its walls.
I'm sure it's got a lot of stories too.
[rock music playing]
[Frank] I actually always learn something when I come to Norm's
or smaller places,
'cause you have people...
I mean some of the greatest guitar players in the world played here.
Don McLean. I mean, you know, Colin Hay.
I mean, a lot of heavy people come here.
[Slash] When you go into a music store,
it's probably the optimum place you want to go into,
because it's just filled with instruments,
and it's sort of orgasmic in that sense.
Norman's is probably at the very, very top
of the orgasmic, one to ten.
[laughs]
Are you an average collector? [laughs]
I'd like to think a little better than average.
I learned about the shop from a shirt.
Like, even the shirt was interesting.
[Melissa] Every guitar, every amp,
everything that's in this store,
is understood, taken care of,
is the finest you're going to get.
[Kiefer] This is as organic a place as I have ever been
with respect to someone trying to put
the right guitar in the right person's hand
to create something great.
[Jeff] I think one of the things that makes Norm's special
is that the people that have been there before you.
I got thrown out of here last time
for taking down a Stratocaster,
but I thought it was okay. I'm sorry.
If Joe Bonamassa thinks Norm knows
what a good guitar is versus a bad one,
or the difference between a great guitar
and an excellent guitar...
If Joe thinks Norm knows that, that's good enough for me.
The collector in me loves the stuff like you
that's really well-preserved and mint,
because they don't make this anymore.
So that gives Norm some real street cred,
if guys like that are,
you know, going to Norm, going, "What do you think?"
He's completely knowledgeable,
like has the biggest mind about guitars,
and he's got the biggest heart.
And he loves music.
[Kiefer] And he loves playing and he likes people,
and he's so encouraging to musicians,
and wanting them to do well.
I know that sounds really simple, but it's not.
He cares.
And he couldn't be nicer.
He's this big personality, friendly.
He's out there, and he makes you feel welcome.
He is applying for a job over here.
He's not working enough as an actor.
[Jeff] And I thought, well, maybe that's just 'cause,
you know, I'm famous or I'm an actor or something.
And then I saw him do it to somebody else that wasn't.
And then somebody else who wasn't.
Treats everybody the same.
Except, he did immediately,
immediately take me back into the back room
and showed me a Martin from the '40s or something.
"Isn't that beautiful? Isn't Jeff, isn't that,
"and it's only $50,000.
I mean, wow, is this you or is this you?"
I mean, he-- And you just realize,
you're going,
"You know, I got some per diem from the movie I'm shooting,
but it ain't that much."
-What's up? -Maroon 5...
[Kiefer] You know, you can't do all of this
without being little eccentric.
And he is.
I, personally, have always loved eccentric people.
But when someone's eccentricities are all absolutely focused
into one thing, and that is guitars.
-Can you tell us about this? -[Norman] Yeah, this is 64...
[Kiefer] And understanding
where the Maplewood was taken from this guitar in this era,
or you know, I think Norm was the one who explained to me what a banner guitar was
during World War II when they had no steel to make truss rods,
Gibson with all the L guitars would just glue the neck
straight onto the body,
which is why the necks were always fatter
and that the banner meant that it was made by a woman.
How cool is that?
It's not just the actual stories
of acquiring instruments,
it's who they've been sold to.
You're talking everyone from Bob Dylan to George Harrison,
Tom Petty, Robbie Robertson...
The list goes on and on and on.
And I love the fact that a rockstar,
or someone that plays music goes,
"Hey listen, I need a D'Angelico."
They call him first, because they know.
Quality, his reputation precedes him.
The instruments that he's sold to these A-list type of people
have been... used to make music
that's changed the landscape of rock and roll.
Selling guitars to Slash, selling guitars to Tom Petty.
And, you know, these songs that they come up with
on these instruments live forever.
And he's absolutely linked to that.
For over 50 years, Norman Harris has been in the
business of selling rare guitars.
-[woman] Ready one, two, and... -Hey guys, Norm over here.
And uh, you know, I know you guys are like family to us,
and sometimes I got to tell you the good with the bad.
I was ill, I was kind of feeling like
a little something over by my side here,
but my doctor said, "Go get a CAT scan."
And what we found out was
that I have a very rare cancer of the appendix.
It's called appendiceal carcinoma.
[Norman] So I just want to say, I just want to be truthful.
If anybody goes, "Well, where's Norm and what's going on?"
I just want you guys to know that I love you all,
love all the guys that work for me, love the family,
love vintage guitars.
So thank you guys.
I love you, and I hope that I'm still around to be doing this years from now.
But if not, sayonara.
See Norm and I have had this conversation a lot,
about, you know... about his legacy, about his transition.
You know, he goes, "I can't do this forever."
And, you know, when he turned 70,
I think it really hit him in a way.
Problem is, if Norm's not there to run it,
then it's just... it's a namesake.
It's just, it's just a brand.
And when you take the heart and soul of the brand away,
it doesn't... it's not the same.
I'm sorry, it just isn't the same.
There's only one Norm Harris.
[Norman] I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania,
but my dad had a company,
and we would move from town to town,
'cause they would set up a manufacturing plant
in different cities.
So, we lived in Philadelphia, then we moved to Miami
and then, eventually, my dad sold his company and retired.
And that's where we ended up
and that's where I grew up, was in Miami, Florida.
Unfortunately, when I was 16 years old, my dad had passed away.
It was a very traumatic time for me.
When I was a teenager in Miami,
of course this was during the '60s,
and The Beatles had exploded,
and music was becoming so popular.
It was just an amazing time to grow up.
I met Marlene in junior high school.
Hi, I am Marlene Harris, Norman's wife,
and we've been married for 51 years.
Quite an accomplishment.
We met in junior high school, sort of.
And I walked around the whole school, trying to avoid him.
[Norman chuckles] When we first met,
I think Marlene couldn't stand me.
I was kind of a punk,
and I don't know, maybe that's why she ended up liking me.
[laughs]
But, anyway, I ended up being friendly with him.
[Norman] And we started dating in high school.
Actually, our first date, I had a car.
I would drive some people home from school.
[Marlene] And, one day, I needed a ride home from school,
and he was looking for a drummer for one of his bands
at the Florida State Mental Hospital.
And, um...
-[man] For real? -Yeah.
A friend of mine recommended this guy,
and it was at this mental institution in South Florida.
And I said, I'm gonna take you guys home,
but we've got to stop at this place first.
And Marlene and I, our first date was probably in a mental institution,
which says a lot.
We saw a lot of crazy people,
but he never found the guy who was supposed to be a good drummer.
After that, we started dating, and we've been together ever since.
We got married in 1969. I was 18, he was 20.
I woke up the next day saying,
"What the fuck did I do?" [chuckles]
But here I am.
People said that I looked like I was in shock
at the wedding the whole time,
because I think it was, uh...
Uh, well, I'm sure I was probably...
I used to smoke a lot of pot, you know,
so I was probably a little bit out there,
but I looked like I was dazed the entire time.
And I probably was, but I didn't know what I was getting into.
But it was probably the best thing that ever happened to me.
[Norman] One, two, three, four.
[playing blues music]
[Joe] You know, what a lot of people don't know about Norm
is he is a world-class musician,
and he chose a different path in life.
He chose to be on the retail side of musicianship
versus getting out there and touring, and stuff like that.
He always downplays his musicianship a lot,
but, you know, the legacy started there in Miami.
[Norman] So, back in the old days,
the first band that I had
was a band called The Amazing Aztecs.
We were kids and we were pretty pathetic.
The band that I played in after the Amazing Aztecs
was the Glass Menagerie.
After that, I played in a band called The Bangles,
which was two seminal Indian brothers, Steve and Lee Tiger.
And we played at a place called Thee Image.
And we were one of the house bands that played there.
And every week, they would bring in a major act
that was either international or national.
And we opened for Jimi Hendrix, we opened for Cream,
we opened for The Amboy Dukes,
which was Ted Nugent's first band.
We opened for The Chambers Brothers.
We opened for The Mothers.
And, you know, there was one dressing room in the place.
So all the bands kind of got together,
and I did meet Hendrix,
and you know, everybody was pretty, pretty high at the time.
The band after The Bangles was a band called Katmandu.
And we were doing a lot of original material,
and we were recording at Criteria Studios.
We got a a record deal with Mainstream Records...
[rock music playing]
...which was the same record company
that Big Brother & the Holding Company were on.
Unfortunately, we found out about three days after we signed
and did our record
that they were being sued by Big Brother & the Holding Company
for not giving them any of their royalties.
So that didn't work out all that well.
One of the first instruments that I ever bought
that I realized I may be... I was onto something is
in Katmandu,
there were two guys, a guy named Bobby Caldwell and Bobby Jabo.
They both played guitar and bass,
but neither one of them had a bass.
So, I volunteered to get a bass.
So he happened to find a bass in the newspaper.
[Norman] I saw an ad for a jazz bass in the Miami Herald,
and I went out and bought this older jazz bass.
It was, like, a 1961. It was a very early 3-knob bass.
I bought it for $125.
When I brought the bass back
and the guys started playing it,
people around town, including Jaco Pastorius and a number of other people
saw this bass, and everybody wanted it.
And I went, "Wow, you know, maybe I could actually
make a buck buying and selling
some of these used instruments around town.
And that was kind of the thing that kind of...
The light bulb flashed, and I realized this could be something
where I could pick up some extra money.
Being a musician, I wasn't making a whole lot.
Once I realized I could make money off that jazz bass,
I saw an ad in the newspaper, and I called and I said,
"What kind of guitar is it that you have?"
She goes, "Well, it's a Gibson."
And I said, "How much do you want for it?" She says, "$25."
I said, "I'll tell you what, I have $20 on me.
I'll give you $20 for it, sight unseen."
And I walk into the house,
and I see this beautiful brown case sitting in the back.
I went to myself, "Well, that couldn't possibly be it
'cause the case was so beautiful.
She said, "No, that's it over there."
And I open up the case,
and it's this beautiful late-'30s L-5 blonde cutaway.
I know nothing about guitars at this time,
but you don't have to be a genius to look at this thing
and realize this is a valuable guitar.
So I gave her the $20, bought it, got out of there,
and I went and showed it to this friend of mine, Ed Oleck,
who, kind of, was dealing with old guitars,
and everybody was kind of, you know, "ooh-ahh," over this guitar.
The next day, I actually took Marlene's car
and I had the L-5 in the car,
and we're driving back,
and all of a sudden, I hear a car going...
[mimics tires squealing, crashing]
...and just smashes into the back of the car
and it cracked this L-5 up.
Just so happened that I took it to my friend, Ed Oleck, the day before
and showed him the guitar.
And when I tried to claim it on insurance,
they actually contacted Ed Oleck to ask him
what the guitar is worth.
And Ed said, "Oh, that guitar is worth a fortune.
"You better give 'em, like, 1,200 bucks, and get 'em outta your hair
'cause you'll never be able to replace it."
That 1,200 bucks gave me a lot of money to go out
and buy guitars, which were very inexpensive at that time.
That really got me started.
Little Richard and his brother managed our band Katmandu.
Little Richard was very instrumental in our move,
because, I mean, he wanted us to go to LA,
and meet Mo Ostin from Warner Bros. Records.
It was just kind of really stated to me very intensely,
if you really wanna make it in the music business, you have to go to California.
That's where it's all happening.
[people chattering]
[Norman] For whatever reason, as bands do, our band broke up.
I went with a band called the Angel City Rhythm Band.
[man] All right, the Angel City Rhythm Band.
[Marlene] While the band was sleeping,
we were out up early in the morning,
and then buying and wholesaling guitars
to the music stores.
So, we were busy all the time, and we used to go to the Musicians' Union.
We saw that they had had a musician's handbook.
So, I said, "Well this is great
because you can call all the people in the handbook
and find things.
And he did that.
And then I said, "Let's call people that have horses for sale,
'cause cowboys play guitar."
I mean, I came up with a lot of ideas, but he ran with it.
[motorbike engine revs]
[rock music plays]
[Norman] When I came to Los Angeles,
it was a mecca,
and I had the opportunity to buy things that I never would see in Miami.
And I had also the opportunity to sell a lot of things,
because all these big bands were out there.
I was kind of getting known amongst other bands just by word of mouth.
I would kind of buy and sell guitars in LA,
and I would buy them privately,
and then I would sell 'em through some stores on consignment,
and sometimes to these stores.
And there was a store that I used to do a lot of business with
in West LA, called University Music.
And there was a friend of mine, Dale Rossman,
who used to run the place.
One day, he gives me a call,
about maybe 9:00, 9:30 in the morning, and he goes...
[Dale over phone] Norm, I need you to come over here right away.
I've got a very important customer who wants a guitar.
[static buzzes]
[funky music plays]
I get to his store and I walk in,
and it's just my friend, Dale, sitting there,
and I go, "Dale, what's the deal?
"Dale, I just drove all the way over here.
You told me it was somebody real important."
He said, "All right, I'm gonna tell you. It's George Harrison."
And I just kind of was looking at him like...
You know? I mean, I was kind of in shock.
And all of a sudden, George walks through the door
with Mal Evans, who was The Beatles' road manager.
He said he had a guitar stolen from him.
It was a Les Paul that Eric Clapton gave him,
and he needs to replace it.
They found the store where the guitar was sold to,
the guy who bought it at that store, bought it in good faith.
And the guy said he'd be willing to give George back his guitar
if he could get a similar guitar,
a late-'50s Les Paul Standard in exchange.
So I told him, "Well, I happen to have three of 'em.
He jumped in my car and we drove back to Sherman Oaks.
I had a three-bedroom apartment at the time,
but I had two bedrooms
that were just filled with guitars, everywhere.
I opened the door, and Marlene is still in her bathrobe,
and I go, "Marlene, uh, I'm bringing in George Harrison."
I said, "Yeah, right." And I stayed in my bathrobe...
[chuckles] ...and I didn't even change.
And then, two seconds later, George and Mal walked through the door,
and Marlene was, like, looking at me, like, "Why didn't you tell me?"
[chuckling] You know? You know, and she's in shock.
And anyhow, we sat there for a couple hours,
played some guitars,
and George ended up buying
two late-'50s Les Paul Standard sunbursts,
one to send to replace the guitar and get his guitar back,
and another one that he fell in love with, which was a 60,
that was very clean, that he wanted for himself.
And he also bought a 1956 Stratocaster,
which I charged him 750 bucks.
Nowadays, this would probably be a $50,000 or 60,000 guitar.
It was super clean.
But I liked him very much,
and I was so stoked that I was actually even dealing with George Harrison
that I didn't really care.
I would've given him the guitar probably,
just to be able to say that.
Although, I didn't think anybody would believe me.
I would run these ads in the L.A. Times
for instruments for sale.
And I get a call,
and the guy says, "You know, I'd like to come see these."
And I said, "Yeah, come on over."
And I said, "What's your name?" And he goes, "Robbie."
And Robbie comes in, and I didn't recognize him,
but it was Robbie Robertson from The Band.
So he came in and he buys several instruments from me.
And then, I got a call, like, the next maybe Wednesday or Thursday,
and he said, "You know,
this Saturday, I'd like to bring a friend of mine in, if you wouldn't mind."
I said, "No, no."
He brings in Bob Dylan.
And that was the first time that I ever dealt with Bob Dylan.
And Bob ended up buying some instruments from me.
And then Robbie also brought Joni Mitchell and Robben Ford.
And it seemed like, you know, word of mouth around town
amongst the musicians,
'cause there were no vintage stores,
nobody had any vintage stuff.
And I had a three-bedroom apartment with guitars everywhere.
And so, I had kind of monopoly
on the vintage market at the time in LA,
and it really...
Robbie was very instrumental in building my business up.
And it was really a plan B.
I mean, I really started out, coming out to California to be a musician.
You know, my intention was to just be able to provide a living for my family.
[Sarah] So if I put this for instance, right up here.
[Norman] Yeah, just so that you can read
what the thing is on the bottom.
Make sure that there's something--
-So, yeah. -I see that.
Yeah. And just all this stuff is just kind of...
[Sarah] You know how they say you grow into your parents,
like you don't even realize it?
But I'm starting to see, like, I can't shut off.
Like, I couldn't sleep last night, because I was thinking about clients
and emails and all this crap.
And that's the same shit that I come down on him for.
[Norman] I mean, if it wasn't for my family,
I probably wouldn't go to the doctor to be honest with you.
-I'm like, you know, I'm... -I know.
I figure I'm here till I'm not, you know?
But, you know, I did and I checked it out
and unfortunately or fortunately,
that's the news I got.
I mean, nobody's taking it great. My daughter is...
you know, and it's tough for her. So...
I think my dad taught me, like, an insane work ethic.
I grew up, and he wasn't around that much.
And sometimes, it does bother me.
I tell my dad, like, "I want you to retire.
You're getting older, you need to just relax and chill."
But he's not him without that store.
Like, he doesn't have an identity without that store.
It's like his life, day and night.
[blues music playing]
When we had our firstborn, Jordan, I was, you know...
And I'm still kind of a reluctant father.
[Marlene] Norman, you know, was more of a big kid than,
you know, a hands-on parent.
I mean, he was off playing softball
or playing in the band at night.
And I would have to say, I was the responsible parent.
He was a good father, but he wasn't there a lot.
Jordan was my first,
and Sarah wasn't born until six years later.
And, of course, I was crazy about her
just like I was with Jordan.
[Marlene] I had my hands full with both of them.
And, you know, when he was there, we had a good time.
[Norman] I always felt kind of, you know, out there as a father.
I would see these television shows like Father Knows Best
and Leave It to Beaver.
And these families seemed so normal,
and I felt so abnormal
that I just couldn't really see myself as being a father.
But I did the best that I could.
But there were a lot of long-haired musicians hanging around,
and, you know, that was just the way it was back then.
And I always kind of felt like The Munsters
or The Addams Family or something,
I was just felt totally off to the, uh, to the left.
Norman worked really hard, and he was always stoned.
So... [laughing] ...it was amazing that he could do what he did,
and smoke as much as he did.
I never really thought about opening a store in my life.
But at the end of 1974,
we were paid a visit by the State Board of Equalization.
Somebody had said, I guess,
that we were doing business out of the house.
So, we ended up having to look for a location,
and my mom and I went out, found the first store,
which was about 500 square feet.
It was on Vanowen and Tampa.
Norman's Rare Guitars, Vanowen and Tampa.
[Norman] I didn't know if I was gonna have a business or not, you know?
So, we wanted a really small store with very low rent,
and I didn't know if I'd be in business for five years
or two years or six months.
Hi, I'm Scott Borden.
I was Norman's original partner.
We opened the store, I believe on Valentine's Day in 1975.
And I was there virtually every day for the next ten years.
I didn't even get vacations. He wouldn't let me go.
Back in those days,
I was one of the few people that had never smoked a joint.
I didn't get high and I didn't drink.
And he had already seen that I was pretty good at selling guitars.
And he felt like, well, since he smoked a lot
and I didn't smoke any, I would be a good person to be in that store.
I mean, he woke up in the morning
and he reached over on his nightstand, and grabbed a joint.
And to this day, I've still never smoked pot.
I sold a lot of it, but I never smoked it.
We just developed a mutual trust for each other.
And when we opened the store, he could leave.
He trusted me.
To this day, he's one of my favorite people.
And I've been out of the store since say, 1985,
which is how long?
The first store on Tampa, it was 6753 Tampa Avenue.
And it had this big funky put-together wooden sign up in front
that was built by Dan,
and the logo designed by John Juke Logan.
They were your typical music store
I was used to back East.
Uh, very cramped
and you'll see amps piled on each other just to make room.
Yeah, it was a piece of shit. It was basically a closet.
[Scott] We just had guitars all over the place.
[Tucci] He had things that nobody else had.
When you went there, it was like, "Oh,
this was different. This was special."
[Rob] So, you walked in, and it was emerald green carpeting,
and, like, baby poo tan walls.
But it was packed with museum piece guitars.
I mean, it was like you'd see '50's Teles
and '60's Strats and '50's Less Paul's.
I mean, they would just be there like it was just regular stock.
And in the back, there was a pinball machine and there was a couch,
and on the wall was... They didn't have a phone book.
They wrote everybody's number on the wall.
And there was another part of the wall that they used
to tally up what people owed them.
And a piece of furniture named Scott,
who was always there eating watermelon and watching TV.
And I still remember the smell to this day.
When we first started,
the rent on the store was $600 a month.
We used to say, you know, if we can gross a couple hundred bucks a day,
we'd be doing okay.
There was no such thing as these $10,000 guitars
or even $5,000 guitars back then.
It was just amazing, because it was this little store,
but people were already kind of talking about us.
It just started growing on its own.
The first little store was kind of like a "hidden gem" type vibe
'cause it wasn't that well known,
because there was no internet and stuff like that.
So it was kind of like the "in guys" went in there.
You'd never know who you're gonna see in there.
[Nick] The biggest names in rock and roll would just come in
and hang out for a couple hours.
First time I went to Norman's old store,
I see these two hairy-looking creatures,
like, through a drawer of pickups, I think it was.
And as my eyes got accustomed to light,
I realized it was Tom Petty and Bob Dylan
looking for Rickenbacker pickups or something.
I grew up in an environment of hanging in coffee shops,
hanging in guitar shops.
To me, it was always like a gathering place of...
of kind of like-minded people, you know, that like guitars.
I've always liked guitars.
I mean, I had vintage guitars in the '60's.
I didn't really know they'd be worth $300,000 now.
I thought $150 was a pretty good stretch in those days.
Being the guitar nerd that I was, I went to all the shops.
I never could afford any back then when I was 19.
But as the years rolled along,
I'd pick 'em up from time to time.
But, that was always a fun shop to go to
'cause Norm always had just loads and loads and loads of great stuff.
I have several instruments in my collection that I bought from Norman.
And been a friend for, gosh, 43 years.
When I'd get back in from working with John Mayall on the road,
I'd go and hang, and we'd play cards there all day long,
and listen to music and play music in the store.
Just goof off, you know. We got close that way.
It was like coming to somebody's living room
and being able to play the best guitars in the world.
So, why wouldn't you go hang out there?
I was starting to write articles for music periodicals,
and I thought, "Well, you know, it would be great to try
"and write an article on Norm.
"I think this is interesting stuff
and I'll submit it to Guitar Player,"
'cause I knew the editor at the time, and submitted it.
And sure enough, it got in the December, 1976 issue
with Robbie Robertson.
That article,
it brought him worldwide recognition
and people started coming in from Japan, from Europe.
We really have to credit the Guitar Player article.
And it was the first article written about the business
of rare guitar investing and collecting.
After that article came out,
everybody started talking about vintage guitars.
His business was solid at that point.
It put us on the map
and legitimized what Norman's Rare Guitars was.
Eventually, we needed some more space,
and the store on the corner, which was 1,800 square feet became available,
and we signed onto that store.
I figured I'll never be able to fill this store up.
You know, within a few months, we had more guitars in there.
You could hardly walk in there.
Hi, I'm Doug Fieger, The Knack and I don't do commercials,
but I've been shopping at Norm's Rare Guitars
for almost 20 years,
and some of my favorite guitars come from here.
So do yourself a favor and check it out.
I was 13, 14, 15 years old at the time.
My excitement walking from the parking lot
up the street, up Tampa just to the corner,
was like, it was just awesome.
-And it's all original '63? -Yep.
[John 5] I was very young when I first started going to Norm's.
I probably had to be, you know, 18 or something like that.
There was no internet, there was no social media, there was nothing.
So, it was just word of mouth.
If you wanted a great guitar,
you would go to Norman's Rare Guitars.
There was tons of just old guitars and dudes.
You would see, like, a group of guys, all talking laughing,
shooting the shit, whatever they do.
But in the middle of 'em was always Norman, you know,
just kinda like the Godfather just sitting there almost.
I mean, and he wasn't-- Maybe it wasn't like that,
but he was always super-cool, like, super-friendly to us.
And for whatever reason, I don't know,
I mean it was just because he's compassionate. I don't know.
When I would go into the store, I would have this feeling
of, you know, euphoria.
Because you saw all these... Not just guitars,
but they were amazing guitars.
They were like just the cream of the crop,
and the best of the best.
Everybody was super-nice, really cool.
And they were like, play whatever you want to play.
And you could touch 'em and you could play 'em,
and you could strum 'em. It was a magic time for me.
And, you know, you kind of felt special.
You kind of felt like a part of this family.
[Norman] But, you know, this place is kind of like a hotel.
They come and they stay for a short time,
and then they leave and go all over the world.
[announcer] One of Bruce Springsteen's guitars checked in recently
for readjustment.
Kurt Cobain had come in,
and this is right at the height.
He was very, very low key and really nice.
Norman didn't know him from Adam
because they had just broken big--
And that was the good thing about having me there,
because I watched MTV.
I knew... you know, I'd go,
"Norm, that's that guy from this. We gotta talk to him.
He's, you know, he's a good guy to talk to."
I sold him that Epiphone guitar that was on the stand
in the back of the Unplugged sessions
that has the "Nixon for President."
The great thing about artists like him
and other... the big name guys is,
we weren't trying to sell 'em anything.
I mean we were obviously,
but we weren't... it wasn't a hard-pressed sale.
It was like, "Look,
"I could show you this super-duper expensive guitar.
"'Oh, it's an investment'
"But, no, you know what? I think you'd really dig this.
"This has got a great vibe.
"I know what your playing style is.
I think this is really cool. I love it."
And he played it, and he goes, "Yeah, this is really good.
And he goes, "I wound up buying it."
And then he goes in his whiny voice,
he goes... [imitates Cobain] "...Yeah, I went to this one guitar store in Hollywood
"and I asked if I could play the guitar.
"And the guy goes, 'Well, that guitar's really expensive.'
"And I left, and I just wanted to look back
and go, 'I could buy this whole guitar store if I wanted to.'
So I came here."
[rock music playing]
[Kiefer] I remember just the amount of playing in that store,
and it was so unlike any other guitar store I'd been in,
because on any given day,
Jackson Browne could be in there,
this person could be in there.
And so, the playing that was going on was pretty extraordinary.
And every once in a while, especially with the professional musicians,
you could tell if someone was working up a new song,
'cause that's what they would immediately start to play on the guitar.
And so, it was just a fascinating thing to watch.
It very quickly just became my favorite store.
There's an instrument that I think will be coming up here
that was in Streets of Fire,
and we're now negotiating, I think, right now
on doing a new Steve Spielberg movie
called Back To The Future.
[playing rock 'n' roll riff]
The legacy that he's had in TV and film,
everything from The Last Waltz
to Spinal Tap and Back To The Future.
He even told them, "You're in 1955.
"This gear that I'm renting to you wasn't made until 1958.
You truly must have a time machine."
A lot of the times when they needed instruments
from either a certain time period,
and they wanted things to be authentic,
they called on us.
I supplied the instruments to The Last Waltz.
That was one of the things I'm the most proud of.
I think it's the greatest rock documentary of all time.
♪ When I get off of This mountain ♪
♪ You know where I want to go... ♪
This is little piece of history.
So on that tour with The Band and Bob Dylan in 1974,
I got from Norm a red Stratocaster,
and it felt so good.
It felt like the nicest Telecaster,
'cause some of them, the early ones
can be a little bulky in the neck,
or a little thin, whatever.
This one felt beautiful.
So I used it the whole tour.
In 1976, when we decided to do The Last Waltz,
concert and movie,
this guitar, I thought, "Well,
"we're bringing things to a conclusion here.
"I'm gonna have this guitar bronzed.
"I'm gonna have it dipped, like they do baby shoes, and bronze them."
So they did. And it changed the sound of it
in a good way.
It was great.
But what I didn't realize,
'cause The Last Waltz concert went on for five hours,
and it also made it twice as heavy.
I had another Stratocaster
that I got from Norm. Beauty.
And so with the bronze one, when it would wear me out,
I would switch to the other Strat.
And when Eric Clapton plays in The Last Waltz
and its strap breaks, I was playing that guitar.
And Martin Scorsese had said to me,
"My God, that's such a beautiful guitar,"
when they were editing the movie.
And, but he kept saying, "God, that's a beautiful-looking guitar."
And then, in the fall of 1977,
I gave him the sunburst one
for his birthday.
[inhales deeply]
[sighs] I don't know if I should have done that.
[rock music playing]
[Norman] I also supplied Spinal Tap
with a whole bunch of guitars
that were, like, Les Pauls and Stratocasters
and Fender Bass VIs.
It's quite unbelievable.
And I supplied them with a Marshall Amp.
They said, "Well,
"one of our gags is we're gonna say 'amps go from one to ten,
but this amp goes to 11.'"
[man] Eleven. Look, right across the board.
-Eleven, eleven, eleven... -[man 2] Oh, I see.
-And most of these amps go up to ten. -Exactly.
Does that mean it's louder? Is it any louder?
Well, it's one louder, isn't it?
[Norman] And that was kind of one of their gags,
and it's part of the vernacular of musical instrument culture
where people go, "Yeah, it goes to 11,
and people know what that means.
It's a Spinal Tap reference.
[rock music playing]
[Norman] When I see these things in videos,
and I see 'em in movies
and I see them on TV and all that,
and I know that I actually supplied that instrument,
I mean, you know, it's like supplying them with a... a weapon.
I feel like I have a history with the artist
and with the item.
I have a memory a lot of times with the guitar itself,
and it's just real satisfying.
It's just something that's a good feeling to know that I was a part of it.
[Marlene] The store on Tampa and Vanowen
felt like the walls were coming in,
and he needed to get a bigger store.
The store that I'm presently in,
that we moved in the year 2000,
is 6,000 square feet.
Same thing. I figured we'd never be able to fill it up.
But we've filled it up, and more.
♪ It's so good to be ♪
♪ Home ♪
♪ Home, yeah It's so good to be home ♪
♪ Yes, it is ♪
♪ Oh, baby ♪
-[upbeat rock music playing over speakers] -[Norman speaking indistinctly]
You guys have put up with a lot,
and I want to thank my kids,
and I want to thank the person who I love the most in the world
and who has put up with me for 25 some-odd years.
And I hope it goes for a lot longer. My wife Marlene.
-Thank you very much. -[crowd cheering]
[man] So, Marlene, do you have anything special you want
to say to Norman on your 25th anniversary?
Yeah, that I really love him a lot,
and I'm really glad that we had everybody come tonight
and I'm having a really good time.
Twenty-five years is quite an accomplishment.
Congratulations, and hopefully another 25 years to come.
[Rick] I've known Norm for a long time,
and I really cherish the relationship with him.
Good friend, and kind of like a brother in a way.
You know, everybody's got to have a brother like that.
I love this man.
I've been coming into the store actually for 28 years.
I usually come in Friday afternoons.
There's a certain kind of Epiphone guitars that I like,
acoustic flat tops, early '60's, short headstock.
So I come in, and he had just got one in
and he goes. "Hey, you know, I know you got a lot of these.
Here's one, take a look at it."
Now, it hadn't been set up yet, it didn't have fresh strings.
So I said, "All right, Norm, let's do this.
"Set it up in the morning. You open at 11:00,
"set it up, I'll come down at 12.
"I just gotta play it,
"and as long as it plays right and it sounds the way I want it,
then we'll work out a deal." Great.
So, the next morning, I walk in,
and there's a guy standing at the counter,
holding the guitar in his hands,
basically just about to take his credit card out and buy the guitar.
And so I walk in and I walk up, and I go,
"That's the guitar that you're supposed to be holding for me."
And he goes, "Well, you didn't commit to it, you know,
so, you know, it's still available."
I said, "You're supposed to be setting it up for me,
and I'm here to check the guitar out."
You know, so I start getting fumed, I start getting angry here.
Now, it's not this guy who's trying to buy the guitar's fault.
He doesn't even know he's caught in the middle of anything right now.
This guy starts negotiating a little bit,
and going, "You know, the price is a little bit high, Norm,
because the price guide says this and you're charging this."
And then Norm looks at me and goes,
"Rick, tell him how good my prices are."
He goes, "You know, tell him
that this guitar is worth what I'm asking for."
And I said, "You're asking me to help you sell this guitar?"
And he goes, "Rick, you've got five of these already.
You don't need another one. This guy needs it."
And now, I just lose it,
because he's asking me to help him sell this guitar,
my guitar that I was supposed to buy to this other guy.
And I looked at him, I went, "You're an asshole."
And I walked out of the store and I didn't come in for six months.
I was so upset with him.
Then Norm and I had a conversation about it,
and I just told him, "Moving forward,
"that, you know what, we have to kind of change this dynamic.
"It's not a race to the finish line.
"And if I want something, I need you to hold it for me.
"And I need that respect.
"We've done a lot of business for 28 years,
and I'm not gonna play that game anymore."
And since then, we haven't had that situation.
If I ask him to hold it, he will hold it,
like he does for his other cherished customers.
But, for me, he likes to try to, you know, teach me a lesson
and piss me off.
Uh, but I love him regardless.
[Norman] Just to roll back the tape.
-[laughing] -[Norman] No, no, no. I just gotta say something.
What you said to me is, "I'll come in tomorrow
and we'll negotiate on it."
-That's not like, "I'll take it." -You know what?
That's like, "Now we'll start talking about prices...
You're right. I just said I'll come in, and if I like it,
-we'll try to work out a deal. -[Norman] I got a guy here buying the fucking guitar.
-This is my interview. Fuck you. [laughs] -[Norman] You douchebag.
-You can say whatever you want. -[crew laughing]
You can do your... you know, you can address it towards the end.
[Norman] Make me look like, you know, like I promised you,
-you committed to the price. -You are a scumbag, but I love you regardless.
[Norman] Thank you. You made me look like you committed to the...
that you committed to the price.
-No, it was holding a guitar-- -You said, "Hold it tomorrow
-and I'll come and we'll negotiate-- -It's holding a guitar
for one of your best customers.
[Norman] Thank you, that's not a sale.
You know what, it's not a sale. But, you know, that's how you treat your best customers.
If I was Richie Sambora you wouldn't fuck with that.
-All right, keep going. Blah, blah blah, blah, blah. -[Norman chattering]
As much as sometimes he pisses me off
and we go at it, you know what,
he's like my brother in a lot of ways.
So, I love him.
Hate to admit it, but I love him.
[rock music playing]
[Joe] These guitars, like these, every single guitar in here,
unless it's brand new, has some type of a story.
You know, it's been in the hands of somebody else.
It's been in somebody else's house,
it's been on stage with somebody else.
It's Tom Petty and Norm hanging out in the store,
trying to chisel down those prices.
[man] Norm's one of the few mom and pop stores left.
The very definition of a mom and pop store is what Norm's is.
You know that Norm is the one
who goes to these places that I wish I could go to, you know,
and find these rare guitars and brings them here.
So, those of us who live and work here, can play them,
and buy them and have them and use them.
You walk in here, and there's a spell that comes over you.
I mean, what other store has got a couch
and you just sit here and you talk, and, "How you doing? What's up?"
And oh, it's just... It's a hometown.
Musicians, aspiring musicians, professional musicians,
whatever your status is,
you love to be in a place
where you can just sort of feel at ease
and relaxed around instruments,
and being able to try one out and hear it.
And it's just that kind of environment where they welcome you
to come and pick up a guitar and try it out.
Going right back to 16 years old, 12 years old, whatever,
how we started this thing.
And that's the vibe in this guitar store.
It's right back to why we play guitar.
And I get inspiration from that place,
just walking into the place and seeing around the room.
There's music. Every time you pick up a guitar,
it should inspire you to play something or sing something different.
This is one of the stores you go in and you're just overwhelmed.
[Taylor] At first, I was terrified.
At first, I was like, "Oh, gosh, like,
everyone's so intimidating.
Like I would kind of like try to not be seen,
and not not try to talk with too many people.
The first time I heard about Norman's Rare Guitars
was actually on set of this TV show
I was doing called Roadies,
where a friend of mine who's on the show was wearing
a Norman's Rare Guitars t-shirt.
So, I was like, "What's that place with that address,
"like, right next to my house?"
We made plans to go to Norman's.
I think this was the week that, like, Prince died and I saw this guitar...
which is a Parker.
It just felt like Prince, you know?
And I was like, "Holy shit, I gotta buy it."
And so that was my first trip there.
I got this guy.
You walk in as a novice player, you're just like, "Hey.
Well, these are really, these are really cool--"
And you're afraid to touch anything
and you don't know like what... like what the rules are.
And then, all of a sudden, you start to have a conversation
with anyone who works here,
and you realize, they seem pretty cool.
Not only does he know everything,
but the amazing people that work with him
know everything about guitars, and are--
I used to be embarrassed to play in front of them.
[chuckles] They're so good. You know, they play such great, amazing guitar.
Everybody was just so nice. I always felt welcome here.
Like, I can just kind of hang.
There's been a few times where I would come by and say hi,
because I was in the neighborhood.
It's a hang suite, man.
When you get to know Norm
and the guys in here, it's a family thing.
It's really home.
[harmonizing] ♪ Hello ♪
-♪ Hello ♪ -♪ Hello ♪
♪ Hello ♪
It's like your favorite local restaurant, you know,
where the owner's always there and that's why it's a good restaurant,
'cause the owner's always there, making sure
everyone's doing it the way he wants it done.
You're allowed to be who you are at whatever level you are.
It's chill. I've come in here, looked around,
and I think maybe once, I didn't buy something,
I never leave the store without getting a guitar, which is crazy. It's crazy.
Sometimes, you look at the price tags of some of these guitars,
you'll be like, "Holy shit."
There are several different kinds of collecting that people do.
There are certain collectors that only want instruments
that have no issues, no refinishing, no parts swapped out.
You know, they want the most original conditioned type instruments,
and a lot of them don't even play, you know,
a lot of collectors are looking at it strictly as a...
as a financial investment.
[Mike] But these vintage instruments,
they're like Stradivarius, or Picasso, pieces of art,
and they just go up in value.
It's a win-win. You get to play your guitar on records,
write songs with it, hang it on the wall.
It's beautiful to look at, and it's a great investment.
Norm was right there at the right time.
[Vince] Buying and selling and knocking around instruments,
they do it because they really are crazy about it. Aand they are crazy.
[laughs]
Basically, Norm is selling me real estate,
and that real estate is going... skyrocketing.
So, Norman supplies that passion
for those who have it.
And the ones that don't have it, he sells back to me.
Being a guitar player
and understanding what these scratches and dents mean,
you know, to quote Eric Clapton
and how I like to buy my guitars too,
is that I like to buy the ones that were highly favored.
Where, you know, you can tell somebody loved this guitar,
and for some reason had to give it away.
Right now, I'm on the cusp of too big to unwind.
I have 400 guitars, 400-plus guitars, 400 amps.
And you're like... [sighs] You know, there's a point where
the saturation point becomes... I'm very aware of that.
And how much... how much do you need?
Yeah, you get spun up, and then you start making sets,
and you make, you know, like,
"I want to get every color and stuff like that."
And yeah, the addict and the collector comes out.
When you're in acquisition mode, you're rolling like this.
Here's common sense. Here's fiscal responsibility.
And you close, and you just go, "I'm in here,
I'm this, I want that."
And then, all of a sudden, it just stops
and you go, "Okay, probably should just sit back
and enjoy what you have."
Because, on several occasions I'll pull out cases,
and I'm like, "Oh, my God, I forgot I had this," you know?
Dumbbell, you've had it for ten years,
you know, you forgot you bought it.
There was a very prolific period for me
when I was here and in the other store a lot.
I had almost 100 guitars.
And then I got really cross with myself,
because there was no way you could play 100 guitars.
And so, I sold almost three quarters of them.
Now I have a rule... to buy a new guitar
is to sell an old guitar.
So, it becomes a lot harder to make those decisions.
[Joe] One of the things about collecting
and this whole thing, this whole room that we're in,
is the fact that we are purveyors of cool.
You know, and you only buy stuff that you think is cool.
That's the... that's the only litmus test that you got to have.
"Do you really like this stuff?
Do you think it's cool? Do you want to display it?"
Or in my case, make a theme park out of it. Sure.
You know, and that's really where...
It's the long and short of it.
Nobody knew back then that you could take a $300 guitar
and then people would pay 50,000 or 60,000 bucks for it 40 years later.
You know, certain guitars are desirable,
and a lot of times, it's because of who plays them.
There's a lot of things that are old, buy doesn't mean they're great.
I actually remember the first time I went into Norm's store.
I got in an argument with him,
because my first vintage guitar was a Stratocaster,
1964 Stratocaster I got in Florida,
which I actually borrowed the money, 'cause I couldn't afford it for $200.
And so, I went into his store one day,
and he had one, I wanted a backup.
He had one similar. And I said, "Well, how about that one?"
He said, "That's $20,000."
And I wanted to slug him. Like, that's immoral.
I got mine for 200 bucks. What's going on?
But Norm had the vision that he saw
that the market was gonna explode.
And I didn't, I was stuck in the...
in the dark ages for a long time.
I just couldn't bring myself to spend that kind of money on an instrument.
And, of course, now, it's way past that.
And I've become a collector by default over the years.
I just buy them to play them,
and they've started to pile up in my house now.
As I look around this room
and I see all of these guitars in here, it's kind of overwhelming.
But if you zero in on one, right,
and you pick up that guitar and you start to play it,
it will talk to you.
And it tells you, "I'm gonna teach you how to play different."
And it's absolutely true.
The way I'll pick up a Strat or a Tele, compared to a Les Paul.
I'll hold it different,
my fingering is still structurally the same,
but I'll hold it tighter or looser, or you know,
or grab onto it for dear life.
They all speak to you differently.
Going to a shop like Norm's, the whole idea was that you...
you would discover something.
Are you gonna find that magic instrument,
that magic guitar that speaks to you?
Sometimes, I'd have a general idea what I was looking for,
or maybe I wasn't looking for anything,
and kind of finding that perfect surprise.
But, you know, go around the wall and just grab the necks.
You know, for me it's all... it's a feel thing.
You know, I grab the neck, I don't even have to take it off the wall.
If I feel it and it feels kind of like,
"Hey, this is in the ball game."
You know, then I take it to another level.
I think that even young people... My boys are 20 and 24,
so I look to them a lot.
How do your friends react?
And, yeah, a lot of kids buy things online,
but I also know customers here that are young people
that give a shit about the exchange,
that give a shit about picking it up and plugging it in,
that give a shit about being amongst this.
One of the things I would say that why the guitars still sell online too,
a lot of the reason is you're not gonna find another one.
Buying online is great if you know exactly what you want
and you have an idea of what it's gonna sound like.
But it has to be something generic.
If you're shopping for vintage stuff,
you have to come and listen to it.
You gotta sit with it in your hands.
It's a tactile experience.
Two perfectly great guitar players can sit down with the same guitar,
and one of them will love it and one of them will be "meh."
You know, it's... it's very, very personal, the decision.
A professional musician, you're going be spending a lot of time.
This thing's helping you make your living,
so you got to make the right choice, you know.
[Joe] People hanging out on the couch and playing together
and talking and laughing,
and, you know, obviously, when that's happening,
it helps drive sales,
but it also just fosters the community.
And I think Norman's just has a community
that most other music stores don't have.
[all cheering]
The vibe of the store is the reason why guitar stores should exist.
It wasn't even about the guitars sometimes.
There was always just an element of the family,
not just of the people who work there,
but of the people who shop there.
We've had a lot of really kind of touching moments in the store as well,
and a lot of stuff that, you know, is, you know,
a little on the sad side,
and you know, it's just an experience that,
you know, you kind of had to be here.
But we had a young man who came into the store,
his name was Kyle Grady and his mom, June,
and they were really sweet folks, and they came in.
And Kyle had some type of really rare cancer in his face.
And his eye was removed, he had, like, a patch over his eye.
He looked like he was probably a really good-looking kid.
He had been through it with these surgeries.
And he came in and he said,
"You know, I know you're friends with Richie Sambora.
He said, "You know, I've been going through a lot of these surgeries
"and, you know, they've been really,
you know, hard on me.
He said, you know, "One of the things
"that really kept me going was, I'm a big fan of Richie Sambora,
"and I have this little cassette tape of me playing
"some of Richie's tunes, the Bon Jovi tunes.
And he said, "Would you do me a favor?
Could you give this to Richie for me?"
And it was, really, a moving moment.
His mom really wanted... they weren't sure...
He, you know, he said one of his friends had said,
"You know, you shouldn't go in the store.
You know, the way you look, you know, they might start making fun of you."
That was the opposite really, of what happened.
It was really, you know, we were really moved for the kid.
And I called Richie, who happened to be in town at the time,
and I said, "You know, Richie, there's this kid in the store
"and he's gone through some really bad bouts with cancer,
"and he's had part of his face removed, and this and that,"
you know, and that he seems like a really nice kid.
"And he was really inspired by your guitar playing.
"He gave me a cassette tape that he wants me to give to you/
"You know, I just thought maybe I'd put you on the phone with him,
to just give him a couple words of encouragement."
And Richie said, "Is he in the store right now?
And I said, "Yeah, he's over here now."
He said, "Keep him there. I'll be right over."
And he jumped in his car...
he came over...
[breathes heavily]
[voice breaking] Sorry for being emotional. Excuse me.
It meant so much to him and his family.
You have no idea.
And Richie is one of the all-time biggest hearts,
one of the greatest guys I've ever known, for him to do that.
They... they stayed in touch.
And, uh...
they would kind of text each other and email each other
and talk from time to time.
And they were giving Richie an award for The Midnight Mission.
And I flew Kyle and his mom out
to be with him that day.
It was one of the great moments of his life.
And his mom was so appreciative.
A few months later, Kyle passed away. [sobs]
And it was something, you know,
that I know brought happiness to this kid who... [breathes heavily]
...had been through so much.
I'm sorry, I should really... I should cut this, you know.
Some people are dealt a really tough hand in life,
and it was one of the moments that meant the most to me.
I've done so many things like that,
visiting children's hospitals where these kids are dying.
It is a very, very, very, very hard thing to do.
You just bring hope and you talk to them
almost in an existential manner.
So it's like,
how you doing?
It's more like being a friend.
You have to have a conversation with them
from past, present, and future.
Fucking sad. Sorry, I'm a bit choked up.
That's what you do.
By the way, even if you don't like guitars,
and you've already seen Norm's good looks...
So those things happen upon entering the store,
but to look around, oh, my God,
even if you're not a guitar person,
it's just so warm and welcoming.
But here's also the exciting thing.
When I was first brought into the back,
oh, delightful.
[curious music plays]
[Jeff] There's the stuff out there, which is all great stuff
and there's lots of it.
But there's a back room
and that's... that's where the gold is.
There's vaults that go back that way.
He's like, "What are you looking for?"
And you'd be looking around, going,
"Well, I was looking, like...
"like anything mid '60's, I'm looking for a Dove.
But yeah, I'll come back when you got--"
"Hold on, don't move." [laughs]
You'd be there. And then he'd go behind the door,
or someone would go behind the door,
and then five minutes later,
three 1966, '67 Doves were standing right there.
And then he had the Hummingbirds in case you wanted to change your mind.
I just thought, "Wow,
"like, how big is whatever room that is behind there,
and why aren't we allowed to go in there?"
The guitars in the back kind of have to stay how they are.
A guitar up front, you jnow,
someone knocks off a switch tip from a Telecaster and it's no big deal.
We throw another one on there.
But you knock off the switch tip from a '52 Telecaster,
and now it's not all original anymore. [chuckles]
And that's actually kind of a big deal.
If Norm doesn't want to bring someone to the back,
it's like, "What, I'm not good enough," or something like that.
But really, it can just be these guitars aren't supposed
to be put in the hands of everybody who wants to see them.
I've noticed that Norm is more protective
of historically significant guitars,
maybe than even guitars
that technically would make him more money.
That's what he cares about, preserving the history of the instruments that he loves.
But also on the flip side, I've seen him take out Tom Petty's guitar
and show it to a bunch of people,
just because someone could walk in and say, "My mom and I are huge Tom Petty fans."
And he'll just say, "You wanna see something cool?"
[Joe] There's the stuff you see in the store.
And then there's the "secret stash."
[Tim] I had heard about the warehouse forever.
Get into Norm's car one day, and we drive,
and I'm talking to Norm and I kind of don't know
where it is, which is what he wants.
[Joe] And it was the scene out of that Indiana Jones movie
where they find the holy grail,
and it goes into this secret warehouse where all these crates
and there's forklifts...
I just remember popping these things open with a crowbar,
and it's just floor to ceiling, guitars, guitars.
And you're like, "What?"
He's like, "Yeah, I have 12 of these."
I'm like, "What?"
There's the great stuff that people want in the store,
but there's also the cut above stuff that you never see again.
The once in a lifetime guitars, the mint stuff,
the stuff that is so preserved that it looks like it was made yesterday,
and it's 70 years old in some cases with the acoustics.
It's 60 years old, 70 years old,
in the case of the solid bodies.
I did pick up a guitar there and I touched the tuning key
and it basically turned to sand in my hand.
[laughing]
So there is... I think they... I think it's time
for these guitars to... to be put into people's hands.
I mean, it was an amazing... I mean, I was like, "Norm, I'm sorry." [chuckles]
Ah, he goes, "Oh, happens all the time."
And some of these guitars have barely been played,
and some of them don't have a scratch on them.
And you realize he's spent his entire life
actually archiving and collecting
the best examples of the best guitars.
It's... it's jaw dropping.
[Joe] And he has all this stuff.
It's a lifetime worth of collecting.
It's a lifetime worth of passion.
And that's what makes Norm's Rare Guitars special. It's him.
I saw Norm's store on YouTube first.
I think one of the first videos I saw was when
Richie Sambora was here with Orianthi.
And I used to play that video over
and over and over and over again.
Like, I just... they just looked like they were just having so much fun.
Today, at Norm's Rare Guitars,
I got my really great buddy over here, Richie Sambora.
-What's happening, man? -And the great Orianthi.
And both of them were just kind of killing it.
Every guitar they would give to him... [babbling]
This chick plays like she means it.
[playing guitar riff]
Yeah, I mean there's ten million views on that video, you know.
And I didn't know he was filming, which is a funny thing.
"Here's a guitar, try it."
And then Richie's grabbing a guitar, and I was grabbing one,
and then, you know, he was throwing, like,
shiny things and really cool things at me.
I'm like completely engrossed with that.
It was pretty insane when people, like...
You got that many views on that... on that video.
But I guess because we didn't know that it was being filmed, you know?
So, it was really natural and just obnoxious. [laughs]
When social media got big,
people actually had
this look into the store, this inside look.
It was like, all of a sudden, a window had been opened,
and everybody could see the inner workings
and the people jamming out on the couch.
And, "You wanna know what's going on on Tuesday at four o'clock?
Like, check social media."
'Cause they're pretty routine about it.
[playing upbeat music]
[playing harmonica]
I noticed Norm's social media taking off
before Norm noticed Norm's, social media taking off.
At first, he was like, he didn't know,
he needed a minute to get his sea legs,
but he's become a really great presenter.
Norm over here at Norm's Rare Guitars.
[Marlene] I mean, after a while, Norm loved the YouTube channel,
like YouTube videos, like every day.
Hey, everybody, Norm over here.
And I once again have my buddy Frank Stallone.
They let him out for the week.
His nurse said he's okay.
You know, I'm not sure about that, you know, but--
Neither am I, actually.
Well, anyhow, Stan, I would like my $20 at this point.
-Well, you weren't there. -Oh! Well, how do you remember stuff like that?
-I mean... -Hey, LSD, it's mind expanding.
I remember, I remember everything.
[Jen] He's definitely a celebrity on YouTube.
Every time somebody comes in, it's like, "Oh, I love your show."
And he'll be like, "What show?"
And I was like, "Norm, the YouTube channel."
I was like, "That's where they see you at."
And he's just like, "Oh, that thing."
I mean, we get viewers from everywhere.
Hey guys, welcome back to another episode of "Guitar of the Day."
I'm your host, Michael Lemmo.
"Guitar of the Day" is a show
where we pick basically our favorite guitar of the day and we showcase it.
First we start off in the back and we open the case.
It's a 1960 Gibson ES-330.
Once we take it out front, we demo it.
We go through every pickup for the world to see.
So let's check it out.
[Oates] Each one of these guitars,
kind of makes you play something different.
It leads you down a musical path in some way or another.
[Lenny] Norm's social media is dangerous.
You know, you watch those videos, "Guitar of the Day,"
you look at the pictures on Instagram,
and you end up wanting so many things you see.
So, uh, you know, you gotta be careful.
The way he helps struggling artists
that come through the store.
"Hey, play a song. We'll put it on our YouTube channel."
And you can sit on that couch and you can play
and they'll put it out.
And so, it's such an important place,
I think, for a young musician
to go and just get a little bit of exposure.
He's very, very supportive.
I remember when he first played for Norm and started to sing,
I suddenly... I saw him go very quiet.
♪ Hello, my sweet Maria ♪
♪ Always really nice To see ya ♪
He nurtures really, you know.
♪ Oh, nothing's changed... ♪
I've been in the store over the years, and walked in,
and there's these people that nobody has ever heard of
that just grab a guitar and start noodling around.
Like a dog is, they're hanging, and all of the sudden, whoop, the ear goes up,
and it's like, "What's going on over there?"
And then you start to talk to the person.
And then I've watched those videos that...
that we all see on online. I've watched them happen.
[playing blues music]
It's cool to see hundreds of thousands of people
watch you and watch your video,
and when you're there, you're playing all these amazing guitars.
That's the great thing about Norman's.
It's only something you can do there. You can't do it anywhere else.
[Rogo] Norm's platform definitely helped elevate my platforms a lot,
because especially with the YouTube algorithm
and people are searching some unique guitar, right?
So they'll punch in the name of that guitar
and Norman's Rare Guitars,
that's the first thing that pops up for a lot of people.
And then they'll see me and they'll see me play the guitar.
And I think even Billy Gibbons, he called the store one day.
He's like, "Who's that girl that plays those resonator guitars?"
So, it's certainly... certainly not a bad thing.
And it's really cool being exposed to people
all around the world through... through his platform.
[Joe] That's one of the coolest things about the social media stuff
that... that I dig,
is just, it really exposing me to the other musicians.
[Kiefer] He's finding musicians and bands that he thinks are worth breaking,
and then sets them up in here and makes them play.
So the customers hear about them,
and then, obviously, it goes out to the social media space
and he's actually making a difference.
That translates.
Marcus King, I remember when he came in the store.
So, we start to do a video and they start rolling it
and he starts playing, and then...
he opened his mouth and started singing.
♪ I've been driftin' And a-driftin', baby ♪
♪ Just like a ship Out on the sea ♪
♪ Said I've been driftin' A-driftin', Mama ♪
♪ Just like a ship Out on the sea ♪
[Mark] The voice that came out of this kid was like,
it was... it stopped you dead in your tracks.
And it was like, "Oh, my God, this is... I am watching
"the real deal right now.
"Like, this kid is gonna have a serious career
in this industry."
♪ See my baby one morning ♪
♪ She was walking home Down the street ♪
[Mark] It was, uh... That was a pretty magic moment
to watch live in person.
We met for the first time at my last job
at Norman's Rare Guitars.
You walked in, I'll never forget it,
you were playing in the corner and we're like, "He's good. We should do a video."
And so we turned on the camera and then you started singing,
and we were all like, "Oh, my God!"
And then the video got, like, two million views or something like that.
It was crazy. I'd never been a part of anything quite like that.
Yeah, that was the first viral video I think that...
that was ever on that channel.
And then, I've been kind of watching the rise of Marcus King ever since.
Man, I got to tell you, it's... it seems like it's all happening.
Man I'll tell you that... that video really kind of
launched a career, really.
Something that I was already on my way to do,
but that video helped a lot.
I remember talking to Joe Bonamassa about you,
and he said, Marcus King, he said, I'll never forget it,
he said, "It's not if..."
It's when."
And the when is right now.
[woman whooping]
When people come in here and they sound really good,
I'll tell Norm or Norm will tell me
like, "Oh, let's get a video with them,
because they just sound amazing.
And so, we get to highlight unknown artists
and it's... it's a great way to show new artists to our audience.
A lot of people have come in before they were ever known by anybody.
Post Malone, coming into the store,
no tattoos, long hair, looking like a kid.
[over phone] Hey, everybody, Norm over here at Norman's Rare Guitars.
Look at this little chunker.
The young men that just came in,
Jason Probst and Austin and Douglas.
And they had a funny thing happen
to 'em in the parking lot at Topanga Plaza.
Not really funny, but it's funny
that they ended up at Norm's Rare Guitars.
Well, we drive like a Suburban
and someone broke into the back
and stole the back seats without us knowing.
-And a guitar. -And... and his guitar.
So we actually had to come here and get a guitar.
-And... -We knew right where to go.
They stole my Martin 000-15.
And so, we went looking around,
and went to Norm's to check it out,
and we bought another one.
So that was pretty awesome.
But it is funny that they ended up here,
because you were planning on possibly going someplace else.
-And then, somebody suggested Norm's Rare Guitars. -That was me.
-What a guy. -Yes, sir.
All right. So he knows where to get good guitars.
-Thank you, Austin. So, uh... -Play something for him, Austin.
Yeah, play a little something here.
This is an Eric Clapton reissue, you know?
Yeah. This is a pretty guitar. I don't know,
I can't really play very well. Let me just play a little...
And then I played the same thing that I always play.
All right, Jason Probst, thank you so much, buddy.
-Nice meeting you. -Austin.
-Nice to meet you. -Norman, pleasure.
-Thank you. -Norman's rocks.
Here we go. Norm's Rare Guitars.
Yeah, that's beautiful. I fucking forgot about that wholeheartedly.
But it's really awesome to see.
I'm super different now. Way cuter.
At the end of the day, I think the success of the social media
runs tangentially with how authentic he is
as a person in his store.
And that's why he's successful.
If you are as advertised,
people want to follow that.
[Norman] Well, you know, one can only hope
that they've done something good for the industry that they're part of.
I hope that we are doing,
and that people appreciate is that,
we do try to introduce young talent to a lot of people,
and also, you know, vintage players
that maybe are not well-known, as well-known as they should be.
Giving back is very important.
And like the city of Los Angeles has been so good to me
that I kind of feel like I have to do something to give back to the city,
because it's really done things for me in my life
that I never would've imagined could've possibly happened.
[rock music playing]
[Melissa] I don't know if people know how much money he raised,
how much he gave back to the... the community.
He gives to charities, and he's big on The Midnight Mission.
[Joe] We live in one of the richest cities in the world,
yet there's 70,000 people that don't have a roof over their head.
We did a charity event in Malibu for him,
and it was a big success, and he's done more of those since.
♪ Here she comes for me... ♪
He's a workaholic,
and he has, you know, so much every day.
His daily schedule, I would not wish that upon anyone,
but he's like the Energizer Bunny,
and work is, like, what fuels him.
Old man works the hardest.
[Jen] It's 'cause you're the strongest, Norm.
I am. I must be. I'm the most determined.
But on top of it, he's like, "I'm gonna see who I can get
"to play these Midnight Mission shows
"because I have this big opportunity to help
"and I have all these celebrities coming into the store.
What's the worst they can say, is no."
The Heartbreakers got involved with the Midnight Mission a few times,
because we like Norm and he asked us to do it.
We wanted to help.
You know, I always feel like I could have done more
and we will continue to do more.
And I thank Norm Harris, especially for, uh,
getting me involved and Dana, for being so enthusiastic,
and The Midnight Mission
is a good way to spend your money,
because they're... they're honest people
and the money actually has immediate effect
on people that need it very badly.
Through Norm and his many
connections and friends, and family,
he's brought in, I would say millions
to The Midnight Mission.
If you took all the people who donate to us
because they learned about us through Norm,
I mean you could... that number probably would even go higher.
The Midnight Mission, it's a great cause.
We need you guys to step up.
It's my favorite cause,
and we're gonna feed over 250,000 meals
to homeless people just from these two nights and more.
We just got some of our toys and we just got 60 guitars
that we are gonna give to the homeless kids.
[Georgia] He is truly humble. It's not false humility.
And that may be one of the outstanding qualities about Norm,
is that he doesn't even know how magnificent he is
and it's part of his charm.
It's like, "Do you even know?" He doesn't know.
And I'm like, "It's Norm!" Like, I adore Norm.
And I think that anyone who meets him feels that way.
You know, in the years that he's participated in our toy drive
and our Christmas event,
I've come to see what a gift
giving somebody a musical instrument versus a toy.
He's giving these children gifts that will last a lifetime,
and maybe even become something for them
to process their emotions.
Maybe even a future career.
[woman] Where... where are we, Norm?
We're down at The Midnight Mission,
and we're trying to give some kids a merry Christmas.
The ripple of Norm Harris has been life saving and life changing,
to the people in Skid Row.
His legacy is, uh, is immense.
[Joe] One of the things about my friendship over the years with Norm,
is the fact that I see
how much good he does for people.
He's the type of person
that my family always tried to make me,
is he'd rather give than receive.
Hey, guys, Norm over here.
I'm in my hospital bed with Marlene,
and I just want to let you guys know that
we're making some improvements. It's little by little.
I'm in, actually, a rehab center right now.
They took me out of the hospital, which is a good sign.
So we're hoping that I kind of get back to my old self,
or close to it.
And all the love that I've received
and so many messages...
I love all of you, and I am overwhelmed with it,
and it gets me teared up when I read a lot of the stuff.
But, I love you guys.
I don't know who deserves as much love as I'm getting,
but I'm overwhelmed by it.
And thank you guys for everything.
[indistinct chatter]
-[Joe] Still buying. -[laughter]
This is no, this is the first... this is the first guitar
I've ever bought from this store
that Norm didn't personally make the deal on.
-Yeah. Yeah. -And it's like...
That's why I always tell people, it's like
if you buy a guitar from Norm's Rare Guitars, you'll...
Norm gives the final say, you know, on all the deals,
which is so good to be here today
because you know, you knocked off, like, 7,000 or 8,000 grand off it.
[laughing]
Yes, this is a business,
and you have to sell guitars in order to buy new guitars
to sell more guitars.
But there's a real passion behind it.
And it's driven on a real personal level
that the music is what matters.
And that this is the... this is the foundation.
You can make your music,
but you can't make guitar music without one of these.
And we're gonna help you find one.
And it's got every sense from the much smaller store in the beginning to now,
that it is not a corporation.
[Sarah] This is like the Cheers spot, this is the hangout.
You don't get that anymore.
Like, companies try and create that artificially,
like when you sit at the Starbucks
and they want everybody to sit there
and how can we market to the kids to entice them
to, like, hang out here.
This is organic.
[Kiefer] Every instrument that's come through this door
that makes it to the wall for sale,
has gone through Norm.
No one's gonna dispute the authenticity of this place,
of Norm, of his passion for the instrument,
and his passion for the players.
[Rob] He still loves this.
At a time where he could really phone it in, he doesn't.
That's why Norman's Rare Guitars
is as successful as it is, is because he did the work.
That's what Norman's Rare Guitars is today.
It's the work, it's the passion and it's the love of guitars.
Thomas Edison, he invented the light bulb.
You have inventors and creators.
Norm should be on that list
'cause he basically created the vintage guitar market and store.
I believe he should be credited with that.
These guitars are all Norm's, and they will all find homes.
And you know, there's something really cool about saying like,
"I got this at Norm's."
[in Spanish] It's easy to be successful when everything comes
from the heart.
I think that Norman's Rare Guitars is that.
[in English] Norm has put the time in.
I think Norm will probably, in some sense,
always be connected with vintage guitars.
You know, it's in his blood.
[woman] Welcome back, Norm!
[man] There he is.
[woman] We're so excited to see you in the shop.
Whoo!
Yes.
-Partially. -[all laugh]
[woman] Yes, Norm. [clapping] So happy.
-Thank you, boys. -[man] We should put you right to work.
[woman laughs] Put you right to work.
[indistinct chatter]
[interviewer] How do we keep that Norman's Rare Guitars trust
when Norman is gone?
[Nick] When he is gone? You mean...
[interviewer] Retired or... It's inevitable he'll not be here one day.
[Nick splutters] You know what,
I haven't really given that much thought.
I don't... I don't know whether, uh...
That's a... that's a very saddening thought for me.
Norman doesn't have an exit strategy.
You know, we just take one day at a time,
and we hope that if anybody would take over the store,
that they keep the same employees.
He's built up a reputation of honesty and fairness, trust,
and, um, people rely on him.
One of the people that I would have to say is
as crazy about guitars as Norman
is Joe Bonamassa.
And he loves everything about guitars.
And I would say he's got the same outlook
that Norman does. And, uh...
But he... You know, he's young
and he's got his career to think of.
But Norman would love to see him in the store also.
I think that he's gonna have a long career
and he's fabulous, so...
But that's who we think of sometimes.
I can't think of the, you know, the store without Norm.
I know Norm since I was a kid and I wanted to work with him,
and I'm doing that right now.
I just cannot imagine, you know?
My life without Norm, it's unthinkable.
Well, Norm is not replaceable, and he never will be.
I'm so glad that there's all this media,
and this... all of these films
and all the work he's done for charity
that is a record permanently of who he is and what he has done,
because it'll make it easier
for us to talk about him in 50 years.
It really will.
[Joe] Everybody who's working here just has to do their job
the best they know how, and it'll work.
And people are doing that.
People are making an extra effort. I think that's the key.
We know what Norm wants, so it's up to us to do it.
[Nick] We will have to keep Norman's standards if he's not here.
We have to use his eyes to buy stuff,
and his way of working,
and his love of really cool stuff.
You know, for the rest of the Harris family, if nothing else.
[Lenny] I'm sure that he's got people that will look after the business.
I'm sure he's trained people as to how he likes to do things,
and the specimens that he likes to purchase.
And, you know, I'm sure he's got a huge warehouse of things
that still haven't been seen.
So, I hope that the business will continue on into the future
for young players to discover.
[Rob] Maybe the storefront will close,
but the name, the brand,
the memory will live on for as long as everyone
who can remember it.
Norman's, it's... I mean, it sounds so cliche and so funny,
but it really is...
I mean, Norman's Rare Guitars, it is an institution as...
You know, most people who aren't musicians
or guitar players are going, "Yeah, please." No.
But those of us who have been around here
and who have that passion of vintage guitars
and have that passion for music,
it's going to live on.
The storefront might be gone, but it's still gonna be here.
[Taylor] I'd be sad as the selfish customer that loves his guitars,
but for this to be the turning point for Norm to...
to pivot into his next chapter,
I'd be thrilled for him, because then he'd be able to look at this...
this thing that he built as just an overwhelming victory,
a stunning success.
Something that matters to anyone that...
that gives a shit about guitars frankly, across the world.
That sounds dramatic, but it's true.
[Robbie] All those guitars that are out in the world,
that come from Norm, you know, they all got a story.
They all go back to the source on this.
And of course, you know, we're...
we're all living in these times and things change,
and we don't have much control over a lot of these things.
But I think that so much,
it's been spread out there, so much already,
what Norm has given to the guitar world and everything.
You know, it's been a... a tremendous gift.
And so, I think that lives on forever.
[Joe] And I'm lucky, we're all lucky,
to have lived in the time when there was a Norm Harris.
And to see it flourish and grow and be what it is.
And he's accomplished everything that I think he set out to do
when he started off in Miami.
I think he's become an icon, a legend,
and just on a personal note, a friend, a family member,
and the kind of person, regardless of what he did for a living,
that you look up to and respect,
and know that there's still people out there that operate that way.
I feel like this obligation to take over the store,
and I can't get there.
Like, if it's not for you, you can't make yourself
love something and be passionate about something.
I mean, I love it because it's my dad's,
but that's his love. It's not mine.
And I want, you know, my son or daughter...
[crying] ...I want them to see the store.
I want them to know what their grandfather built.
I don't want to just tell them.
I want them to actually see it, to understand,
because, sure, it's just a guitar store,
but it's not just a guitar store.
To me, it's so much more than that.
And to so many people, it's so much more than that.
So I hope they get to see that.
[mellow music plays]
[Norman] In my mind, I'm still the young man
that started Norm's Rare Guitars.
But when I look in the mirror, I realize time has flown by,
and, you know, I'm kind of old school,
and I always thought that the thing to do is to just try to provide,
you know, as well as I could for my family.
But I do have regrets.
I kind of wish I would've coached more ball games
and spent a little more time with my kids and my wife.
But I thought the, you know, my work was the main thing
that I was supposed to do.
Now looking back, I can see that I wish I would've done some other things.
Can't go back in time, so I regret spending
not as much time with my family as I probably should.
But I'm fortunate to be able
to have turned a hobby into a business,
and I love what I do.
And, you know, it's a small business,
and small businesses have a lot of challenges,
and this cancer thing has really kind of brought that to the forefront.
And, you know, when they first talked about the cancer,
I thought this could be it.
I thought the family and the business, that could be over.
But my kids got me into social media and the Internet,
and selling guitars on the Internet.
And I'm very thankful that they did,
because it's brought us a worldwide audience,
and, you know, the store future is up for grabs.
I mean, we still don't know what's going on,
but we're doing the best we can.
You know, when I'm gone, I hope these guitars go on
to make beautiful music with a lot of people.
And, you know, I hope the business wasn't for nothing.
And, you know, neither of my kids really are interested in,
you know, making the business go on.
So, I'm gonna have to find somebody that,
you know, loves the business and will treat it like I did.
My dad gave me some good advice when I was younger,
and he said, "When you're in business,
"try to be as truthful as you can.
"Tell people everything you know about your product
"so you don't wake up in the middle of the night
with people yelling at you."
And, you know, I think that was a good piece of advice.
So, you know, I've met so many great people,
you know, doing what I do in the business,
and, you know, it's just amazing.
And, you know, hopefully, we treated everybody
from the people who were, you know,
busboys in a restaurant
to presidents, and, you know, congressmen
and movie stars and big-time musicians,
I hope we treated them all equally and right.
I'm humbled by all that the store has done for us,
and I love the store
and I love the worldwide audience
that we've gotten since we've been able
to do all this Internet and social media,
and it's all for the music.
So I hope that, you know, when time goes by, people will,
you know, continue to play these guitars
and make good music on them.
And I love the family that we've made through the Internet,
and I hope that it goes on.
Love you all.
What does the guitar mean to me?
First word that comes to mind is "freedom."
It's freedom. It's escapism at its finest.
To me, I always say it's six strings in the universe.
Oh, the guitar is, it's the most familiar thing in my life.
I pretty much live and breathe guitar,
and it's my main sort of instrument for communicating.
I definitely communicate better on the guitar than I do verbally.
I'll be more comfortable sitting with a guitar in my lap,
watching TV and not play,
than I would be without it.
There's something very comforting,
the way it fits on my body, the way I've gotten used to holding onto it.
The fact that it's there. Oh, my gosh, if you have an idea that falls from the sky,
it's been everything from a best friend to a life raft,
where it's just... it's filled the time,
where otherwise, I certainly know myself,
I could become destructive...
[chuckles] ...and the guitar has saved me more than once.
The guitar is the biggest thing in the world to me, next to my family.
It's my favorite thing to do.
It is my favorite thing to talk about.
It is my favorite thing to look at.
It's my favorite thing to listen to.
It's... it's completely all encompassing
my whole entire life.
It's been an extension of my personality.
It's sort of, it's enabled me to travel all over the world.
It's enabled me to make a living.
It's enabled me to...
to work in a venue where I met my wife of 37 years,
and I will never get tired
of even looking at the simple shape of a guitar,
or the finish or the colors or the variations of them,
let alone the sound and what you can get out of it.
The guitar means everything to me.
It's, uh... It's the nucleus
of the art that I make, the music that I make, you know?
It was the power...
within the music.
As, Santana says, "It's a weapon of peace," you know.
It's a part of me.
It's just a... a part of my... my DNA, and it's me.
It's my world, and it's...
there's no one that can touch it.
It's just my life. It's just my everything.