1978 Matt Umanov Greenwich Village NY Guitar Dealer - 6-Page Vintage Article

Description

1978 Matt Umanov Greenwich Village NY Guitar Dealer - 6-Page Vintage Article
Original, vintage magazine article
Page Size: Approx. 8" x 11" (21 cm x 28 cm) each page
Condition: Good
MATT
UMANOV
Greenwich
Village
Dealer Of
Quality
Guitars
by Happy Traum
WELL-KNOWN AS A teacher and
author of method books for guitar-
ists, Happy Traum is a veteran of
New York's Greenwich Village folk scene
of the late '50s and early '60s. He’s appeared
on several albums, including some with
Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger, and the New
World Singers, a group he co-founded.
Happy was a GP columnist for five years,
as well as an editor and contributor to
Sing Out!; he also is the originator of the
popular Homespun series of cassette in-
struction tapes. Traum was the subject of a
feature story in last month’s GP.
MATT UMANOV’S SHOP is one of the
small but growing number of guitar
shops that specialize in fine acoustic guitars,
with an emphasis on old Martins, Gibsons,
and other American-made instruments. Lo-
cated in the heart of New York City’s
Greenwich Village, which for years was the
legendary center of the East Coast folk
music scene, Matt’s shop [276 Bleecker St..
New York, NY 10014] attracts a constant
flow of guitar enthusiasts who stop by to
chat, check out recent acquisitions, pick up
some strings, capos, and harps, or just to
pull a guitar off the wall and sit and pick
awhile. Sometimes someone falls in love
with a guitar and buys it on the spot,
although many people just come in to
browse. Customers who are actively look-
ing for guitars, mandolins, or banjos can
usually find one here, either new or used.
There is not an enormous volume of stock
at any given time, but what Umanov does
have is invariably of excellent quality. It is
not unusual to see several rare old Martin
Herringbones, pre-War Gibsons, early
Dobros and Nationals, an assortment of
mandolins and banjos, and even some of
the classier electric instruments, like D’An-
gelicos [see GP, Feb. ’70], pre-CBS Fenders,
and early Les Pauls. There is also a repre-
sentative stock of new instruments, ranging
from inexpensive but good Japanese im-
ports to top-of-the-line Martins. Perhaps it
is the quality of Matt’s stock and repair
work that has attracted such well-known
guitarists/performers as Bob Dylan,
George Harrison, Steve Stills, John Sebas-
tian, Janis Ian, Pete Seeger, Paul Simon,
and John Hammond into his shop.
Matt himself has the look and manner
of a Brooklyn street kid. Invariably dressed
in jeans and T-shirt, he oversees his store
with the rare zeal of someone who loves
what he’s doing. He never seems too busy
to stop and chat, give advice, trade stories,
or bawl someone out for mistreating a
guitar. After a short time in the store, it is
not hard to see why this has become one of
the most respected and popular guitar
shops of its kind in the New York area.
It was while attending Brooklyn Tech
H igh School during the early ’60s that Matt
first became interested in folk and blue-
grass music and their instruments. He
started hanging out around Greenwich
Village, especially at Marc Silber's Fretted
Instruments, a shop that specialized in
selling and repairing acoustic guitars. Marc
had learned his craft primarily from Jon
Lundberg [2126 Dwight Way, Berkeley,
CA 94704], whose knowledge of old Mar-
tins had been legendary for some time.
Marc encouraged Matt’s interest, and
shared with him his technical knowledge
and appreciation of the finer instruments;
Matt credits Marc with having given him
his first real start in the field.
After finishing high school, Matt went
on to three months of study at Boston’s
Northeastern University before dropping
out to take a job with the Gretsch company.
“I was just hanging out in a guitar store in
Boston the whole time, anyway,” he says.
He stayed with Gretsch for a year, learning
how guitars were built on a production-line
basis. During that time he worked in half a
dozen departments. “At one time they
would give us hollowbody electric guitars
from the spray room,” he explains. “The
guitar was assembled and lacquered, and
we would have to drill the various holes for
the controls, mount the pickups and the
wiring harness, and put on the machines.
Then the guitars would go to the next guy,
who would do the set-up of the nut and
bridge. For a while I was in the repair
department, then for about a month I was
making dampers for the Gretsch Tennes-
sean or Chet Atkins model. Doing all that 1
learned how a bunch of wood and metal
gets made into a guitar, and how to use the
various machinery. I asked a lot of ques-
tions. In fact. 1 was a real pest, always
bothering the older guys with questions.”
Since Matt played some banjo while
attending Brooklyn Tech, the people at
Gretsch put him to work in the banjo
department. As Matty tells it, “Out of
maybe 100 employees in the factory, I was
the only one who even knew how to tune a...
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