This looks like a great thread for me to jump into!
In a previous life, in the late 70s and 80s I owned a vintage guitar store in Hollywood, CA in the guitar/music district on Sunset Blvd between LaBrea and Fairfax. Just about a block from where the original Sunset Grill was. Guitar Center didn’t exist there back then.
I moved to Japan for 5 years where I continued selling vintage guitars to the largest music instrument dealer in Japan.
Unfortunately I didn’t keep many guitars, but have a couple. I’m really a bass player, so this is the one bass I kept, it’s my favorite out of hundreds of Fender basses, this one just sounds great and plays great. Everything is 1959 except the body, which is a 1963. All the pickups and pick guard is all original. I bought the bass from a guy who carved the body up into an eagle. That was common in the 60s and 70s for some odd reason…
I mostly play upright bass when I play, and my upright is a much nicer instrument, but this old Fender is probably worth more.
I also have an old Guild Mk. II nylon string guitar. I bought this new back in 1977, the year after I graduated high school. I recently had the saddle repaired at Gryphon Strings in Palo Alto, Frank Ford is a pretty good friend of mine. This is a pic I sent him when I took it in.
I wanted to start playing guitar during the pandemic, so when I opened it and saw the broken saddle and strings, I knew my wife probably let some of her friends kids play it and of course they tuned it up to high…oh well…
Now we get to the shameful part…as I was taking the Guild in to get the saddle repaired, I spotted a 2011 Bourgeois OMC Custom. This is a fairly expensive acoustic guitar on today’s market. I don’t know how much they cost back in 2011, but I have always wanted an old Martin. I kind of pictured myself in my retirement sitting on the porch with a 30-30 leaning against the log home I’m building, while playing some acoustic…so I bought it. Italian Bearclaw Sitka Spruce, Figured Mahogany back/sides, ebony fretboard, zirocote binding. I still kind of remorse thinking I should have held back for an old Martin, but this guitar stays in tune amazingly, I have left it in the case for several weeks and it was still in tune when I took it out, according to an electric tuner. I’ve learned a few songs during the pandemic, Blackbird, Wish You Were Here, some Cat Stevens, Paul Simon, et al…
Just a tad of white widow and I can go into the zone…