sparquelito

You are speaking my language, John. I love taking pawn shop prize guitar amplifiers and cleaning them up nicely to make them like new. The last one I got my hands on was so dusty and crusty, you felt like you needed to update your tetanus shot before even picking it up.

Praying for you, John. For peace and healing. A story for you. Not precisely the same thing, but I understand catharsis, and how divesting sentimental things can help with moving forward: A few years ago, I advised a lady out west on the potential sale of her 30+ year old Stratocaster. I provided a valuation, and gave her lots of good advice on how to sell it via Craigslist, Reverb, or local Classified adverts. (She lived near a major metropolitan city in the western United States.) The lady was a really nice person, and I liked her a lot. I checked on her months later, to see how she was doing, and to see if she had sold the guitar. She was frustrated, and fearful of meeting strangers, and haggling over the cost of the Strat. Finally she blurted, "Well, why don't you buy the guitar? I trust you, after all!" I replied that the shipping costs would be wicked high, and make the entire venture not very satisfying for either of us. But I did check with FedEx, and it turned out that shipping from there to northern Alabama would be less than $100. And the guitar would be in its original hard shell case. So, I called her and chatted about it, and mailed her a check for $1,300. $1,200 for the 1991 Strat Plus, and $100 for the shipping. She shipped the guitar to me within the week. When I opened the guitar case, in the presence of my wife and my bass playing buddy, we were stunned. The guitar was pristine. Brand new. 31 years old, and it was untouched. Still had the original strings on it. All the original case candy, strap, spare strings, Fender picks, Fender strap locks. The original sales receipt from 1991. It had never been played. So, the back story. The lady who shipped the guitar had been a struggling young waitress in California, decades before. She was in love with a local guitar player. The moon rose and set on this guy. She was mad about him. He had only a crappy Strat-copy, and he had a birthday coming up. So she went to a reputable guitar store, and put a down payment on a brand new 1991 Strat Plus. She didn't make much money, but she paid on the guitar in installments, while the guitar store guy held it for her. At some point, she got off early from work, and drove by the bar or club where her beloved was loading in for a gig that evening. She walked into the darkened club, and headed for the stage area. Back in the dark corner behind the stage, she saw her fellow, leaned up against the wall, and smooching on a little bar girl. He was kissing on her, rubbing her tender bits, and whispering passionate sweet things into her ear. My friend turned and walked out, and never, ever called him or saw him ever again. Months later, the guitar was paid off, and she slipped the case under her bed. It stayed there. Life moved on, and so did our lady. She moved to another State, kept getting better jobs, and eventually married a wonderful, faithful man. The guitar moved wherever she moved, and it stayed in the case, untouched, under her bed. After many years, she decided that the old memories, and the guitar, needed to be put out of her life. The guitar playing lothario had died a few seasons earlier, and the guitar was just taking up space under her bed, and in her heart. She posted to a guitar valuation website where I worked as an Admin and Moderator, and requested the info on how to sell the guitar. A year of communication between us later, and much soul-searching on her part, it was in my hands, and everybody turned that corner. My friend is happy now. Life is good for her. And that (now 33 year old) Strat is my one and only. I can never sell it. I promised the lady that much. It's actually in my Last Will & Testament, going to my granddaughter whenever I pass on some day. Anyway, long rambling story. Peace to you, my brother. Life it going to be good. Not as good as when your wife was here with you, but surely a different form of goodness. I pray it is so. ❤️

The 1971 album, E Pluribus Funk. (Grand Funk Railroad's 5th studio album.) Round, shiny album cover instead of square. Looked like a big, irreverent coin, of course. The title is a jab at the Latin motto of the United States of America, E pluribus unum ("Out of many, one") and translates as "Out of many, Funk". I wore out that record back in the day. 🙂

God bless you, T-man. The prayers of a fallen former altar boy probably don't count for much, but I'm praying for you some peace, healing, and comfort. 😔

And meanwhile, at 221B Baker street; "Blast it all, Holmes. Don't just sit there scrubbing your bow across that retched fiddle. There's a mystery here to be solved!" "And a most vexing mystery it must be then, to have you in such a lather. Please elaborate." He put down the violin and tended to refilling his pipe with a course black shag. "The very thread in which we find ourselves this evening contains a guitar-related mystery, and then so two pages of posts follow of a highly detailed, (and dare I say) dark and sinister allusion to some very unsavory guitar photography staging misadventures!" Holmes scratched a kitchen match across the arm of his reading chair, and spent a moment smoking and reflecting upon the information before him. Finally he inquired, "Is this perhaps a matter for Scotland Yard, or perhaps even some Admin or Moderator to handle? Why should an esteemed physician and London's most famous consulting detective get involved?" "For the thrill of the hunt, man! How many weeks are we going to sit around these dark and musty chambers, reading newspapers and cataloging forensic cigar ash remnants? I yearn for the chase, the adventure, and the quest for truth. An infamous couch has gone missing, and there are numerous dissatisfied, perplexed forum members left flustered and befuddled. Aren't you the least bit intrigued?" "Is there a chance that Moriarty is at the bottom of all this, Watson?" "I'm convinced of it!! A couch once owned by a seasoned, sea-going NCO, disappearing into thin air'? Who else could it be, man?" Holmes rose suddenly and secured his coat and hat. He seemed to have made a decision. "Abandon your house slippers and lace on your sturdiest boots, John. And please bring your service revolver along. I believe that we just may need it." "You mean to say that we are taking on this case, and that newsworthy adventures are surely to follow?" "Yes! Let's move quickly, Watson, and make haste. The game is afoot!!" "Good show!!" 🙂

Congratulations. That's a fabulous guitar! 😀

My only Tele, next to my only Strat. Both are keepers. American made Strat Plus from 1991. American made Performer Telecaster hum from last year. Love them, lots. 🙂

I would normally post a photo of something other than puppies, but I had a stern warning from a Moderator or Admin over such things last year. Back-story. We were at a picnic in Germany one time, many years ago. It was a big German/American 'partnership day' featuring live music, cook-outs, and games. It was summer, so shorts, sneakers, and t-shirts was the dress code of the day. One of the Army housewives showed up and mingled with my crowd, and she was a real cutie. Kind of like Mary Ann from Gilligan's Island. Anyway, she had on a low cut blouse, and her tanned, attractive frontal features, sprinkled with freckles, were very much on display. My buddy, a Cobra pilot, remarked, "Ah, I see you are taking the speckled pups out for a walk in the sun today. I approve!" It was funny. Anyway, many decades later, I still think of those speckled pups, and I have to smile. 🙂

I actually have one guitar pick that I got from Rick Derringer, at the side of the stage in a rock and roll bar in Frankfurt, Germany, in 1991. Edgar Winter with Rick Derringer was playing The Batschkapp in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, not long after I got home to Germany from the first Gulf War. It was a memorable night, and Rick was a guitar hero to me. I can never let that pick go. 🫠

I marvel at players who can use the thicker picks. In my younger days, I was a fan of the Fender Medium plectrum, and in the past 15 years or so, I have evolved to using just the thin ones. Fender Thin, Gibson Thin, and the Jim Dunlop textured 0.6 mm are my favorites, though any fairly thin one will do. In fact, I have come to realize that I own a LOT of picks, medium thru very thick, that I never use. Some were made from hotel card keys, using the Pick Punch. If anybody reading this thread wants them, I'll gladly mail them to you. At least one of them was sent to my by Carol Kaye. I'm keeping a small handful of thick plectrums in my music room, for visiting musicians, and my bass-playing brother. He gravitates toward the beefy ones. Just PM me if you are interested. 🙂

I was steadily putting in the garden all afternoon today. I'm about 30% done with that week-long project. It was solid overcast, so no chance of seeing our northern Alabama eclipse (with the sun mostly covered, with a crescent sliver on the left shining on). At some point though, the clouds parted, and I mean sporadically, and just barely. I ran and got the eye filters that I got from the University last October, and it was pretty cool!! And then the clouds rolled back over, and I resumed work on the garden. 😐

When I was in prison, the "sound hole plug" was a whole other thing. Man. Disturbing memories. I should probably check out of this thread. I'm gonna shut up now. 🥲

YES! Well played, sir. 🙂

I put in a bid on three different Dweezil-owned guitars on that site, but was out-bid on all of them. Then I posted this message to him, earlier today. Dweezil, I was doing yard work the other day, and was struck with a great idea. What if your next project was a covers album of Carol King songs? You could get of photo of yourself for the album cover, seated on a window sill bench, with cats. Then you could call the album 'Zappestry'. 🥲 (I'll go ahead and be quiet now.)