He's an author, fan and expert on Gibson Les Paul guitars, and now aficionado Vic DaPra has one named after him.
Already, Mr. DaPra, co-owner of Guitar Gallery in North Strabane, has sold all 25 of the custom electric guitars made and named for him by Gibson USA less than three months ago.
Called the Vic DaPra Bourbon Fade, the guitar is a 50th anniversary reissue of a 1959 Gibson Les Paul guitar.
Each one has its own "fingerprint," he said, along with a certificate of authenticity signed by company General Manager and Senior Vice President Rick Gembar.
His customers, from as far away as Ireland, New Zealand and Australia, each shelled out between $5,500 and $6,000 for the rare model, complete with a highly-flamed maple top in a dark sunburst shade that he designed.
The most famous owner of one of the guitars is lead guitarist Rick Nielsen of the band Cheap Trick, which is currently on a national tour.
The band, with DaPra guitar in hand, is scheduled to appear on The Tonight Show with Conan O'Brien Sept. 1.
Demand has been so high that Mr. DaPra is working on specifications for another DaPra guitar that will differ slightly from the one released in April.
The Gibson Les Paul series of guitars from 1958 to 1960 were re-popularized largely in the 1970s by English rock guitarists, like Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney, and Jimmy Page, the lead guitarist for Led Zeppelin, who also wrote the forward for one of the three books Mr. DaPra co-authored about guitar collecting.
"I was a big sucker for the English stuff," remembers Mr. DaPra, 57, of Canonsburg.
A 1970 graduate of Canon McMillan High School, Mr. DaPra became interested in guitars at age 12, parked in front of the family's gigantic television set. It was then and there that he saw the Beatles play live on the Ed Sullivan Show.
Mr. DaPra remembers the event well.
"It just changed the world at that time," he said.
Soon, he founded his own garage band with some buddies, and he eventually went on to some local fame as the lead singer and guitarist from 1972 to 1984 for "Sugar Cane," a local band that opened for Joan Jett at the Stanley Theater.
All the while, Mr. DaPra was collecting guitars -- starting with the $29 Sears catalog model his parents, Val and Norma DaPra of Canonsburg, bought for him.
"That was it -- from there, I got hooked on guitars," he said.
After high school, Mr. DaPra went to college for a year, but dropped out, telling his parents he wanted to pursue a career in music.
They were disappointed by his decision, he said, but by 1973 they were convinced he went mad when he took out a $1,600 bank loan to purchase his first 1959 Les Paul.
"I thought my parents were going to have me committed," he recalls, saying such a price was unheard of at that time.
Today, that guitar would be worth about $400,000, said Mr. DaPra, who also works as an appraiser for collectors, like Mr. Page and guitarist Robby Krieger of The Doors.
The idea for the DaPra guitar came from Gibson salesmen, who Mr. DaPra said, approached him about having a guitar named after him to help celebrate the 50th anniversary of the object that he's devoted much of his life to.
"I think Gibson really outdid themselves," he said of the guitar. "This is the best copy yet for playability and sound."
The DaPra guitar also features a mahogany body and neck, with a rosewood fingerboard.
Mr. DaPra still collects dozens of vintage guitars and offers many others for sale at Guitar Gallery, the shop he co-founded with partner Tim Matyas in 1985.
"We still sell guitars all over the world," Mr. DaPra said.
First Published: July 23, 2009, 2:15 p.m.