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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 812
Location: Hicksville, NY | Originally posted by cwk2:
OK, Here's a little twist on this question,
How many of you still have that guitar or have recently reaquired one very similar to it? Using cwk2's post from the starter guitar thread, how about take it a step further by sharing your musical journey which eventually lead to the collection of guitars that you have today? Yes, include new ones, as well as, the ones that cwk2's mentioned above. | |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 812
Location: Hicksville, NY | I'll start with my story ...
As most ppl. know, the Gibson knockoff that I started with only lasted one year after I accidentally slammed against it during a shower incident. Sometime in 1988, I got the guitar bug once again, and tried to look for the Harmony that my dad got me back in high school. When I didn't have any luck finding it, I settled on a Sigma SDM-18. It was perhaps the best sounding Martin clone I ever owned, and that stayed with me through most of my time in college. Shortly after graduation, however, I got married and my guitar playing almost immediately lost interest, as I focused more on family life and my career.
Around summer 2001, I was visiting Seoul as my way to get to know more about my wife's culture, as well as, meet her friends and relatives who live there to this day. After taking a tour of the Samick factory, and a couple of music stores there, I somewhat got the guitar bug once again and fell for a Vantage A/E with a cool maple top. To make a long story short, I convinced my wife to take the guitar home to NY with us, but I didn't know any better at that time. Despite the hardshell case, the baggage handlers mistreated her so much that she ended with a broken neck upon reaching JFK airport. I immediately lost interest once again after seeing that disaster ...
Winter 2004, out of nowhere, I decided to bring my guitar in the classroom and accompany my children with songs, such as "twinkle twinkle little star" and other kids' songs. The experience was such a delight to see, that I started to love playing again. Getting the guitar bug also raised my taste and preferences for better guitars. I went to a local shop in Flushing, Queens initially to repair my niece's flute and the neck from the Vantage I brought from Seoul. After learning that repairing or replacing the neck would cost more than the guitar itself, I decided to trade it in. It was then that I saw and immediately fell in love with the Ovation 1861. After owning and playing guitars made in the far east, my O would be my first U.S. - made guitar, which I still have to this day.
One month later, I planned on fulfilling yet another childhood dream, and that was to own a Martin (besides an Ovation). It was then that I thought about trading my Sigma, until my dad intervened and decided to buy it from me for $250. One evening as I was purchasing a microphone at the local SA, it was then that my first Martn DM found me. To make a long story short, I walked out of there with a mic and a new guitar.
Around August, my mom gave me the good news that my old Harmony was rediscovered while she was cleaning the attic. She was in very bad shape when I discovered her ... the top lifted, and the nut, tuning keys and saddle needed replacement. When my attempts to restore her failed, she was traded for an Applause AE48, to a gentleman who collects and restores old guitars for a hobby. 1 and 1/2 years later, the Applause will have its end when one of my students tripped himself over while running in the classroom and slammed against it ...
April 2005, my niece began to show an interest in playing the guitar, so I purchased her a Carlo Robelli sx-mini as a starter. Needless to say, she was not pleased with it, as the guitar was not "beginner friendly." Three months later, the mini was traded in for an LXM -- it's the guitar that she practices with to this day, and I also get to travel with whenever I go on vacation.
(this was originally posted in another thread)
My first electric was my Fender Stratocaster, which I simply call my 'beloved.' I love this guitar, simply for her unique appearance. The back is solid wood with no compartment for the tremolo, and she only has one tone control in addition to the volume. Plus the output jack is located where the second tone control is normally placed -- something uncommon in the typical anatomy of a Strat. My dad gave her to me as a Christmas/Birthday present in 1983. As mentioned in a posting I did a while back, my love affair with her was like a roller coaster ride. I would have my highs where I'd play her for weeks and even months. Then I'd lose interest, and she would collect dust indefinitely, until I pick her up, and then the whole cycle starts over again. Around 1995, when I realized that electric guitars were not my thing, I gave her back to my dad for safekeeping. She would remain out of sight, out of mind in my parents' attic until I rediscovered her last October 2005. Today, she is fully restored, and I am slowly getting to know her again.
After criticism from my wife about my tendency to acquire "cheap" guitars, she told me about getting "ONE REALLY NICE ONE." It was then that I began to save some money and began shopping for a D-28. In the end I ended with an HD-28, which I acquired just last month.
Well that's it ... after all these guitars, I must say that I am GAS free. Well, I hope it stays that way for a while ... whew! :) | |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Nice story, Ig. But upon re-reading it I realized that 44% of the guitars you've owned have met a bad end...
Unless you can improve that ratio a bit, I'm afraid you'll have to tour the Factory from the outside... | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Most of these stories have probably already been told on this board in bits and pieces. Bought my first Univox from a friend in college who needed money. Sold it and an amateur-made dreadnaught and with my bride's $50 bought the Matrix to play and sing "Beautiful" by Gordon Lightfoot for our wedding.
Stopped playing much when the kids were born, but picked up the Applause 12 in a pawnshop after a few years.
Then a couple years ago the shit hit the fan when my oldest daughter bought an Ibanez and wanted an amp for Christmas. I saw a Celebrity CC057 cheap, but no one took the hints for a Christmas present for me. Instead we got a laptop and I found ebay and this board. That led to a Celebrity Deluxe that I traded on the 99. The rest is in my signature, except for the 90 Collector's I just bought for Paul Blanchard, the Celebrity Deluxe I got my other daughter for Christmas and the Kaman Monterey I got for my daughter's boyfriend.
Maybe we should have limited this to one guitar. I can see it getting out of hand. | |
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Joined:
February 2005
Posts: 11840
Location: closely held secret | Originally posted by Mark in Boise:
Maybe we should have limited this to one guitar. I can see it getting out of hand. No kidding. 7 of my 9 were bought in the last 2 years as well. | |
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Joined:
October 2005
Posts: 803
Location: Avondale, AZ | In the last 2 years I have bought 5 guitars. I bought my Epiphone ES 335 off ebay. I later found it at a local music store for slightly less. However, it is a keeper even if my younger brother is using it now.
My applause was a good cheap guitar. It came with a strap, stand, chord, picks and a song book. I got it at costco. I sold it for a slight profit and kept the extras. I used the money to fill in the gap I needed to purchase my Breadwinner Limited. I did not like the feel of this guitar and sold it for a $450 profit. That profit went toward my Marshall stack.
I then bought off the internet from Musician's Friends a Gibson Double Cut Les Paul Standard Plus. A very beautiful guitar. I came with a high set up and had a chambered body. I like my guitars solid with low action. I retuned it after 2 weeks of trying to get used to it.
In the beginingg of Jan. I bought my dream. It is my LP. It is heavy and low action. It arrived at guitar center while I was there. It was fresh out of the box. I was first to touch it. It gets all the playing time now. | |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | I started with number 6 but never really got past Moody's three chords. Then a Josh White and then a Balladeer and then a steady stream of one after the other. Then I was put in charge of R&D, (15 years down the road) and had to come up with new designs. You have to know what everyone else is doing to be better and past them, right? GAS begins.
The first guitar I ever paid for was a Gurian size 3 rosewood and I still have it. Second was a Travis Bean which lead to a collection of 61 before the wind went out of the sails and I sold them off. That was over a 15 or so year period.
There were the little detours, get all red Fenders, one of every year strat (stopping at '65 since they don't really count after that), Teles, Pauls the Gibson fat bodies and on and on.....
Over the years I have owned many guitars, much of it was my education about all the different ones that are out there, some was just outrite "I gotta have that".
At one point it got a little old and I got busy in other directions and eventually left the industry. Fortunately I bought a business that had airplane hangars and was able to store the 250 or so instruments that moved to Florida with me in them.
Since selling the business in 2002 I've downsized considerably since there are no more hangars. Instruments today are Nationals (keeping that Travis Bean metal thing going), Collings, Hamers, guitars I've built, a few Ovations, and a couple of others.
The biggest change since 2002 is actually learning how to play and going past the Three Chord Barrier. It's funny to have been in the industry for 30 years and not know a song all the way through (all you need is the three chord lick for the A/B tests when making presentations). I thank National Guitar Workshop for help in that area, and our own Matt Smith, who is one of the staff there.
The main guitars in the stable now are, the 1984 proto, #35, Collings OM-42, CJ-41, National style 1 and 4, a New Delphi, Hamer Improv, a Koa or a Maple BK built tele. Those get played either daily or weekly. Others are less frequently but they all get played. If they don't, they get gone (in the case of many of the Ovations they're back at the factory for their R&D reference)
That's my guitar story and I'm sticking to it. | |
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Joined:
September 2003
Posts: 9301
Location: south east Michigan | I've had my Ballader for 36 years now. It ain't goin' nowhere. However, there might come a time, maybe in 30 years or so, when I won't be needing it anymore. If the market value, adjusted for inflation, is the same by then I would rather send it back to the R&D department than sell it to a stranger.
Hopefully the R&D department will still be around. | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | Bill, speaking of Nationals, there was one on Craigslist Boise a week ago. I wasn't sure it was real or an imitation, if they make imitations. I'd be glad to check it out for you although I obviously know nothing about them. | |
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Joined:
July 2003
Posts: 1922
Location: Canton (Detroit), MI | ....NINE of my ten have been bought in the last two and a half years.....and I've sold FOUR others that I bought in that period as well.....
Short version of guitar story:
1) Mother buys me Silvertone electric with amp-in-case in 1970. Three years later, I trade it to best friend for a cheap acoustic. Acoustic is so bad, I allow it to be sold in my parents' farm sale many years later. Don't even remember what it was, I've blocked it out. I give up playing until after college.
2) After college, in 1976, I buy an Applause AA14-4. It's still here. After a year or so, I give up playing again until 2003.
3) In 2003, I go to a concert and get the bug again. I buy an Epiphone Casino electric and then an Epi Les Paul. Quickly realize I prefer acoustics, discover this BB and start acquiring acoustics, despite a couple of diversions, most guitars are Ovations. I have many flavors, both 6- and 12-strings.
4) Recently, realize I miss playing electrics and buy a Strat. There's room for both.
Roger | |
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Joined:
January 2002
Posts: 14127
Location: 6 String Ranch | Mark, Are you interested in it? If so I'll help you look at it. I've learned a fair amount about them in the recent years. There are the real ones and then all the newer inported knockoffs. Usually there is another digit left of the decimal for the real ones. | |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 12759
Location: Boise, Idaho | No, it's way beyond me. I'm still trying to figure out Ovations. I think they wanted $1500 for it, if that tells you whether it's a real one. My wife told me I need to diversify into another brand, but I figured that would just mean Adamas. | |
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Joined:
July 2004
Posts: 812
Location: Hicksville, NY | Thanks for the advice and thought Waskel,
I'll be extremely careful henceforth ... in fact, I'd been very careful since. Especially knowing that my guitars are no longer the ones made in the far east that could take an abuse or so, and not miss it. :) | |
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Joined:
December 2001
Posts: 10583
Location: NJ | I still have my first POS made in holland acoustic in my mom's basement. I also have my Les paul bought new in 72 and my first amp a bf fender princeton reverb bought new when they made black face amps.
as for my first electric a "marvel" made in japan sunburst I have no desire to find that guitar again BUT I would love to own a Kapa continental tear drop electric which was my second guitar. | |
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Your guitar story