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Back In The Day
Guitars Everywhere
By K.C. Agnew

Once the Beatles hit, everybody on Long Island wanted to be a guitar player. Music stores that had small inventories of guitars suddenly had whole sections…..and in some cases the entire store filled with guitars of every shape, make, and color. Smaller shops like Coret Music in East Meadow was the place parents went to when their kids needed a flute or a saxophone for the inevitable school band obligation. When they added a half dozen or so guitars, it added a modern twist to the typically boring music store, and suddenly kids wanted to go there and gawk at guitars their parents in most cases couldn’t afford.

On Merrick Road in Freeport, next to an Earl Scheib Auto shop (he’s the dude who would paint any car for only $29.95!) was a little music store owned by Pop Gracin. No one was sure what his first name was, because everybody called him Pop. Gracin’s became an iconic music shop, with the latest guitars and amps made by the likes of Gibson, Fender, Epiphone and Hagstrom. Gracin’s was an authorized Fender dealer, and they pushed that famous line, but you could not only get the best guitars by any brand there, you could get the guys in the back room who knew everything there was to know about the instrument and how to take care of it. Sam Ash in Hempstead was the huge music store where you could get every nut and bolt you would ever need for any instrument, but Gracin’s was the place you would go to for the personal touch, guidance and craftsmanship that you couldn’t find elsewhere. At Gracin’s, there were guitars hanging on the walls that were one of a kind Telecasters, Les Pauls and Strats that today are worth the price of a small home, and some of them were played by the masters. A black Stratocaster played by Jimi Hendrix was not only a showpiece, you could play it if the staff knew who you were. Pop’s apprentice, for lack of a better term was a guy named Gary Blankenberg. Gary had passion for the instrument and those who played it well that would get you locked up in conversation for hours if you let him. He could write a book about the guitar as a lifestyle, and maybe someday he will. Today, Gary owns Music Services in Wantagh, a quiet little guitar shop where craftsmanship and love of the instrument is still the norm. Gary and his right hand man Shane Egan are two of the few guys that most of the Island’s guitarists will hand over their instruments to when they need repair, or a little TLC after being beat up on the road.

Ed Clark was one of those fantastic guitarists who played for the love of the instrument, and never got or sought out fame and fortune. He was in a few local bands, but his passion was the guitar, not the glory. Today, Ed is a luthier who has a shop in Ronkonkoma, and is a master craftsman who will painstakingly build a guitar to the specifications of the artist. One of a kind instruments from a one of a kind guy.

Back in the day, guitarists were a real brotherhood, and they all pretty much knew each other, and vintage guitars got passed around that way. Roger Petersen (of Dee Snider’s band) sold Kerry Collins (of Rachel) a 1958 Les Paul, and when the neck cracked in a wicked accident, Johnny Gale (of Whiplash and Baby) jumped in and got it fixed as good as new. The players were always ready to share their axe with anyone who needed one. JJ French handed his Les Paul to Charly Cochran from Whiplash at Speaks for a benefit for the band Samantha, and smiled from ear to ear as Charlie tore up Marc Bolan and Aerosmith tunes with it.

Yup, there were guitars and guitar shops everywhere in the 70’s, but for a great axe, excellent craftsmanship, and tips on how to play, all you had to do was approach any of the guitar players in the more popular Long Island bands, and they would go out of their way to help out. Those were the days.

Stay tuned…