There was no shortage of tributes to Arthur “Skip” Maggiora upon his passing in 2023.
The Sacramento Bee hailed him as a “Sacramento icon” thanks to the music stores that “equipped top-tier professionals and embraced generations of aspiring musicians and countless weekend garage warriors.” The Sacramento News & Review hailed him as someone “who created an enduring culture” since he opened his doors in 1973. And the San Juan Education Foundation, which inducted Maggiora into its 2024 Stars Hall of Fame, remembered the man called Skip not just as a seller of “professional quality gear” but as an ardent supporter of live music who was often backstage as a local gig “supporting music making and/or helping to solve issues that might arise related to the stage equipment.”
In short, Maggiora, who died at 75 after a prolonged battle with kidney disease, was as essential to music-making in California’s capital city as the instruments he sold and the sounds they made.
He was “one of a kind, driven like no other,” says Maggiora’s son Creed. “You know, definitely a heart of gold. Music was his passion and teaching early on.”
Maggiora’s gift will endure: On Dec. 17, Heritage Auctions will offer 150 guitars from his collection in an event that will benefit charitable causes that align with his vision of promoting music education. In 1981, he founded an annual summer youth program called Stairway to Stardom and, later, its adult counterpart Weekend Warriors.
The name of the auction, now open for bidding, says it all: The Skip Maggiora Legacy Guitar Collection Charity Signature® Auction.
“We are honored to present Skip’s collection, especially given its beneficiaries – future generations of music-makers,” says Aaron Piscopo, Heritage’s Director of Vintage Guitars & Musical Instruments. “Skip was a legend in Northern California and across the country, with Skip’s Music standing as a landmark in Sacramento. Cataloging and showcasing these guitars has been a true pleasure. This treasure trove of vintage guitars is truly a dream come true for collectors and enthusiasts.”
The collection, of course, is extraordinary, befitting Maggiora’s five decades behind the stores’ counter and on the music scene’s front lines.
Highlights include a stunning 1954 Fender Stratocaster Sunburst Solid Body Electric Guitar, which hails from the first year of the guitar’s production. The catalog notes, “As one of the earliest Stratocasters ever made, this guitar holds immense historical significance for collectors and musicians alike.” Here, too, is an extraordinarily rare 1955 Fender Stratocaster Metallic Green Solid Body Electric Guitar, one of only a few examples documented from a period when custom colors were hard to come by.
Those coveted must-haves are joined by a 1958 Gibson ES-335 Sunburst Semi-Hollow Body Electric Guitar, a 1953 Fender Telecaster Butterscotch Blonde Solid Body Electric Guitar with its iconic Blackguard design, and a Mosrite Ventures Black Solid Body Electric Guitar believed to be either a 1963 prototype or one of the first 80 produced in 1964.
This event also features eight instruments that once belonged to Billie “Tiny” Moore, the Port Arthur, Texas, native who played electric mandolin and fiddle with Bob Wills and the Texas Playboys in the 1940s, appearing on the Western swingers’ immortal Tiffany Transcriptions. In the 1970s, he joined Merle Haggard’s band The Strangers and appeared on Haggard’s Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World, which celebrated Wills’ legacy.
Among Moore’s offerings in this auction is a uniquely rare and historically significant instrument: his 1952 Bigsby Electric Mandolin, built by the pioneering luthier Paul Bigsby and used during those landmark recordings and performances with the band that made a nation (Western) swing.
Moore was more than someone whose instruments Maggiora collected: After his stint with the Playboys, the Texan moved to Sacramento, where, in 1961, he opened the Tiny Moore Music Center and gave mandolin, fiddle and guitar lessons. Twelve years later, Maggiora followed in his footsteps when, in 1973, he opened his first storefront next to a bowling alley before the expansion(s) that made him a beloved local icon.
As The Bee noted in its obituary, the Sacramento-born Maggiora wasn’t just a seller of instruments. He was a player, too, having worked his way through college opening for Jimi Hendrix and Big Brother and the Holding Company featuring another Port Arthur native, Janis Joplin. Noted the paper, “Maggiora’s work on the bandstand and behind the scenes in concert production quickly cemented his musical reputation.”
That reputation – that legacy – is on full display in this auction, in the guitars offered and in those who will benefit from its proceeds.
Skip’s son Creed hopes these guitars will go to players, which his dad would have wanted. “They have souls,” says Creed. And stories left to tell.
“I just try to be there with what musicians need,” Maggiora told the paper in 2003. “It’s the next best thing to being a rock star.”
