A private sale among friends
The Guitar
Collection
Bidding closes Monday, September 21 at 8:00 PM Pacific
A private sale among friends
Why we're doing this
John was diagnosed with dementia. His memory has been going faster than anyone expected. He's in a care home now, and it costs more than he has.
So the family is selling a large part of his collection, and every dollar goes to his care.
We're bringing them to his own people first: his friends, and the musicians who recorded at Tanglewood. Nothing goes up on Reverb until they've had their look.
Every guitar starts at the lowest number the family would take, and it's published. There's no secret higher figure to beat. Bidding is open, on 32auctions, and it emails you if someone outbids you. Nothing is marked up because of the circumstances, and nothing is marked down either.
Each one lists what we researched, what we could confirm, and what we couldn't. Ask and we'll take another photo, or come play them yourself at the studio on September 19 and 20. Amps and cables provided.
On the more expensive ones, put something down and pay the rest off over the next few months. We'll hold the guitar until it's yours. Say so before you bid. We'd rather work it out than have you sit it out.
Come play them
The guitars are in storage, not at the studio. We're bringing the whole collection over to Tanglewood for two days so you can put your hands on them before you bid.
Saturday, September 19 and Sunday, September 20 Ā· 12:30 to 5:30 PM both days
Tanglewood Studios, 8030 Sacramento Street, Fair Oaks, CA 95628
Amps and cables will be there, so you can plug in and actually hear them. Just turn up. Bidding closes the following evening.
Bid on whatever you actually want. And if none of it is your thing, there's another way to help at the bottom of the page.
šTap any guitar below to see all its photos, what we know about it, and how to bid. All the guitars close together on Monday evening.
John built Tanglewood in the foothills outside Sacramento and ran it for about thirty years, first in Loomis and later in Fair Oaks. The local press called him a tone historian. In 2019 the Sacramento music community voted him Producer and Engineer of the year. He taught recording at Pinnacle College. He kept the room running through the whole shift from tape to computers, which plenty of studios that size did not survive.
Ronnie Montrose was John's brother-in-law. Frank Hannon was around the place too. A tribute to Ronnie was cut there in 2019. If you're reading this, there's a fair chance you played on something in that building yourself.
About which guitar played on what: we can't tell you yet. John kept records, and by all accounts they're detailed, but we haven't turned them up. If they surface before bidding closes, whatever is in them goes straight onto these pages. Until then we are not going to guess or dress anything up. Where something is documented, it's on that guitar's page. Where it isn't, we say so.
Some of you will want to help and have no use for another guitar. That's completely fine, and it goes into exactly the same pot.
Venmo sends the full amount, so nothing gets skimmed off by a fundraising site. We're not going to publish a list of who gave what. This isn't a registered charity, it's a family covering their dad's care, so there's no tax receipt to give you.
