The Janis Ian Guitar Collection
When I heard Janis Ian was selling off a number of her guitars through Nashville’s Guitar Gallery, I suspected she was going through the deacquisition phase that a lot of musicians go through when they hit their 60s. Sure enough, in her statement about why she’s selling seven of her cherished instruments she said that she recently realized that, to her shock, she can only play one guitar at a time and that she’s looking forward to having less stuff. As you might expect with items with this sort of provenance, the prices have a bit of a premium added to them, but they aren’t really out of line with the general condition and quality of the guitars. One cool thing about Guitar Gallery’s listings is that they include clips of the songs Janis Ian recorded using the instruments she is selling. The listings for the seven guitars also include statements from Ian about her history with the various instrumnets.
1991 Music Man EVH
The most surprising guitar on the list, for me, is this Music Man EVH. I didn’t know that Ian had secret shredding tendencies, but this Van Halen model suggests that she does. Or did, since she’s parting with it. She bought this guitar new from Fred Walecki at Westwood Music, and he told her it was the second one sold in Los Angeles. (He wouldn’t say who bought the first one.) I’ve always liked the one-knob-one-switch simplicity of these guitars and I find them very comfortable to play. Music Man made about 1400 guitars in this blue finish, which looks great with the highly figured maple top.
Ian says that the gouge in the top next to the switch was caused when an unnamed but very famous guitarist kicked it over by accident in the studio. I wonder if you buy this guitar for its $4000 asking price if she would whisper the clumsy musician’s name to you? Oh, and if you look carefully, you will see the that knob says “Tone.” That’s actually the volume control but the misnamed knob was a bit of Van Halen whimsy.
1975 Gibson Les Paul Custom
At first I was surprised to see this Les Paul Custom on her list but when I read that Ian bought it in 1976 after winning her first Grammy, it made perfect sense. In the mid-1970s the Les Paul was pretty much the go-to solid body guitar for every genre. Al Di Meola played jazz fusion on one; Robert Fripp used his for his avant-garde Frippertronics; Mick Ronson glammed it up with one in David Bowie’s band; and Steve Jones used his to power the Sex Pistols. So it makes sense that a folkie looking to plug in would turn to this tried and true road warrior. Ian played her very first recorded electric guitar solo on this guitar, which makes its $7200 price seem cheap for a musically important instrument.
This Les Paul is generally in excellent condition but it does look like the screws that held the control cavity cover in place have been replaced with black tape. I love details like this and of all the guitars Ian is selling, this is probably the one I would buy. A black Les Paul Custom was the first guitar I imprinted when I was learning to play in the mid-1970s and buying one would make my inner teenager very happy.
Circa 1999 Takamine TB10 Bass
I’ve always liked the Takamine TB10 and thought it was a very interesting take on the portable bass. Most guitar builders tend to make acoustic versions of something like a Fender Precision Bass, that is, a bass with a relatively flat fretboard and, well, frets. The TB10 is basically an attempt to come up with a guitar sized version of the stand-up bass and as such it has a fretless fingerboard with the same radical arch of a doghouse bass. It also comes with a long endpin so you can play it in an upright position. Ian only used this bass on one album, and she never took it one the road, so it is in great shape. Still, she did play it extensively at home and at one point she had a luthier add position markers to make it easier to navigate the fingerboard. This TB10 is priced at $4900.
2004 Kevin Ryan Abbey 12-Fret Parlor
Ian got this Brazilian rosewood, 12-fret Abbey cutaway parlor guitar from Kevin Ryan specifically to use in the studio. She had a Ryan Mission model that she loved, but it was bit too large. She was, and is, happy using her Santa Cruz Guitar Company Janis Ian model on the road but, like guitarists the world over, she wanted just one more guitar. Ryan built two parlors for her, but these days she finds she can’t play more than one at a time so this lovely guitar is up for grabs for $16,900. Actually, that price is pretty close to what a new Ryan Abbey with these features would cost but without the wait or the history.
1931 National Duolian
This National Duolian is already sold. Just a reminder that if any of the other instruments appeal to you, you’d better not wait.
1998 Martin Size 5 Prototype Janis Ian Signature Edition
Ian grew up playing Martin guitars so in 1998 she was very excited to work with them in coming up with a signature model of her own. She and Dick Boak decided to base the guitar on the size 5, and together they decided to build it with a sitka spruce top and Indian rosewood sides and back. Sadly, the project never got past the early stages, but Martin gave her the second prototype they built as a consolation prize. She played the guitar on the road for a while before discovering she really needed a 14-fret neck for her touring guitar. She used this guitar quite a bit in Nashville high-strung tuning, which is actually a really good idea for a small guitar like this. It’s priced at $7500, which seems reasonable for such a rare beast.
1900 Martin 0-28
Of all the guitar’s on this list, this Martin 0-28 is the one that Ian is saddest to see go. She bought it in 1977 from Matt Umanov as a replacement for the 1937 D-18 she got from her father on her 16th birthday and which was stolen in 1972. She used the 0-28 extensively over the years and it has appeared on just about ever album she has recorded since she got it. But in the back of her mind she always knew she would let it go if her D-18 ever surfaced. Well, a few years ago the D-18 did show up and she was able to get it back. (You can read that story here.) It took Ian a few years to give up her 0-18, but she has finally decided it’s time for someone else to make music on it. If you think you are that person, make sure you have the $16,000 the 0-28 will cost.
