A hippie musician's tasty collection of audio gear (and guitars)

This Show Us Yours tour has been put together by Steve Guttenberg, CNET's Audiophiliac columnist.

Meet Gene, who lives in New York City with his wife Beth in a midsize Greenwich Village apartment. He's a musician and an audiophile with great taste in audio and fretted instruments.

Gene's posing with a Gibson L-2 that he bought in the early '70s when it was around 50 years old. He paid a few hundred bucks for it. 

Everywhere you turn there are more instruments.

Gene prefers tube electronics for his audio system and guitar amps. 

This classic preamp is the heart of Gene's home system.

Steve says: "I've heard Gene play a lot of bluegrass over the years, but he's actually played more with electric guitars, like his Telecaster. It's an incredibly versatile guitar, usable for most styles of music."

This is a little Tweed tube practice amp. According to Gene, when Eric Clapton recorded the "Layla" album, he and Duane Allman were each playing through one of these little amps. The amps were made in California.  

The tall black speaker over to the left is the MartinLogan Scenario and it's around 20 years old. Of course there's another one on the other side of the front wall.

Gene was a big fan of blues man Rev. Gary Davis, and saw him a number of times when Davis lived in NYC in the 1960s. Davis had one of these guitar banjos, and it took Gene 20 years to get his hands on this one.

Gene is especially proud of this mandolin, it really does sound special.

Gene bought this turntable 40 years ago, and it's been updated a few times. It has a Linn Ekos tonearm and a Grado Reference1 cartridge.

Gene is a pretty much an analog guy, but he's been known to play a CD every now and then on this old Sony changer. 

Gorgeous guitar!

Blues players in the 1920s and 1930s played Stella guitars, says Gene. This is the kind of guitar Elizabeth Cotten wrote "Freight Train" on, and Charley Patton and Blind Lemon Jefferson played Stellas. It's a real gem of American music history.

Gene's favorite summertime spot for listening to music is on the fire escape outside of his apartment's window, with his Woo Audio WA6 tube amplifier (to the left of Gene) and closed-back Audeze EL-8 headphones. 

Most of Gene's Greenwich Village neighbors have fire escapes, but it's a safe guess few have as cool a headphone rig as he does.

The Sony XDR-F1 radio, long discontinued, has developed a loyal following that pays many times its original cost.

Doesn't everybody have one? Gene's gong makes a big sound.

Left, an early 1900s Stewart banjo, right an 1890s Cole Eclipse banjo; they're flanking a banjo clock. Banjo was Gene's first instrument. He started playing at age 16. 

You've already seen this guitar with Gene playing it, but it just looked so pretty hanging on the wall.

That's a Kay on the left, and two Harmony ukes in the middle and right. All three date from the 1960s. 

Here's an early Berry LP pressing from Gene's collection.

Gene's not about to switch to an LCD TV. He still loves his 40-inch plasma too much.

Very cool!

Gene loves the Beatles. Who doesn't?

Thanks for checking out Gene's sound system and his instrument collection!

If you want to see more Show Us Yours showcases, we have plenty more here.

And please submit your photos here if you want your home audio or video setup featured on CNET.