The "Klein Downtown" for Paul Schmidt:

"Several years ago I had the opportunity to co-curate an exhibition of guitars at the Sonoma Valley Museum of Art in Sonoma, California with my friend and master luthier Steve Klein. We called it "Art That Sings" (same as the title of a book I wrote about Klein's life and works) and it featured an array of vintage and new guitars from collections internationally.

One maker represented in the exhibit was Michael Spalt. I had seen some of Spalt's resin-topped collage-art instruments that experimental guitarist Henry Kaiser had shown me, and found them whimsical, expressive, and artful. Spalt is a fine artist from Europe who is deeply inspired by German Dada artist Kurt Schwitters ­ best known for his collaged paintings. We had three instruments of Michael's on display and they were much talked about during the exhibit." ...more on the next page...