Larry Herst
SerpAPI
A Pilgrimage to Guitar Mecca. As an amateur guitar player/collector from North Carolina I thought buying a special guitar on my holiday visit to Austin would be fun, meaningful and provide a karma-filled memento to add to my collection and provide years of Texas inspired playing enjoyment. I was seeking something used, electric, semi hollow bodied and a little out of the ordinary. Not in the vein of the Fender Tele or Gibson Les Paul already in my small collection.
Searching online I found the perfect shop to hunt for my treasure. The name said it all. The well organized, up to date gallery on the website gave me much to browse and drill down on in the weeks before my trip and other reviews favorably mentioned the knowledgeable staff. In the “Other” section I found my candidate, a 2014 Duesenberg Double Cat. I’d never heard of a Duesey before but it looked the part, particularly with the black enamel and silver Art Deco details. After extensive research on the company and listening to YouTube reviews I was pretty sold. The clean sound and P90 plus humbucker pickups fit the bill. The tremolo arm was a bonus. John Mayer plays one, on certain numbers, and he’s a stand-in for Jerry Garcia after all.
All that was left to do was go to Austin, catch a Lyft to AVG, meet and play the Double Cat. AVG was worth the trip alone. A guitar lover’s paradise created by Steve and Leslie, guitar lovers themselves, for likeminded souls. The number and variety of instruments is breathtaking. I spent 2 plus hours there picking and strumming, listening to others much better than me, and getting to know the friendly owners the day before Thanksgiving. This was the place and this was the one. I bought the Cat! AVG restrung and cleaned it up, packed and shipped it and I have the tracking number showing it already on its way to NC the day after Thanksgiving, a.k.a. Black Friday. I have much to be grateful for thanks to AVG and can’t wait to get home and start making music with my new axe from Austin.
