Little Shop of Hoary Guitars

But casual observation doesn’t begin to tell you about Willie’s. For starters, there is no Willie, per se. There is forty-eight-year-old Nate Westgor, a soul-patch-sportin’, lanky hipster and father of two teenaged sons, for whom “Willie” once served as a stage name back in his salad days in the Chicago music scene.

Westgor decamped in St. Paul nineteen years ago and set up shop in an obscure niche market—finding, appraising, and reselling rare guitars and amplification. “You couldn’t find a place that focused on the hard-to-find stuff,” Westgor says.

But plenty of serious guitar aficionados have found Willie’s. Drop by on the right day and you might encounter a member of The Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Los Lobos, Bonnie Raitt’s band, Eric Clapton, Bruce Springsteen, Vince Gill, Lyle Lovett, Semisonic, Green Day, et cetera, quietly and reverently perusing the walls and glass cases filled with vintage instruments that date back to the dawn of the electric guitar and connect today’s musicians with the musical and cultural revolutions they inspired. Price tags can hit the uninitiated like a base riff on a wall of cabinet speakers—instruments range in value from $150 to a jaw-dropping $150,000 or more.

Westgor’s holding an $89,000 1928 00045 Martin acoustic guitar in his venerable inventory for Keith Richards. Martin made fewer than 100 of them out of 1,000-year-old, quarter-sawn Brazilian rosewood (a protected species since 1994).

During the Stones’ Bigger Bang tour stop in St. Paul in 2005, the greatest rock and roll band in the world asked if Westgor wouldn’t mind popping round the Xcel with an assortment of his choicest guitars and amps for the band to have a listen to. A private concert ensued. Weeks later, after laying his healing hands on one of Ron Wood’s favorite guitars in St. Paul, Westgor delivered it to the Stones in Seattle.

The day we visited Willie’s, Karen and Gerald Norman had driven in from Maplewood at their banker’s recommendation to have Westgor assess an old Fender Stratocaster Karen’s father paid $500 for as a high school graduation gift in 1957. “It’s been sitting in the closet ever since,” Karen says. “We let the grandkids play with it. One day I thought, ‘This is dumb. This might be an heirloom.’ ”

Westgor’s discerning eye determined that the body and electronics were from 1956, but that it must have gone in for warranty work in 1961 when the neck was replaced. Despite the Pete Townshend treatment and some modifications, Westgor says Karen’s graduation present could fetch $35K.

It took them about five seconds to have Westgor put the Strat up for sale. “I’m not gonna be a rock star now,” Karen says, laughing, “too many wrinkles.”

Don’t tell Keith Richards that when he comes by for the Martin.

254 Cleveland Ave. S., St. Paul, 651-699-1913