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ClintonMagus Inner circle Southwestern Southeast 3997 Posts |
I have seen a good bit of "press" about a company that was around years ago by the name of Presley Guitar. They evidently made magic apparatus and/or gimmicked coins.
What is the story on this company, and where did the name come from? Thanks, Amos McCormick
Things are more like they are today than they've ever been before...
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KirkG Inner circle 1391 Posts |
You should be asking "who" is it. I only have limited information, so I will wait until someone more knowledgeable replies.
Kirk G |
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Frank Tougas Inner circle Minneapolis, MN 1712 Posts |
Mr. Guitar made custom coin sets and gaffs and was seen from time to time at various conventions displaying and selling his wares. His stuff was of the highest caliber and well worth the asking price. I am not sure what happened to him but I am sure there are coin guys who know, so stay tuned.
Frank Tougas The Twin Cities Most "Kid Experienced" Children's Performer :"Creating Positive Memories...One Smile at a Time"
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Jamie Schoolcraft Regular user Palmdale, CA 136 Posts |
His stuff was UNBELIEVABLE!!!
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Larry Davidson Inner circle Boynton Beach, FL 5270 Posts |
His "long salt pour" gimmick was the best I've ever seen...I wish I had bought one.
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Bill Hegbli Eternal Order Fort Wayne, Indiana 22797 Posts |
Larry, you missed your chance when I sold the Long Pour Salt Gimmick to another Café member.
I was recently informed that Mr. Guitar was fed-up with being ripped off of all his magicial creations and has left the manufacture of gimmick coin tricks to others. He still is around and well. He did appear and disappear as if by magic, as only advertised rarely in IBM Linking Ring Magazine. I believe the last time I saw him displaying was at a Magi-fest in Columbus, OH, way back in 1972 and in Houston, TX, IBM convention in 1980. Now with all the other quality coin manufactures on the scene, I am sure we will not see any Guitar effects any more. But who knows, I could be wrong. I still have a set of his 1" white balls, he made for the ball trick made out of billard ball material. They look like small cue balls. I got them of the Garcia Ball routine book that was written way back when. And the ball routine in 'Stars of Magic' book. They were $12.50 a ball back in 1980. |
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ClintonMagus Inner circle Southwestern Southeast 3997 Posts |
Thanks for the information. I didn't realize his last name was really "Guitar". A Whitepages search of Texas shows that there are nineteen Guitars in Texas, including a "Presley", and a "Pressley", both in Abilene.
What a great name for marketing! Amos McCormick
Things are more like they are today than they've ever been before...
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TrickyRicky Inner circle TrickyRicky 1653 Posts |
I have a set of "Hong Kong Coins" from Presley Guitar, and it is the best. The reason is, his Chinese coins are quite thick and the depth makes for better deception when the coin is placed on a white background. The new Hong Kong coins today are very thin.
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Mike Powers Inner circle Midwest 2983 Posts |
While at the Desert Magic Seminar is 1980 I met Roger Klause and his buddy Presley Guitar. Presley dazzled me with some of his coin stuff.
Another cool item he used to sell was his close up magic wand. It was, perhaps, 10 inches long and unscrewed in the center like a pool cue. As I recall the wand was black metal with silver or gray metal tips and came in a leather holder. I'd really like to buy one of these if anyone knows where I might obtain one. Mike
Mike Powers
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ixnay66 Inner circle Denver 1525 Posts |
I believe he also improved the 2-Copper/1-Silver gaff by replacing one of the copper coins with the oriental coin with the hole in it.
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Dan McLean Jr aka, Magic Roadie Special user Toronto, Canada 804 Posts |
Quote:
Another cool item he used to sell was his close up magic wand. It was, perhaps, 10 inches long and unscrewed in the center like a pool cue. As I recall the wand was black metal with silver or gray metal tips and came in a leather holder. Hi, Mike! Roy Kueppers makes a lot of BEAUTIFUL wands. Virtually any domestic or exotic woods, a variety of metals, one-piece or two-piece. and now even a special cups & balls wand. Every time David Ben shows his Roy Kueppers wand, Roy receives lots of orders. http://www.roykueppers.com/wands.html
Dan McLean Jr
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bdekolta Inner circle Texas 1636 Posts |
Presley's wands have become hard to find. The wand did unscrew in the middle and the tips unscrewed also. You could then screw one of the tips directly to the middle for a wand half the size you started with. The wand came in a leather case similar to the cases sold for fine pens. I liked the wand but never used it due to it's weight. They were *very* heavy.
One effect I didn't see mentioned in this thread is the Cig Thru Quarter. I believe Presley originated that and Copper/Silver/Brass. There was even a rumor floating around about him using his initials, PG, on the chinese coins which remained even in the rip off versions. I never asked him about that but it seems the sort of thing he would have done. Pressley also manufactured dice cups, coin cups, and leather cones. You could remove the bottom from the coin cup and have a nice cylinder for the coins and cylinder effect. The balls wmhegbli referred to came in white and black and he called the pneumatic balls. ~ Dan Strange |
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Open Traveller Inner circle 1087 Posts |
Presley didn't invent the cigarette through quarter effect, but he did invent the hinged coin. Prior to that, the effect was done with a coin that simply had a hole in it. Presley also invented Copper/Silver/Brass, based on Connie Haydn's Two Copper, One Silver gimmick. And...it is true that on the Chinese coins, the characters were his disguised initials. When Sterling Magic appropriated his idea, they didn't even think to change the design, and they carried his initials on their products until someone pointed it out to them.
Presley had patent and other protections on his products, but despite all that his attempts to pursue legal action against Johnson and Sterling failed...the courts simply wouldn't support his right to propriety on his ideas, and they're free to manufacture and sell as many as they want without credit or compensation to Presley. The "pneumatic balls" were actually called phenolic balls, named after the material used to manufacture them. They had a wonderful ivory appearance to them. Everything Presley made was first-class. On one occasion he showed me a hold-out that had an 8 to 1 ratio -- move your arm one inch and the mechanism moves forward eight inches. Unbelievable. And if you're lucky enough, you might actually get him to talk about his "honey loads." |
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Merenkov Elite user 413 Posts |
I just ran across this thread and wanted to add my $.02. I'm pretty sure his first name is spelled Pressley, by the way, and all of his products were superbly crafted. He was a perfectionist, probably to a fault (I'm talking obsessive/compulsive-type perfectionism). I was a particular fan of his leather products, which included dice cups (some gimmicked as chop cups); leather cylinders for the Ramsay coin routine, etc. I purchased his last two available wands, one of which was his original, perfect prototype ((the seam in these wands magically disappears when the two parts are screwed together. Amazing.) I would be interested in trading one of these wands, but only for one of Pressley's chop/dice cups. The main point I would like to make here, though, is that there are currently other superb craftsmen out there (Joe Porper and Jim Riser come to mind), but don't make the mistake of thinking they will be around forever. All of a sudden, for whatever reason, they'll be gone, and you'll be kicking yourself for not buying their quality products while they were still in the game.
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Chevrie Regular user West Texas 120 Posts |
Presley Guitar is alive and well. I spoke with him yesterday. He still loves magic and he was the first "close-up" magician that I ever saw. I was 15 years old. He performed a glass through the table routine and then did a routine with "square" sponge balls that involved a pop up move. Presley is an excellent magician and one of the most unique gentlemen that you will ever meet. Nowadays he spends his time building hot rod automobiles. The stories that he can tell.....
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Brother Kotah New user wWsconsin 45 Posts |
To own a piece vreated by Mr, Guitar is to own the very best His apparatus for the long salt pour is pure genius! The pour seems it will never end.
He who sees strangely
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mattisdx Inner circle 1614 Posts |
Was it elvis presley's magic company ?
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Sidney A. Salmans New user 45 Posts |
I see that this is an old thread, posted back in 2004, it is now 2013 and I just got a message from a friend that is at the TAOM this year and said that Pressley Guitar is there and selling some of his magic now. How about that? He was still selling some salt gimmics and some of the manipulation balls for The Three Ball Trick.
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magicalaurie Inner circle Ontario, Canada 2962 Posts |
Quote:
On 2004-07-28 09:48, mattisdx wrote: Indeed! |
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MatthewSims Special user 778 Posts |
Does anyone by chance have Presley's contact information? If so, can you PM me?
Thank so much. Matthew |
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