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Okay, so I had to go Las Vegas this past weekend for a business meeting. I worked the trip so I had an extra couple days and brought the wife along, since she never gets to accompany me on my many travels.
Anyway, the point of my story is not the lovely weekend I spent with my wife. It's a little sidetrip I took while I was there, to Ed Roman's World Class Guitars showroom. I figured what the heck, I've spent enough time on his site, looking at the guitars, scratching my head over his opinions and "knowledge" (notice the quotation marks...that means I was being sarcastic there), and hearing everybody wail on the guy in every guitar forum I frequent. I mean, I feel like I almost know the guy, so why not drop in and say hello?
Well, drop in I did, say hello I did not. In fact, I only saw him for a brief second. He popped out of a door, barked a few things to his toadies, then ducked back through the door. I gotta tell ya, I don't think he looks much like a leprechaun. Leprechauns are small and wily. Ed is short and wide. In fact, he seemed exactly as wide as he was high. He was like a box. With crazy, sweaty, all over the place red hair. And really thick calves.
Anyway, that aside, let's talk about the showroom. Pretty darn cool, if you ask me. Granted, it was like a museum == everything had a "DO NOT TOUCH" sign on it, but I'll de doggoned if he didn't have at least two of everything...and usually a lot more than two. The front room seemed to me to be all his Roman brand specials...the copies, pearlcasters, Monkeycasters, whatever. All seemed to look very nice actually. After that, you walk into a big room with lots of little rooms off it. There were tons of old Kramers. Lots of heritages. The new Mosrites. High end Deans. Lots of Ricks. Three or four new Waynes, a bunch of the recent Charvel Journeymen and such. Lots of old Ibanez Icemans (Icemen?) and stuff. PRSs. Gibsons, Fenders, etc. etc.
I tell you, if you like looking at guitars -- and I do -- it's a pretty cool place. I didn't get to play anything, and I got the distinct feeling that if I wanted to, they would've pestered me about "are you looking to buy today?" Still, it's nice to go into a guitar store and see something other than the usual wall of Squiers and Epiphones.
I'm sure some of you will disagree with me on this, but i gotta say it: If you're ever in Vegas, definitely take the time to check it out. No matter how you feel about our l'il buddy Ed.
Anyway, the point of my story is not the lovely weekend I spent with my wife. It's a little sidetrip I took while I was there, to Ed Roman's World Class Guitars showroom. I figured what the heck, I've spent enough time on his site, looking at the guitars, scratching my head over his opinions and "knowledge" (notice the quotation marks...that means I was being sarcastic there), and hearing everybody wail on the guy in every guitar forum I frequent. I mean, I feel like I almost know the guy, so why not drop in and say hello?
Well, drop in I did, say hello I did not. In fact, I only saw him for a brief second. He popped out of a door, barked a few things to his toadies, then ducked back through the door. I gotta tell ya, I don't think he looks much like a leprechaun. Leprechauns are small and wily. Ed is short and wide. In fact, he seemed exactly as wide as he was high. He was like a box. With crazy, sweaty, all over the place red hair. And really thick calves.
Anyway, that aside, let's talk about the showroom. Pretty darn cool, if you ask me. Granted, it was like a museum == everything had a "DO NOT TOUCH" sign on it, but I'll de doggoned if he didn't have at least two of everything...and usually a lot more than two. The front room seemed to me to be all his Roman brand specials...the copies, pearlcasters, Monkeycasters, whatever. All seemed to look very nice actually. After that, you walk into a big room with lots of little rooms off it. There were tons of old Kramers. Lots of heritages. The new Mosrites. High end Deans. Lots of Ricks. Three or four new Waynes, a bunch of the recent Charvel Journeymen and such. Lots of old Ibanez Icemans (Icemen?) and stuff. PRSs. Gibsons, Fenders, etc. etc.
I tell you, if you like looking at guitars -- and I do -- it's a pretty cool place. I didn't get to play anything, and I got the distinct feeling that if I wanted to, they would've pestered me about "are you looking to buy today?" Still, it's nice to go into a guitar store and see something other than the usual wall of Squiers and Epiphones.
I'm sure some of you will disagree with me on this, but i gotta say it: If you're ever in Vegas, definitely take the time to check it out. No matter how you feel about our l'il buddy Ed.
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