Hello everyone!!!

I haven’t put up a blog for a while, because there has been a ton going on down here. The last few months have been really exciting, and there are some really cool changes we are making at the shop. The acoustic room is being remodeled, and having a stage built for live music. We are still working out the details, but we’re hoping to have local musicians as well as bands passing through Seattle perform at the store. We’ll keep everyone updated with that!

Facebook Facebook Facebook. First off, thank you all so much for becoming a fan of our store!!! It means a lot that so many people have been keeping in touch with us, and helping spread the word! I want to encourage everyone to use our facebook page as a resource to post local shows, music, or other news related to music. We’ll be using this for upcoming shows in the acoustic room, and any other events so keep in touch and come check out the shop when every thing’s finished!

We have had a ton of cool musicians pop in lately such as John Mayer, John Paul Jones, Dave Grohl, Cheap Trick, MUSE, Eddie Kramer, and many more (including yourself).  On top of great people visiting, we’ve had an abundance of unbelievable gear come in and going out. Things have been excellent here, and the vintage market is really exciting right now. Thanks again you guys for making this simple shop in Seattle such a wonderful place to be a part of!

I’m sure everyone heard about the tragic flood in Nashville that absolutely destroyed thousands of amazing vintage instruments. Every year we lose a few vintage pieces, whether it’s had bad modifications, stolen at a show, smashed by a girlfriend, house fire, or some other random way. That’s a reason why vintage guitars go up in value, and they become harder and harder to find. BUT THIS….This is bad. There were some out of this world collections, that have been completely ruined. I have seen some pictures, and heard about a couple ridiculous pieces that are no longer with us. These guys are going to be looking for some replacements soon, so watch the market! As a musician, my heart goes out to those who lost loved ones to the Nashville flood….

So this is the last thing I want to mention, just because it comes up all the time. Random, but I needed to get this out. Emerald City Guitars has been open for nearly 14 years, thanks to our wonderful cliental and passion for musical instruments. Unlike a lot of stores Emerald City Guitars does not operate on any type of commission system, that to me seems to be the downfall for a lot of small businesses. The store consists of Jay Boone (Owner), Eric Daw (Repair), Trevor Boone, and Frank Gross. Each member of the Emerald City Guitars staff has an extreme passion for music and instruments. We have all obsessed and studied our inventory, so that when a customer asks our opinion the answer is honest and knowledgeable. Whether the guitar is $60 or $60,000, we aren’t benefiting from a sale. Unlike many shops, where the staff’s advice is driven by their commission check, that is not the case at Emerald City Guitars. Our enthusiasm about our instruments is purely from our love and interest in instruments.  Our honest, down to earth approach to business has blessed us with a cliental consisting of everyday musicians, collectors, along with famous rock stars that we grew up listening to!

When someone comes in the shop looking for, let’s say a Gibson Les Paul around the $1800 range. If there’s isn’t one in the shop, THEN WAIT! Trust me we can go find you a Les Paul, but the ones that end up in the shop have been examined to make sure they are up to our Gibson standards. As with all guitars there are good ones and bad ones. I mention Les Pauls, because a lot of new instruments are not made the way they used to be. If we have a Les Paul in here that isn’t worth $1800, then it won’t be priced at $1800.

Emerald City Guitars specializes in used and vintage equipment, so we are very picky about the new products we carry. If we don’t believe in, there is no reason for us to keep it in the shop. The amp lines we carry such as Orange and Dr.Z have proved their reliability and quality, and the same goes for guitar brands such as G&L.

Believe me, we have seen everything come through our door, and have dealt with a lot of professional and knowledgeable musicians. If you want a straight answer or suggestion as far as what to purchase, we are giving you our honest opinion.

Thanks to our local Seattle musicians as well as those around the world, we have been a successful business that continues to stand for what music is about. It has been extremely busy here the last 6 months or so, and we thank you for providing us with ongoing business and many wonderful relationships.

STAY BEAUTIFUL!!!

-Trevor Boone

Last night the shop was broken into, and 7 guitars and an amplifier was taken. We were all really upset about this, and did all we could to spread the word. It took a couple hours before all of the items were returned to us.
In those two hours while the instruments were missing, we had an amazing amount of support come through. The incident was immediately posted on websites, blogs, forums, facebook, myspace, as well as local newspaper sites. Locals came to the shop checking in on us, and we were flooded with emails, phone calls, and personal text messages! This all means so much and we can’t thank you guys enough for the support. It is our duty to help the fellow musician in similar situations, so spread the word when you hear about things like this. It took less then two hours to get $30,000 worth of guitars back in perfect condition, thanks to the friends and family of E.C.G. Thanks guys you are truly wonderful!!!!!!

Trevor Boone
Emerald City Guitars

There are many things to take into account when searching for an amp, especially if you are looking to step up to a serious amplifier. When I was in this position I had a list of things I was looking for in an amp, and was able to test a lot of great gear. I needed something with low enough watts to be able to break it up, or warm up the preamp section without making my neighbor’s ears bleed. However, at the same time I wanted an amp I could play live with and break through the mix of a full band.
The next factor I was searching for was going to be a little harder to find. Fender amps have an amazing clean sound. I especially love the blackface amps, which have a very organic sound and are darker to the perfect degree. However, I’m not lucky enough to have every amp I love and needed more of a workhorse rig to cover a large range of tones. As beautiful as the clean tone is on Fender amps, it is sometimes hard to defeat or shape the glassy clean tone they have. At this point I realized for what I needed to get out of the amp I would have to sacrifice the Fender clean, but hopefully would find something close.
At the time I wasn’t using a lot of pedals, but due to session guitar work and playing in bands that differ in tone I wanted an amp that can take pedals well. I’m all for “guitar into amp”, and keeping the signal pure, but because I wanted the option for pedals I eliminated a lot of amps that only sound best when nothing is in between.
Fender, Marshall, Batcat, Bogner, Vox, 65, and all the major brands were put to test. Trust me, some of these sounded amazing, but only one had every thing I was looking for, including price range. That’s when Dr.Z’s “Maz Jr” came to the rescue. I used a Les Paul, Telecaster, and Stratocaster on all these amps and the Maz Jr sounded amazing every time.
The Maz Jr has EL84’s, which are seen in Vox type amplifiers. EL84’s have a darker quality that has a nice rounded breakup. Something I loved about the Maz Jr was that you were able to obtain that warm growl that Vox’s have, but it cleaned up a lot more. A guitar with single coil pickups like a Strat or Tele gets a beautiful clean sound, and just as easily you can make a Les Paul scream. The amp was extremely responsive and handled both the highs and lows incredibly well.
I’ve used this amp with many different applications, and it’s never disappointed me. You always hear the quality of the guitar you’re playing and the beautiful tone of the amp. Any pedal you put between it sounds how it should, and gives you the freedom to shape your own tone. Whether you are recording or playing live, it translates amazingly through a microphone.
I love this amps and have used them in so many ways. For the price, these are my favorite choice for a workhorse amp. I would love to be able to afford a ton of different amps and switch to whichever one works best for a specific song, but that’s not the case. For the musician who needs a louder amp, but wants these same options there is the “Maz Senior”. Twice as many watts, with the same versility. Come check one out if you are looking for a high quality tube amp, and can’t find one that gets ” Your Tone”. These amps always have a classy, pure, organic sound, while letting you shape your own tone. YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED!

-Trevor Boone

When dealing with vintage or used instruments, you often times run into the “Price Guide” conflict. This isn’t some type of defense we are using to ignore the current economic situation, or try to keep prices high. In the world of vintage instruments, it just doesn’t make sense to think that a price seen in a “guide”, or on ebay speaks for each one. That isn’t what it’s about! That isn’t why vintage instruments are more valuable. Each piece of wood, each pickup, each neck, EACH EVERYTHING is different. 50’s Strats were made a lot different then new Stratocasters, so yes, they are more expensive. But each Strat from the 50’s was also made differently. In many cases we will have two of the exact same guitar/model/year/color, but if one doesn’t have that special element then it’s priced VERY differently.

We take extreme pride in our instruments. If something is sketchy or doesn’t feel right, then it won’t make it on the floor. We love vintage instruments, and the things that make them so special. Each vintage instrument is based on a lot more factors than condition or year. I can’t tell you how many times we hear “Well I saw one in mint condition on Ebay for $…”. That doesn’t tell us anything unfortunately. When buying an instrument it needs to be the right one. What’s the history? How does it play? How does it resonate? Every single one is different.

I don’t blame anyone for playing the other side of the game. However, price matching vintage guitars doesn’t make sense to people who take something like history, or playability into account. 2-3 years ago when the vintage guitar market was increasing very fast, we still didn’t rely on the price guide to tell us what every guitar was worth exactly. A lot of times the price guide was too high! Even we couldn’t price certain guitars for what they were “booking” at. Maybe the one that they based the price off of was something special, but that wasn’t the case for the rest made that year.

So don’t get discouraged if you have an amazing collection and the 2010 “Price Guide” isn’t what you were hoping. As long as you know what you have, and why it was priced how it was you will be fine. It becomes a buyers market, where people are waiting for you to sell the 54 strat for X amount of money. If a someone can spend $50,000, most likely if it’s the right one he can spend $60,000.

This information can be as distracting as the price guide if you don’t understand that it totally depends on the specific guitar. Some guitars will decrease in value and some will continue to appreciate. The collectors and stores set the market. In other words the people who know and love these guitars are deciding what they are worth, rather then the big economic scare. If you have any questions regarding value or why we have priced something how it is, PLEASE feel free to ask.

Stay Beautiful!

-Trevor Boone

Thanks to Ravenna Interactive Emerald City Guitars FINALLY has a new website!

At the moment some of the pictures are smaller than they should be, we will be loading them during the week to have everything big and bright!! If you want a specific picture sent to you in a larger size, shoot us an email and we’ll do that RIGHT AWAY!

We are also working with our good friends at http://www.fastbackstudios.net/ to have sound clips available. If you have a chance check out Fastback Studios. We are all obsessed with vintage and quality gear at Emerald City, and these guys have the same disease!!

Our website will be updated daily and will be a reliable source to find out what we have in stock!

If you have any suggestions/feedback about the site, please let us know!

Once more we’d like to say a special thanks to TJ Sherrill at Ravenna Interactive for providing us with a much needed new website! THANKS TJ!!

Add us on myspace.com/emeraldcityguitars!!!!

Stay Beautiful!!

-ECG