The Collectors
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Friday 6 October 2006
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Steve Jackson from Sydney restores and repairs all sorts of guitars for a living, but collects the best for himself. The Beatles ignited his passion for guitars and when he was very young he used a tennis racquet to mimic the rock stars.
When he was 14 Steve bought his first guitar, a Fender L series Jaguar, Fiesta Red, 1964, from his music teacher for $250. It was then sold to Martin Rotsey from Midnight Oil, who used it in the film clip Borderline. Steve later bought back the guitar from Rotsey to add to his collection.
In his collection, Steve has all the “blue chip”, premier guitar brands such as Gibson, Gibson Les Paul, Martin, and Fender, including a beautiful and valuable Sunburst Stratocaster. He doesn’t play his more valuable guitars; they’re carefully stored away.
Steve believes it is the quality, shape and history of guitars that lures him into collecting them. Steve’s favourite guitar is his Fender 1959 Stratocaster bought in 1979 for $1,750. It’s now worth around $85,000.
Although his collection of guitars is quite valuable, Steve says there are much more extensive guitar collections in the US due to the size and wealth of its population and the availability of guitars. Despite this, he is very proud of his collection.
