Pawn Shop to Preservation by Guest Writer Steve Lott

I met Ted Newman Jones and Danny McCullough in the late 1970’s when they came to Austin, TX to set up the NEWMAN Guitars shop. As you can imagine, we became fast friends straight away. 

I'll skip ahead……Right before I was to leave on a tour of New Zealand in December 1993, my elder brother called to say he was looking for yard equipment at a pawn shop on Riverside Drive in Austin.  He found this Birdseye Maple Newman for sale for $100.00.  So, he immediately grabbed it and I got it from him next day. It had been treated very badly and was basically unplayable. Whoever had it, left it standing in a puddle of water.  The electronics were shot and some of the hardware was missing. I left it in Austin and went to New Zealand.  Short story is I wound up moving to New Zealand in March 1994 and The Newman went with me. My new family and I moved on to Brisbane, Australia in September 1995. I lived and worked as a guitarist there until August, 2001. I got back in the States just in time for 911. I got it in playable shape overseas but it needed much more work than I was able to afford. In the 90's.  In Australia, their dollar was worth about 52 U.S. cents so the price for everything especially musical gear was more than double.  The luthier I took it to wanted $3750.00 to take on the repair and restoration.

Anyway, this guitar stayed with me until an old friend from Louisiana named Emile Shemroske bought it from me. Emile was also a great friend of Ted’s so the guitar was always in the family.  He put it into great condition and restored it as a playable instrument.  I'm glad we all were involved in saving this forlorn neglected piece of art.  How fortunate it has found its way home to The Newman HQ.