If it weren’t for Marc Silber I would not be where I am today. When I was about sixteen or so, around 1963, and had just started to get all steamed up about American-made fretted instruments and how they were built and designed, I somehow got directed to Marc’s out-of-the-way store here in Greenwich Village, NYC, Fretted Instruments. It was next door to the Folklore Center, a renowned folkie hangout, both of them being on the second floors of ancient town houses, with no visibility from the street. Not being afraid to speak up, I asked Marc about the Martin Guitars and Gibson mandolins and some banjos there. Marc pointed out to me, so openly and so simply and so directly and with such friendliness, where this brace was and what that part was and why they were there and what had come when historically, and it all hit me instantly, every single time. Marc was so generous with his knowledge in part because he saw that I was really getting it, and because he is such a generous person overall. I can’t remember if it was just before or just after that when I came across a 1943 Martin D-28 that had already been “repaired” to near death but I had no fears whatever, was totally stoked, just could not wait to dismantle it, see what those Martin people had been thinking, and put it back together. I took off from there, repairing guitars for friends and soon taking in all kinds of fretted instrument repairs from the public, and within a very few years I had a reputation as the go-to person for top guitar repair here in NYC. The rest became history, opening my guitar store in 1969 (and doing the repairs as well until the mid-1970s) and running it until 2017, by which time I figured forty-eighjt years of it was exactly enough. Marc’s openness and generosity in showing me so many of the basics of American fretted instrument design and history, and with such simple accuracy and straightforward kindness, sent me from “very inquisitive” to “can’t stop me” in no time. I owe Marc a lot.