Who is Mike Slubowski? If you ask the vibrant online community of the “Les Paul Forum”, you’ll hear that he is a foremost authority on all things “LP”. If you search posters and memorabilia in the guitar world, you’ll find he’s the star of the “114 classic Gibson guitars from Mike Slubowski’s collection” poster available online, which is quite a looker. If you ask Gibson Custom, they’ll tell you that Mike is the owner of the guitar that inspired their newest “Collector’s Choice” specimen: “An Exacting Recreation of a Highly Prized Original Burst Collector’s Choice™ #6 1959 Les Paul”. (Incidentally, these fine guitars are available from Wildwood here).
If you ask Wildwood Guitars, you’ll be told that Mike is a dear friend, respected expert on the magic of guitars both old and new, a soon-to-be active correspondent writer on our BLOG, and a customer who has purchased 50 (yes, FIFTY) guitars from us over the years. Or perhaps, in reality, he has ADOPTED these instruments. We would also tell you that he frequently stops by on a Saturday, with one or more of these “treasures” in his collection in hand, for no other reason than to share the Zeus-like soul of another vintage guitar with those at our store. Mike is a world-renowned guitar collector, a passionate advocate for music and guitar, and one heck of a nice guy. He owns a collection of guitars that would make most guitar players drool all over their shirt and shake their head in disbelief – and yet he insists, humbly, that he is simply a “steward” of these priceless treasures for a season, forgoing the empty opportunity for self indulgent chest thumping and shallow materialism in the boasting of his collection. Mike is more of a guru, a wise sage of the guitar world that understands the soul of these legendary instruments; and understands more than a thing or two about life and human beings in the process. He is “one of us”, not some elite collector greedily snatching up all the good guitars to put in a vault never again to be seen. He delights in sharing his instruments with those who can appreciate them, or make amazing music with them. He was all too willing to let Wildwood’s savage guitar necromancer Greg Koch unleash the tone from within his original 1959 Les Paul Junior in this never-before-seen video…
Mike loves to share these instruments, and we have noticed something oddly wonderful about each and every guitar in his collection: Every single one of them has a thunderous voice, that special “X Factor” we all search for. Somehow, these instruments FIND Mike and fall at his feet. Over the next few months we are going to feature MORE videos of Greg’s manhandling of these fine morsels of vintage goodness, as well as tell you a lot more about Mike and his priceless partnership with Wildwood. We are so honored to have him as our friend and fellow tone seeker along this journey. Congratulations to Mike for the latest of many great things that have come his way, the launch and unveiling of the prestigious Collector’s Choice #6 Les Paul, modeled after his very own guitar.