We're all spoiled

[ksdaddy]

In 1967 I was given a hand me down Kay that was just about impossible to play. It was the classic POS most of us had in the 60s in one form or another. No stories of bravery here, no tales of playing it six hours a day and singing Rawhide at the top of my lungs, it was a POS and wasn't much more than a prop. Sorry, I don't do well telling tales of walking five miles to school uphill both ways. I didn't learn anything on a guitar until later.

 

In 1972 my brother came home from the Army on leave and brought a barely used Harmony archtop. When he went back to base he left it at our house. I would sneak into his bedroom and play it when I knew I wouldn't get caught. When he got home for good in 1974 he brought an old Jazzmaster with him and promptly bought the biggest Traynor amp I've ever seen in my life. I asked him about the Harmony and he claims he GAVE it to me when he left (which was b.s., but my brother is completely full of b.s. anyway....)

 

I thought I was given a key to the Playboy mansion. Wow, a guitar I could PLAY! My fingers won't bleed! I actually played after that. I sucked, but I played. The feeling was just like Christmas morning when I got that guitar.

 

In 1977 I swapped the Harmony, a Texas Instruments TI-30, and $20 cash for a 1963 Danelectro. Not long afterwards a friend found an old Alamo amp at the dump with no speaker. I gave him five bucks for it and put a Radio Shack 8" woofer in it. Boo-Yah! I'm electric! Wow, I can tweak the knobs, play loud, play soft, omigod, I'm 8 feet tall and bullet proof!

 

In 1984 I was between jobs and trying to keep my newly purchased house going. My girlfriend and I were constantly broke because we had no credit cards and paid our bills on time. Somehow I traded some stuff and a piddling amount of cash for a grotesque Kent electric bass that a pawn shop wanted $100 for. Yee-haw, I can thump low now!

 

Al of the scenarios I described were moments in my life when I thought for sure I had the entire world by the you-know-whats via a simple acquisition of a new instrument. I was just so tickled to get my hands on a guitar I could actually PLAY, then an electric one, then a bass..... the excitement I can't even describe.

 

So here we are now, buying $2000, $3000, $4000 instruments, arguing about bone pins, humidity, catalog correctness, fading pickguards, blah blah blah.

 

Are we jaded?

 

If a second hand Harmony could make the difference between a 13 year old boy playing or not, then why do I have a house full of guitars and want more? Am I a spoiled brat now?

[TommyK]

...Are we jaded?

 

If a second hand Harmony could make the difference between a 13 year old boy playing or not' date=' then why do I have a house full of guitars and want more? Am I a spoiled brat now?[/quote']

 

(pulls his self off the floor)

 

To answer your question. Not jaded, it's just that,"We're old and we have insurance!"

[jefleppard]

ksd, you sir, are an excellent story teller. i enjoy your perspective and wit. jaded? funny you say that as i just wrote a lyric (this moanin' an here tis.....) that goes...

used to be so bright, now we're just faded. used to be green but now we're just jaded.

i will be (in my sadomasochistic fashion) be posting a link to the new song, entitled 'under construction', soon featuring none other than my SWD.

thanks for the story. a pleasure as always.

[grampa]

Yes

[nid2007]

Are we jaded?

 

If a second hand Harmony could make the difference between a 13 year old boy playing or not' date=' then why do I have a house full of guitars and want more? Am I a spoiled brat now?[/quote']

 

Answer is likely Yes. But I am too--and I blame this f'in website.^_^ I may sue Gibson someday.

[TommyK]

TI-30... I stillhave mine. In a denim looking vinyl case with belt loop... and yes I did use the belt loop... Threaded a 2" white belt through it, thank-you very much.

 

I still love to use it. I like the red LED display. I have yet to see anything cooler.

 

I wonder what' Mother Gibson would give me in trade for a Hummingbird?

[Gilliangirl]

I would like to add that I only have one guitar (one Gibson guitar). So, no, I am not spoiled (compared to the rest of you) . ^_^

[ksdaddy]

I actually rescued a couple TI-30s from the dumpster when we moved out of the old building. Sold them on ebay for 3 bucks I think.

[ksdaddy]

You're right Karen, and we remember what you went through to GET Magic.

 

All's I'm saying is, don't lose that feeling. It'll never come back.

[TommyK]

I would like to add that I only have one guitar (one Gibson guitar). So' date=' no, I am not spoiled (compared to the rest of you) . ^_^ [/quote']

 

One Guitar?!?!?!?

 

What happent to Jonathan?

[TommyK]

I actually rescued a couple TI-30s from the dumpster when we moved out of the old building. Sold them on ebay for 3 bucks I think.

 

You old scrounger! You're a man after my own heart! I got a hammock and a lawnmower tractor that way. THe tractor, a Cub Cadet, still needs work, but the hammock works just fine.... I"m fairly certain. I've been too lazy to set it up this summer. Maybe this week-end. hmmmm

[Space Pup]

I don't think I'm jaded. I can remember when I would go into a guitar shop and stare at a the Gibsons and say, "Yeah, some day.". Then I'd go home and play my plywood classical guitar my mom ordered from Fingerhut and day dream of owning the perfetc guitar. Over the years the only thing that's changed is now I play a Gibson and day dream of owning the perfect custom guitar.

 

I may not be jaded but the price of my day dreams has gone way up.

[ksdaddy]

I'm sure Jonathan is alive and well, as is my S-6. Just bumped back to second string.

[jannusguy]

i have all the guitars i could ever want or need including a few that i don't (want or need, they're not listed in my signature). i have spoiled myself. i have decided to be happy with what i have and get off the treadmill of continually looking for something better. that being said, i still get a very warm feeling as i gaze upon my little collection while deciding which one i'm going to play at any given time. that will never go away.

[rscott4079]

I also have a couple that I intend to keep for good now, but I still view my little collection as fluid. Guitars flit in and out of my life. I enjoy trying lots of different ones. And I like to be able to say, "Oh, yeah. I used to have one of those."

[Gilliangirl]

Jonathan IS alive and well. I'm even considering having some work done on him, the decrepid old box! LOL

 

Yes, getting Magic was quite the journey and I'll never ever let her go. EVER. EVER.

[guitarstrummer]

Jonathan IS alive and well. I'm even considering having some work done on him' date=' the decrepid old box! LOL

 

Yes, getting Magic was quite the journey and I'll never ever let her go. EVER. EVER.

 

Hope you're not having him fixed! Run Jonathan, RUN!!

[retrosurfer1959]

All of life is like that my wife was really teasing me about it the other day when we needed to replace her car. That used to be so exciting and a huge deal we would spend months looking for the perfect car. now it's like pick a color and write a check I don't want to waste a whole day at a #%$! car dealer. Some of the best memories we have were living in a small place scrimping and saving to get anything we needed I remember feeling like I won the lottery when we got our own washer and dryer and didn't have to do the laundromat anymore. Oh well life goes on and I still feel that way with a new guitar at least for a little while.

[zombywoof]

Ya could fit your hand between the strings and the board on some of those cheap guitars back then.

 

As a kid, I did not know a good guitar from a can of tuna . But I was pretty lucky. My first acoustic was a 1930s Martin arctop a friend of the family gave me. She taught some Leadbelly and Elizabeth Cotton tunes on that guitar. Then I sw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and those electric guitars - I had to get me one of those. Ended up with a slightly used Silvertone with the amp in case.

 

What us geezers did have was access to some of the finest guitars ever made at bargain basement prices (even for back then) - back when banner Gibsons and 1950s Fenders were just "used" guitars - before the word "vintage" entered out lexicon.

I could not afford new guitars so over the years acquired a 1930s LG, 1930s National Duolian, early 50s NYC-built Epi FT-79 (made before the company was moved to Philly), 1958 Telecaster (my favorite and the guitar I gigged with for some 35 years), 1965 Strat, and 1964 Gibson Reverse Bird, The Gibson was, if I recall, the cheapest at $100. The highest was about $350 for the Strat.

[zombywoof]

Ya could fit your hand between the strings and the board on some of those cheap guitars back then.

 

As a kid, I did not know a good guitar from a can of tuna . But I was pretty lucky. My first acoustic was a 1930s Martin archtop a friend of the family gave me. She taught some Leadbelly and Elizabeth Cotton tunes on that guitar. Then I sw the Beatles on Ed Sullivan and those electric guitars - I had to get me one of those. Ended up with a slightly used Silvertone with the amp in case.

 

What us geezers did have was access to some of the finest guitars ever made at bargain basement prices (even for back then) - back when banner Gibsons and 1950s Fenders were just "used" guitars - before the word "vintage" entered out lexicon.

I could not afford new guitars so over the years acquired a 1930s LG, 1930s National Duolian, early 50s NYC-built Epi FT-79 (made before the company was moved to Philly), 1958 Telecaster (my favorite and the guitar I gigged with for some 35 years), 1965 Strat, and 1964 Gibson Reverse Bird, The Gibson LG was, if I recall, the cheapest at $100. The highest was about $350 for the Strat.

 

Jaded, nah, I just feel stupid for selling most of them off - also at bargain basement prices.

 

 

[Johnt]

Personally I will not ADMIT to being spoilt or jaded until Guitarstrummer sends me that gorgeous Robert Johnson!

 

Until then I am going to scwream and scwream and scwream!

[Johnt]

i have all the guitars i could ever want or need including a few that i don't (want or need' date=' they're not listed in my signature). i have spoiled myself. i have decided to be happy with what i have and get off the treadmill of continually looking for something better. that being said, i still get a very warm feeling as i gaze upon my little collection while deciding which one i'm going to play at any given time. that will never go away.[/quote']

 

Good for you Rob

 

We hear the sound of contentment!

[albertjohn]

Like many things in life, we are all fortunate enough to have the privalige to be the custodians of these fine instruments for a while. But with it comes responsibility to care for them but most of all to play them.

 

Most people of this forum are players not collectors. They were built to be played.

 

When I got my first Gibson, this year, there was a ting of guilt associated with it. I spent many years wishing and hoping and when I finally got it I did wonder for a moment whether or not I "deserved" it. Who knows, but I'm going to play it for many years to come - God willing.

 

A good friend of mine has recently taken delivery of a brand new Aston Martin Vantage. Wonderful car even if it is now American!! But where does he go from here? - he has reached the top of that particular heap and will have to find some other ambition and a home for his next $200k. He does have a Les Paul hanging in his wall at home which doesn't get played so there's hope for him yet. My mid-life crisis was limited to a Fender Strat thankfully.

 

For me, there's always some new song to learn or style to try and I'm having a great time doing it so I don't believe I'm jaded or spoilt...................yet.

 

Keep on rocking in the free world.

[Johnt]

he has reached the top of that particular heap and will have to find some other ambition and a home for his next $200k.

 

Can help him with that get him to call me!

[Thermionik]

Spoiled rotten - give me a used one anytime. Mojo, character, and all at a vastly inflated price over the new ones. Why pay peanuts for a new Gibson when you can pay mortgage amounts for an old one.