David Davidson

David Davidson
David Davidson’s introduction to the music business came at the early age of six. His uncle Bill “Lucky” Nimmo owned Port Jefferson Music on Long Island, and David and his parents often stopped by on weekends. From that point on, David was hooked.

At 12, he started putting in time after school and on Saturdays at a small music store near enough to his home that he was able to ride his bicycle there. He never got paid. Instead, he was given lunch and the opportunity to buy any used guitar he wanted at cost. Even then, David knew a great deal when he saw one: In 1975, he bought his first pre-CBS Fender. He still has it.

The shop’s guitar tech was a former radio and TV repair guy who had morphed into an excellent guitar tech and amp builder. He guided David in the nuances of guitar collecting, showing the teenager how older guitars were usually much better instruments than the newer ones. Under the tech’s tutelage, David learned how to date guitars by reading the pot codes, and much more.

David remembers trips to Manhattan with his dad in the ’70s, when they would window-shop in all the great stores along 48th Street’s renowned “Music Row.” One of the most impressive was We Buy Guitars, a shop steeped in History. “What I remember most about that place,” David recalls, “was all the amazing guitars, and that the owner used to look down at you from this platform. It seemed like he was a hundred feet tall.”

Years later, David, then an employee at Sam Ash Music, met Richard Friedman, whose family owned the very We Buy Guitars shop that had once held young David in such thrall. It was a fortuitous meeting. The two men became the exclusive buyers of vintage guitars for Sam Ash’s 45-store retail chain as well as Manny’s Music. Together, they created and maintained a multimillion-dollar vintage guitar department that thrived over the next ten years.

During that time, David became one of the most prominent sources in the country on guitar collecting. He has frequently been quoted in Kiplingers, Vintage Guitar, and Fortune. On Memorial Day in 2003, David appeared on MSNBC’s “Morning Call” with host Ted David to discuss the vagaries of investing in vintage guitars. He also participated in Larry Meiner’s “Live at the Guitar Show” CD, a compilation of the observations of the nation’s top vintage guitar dealers. In 2005, David had a brainstorm: He would start his own business venture. With partner Richie Friedman, and with the aid of Tom Dubas and John Bertsche, David resurrected a piece of his past. “We Buy Guitars, The Original N.Y.C. Legend” has risen again, once more becoming the place for serious investors to buy or sell vintage guitars.