Fullmental Alpinist

Zomby, could your mystery "guitar" be a uke version of this electrified Hawaiian?

I got my first guitar when I was a kid—a dime store novelty in a coffin-shaped brown cardboard box from a country that probably doesn't exist anymore. It was a Christmas present from grandparents that loved me enough to listen when I was asked what I wanted for Christmas—I mean Trini had a guitar and if I was going to grow up to be like him shouldn't I get started? I was nine. Since then, more years than not, I've had a guitar with me in all my bedrooms, one-room, and no-room apartments. And whereas Mel Bay and I broke it off after two years of a bitter, off-again–off-again relationship, I've almost always had a curvaceous mahogany-skinned friend to share my troubles. I had to leave my first guitar behind at my mom's house when I scrambled south to start a new life away from my family of origin, if not much else. I often wished I could have rescued that guitar and the cardboard box from the bedroom closet it was trapped in when I narrowly escaped. It was my good friend who never left me even though it knew the secrets that no one else ever did. In a corner of the closet behind a blanket all alone A little boy is hiding because his daddy just came home He catches the smell of whiskey and of sweat on a man grown cold So he closes his eyes and prays, "Jesus please come and take me home." While I never got to play that song on my first guitar, it was there with me in the room during those years. Together with the guitars I have today it is among, as JC wrote, "the friends that will never let us down."

Kismet. What an absolutely great story. Did your heart do a flip-flop when you saw it?

Of course, Buc, Christmas is coming and LeftyGuy and JCV are so dang hard to buy for....

More than likely it was inhaling the naptha vapors. Looks absolutely great! I think you've found some side work--until GibsonPrague tracks you down, that is. I appreciate the post even if it threatens the global economy.

Who needs a BBQ? I live five miles from 2 of the 3 Phil's BBQs--the second most Yelp-rated business in America.

Nowhere but on the Gibson Acoustic Guitar forum. And I love it. Are we talking those green ceramic egg-shaped contraptions?

So, Ben, if you're going to change the tuners, you might as well add this: As far as humidity, use this: D'Addario Humidification System It's just set and forget and works great.

Great Buc. I'm torn: should we send you to play the rest home circuit so those folks can take a trip down memory lane? Or should we send you to UT campuses so the kids can appreciate these classics?

Wow! Eighteen years old and you own a guitar of which only 10 were made? Amazing! I think I can speak on behalf of many of us old guys here: DON"T EVER SELL IT!!! If the cool Beatle played one, it must be good. Here's a 1992: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ALfJ6Fl9H7o

Welcome to the forum. I'm guessing your guitar is closely linked to the 1992 re-release of a series of Everly guitars. There are reports of an Everly cutaway, though I wasn't able to find any pictures of one when I did research for this thread: Newbie - Hello and Help - Gibson Everly J180 LE 1992 10/100 (The OP's guitar is the stuff of dreams.) and this: PHOTOS...'Gibson J-180' And Steinegger 'Ike E... I seem to remember a few Everlys of that Vintage that had a headstock star but none on the neck. Perhaps Gibson decided to stop the neck stars on your guitar and others in order not to conflict with a new run of Everlys. Please read the threads above, and do a search on "Everly" at a similar time period. Hogeye provided quite a bit of useful commentary in those threads and he is quite aware of what Gibson was doing at that time period. (Note to E-minor7: why do I get the feeling you took that picture in your backyard?)

Wow and double wow is right! The back is a stunner and for some reason seeing the back of the neck somewhat rough and without a glossy sheen amuses me.

A nice article, although I got a bit stuck on this sentence: "An acoustic's body wood is usually thin – typically between .080" and .135" thick – and made of light wood, such as Sitka spruce." Not a lot of Sitka bodied guitars around, are there?

As soon as you open a Guitar Center. You're probably better off taking a pass.

Nicely done.