Axe Man

>>Ask Woody Hanson about his vintage guitar collection, which currently numbers about 70, and he’ll turn ardent and poetic.

Receiving his first guitar at age 7—a Sears and Roebuck electric—was "like God calling my name," says Hanson, now 54. Each instrument is "like a woman—you have a passion for it, you love it, you take care of it." Collecting them becomes "a thread in the fabric of your soul."

Hanson, president of Hanson Real Estate Advisors in Fort Myers, estimates that he’s bought and sold 600 guitars since that first Sears and Roebuck catalog model he still owns. He values his current collection at roughly $200,000, but the inventory is in constant flux as Hanson buys and sells.

A conversation about guitars quickly reveals why he’s so successful as a collector. He can discuss almost any aspect of the instrument with encyclopedic depth and breadth: model numbers, finishes, type of wood, number of guitars made in a particular run, and which famous musicians played a certain model.

The pastime isn’t just a part of his personal life; it defines it. Hanson remembers dates according to which guitars were put out that year. Most of his reminiscences are bookmarked by music: the Christmas he was 13 and received "the guitar that changed everything" (a 1961 Gibson SG); the exact three songs that rocked his world (Last Kiss, Pretty Woman and Little GTO); his college days at the University of Florida, when he used to see a not-yet-famous Tom Petty play his Rickenbacker guitar at college bars. All of Hanson’s five sons were introduced to guitars by the time they could sit up and hold one.

Buying, selling and simply owning the guitars is more than a hobby, says the ebullient Hanson. It is "almost [my] mission, the central theme of [my] journey."