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A deceased collector had 31 hand-crafted guitars made by New Jersey luthier Sam Koontz. Family sought to sell all 31 to another collector.
Last edited by 2bornot2bop; 05-11-2013 at 11:57 PM.
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05-11-2013 08:13 PM
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Man I could settle for just one of those axes.
Big of me.....not a greedy guy.
The ones I've heard sound great...of course the only ones I've heard have been played
by great players.
The first one I saw was that picture of Pat Martino with his Koontz in a 70's Guitar Player magazine.
Re the clips: I have listened to/ watched a lot of Steve Giordano's offerings
on You Tube and rate him very highly indeed as one of the the most musical
and soulful jazz guitar players.
I really hope that he isn't that deceased collector.
Can you verify?
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I couldn't agree more about SG's expertise...man that cat's a player!
Originally Posted by Moonray
The article identified the collector as "Howard Krive." It went on to say that luthier Sam Koontz built some 200 or so guitars before passing in 1981.
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That article is well over two years old ... all are long gone ....
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Howard was a good friend, many of his guitars came from me, although only one Koontz--wish I had it back.
Howard was a truly great guy and a helluva player/teacher.
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so what was there besides the Koontz guitars ? Any more interesting archtops ??
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he had a couple of my D'Angelico's and a few other DA's I found for him
couple Zeidlers, pre war Super 400, a number of new guitars from various builders.
big amp collection too.
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Harry Leahey, who bought Pat Martiono's said that Sam built that guitar with green wood. Great guitar, but constant neck problems.
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yes, Howard told me that it had a badly twisted neck, but was the best sounding Koontz in his collection
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I sent an email to the seller. The Koontz guitars are all still there but will not be split up. There were 5 D'Angelico's but all sold by now. Most of the archtops available are from Benedetto, Moll and Ribbecke.
I found it a bit difficult as they will not tell what guitars are available and at what prices. They will only tell you if you specify first what exactly you are looking for. Strange way to sell....
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What do you think the price of one Koontz guitar might be? It's like the one Steve Giordano plays.
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I remember calling Koontz around 1972 after hearing Pat Martino play on the Visit and Pat Martino/Live, 1972
(Pat Martino):
"He built that guitar with an oval sound hole, very much like a Howard Roberts model, and a floating pickup. It had a door that would slide over the oval hole; closing off the top and cutting the feedback. I used that guitar on The Visit (1972) and on the live album (Pat Martino/Live, 1972).
He wanted a few grand I think (if that much) at that time to build one for me.....
Out of my $$ range at that time....
...too bad.....Last edited by jazzimprov; 11-21-2014 at 04:34 PM.
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did pat use a dearmond rhythm chief? i wonder if he stuffed that guitar too.
i always associated that sound with the L5 ces.
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Wow. Bresh sounded just amazing on that Stromberg. Originally Posted by Wjguitar
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Man, those Koontz guitars sound great. Love those DeArmond pickups, too.
(It doesn't hurt that the players know what they're doing.)
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The '38 Epi Triumph sounds fabbo. Not mine, although my '38 sounds … similar.
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Sam Koontz Guitars
by Wayne Wesley Johnson
Sam Koontz made his first guitar, a classical, in 1959, followed by a solid body bass and carved top jazz guitar in 1960. Since then he had made over 200 additional guitars, each with the unmistakable craftsmanship and sense of design for which Sam was renowned.
Prior to setting up his own shop in Linden, N.J. (1970) Sam worked as a shop foreman for the Framus line importer; later he designed guitars for the Framus factory while working for Philadelphia Music Co. Design work was also done for Martin Co. during this tenure.
Sam was then assigned the task of developing the Standel and Harptone guitar lines, including the manufacturing procedures. In some cases he even designed the machinery which was used to manufacture the instruments. In his Linden shop, he continued to fashion beautiful and beautifully sounding guitars, along with custom work and repairs.
An innovative craftsman, he was continually looking for and working toward improvements and refinements for fretted instruments. Sam constructed many experimental guitars. One, a double-neck six and twelve-string acoustic, may have been the first of its genre. Another, a self-contained electric guitar/amp/tape recorder, was conceived with the idea of solo performances, which could be captured on tape immediately. Conversely one could play the tape with pre-recorded accompaniment. It even had speakers and sufficient amplification to drive them. Naturally, it was both battery and AC compatible. This effort consumed hundreds of hours in Sam's estimation, but was typical of the manner in which he attacked things.
Sam also created the "Studio One" guitar for Wayne Wesley Johnson, which was a beautiful natural 16" archtop jazz guitar outfitted with customized D'Armond pickups and built-in on-board studio phaser and flanger…providing for the same stage tones as used in the recording studio. He built an archtop guitar-organ synthesizer for Pat Martino. He also built Johnson a thin line double cutaway guitar-organ/synthesizer. A beautiful natural curly maple electric guitar with the fingerboard frets sliced and wired from underneath with MCI organ electronics and run inside the neck under the fingerboard to an electronics PC board mounted within the guitar's body. A Steiner/Parker monophonic analog synthesizer was provided externally and triggered by the guitar…way ahead of its time.
The interplay of clean design but a variety of features was always in Sam's mind. This is evidenced in ways, which are not always so obvious at first glance. An example of this interplay at work was his unique method of placing solid-body electronic hardware without need for a back-plate, thereby preserving the natural beauty of the guitar's back. Sam accomplished this by means of a side-plate (access beneath) which also acted as the mount for the guitar cable jack. Sam's main love, however, remained the acoustic-electric carved arched top and carved back jazz guitar, which he built in 15"-18" widths, along with at least three different choices for neck scale length, and two choices in peghead designs…which Sam designated as single scroll or double scroll patterns.
Many fine players, including Pat Martino, Howard Krive, Wayne Wesley Johnson, Vic Cenicola and Harry Leahey purchased their instruments from Sam, in the past. Sam was always tinkering with newer, better ways to enhance their tone, beauty, durability, sustain, whatever it took to have the instrument perform the way he thought it should. A notable development in this class of guitars was the sound-hole closure, first used on the guitar made for Martino. It inconspicuously slid underneath the top when not in use. The closure eliminated the need to stuff foam rubber and other unmentionables in the opening to avoid feedback. The f-hole versions of this closure were a bit trickier, but Sam had the answer: tine hinges. A pinky through the f-hole is able to flip the closure in place.
Artist/collector Johnson remarks, "My favorite guitar of all time is the Oval-F personal model that Sam built for me, just prior to his death in the early 80's. It features a 17" body with oval hole and a single F hole on the bass side. The oval hole is fitted with the unique sound-hole closure mounted in a track. Sam built me the guitar with the single scroll headstock design and with abalone block inlays surrounded with stirling silver borders…absolutely gorgeous to behold. My guitar, was finished in a sunburst finish and has incredible tone and sustain… Out of all the guitars I've ever owned this one is unquestionably, my favorite guitar."
All in a lifetime's work, for Sam Koontz.
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Wayne Wesley Johnson - drummer, guitar player, recording artist, and contributing consultant to Just Jazz Guitar Magazine. He has developed a playing style of his own - an integration of different techniques, which he refers to as "Jazzamenco." Additionally, Wayne has been a vintage guitar collector since 1959, and has had as many as 100 guitars in his collection, several of which are featured on his recordings. To learn more about Wayne Wesley Johnson, his music, and his collection, visit his website at Wayne Wesley Johnson | waynewesleyjohnson.com | Home.
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