Hello from Rochester, NY

[Chrose1201]

Hi all from Rochester, NY.  I am a 62 year old guitar player. I have played Gibsons off and on for years. Forgetting the forays into Fender and Ibanez for now, my first guitar was a WMC (Washington Music Center aka Chuck Levins) Les Paul copy, likely made by Univox. My second guitar had an interesting story. It was a 1962 Melody Maker. At the time I was 17 or so and thought I knew everything. I saw these ads for Dimarzio pups and thought that a Super Distortion in the neck position and a PAF in the bridge would be the ****! I also wanted Grover machine heads. The guitar tech at Veneman music in Rockville, Md. suggested that I didn't really want to do this. As I said I was 17 and knew better ;)  so he made the changes. To his credit he saved the parts and put them in a plastic bag. Well he was right of course. For one it sounded like ****! It was like putting a 454 big block engine into a VW. the 5# body and small mass of the guitar was not built for that. The tuners were good though! Well someone knocked the guitar over and broke the neck anyway, so there went that! The interesting part of that story was the guitar tech was a guy named Paul Smith. Latrer on he started using his full name of Paul Reed Smith! So I guess he really did know what he was talking about!  Later on I managed to get a 1976 Firebird and was disappointed to find that the baseball neck was really too much for me. Sold that and got a 1978 LP Pro Deluxe. Great guitar but that too was sold and truth be told I don't know what I was playing after that one! Maybe my old WMC?  Then some Ibanez...For years I played bass in bands using a Thunderbird bass. I had that and a Music Man 100W head with a Cerwin Vega double scoop 18" with a front loaded 15". I called it my John Deere set up because it roared like a tractor!

For the past 20 years I had been playing in showbands using a 98' Fender American Deluxe Strat but always coveted another LP. I finally got a 2012 Traditional but my first gig with it I realized that the style of music I was playing and the amp I was using really didn't lend itself to that kind of music so I sold it and got an EBMM Luke III. Great guitar but still not right. I ended up building a Partscaster to the exact specs I was looking for. Great guitar but then Covid hit and I stopped playing in showbands. Recently while working at home I listened to about 6 hours of the Allman Brothers at the Beacon and am hooked again!  I am now trying to decide which LP to get. I love the slim taper neck so I am leaning towards those. I like the idea of the Jimmy Page but I am not n the mood to spend $4k+. So that's my story, and I am sticking to it. I would not have bother with this longggg story, but hey, Gibson asked :D Looking forward to being able to contribute and be a part. 

[tx-ogre]

Welcome aboard.  Interesting story.  Enjoy your stay.

[sparquelito]

Welcome Chrose1201.

Great story, and an exciting acquisition ahead of you. 

Looking forward to seeing how it all pans out, sir. 

🙂

[Mr. Natural]

Welcome to the forum.