A priceless collection of music’s history belongs to one man. That enviable man is Armand Serra…
By Ian Woolley
Guitar-Exp’s Armand Serra has arguably the largest and most valuable collection of guitars in the world. And his obsession shows no sign of waning. Where better to meet up with Amand than the Northern Guitar Show at Kempton Park where he has a stand selling the limited edition books of his vast collection.
A treasure trove of Rock ‘n’ Roll souvenirs, his private collection features a host of extremely rare vintage guitars, as well as many-celebrity-owned instruments that he has discovered down his 40-plus years of collecting. What’s really fascinating about this book is its page-by-page story of the instrument’s individual story. Complete with photos of the guitar and the celebrity who played it. Fender Stratocasters, Telecasters, Gibsons, and Les Pauls are all owned by the music Gods down the decades. Even Johnny Depp has bought one!
The Box Set (credit Guitar-Exp)
The box set forwarded by ZZ Top’s Billy F.Gibbons, includes Jimi Hendrix’s first Fender Stratocaster in Olympic white, a guitar which Armand spent almost his entire adult life pursuing.
I asked him when did his hobby start.
“Probably when I was 16 when I went to my dad to buy my first guitar which was about 25 quid. I asked him to buy it for me and he said no. So I had to work in a restaurant and save up to buy this piece of junk made in Japan called a Masterwork but I’ve still got it. I was into Jimi Hendrix and so I bought a white 1974 Strat and my second guitar was a 1954 Strat I got for a good price from a collector and then I decided to buy all the ones in between.”
What number are you at now I ask him. “I don’t know…220 or something like that”.
Rick Neilson outside Guitar-Exp (credit Guitar-Exp)
Probably one of the best collections in the world?
“Well, I didn’t know that until I spoke with Rick Neilsen (Cheap Trick) and Billy Gibbons (ZZ Top) whom I’ve known for a few years. They both are big collectors in the US and when they saw me working on my project they were amazed. They said this is better than what I have. So impressed that they both wrote the forward of the books for me.”
“The idea for the book came from 40 years of guitar hunting. Not necessarily in the UK but everywhere around the world chasing not necessarily the rarest or best but a lot of celebrity guitars. Like Jimi Hendrix, Richie Blackmore, Jeff Beck, Eric Clapton, Gilmore, and all the big names. I was always fascinated by the equipment they used. It could be the guitars, the amps, or whatever.”
England is not a big country and London is quite small but there were a lot of musicians and places they would record here. For instance, I would pop next door to where Motorhead was rehearsing and ask them have they got anything they want to get rid of. Or I’d buy an amp from Eric Clapton and he didn’t care as it was £200.”
If you could narrow your collection down to just one, what is your personal favorite?
Hendrix with his Olympic White Stratocaster
“The ultimate one in my book is the Olympic white Jimi Hendrix Stratocaster that Jimi carried with him from the US to the UK. I found that guitar in 1979 in London and it took me 25 years to get it.”
“But for me, I got the holy grail. Not that I’m done because I’m still looking today to find what I can buy. I know Keith Richards quite well and he’s borrowed several of my guitars and even tried to buy one or two from me but I wouldn’t sell.”
So you must have a big house, Armand. “I’ve got a big storage room”.
Excuse the obvious pun here but plucking up the courage to ask him does he have an understanding wife.
“Yes. I got married in my twenties and she knows I’m doing the right thing but if I go out for the day and bring something back she says what’s that now? Ampeg made huge bass speakers and I found 6 of them for sale which belonged to the Rolling Stones. They were the prototypes made for them and so I went to this guy’s house and bought all six of them. Even one wouldn’t fit in a car and so I hired a large van to bring them home. My wife on seeing them said ‘what’s that now?’ and just shook her head. I told her don’t worry that’s not going inside!”
“Spending thousands of pounds on a guitar in the beginning she had her doubts but now she can see that I was doing the right thing as an investment” he laughs.
And there might be a chance the public might be able to view this vast collection as Armand hints “there is a future plan that we may have an exhibition in a London museum where the public can go in.”
So if you are still searching for that unique musical gift for your loved one this Christmas, this unique and prized box set will pluck the heartstrings of any music lover.
Read the full interview with Armand Serra in the December issue of the Beat Magazine. Order your copy today.
To order Armand’s limited two-volume box set, go to www.guitar-exp.com or pop into his shop Crazy Pig Designs located at 38 Short’s Gardens, London, WC2 H9A (just off Covent Garden).
Priced at £95 with over 500 pages in colour, only 2000 have been printed. Limited to 200 box sets, a super deluxe version of the book (with embossed cover with extra pages) signed by both Billy Gibbons and Rick Neilsen is also available. (Armand informs me that over 100 of them have already been sold).