The Long Lost Lenny
In 1982 I built a custom guitar for Jazz great Lenny Breau. We collaborated on the design for quite a while. It was fun working with Lenny. He had such great ideas. I understood those ideas and knew how to incorporate them into the instrument he wanted.
It was a 7 string instrument with the 1st string being an A note. A high A note! The second string was a normal E like on any 6 string guitar, as was the rest of the strings, bottom string being low E as on your guitar.
There were playing using the 7th string on the bottom, adding to the range of the guitar on the bass end. Lenny extended the range of the guitar on the high end, or in the melody. He was the only player to do this, his sound was incredible. A must listen to for any guitar aficionado.
Shortly after Lenny’s untimely death in 1984, the guitar disappeared, along with Lenny’s widow, never to be seen again. I have always kept my eye out for it over the last 30 years, hoping to get it back. This year my wish came true. It appeared in a pawn shop in central California. The Heritage Auction House found it. With a little research they found me, and I was able to bid on it when it came up for auction. I am so happy to have acquired it from Heritage Auction, and now have my Lenny guitar back.
It is not for sale, however I will be building a couple clones of it some time soon. I want to share this unique instrument with you. Here are some photos of the guitar, and the genius guitarist Lenny Breau.
I miss Lenny. He was inspiring to me, and fun to be around.
You can find Lenny’s page on Facebookif you are interested in learning more about him.
Kirk Sand