Blue Ridge Music in Encinitas is long gone now, but from age 12 (when I started playing guitar) to 16 (when I got a driver’s license and could explore further afield), this little place was my favorite toy store.
David Rives and I spent a lot of time in the shop and learned a great deal about instruments and their use from Andre, the proprietor, and his staff.
Blue Ridge was hardly a rock-‘n’-roll Mecca, although I did buy there the Guild guitar and Fender bass I still own today, and I did have one memorable encounter with Bo Diddley when he visited Blue Ridge to test out effects boxes for that evening’s gig at La Paloma Theater one block north.