Bring Larry Norman's Guitar Back to Life!

UPDATE: Wow! The goal we set to have Larry's guitar repaired has been reached! There's no need for any more donations, and I really appreciate those of you who helped us reach our goal. Your generosity has been quite overwhelming! I'll keep you posted about what's happening when the guitar is repaired. There are some cool things in store for it! I'll let you know in an upcoming newsletter, and post photos of it in its restored state. Again, THANK YOU to all of you who contributed to saving it :-) - Charles Norman

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In the late 1960s Larry Norman was given a cheap classical guitar with no strings which he put in his closet and promptly forgot about. It had an almost funny brand name, “Segovia” which was, I suppose, a feeble attempt for a fly-by-night suburban Los Angeles manufacturer to align itself with the world-famous virtuoso classical guitarist Andrés Segovia. The guitar moved apartments with Larry several times until he finally decided to put strings on it and was surprised at its rich, warm sound. He tuned it without the aid of a guitar tuner and guessed at the correct pitch. He was wrong. He had accidentally tuned it a whole step below standard “concert pitch” which made the slightly slack strings resonate and sound weightier somehow. He wrote many songs on it, and when he finally recorded them he left the tuning in the key he had composed them in. This became Larry’s signature sound that can be heard on every solo acoustic guitar track he recorded:

The Outlaw

Why Don’t You Look Into Jesus

The Great American Novel

Reader’s Digest

U.F.O.

Six Sixty Six

Song for a Small Circle of Friends

…and many more.

He kept on playing that same guitar in every live concert he performed throughout the 70s, 80s, and 90s. If you look at any live concert photos or footage from those decades, there you’ll see it. Larry played it at The White House, Explo ’72, The Sydney Opera House, Moscow’s and Berlin’s Olympic stadiums, and on stages all over the world both small and large.

In the early 2000s an airport baggage handler got careless with the guitar and ended up destroying it. Larry was understandably dismayed that it was now unplayable. He took it to a luthier who said it was beyond repair and that it was a cheapo guitar anyway so he might as well throw it away and buy a decent instrument. Larry couldn’t bear the idea of dismissing his decades-old travel companion and steadfast co-performer, so it sat idly in a storage room until Larry passed away in 2008.

When I moved to Norway I brought it with me, not quite sure what to do with it, but also unable to discard it. Then I met a luthier in Oslo who said he could restore it to pristine condition, but it was going to take a LOT of effort, time, and money. I told him I didn’t want it pristine but instead wanted it to be like Larry knew it, playable, with all of the nicks, scars, and scratches it had picked up during those decades on the road with Larry still intact. An instrument that had lived. He quoted me a price and part of that is what I’m seeking here on GoFundMe. Any extra contributions that might come in will go toward purchasing a heavy duty flight case to keep it safe.

It does seem like quite a bit of money to repair a cheap guitar but when I searched the web I found estimates like this:

The Mozart Project website

“The cost to repair an old guitar can vary depending on the type of repairs needed. Simple repairs such as replacing strings or minor adjustments may only cost a few dollars, while more complex repairs such as replacing a cracked body or neck can cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars. The best way to get an accurate estimate of repair costs is to take the guitar to a qualified repair shop for an inspection.”

So I guess the price is justifiable. If it was my own cheap guitar I would throw it away. But Larry’s guitar is a part of Christian music history and 20th century culture. There’s a reason Larry’s album Only Visiting This Planet was added to the National Registry of the Library of Congress as a significant piece of cultural importance, and this guitar played a large part in that significance. I’m hoping you can help to keep it as something other than a broken relic of the past :-)

Thank you!

Charles Norman