Musician Commissioned Customs
Collector Marcos Rosset to offer handful of high-quality custom-built guitars in Glendale
Originally of Brazil and today residing in Orlando, Florida, Marcos Rosset has been into guitars since he was just 6 years old. While his long and illustrious professional career centered on film production—with 10 years spent as the CEO of The Walt Disney Company Brazil and 18 years with Hollywood film studios Universal and Paramount Pictures—Rosset notes that he also spent time on the professional music scene as a hired recording artist wielding a guitar as his instrument of expertise. That musical lean eventually led to the building of a beautiful collection of vintage and collector guitars that he is now looking to "thin out" with an offering at Mecum Glendale 2020 in Arizona.
2013 Jens Ritter Princess Isabella Blue Dragon Electric Guitar
"I've played guitar since I was 6 years old," he explained. "As a child, I played in bands, a lot of my teenage years and early adulthood as a hired, contracted musician for recording sessions, and after graduation from university, I still played but not as much."
His focus instead shifted to his film career, and as that part of his life flourished, so too did his bank account. "When I started working and earning money—reasonable money, not only to take care of me, but also I got married and had a family—I started pursuing a dream of having a few of the guitars that I have always had a desire to have."
2013 Jens Ritter The Monroe Electric Guitar
By the late 1970s and early '80s, Rosset had formed a mental checklist of his most desired instruments, and he began actively acquiring examples he'd come across on his countless business trips.
"Because I worked for Universal and later on for Disney, I was traveling to LA with incredible frequency—we had meetings, I would say, at least every other month," Rosset recalled. "There was, and still is, a Guitar Center Vintage Room there and several other little tiny stores that sold these vintage guitars, and that's when I started picking them up. It became almost a habit, and then it became a collection."
2011 Fender Eric Clapton Brownie Tribute Stratocaster Electric Guitar
Rosset said that at one point, his collection grew to hold approximately 130 to 140 guitars, all of which he carefully selected and subsequently cherished for their high quality and timeless appeal. Despite his unwavering appreciation for every instrument in his collection, Rosset's move to Orlando in 2017 forced him to take a hard look at his group of guitars and figure out how to narrow the selection down to a much smaller size. As a regular attendee of Mecum's annual Kissimmee, Florida, collector car auction, Rosset said he was pleasantly surprised with his serendipitous discovery of Mecum's newest segment at this year's event: Mecum Guitar Search.
After talking with Guitar Search's Mike Domino and Dawn Walker, Rosset decided that Mecum's Glendale auction would present an excellent opportunity for bringing a top-shelf selection of guitars from his private collection to public market. While choosing which ones to part with certainly wasn't an easy feat, Rosset managed to curate a highly coveted group of five collector guitars that will cross the auction block this March 11-14 in Glendale, Arizona.
2012 James Trussart Steel-O-Matic Electric Guitar
The group includes a 2012 custom-built copper and wood guitar by musician-turned-luthier James Trussart, a native of France who has long resided in LA and has built custom guitars for artists like Bob Dylan, Keith Richards, Eric Clapton, Paul Simon and many, many others. Also set to grace the Glendale stage is No. 58 of the 100 Eric Clapton Brownie Tribute Fender Stratocasters built in 2011 by the Fender Custom shop. Rosset explained that the Clapton Brownie Tribute has an interesting backstory as a guitar modeled after Clapton's iconic "Layla" guitar and built by his personal master builder Todd Krause. The limited run of guitars was released in 2013 boasting an exacting replication "mirroring years of wear and tear down to every nick, scratch and cigarette burn" that could be seen on the original guitar as featured on the back cover of the 1970 album "Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs" and on the cover of Clapton's 1970 debut solo album.
Others to be offered by Rosset are two works of art by celebrated German luthier Jens Ritter, including a one-of-25 limited-edition Princess Isabella dubbed "The Blue Dragon" for its stunning and unique blue-and-gold fabric-covered body. The other example is known as a Monroe, and it's finished in a sleek coat of Porsche Botox Silver sourced from the factories of the famed German car builder.
Marcos Rosset and Robben Ford
2008 Taku Sakashta NouPaul Electric Guitar
While all amazing, the likely star of Rosset's guitars to be offered in Glendale is his personally commissioned custom-built 2008 NouPaul electric guitar by famous luthier Taku Sakashta, who was tragically murdered just two months after delivering the guitar to Rosset. It is believed that Taku Sakashta made just three NouPaul model guitars: the first for the acclaimed blues and fusion guitarist Robben Ford, a second for an unknown buyer and this third example featured herein. The guitar was built to the exact specifications of the one built for Robben Ford, which is featured on the cover of his album "Truth." It was commissioned by Rosset in 2007 and personally delivered by Sakashta on November 2009. The Les Paul-style guitar is one of the best examples of the art and craftsmanship of the late custom builder and reflects his accomplished expertise in building guitars for renowned and iconic artists.
Rosset taking delivery from Taku Sakashta
Selecting this group to be sold was no simple task for Rosset, who is a true collector to his core, but from his difficult decision arises an amazing opportunity for other collectors and guitar enthusiasts to get their hands on one of his best, and it's all going down in Glendale this March 11-14.
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