Post by Pathein.Raindrop.Moe on Aug 9, 2004 0:22:31 GMT 7
From straitstime interactive. Wish i can be like him when i grow old, but with pedals instead. Haiiizzzz, still a long long long long way to go, or maybe cant even reach there, hahaha
straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/invest/story/0,4386,265932,00.html
Ex-CEO banks on old guitars
Mr Leong strumming a Gretsch Country Gentleman, the type of guitar which the late George Harrison of the Beatles played. Next to him is the limited edition PRS Santana guitar with singer Carlos Santana's autograph. Next is the D'Angelico 1947 - worth US$22,000 (S$38,100) and previously owned by top jazz guitarist Ron Eschete. The last piece is a Gibson Les Paul, an art-decor guitar with a 24K gold-plated, chambered body.
What began as a hobby ignited by curiosity grew into a passion and even an investment - Thomas Leong's collection of 78 guitars is worth an estimated $300,000
By Leong Chan Teik
WHEN he lost his chief executive job during the Asian financial crisis, Mr Thomas Leong turned to his passion - guitars - to lift himself out of the doldrums.
Mr Leong strumming a Gretsch Country Gentleman, the type of guitar which the late George Harrison of the Beatles played. Next to him is the limited edition PRS Santana guitar with singer Carlos Santana's autograph. Next is the D'Angelico 1947 - worth US$22,000 (S$38,100) and previously owned by top jazz guitarist Ron Eschete. The last piece is a Gibson Les Paul, an art-decor guitar with a 24K gold-plated, chambered body. -- WANG HUI FEN
He had a large collection of 123 guitars to choose from to play and entertain himself and others.
To get some cash, he sold 45 of them.
'I sold in panic after I lost my job,' he says.
'I didn't need to sell them but my confidence had gone down. It was a stupid mistake. The guitars are now worth a lot more.'
He succumbed to offers from collectors who contacted him from Japan and the United States, where he was known as a serious guitar collector after having spent more than $500,000 on the instruments.
Each of the musical instruments he sold fetched an average of $5,000 with handsome profit margins, he says.
His collection now is worth $300,000, says Mr Leong, 58, whom you soon realise can talk animatedly and endlessly about guitars.
Speaking for two hours at the Bayshore Park condominium where he lives and where his guitars are housed, he says he came to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur in 1984 to take up a job offer.
For six months, he stayed at the Apollo Hotel until he found a more permanent, rented home.
A bachelor then, he spent his evenings enjoying live band performances at the hotel.
'I thought, hey, this is interesting, and I started to get to know the musicians.
'When they talked about their guitars, their eyes grew brighter,' he remembers.
He soon bought his first few acoustic guitars, and taught himself how to play them.
When he wanted to upgrade his guitars, he found out to his frustration that the used guitars fetched only a fraction of their purchase price.
His extensive research later led him to vintage guitars, and he took to them as much for investment as for pleasure.
These are electric guitars and were becoming collectors' items in the US, Britain and Japan.
Vintage guitars made in the 1950s and 1960s owe their rising value partly to the fact that they were the instrument of choice of bands which were all the rage then, such as The Shadows, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
The craze over vintage guitars infected Mr Leong, who was then the regional general manager of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company.
On his frequent business trips, he heard stories of how these guitars were fetching higher and higher prices.
He decided to check that out and, maybe, buy a few for himself.
'At some shops and Sunday markets, as an Asian, I was inclined to take my time and to bargain. But before I could even make an offer, some American would come up, test it and then buy it.'
Around 1989, Mr Leong was in California when he was finally prepared to cough up US$3,300 (S$5,700) for his first vintage guitar - a Fender Stratocaster which, he says, is worth around US$9,000 now. He still has this guitar.
'I discovered that these old beat-up instruments sound even better and play better than new guitars.'
Eventually, vintage guitars would make up half his collection.
The rest are contemporary guitars in limited edition and art-decor guitars with exquisite paintings on them.
As he built up his collection, he also improved his guitar-playing skills.
And he sought opportunities to play with bands at pubs, company dinners - anywhere.
'I was leading a double life,' he says with a laugh. By day, he was a corporate man in a long-sleeved shirt and tie. By night, he was a baby-boomer in T-shirt and jeans, strutting his stuff on stage with a band.
He played between one and three gigs a month, and all for the love of music.
'A night's pay used to be small, maybe $700, and I asked the band members to share the money. I'd play for free.'
His breakthrough performance was the opening act before Hong Kong idol Andy Lau came on stage at an anti-smoking event in Suntec City years ago.
'My band had usually played to maybe 100 people each time. But at Suntec City, there were 5,000 people. I froze. I was shivering when I played,' he says. 'In the end, it gave me a real high.'
In 1996, at his own cost, he recorded a Christmas CD with 'Singapore Cowboy' Matthew Tan in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr Leong gave away 5,000 copies of the CD to friends and corporate clients worldwide.
By the time he lost his job - and the use of a company-paid bungalow - in 1998, he was well-known enough to be sought after on guitar-related matters.
He has been invited thrice to give talks on vintage guitars at the Old Parliament House, as part of a programme to promote the arts.
Microsoft Singapore called him to borrow two of his guitars for its staff seminars, and an Australian television crew flew to Singapore to shoot a short documentary on him.
He is married to a former Singapore Airlines stewardess. They have three children aged 11, 14 and 15.
His hair is streaked white but this ageing rocker has let it grow to shoulder length, emulating his rock 'n' roll idols of yesteryear.
And he has been having an electrifying time playing the guitar at places such as The Tanglin Club, Muddy Murphy's and Balaclava - and getting paid thousands of dollars.
Says Mr Leong, the leader of a band called Wendy and the Groove Masters: 'I once was busy making money and building a career. Now, I'm making up for lost time with music.'
straitstimes.asia1.com.sg/invest/story/0,4386,265932,00.html
Ex-CEO banks on old guitars
Mr Leong strumming a Gretsch Country Gentleman, the type of guitar which the late George Harrison of the Beatles played. Next to him is the limited edition PRS Santana guitar with singer Carlos Santana's autograph. Next is the D'Angelico 1947 - worth US$22,000 (S$38,100) and previously owned by top jazz guitarist Ron Eschete. The last piece is a Gibson Les Paul, an art-decor guitar with a 24K gold-plated, chambered body.What began as a hobby ignited by curiosity grew into a passion and even an investment - Thomas Leong's collection of 78 guitars is worth an estimated $300,000
By Leong Chan Teik
WHEN he lost his chief executive job during the Asian financial crisis, Mr Thomas Leong turned to his passion - guitars - to lift himself out of the doldrums.
Mr Leong strumming a Gretsch Country Gentleman, the type of guitar which the late George Harrison of the Beatles played. Next to him is the limited edition PRS Santana guitar with singer Carlos Santana's autograph. Next is the D'Angelico 1947 - worth US$22,000 (S$38,100) and previously owned by top jazz guitarist Ron Eschete. The last piece is a Gibson Les Paul, an art-decor guitar with a 24K gold-plated, chambered body. -- WANG HUI FEN
He had a large collection of 123 guitars to choose from to play and entertain himself and others.
To get some cash, he sold 45 of them.
'I sold in panic after I lost my job,' he says.
'I didn't need to sell them but my confidence had gone down. It was a stupid mistake. The guitars are now worth a lot more.'
He succumbed to offers from collectors who contacted him from Japan and the United States, where he was known as a serious guitar collector after having spent more than $500,000 on the instruments.
Each of the musical instruments he sold fetched an average of $5,000 with handsome profit margins, he says.
His collection now is worth $300,000, says Mr Leong, 58, whom you soon realise can talk animatedly and endlessly about guitars.
Speaking for two hours at the Bayshore Park condominium where he lives and where his guitars are housed, he says he came to Singapore from Kuala Lumpur in 1984 to take up a job offer.
For six months, he stayed at the Apollo Hotel until he found a more permanent, rented home.
A bachelor then, he spent his evenings enjoying live band performances at the hotel.
'I thought, hey, this is interesting, and I started to get to know the musicians.
'When they talked about their guitars, their eyes grew brighter,' he remembers.
He soon bought his first few acoustic guitars, and taught himself how to play them.
When he wanted to upgrade his guitars, he found out to his frustration that the used guitars fetched only a fraction of their purchase price.
His extensive research later led him to vintage guitars, and he took to them as much for investment as for pleasure.
These are electric guitars and were becoming collectors' items in the US, Britain and Japan.
Vintage guitars made in the 1950s and 1960s owe their rising value partly to the fact that they were the instrument of choice of bands which were all the rage then, such as The Shadows, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones.
The craze over vintage guitars infected Mr Leong, who was then the regional general manager of a Fortune 500 pharmaceutical company.
On his frequent business trips, he heard stories of how these guitars were fetching higher and higher prices.
He decided to check that out and, maybe, buy a few for himself.
'At some shops and Sunday markets, as an Asian, I was inclined to take my time and to bargain. But before I could even make an offer, some American would come up, test it and then buy it.'
Around 1989, Mr Leong was in California when he was finally prepared to cough up US$3,300 (S$5,700) for his first vintage guitar - a Fender Stratocaster which, he says, is worth around US$9,000 now. He still has this guitar.
'I discovered that these old beat-up instruments sound even better and play better than new guitars.'
Eventually, vintage guitars would make up half his collection.
The rest are contemporary guitars in limited edition and art-decor guitars with exquisite paintings on them.
As he built up his collection, he also improved his guitar-playing skills.
And he sought opportunities to play with bands at pubs, company dinners - anywhere.
'I was leading a double life,' he says with a laugh. By day, he was a corporate man in a long-sleeved shirt and tie. By night, he was a baby-boomer in T-shirt and jeans, strutting his stuff on stage with a band.
He played between one and three gigs a month, and all for the love of music.
'A night's pay used to be small, maybe $700, and I asked the band members to share the money. I'd play for free.'
His breakthrough performance was the opening act before Hong Kong idol Andy Lau came on stage at an anti-smoking event in Suntec City years ago.
'My band had usually played to maybe 100 people each time. But at Suntec City, there were 5,000 people. I froze. I was shivering when I played,' he says. 'In the end, it gave me a real high.'
In 1996, at his own cost, he recorded a Christmas CD with 'Singapore Cowboy' Matthew Tan in Nashville, Tennessee.
Mr Leong gave away 5,000 copies of the CD to friends and corporate clients worldwide.
By the time he lost his job - and the use of a company-paid bungalow - in 1998, he was well-known enough to be sought after on guitar-related matters.
He has been invited thrice to give talks on vintage guitars at the Old Parliament House, as part of a programme to promote the arts.
Microsoft Singapore called him to borrow two of his guitars for its staff seminars, and an Australian television crew flew to Singapore to shoot a short documentary on him.
He is married to a former Singapore Airlines stewardess. They have three children aged 11, 14 and 15.
His hair is streaked white but this ageing rocker has let it grow to shoulder length, emulating his rock 'n' roll idols of yesteryear.
And he has been having an electrifying time playing the guitar at places such as The Tanglin Club, Muddy Murphy's and Balaclava - and getting paid thousands of dollars.
Says Mr Leong, the leader of a band called Wendy and the Groove Masters: 'I once was busy making money and building a career. Now, I'm making up for lost time with music.'
dreaming is free, no need $