ODD JOBS

As the caretaker for a vast collection of unusual vintage axes, blues guitarist Mike Dugan has carved out a second career in front of the camera.

- TERRY CARLETON

GO SEARCHING FOR information about 1960s-vintage oddball electric guitars and there’s no doubt you’ll stumble onto videos featuring Mike Dugan. From U.S. and Canadian rarities to European, Asian, Russian and Scandinavian models — Dugan has been filmed playing them all. And yet, ask him to name his favorite and, without hesitation, he names a guitar that was a first for many players of a certain age: a Sears Silvertone/Danelectro in maroon sparkle. “I actually used to go to Sears when I was 12 years old, back when you could play the guitar in the store,” he recalls. “I’d pick that baby up and plug it into the Valco-made tube amp that’s built into its hard case. How can you not love that?”