The ‘Slamstone’ Collection

TROVE INCLUDES SIGNIFICANT SELECTION OF GIBSON LES PAUL TREASURES

A significant collection of guitars from a notable collector is being offered by Heritage Auctions.

“After years of looking for the most magical instruments during Gibson’s and Fender’s uncelebrated production years, our consignor has decided it is time to thin his specially curated collection of Les Pauls and Stratocasters,” says Aaron Piscopo, manager of Heritage Auctions’ vintage guitars department.

“Fester Slamstone’s Lesters & Strats Collection” includes more than 170 guitars, amplifiers and pedals. The notable guitars being offered are primarily ’80s-’90s Gibsons that have been under-appreciated and therefore undervalued for decades, Piscopo says.

“Pieces in the collection hail from bands in Nashville’s underground, Los Angeles’ punk scene and Madison’s grunge royalty,” says the collector known by musicians as Fester Slamstone. “[Guitar pickup engineer] Tim Shaw winds the best pickups since the PAF – Gibson knows it and now Fender is using his mastery. These bodies are far better than the products leaving the Nashville plant today, with the added benefit of 20-plus years of maturation and the most compelling reason … the use of old mahogany, real rosewood and ebony that simply isn’t available today.”

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“Fester Slamstone also purchased guitars from bands to help them continue their passion of playing music,” Piscopo adds. “Keen players and collectors will notice that Fester also has an eye for great acoustic guitars that are unusual and sonically special.”

Select guitars from the collection are featured in Heritage’s vintage guitars and musical instruments auction scheduled for March 29, 2020, with additional auctions to follow. “These are truly extraordinary instruments that are being offered to the public,” Piscopo says, “after years of careful, expert curating by a private collector.”

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This article appears in the Winter 2019-2020 edition of The Intelligent Collector magazine. Click here to subscribe to the print edition.