Fischer's interest in music started in his childhood and blossomed when he was playing in bands as a student at UNH in the mid-'70s. He wanted to improve the quality of the sound systems they were using. "At that time there were not a lot of people making custom sound systems," he says. "I would say to the bands, 'I can make you sound good.' I did an independent study in the engineering department, and I had some big companies helping me to test speaker cabinets."

That project turned into a business, providing equipment to local professional and semi-professional musicians. Today, Fischer runs Ear Craft Music on Main Street in Dover, N.H., selling a large selection of electric and acoustic guitars and sound systems and providing other music-related services, including lessons and repairs.

Fischer's collection of musical instruments grew out of his relationship with local bands. "I started trading PA systems for guitars. I picked up two or three, then 10 guitars. I had an insight into the market starting in 1977.... People were laughing at me," he says. But they weren't laughing 10 years later when the market for musical instruments "went crazy" and Fischer saw the value of some of his guitars skyrocket. He estimates that his most valuable guitar is now worth about $130,000.

Eighteen of Fischer's guitars will be on display at Boston's Museum of Fine Arts this fall and winter (Nov. 5, 2000, to Feb. 25, 2001) in the exhibit "Dangerous Curves: Art of the Guitar." The exhibit will feature more than 120 guitars created from about 1590 to the present, according to Darcy Kuronen, the museum's curator of musical instruments. "The strength of Brian's collection," says Kuronen, "is classic or vintage designs of the '50s and '60s. For instance, he has Stratocasters in every color. His is one of the country's major collections." Kuronen particularly likes Fischer's 1958 Gibson "Flying V," a model that was made for only a year and a half, with a body coming to two points at the end. "It was a radical design at the time, and few survived," he says.

The MFA exhibit will be Fischer's first. He hopes it will give him connections to other museums that might want to house parts of his collection. "I'm starting to look for homes for them, so generations after us can appreciate them," he says.