Washington City Paper Nagoya Guitars: A Piece of D.C. Music History Fifty years later, the Nagoya guitars sold by Veneman Music are still prized, sought after, and played.
Credit: Darrow Montgomery
Three months into quarantine, I got my father’s old guitar down from the attic. After I cleaned and polished it and put on new strings, I was impressed: The dusty wood transformed into a sleek brown and tan instrument that looked very similar to Martin’s classic acoustic dreadnought guitars. When I strummed, it had a full, rich, melodic tone. But the guitar manufacturer’s name stamped on the inside of the body the Nagoya Guitar Company was unfamiliar.
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Harvey Reid plays guitar on a stage in a barn at his York home. He and his wife created the stage space to do livestream concerts during the pandemic. Reid has written a 500-plus page tome titled “The Troubadour Chronicles” about the art and history of the troubadour tradition.
Gregory Rec/Staff Photographer
Harvey Reid self-published a massive book about the trials, tribulations and triumphs of the lonely troubadour because someone had to do it.
“The story needs to be told, and I just kept realizing I was the guy to do it,” said the singer and guitarist from York, who has made his living as a solo performer all his adult life. “My credentials are pretty damn good. My body of work in this field is impressive.”