Mary Ford Les Paul SG on Pawn Stars!

[D-poland]

On thread, I forgot to mention that if I had far too much money kicking around then I'd have paid the asking fee for Mary Ford's SGLP.

 

Sounds quite reasonable, actually.

 

P.

Howdy - I'll have to agree with you! some have commented above that its just a guitar! my thoughts are if you want just a guitar, and it no matter what has no other value then certainly ,one should be well satisfied with a $140.00 Epi. SG ! there are people who value the HISTORY of them ! for what ever reason, and some will put a higher monetary value on it according to what they can afford .so whats wrong with that? guitars, seem to bring out more peoples displeasure on being to pricey. I wonder if the corvette car forums complain about the prices and whatever ? why that they cost more now or why they did any upgrades over the years say since the 1960's? my goodness why does a 1963 split window,which cost only $3000.00 in 1963 now cost $60,000.00?

CONFUSED! :blink:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

4

[AXE®]

From the niece of Les and Mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure I should post anything here but for some reason I feel compelled to do so because from what I'm reading people are having very mixed emotoions about Aunt Mary's Guitar being sold for what we sold it for and to whom we sold it to so here it goes......

 

We did our research before we took our guitar to Cowtown Guitars in Las Vegas to put it on consignment, we weren't born yesterday and we have more than half a brain. There's a story behind the guitar which we shared with the people involved the day we negotiated the deal, they just edited it out. My husband is NOT uptight, a ****** bag, a prick, have a drug problem or any of the horrible things that are being spewed about him! He's a very humble guy who was blessed enough to be born into a musically talented family and didn't want to do the show out of the gate, tried to talk me into doing it for him but they wanted FAMILY!

 

I had been in contact with guitar experts from around the United States over the period of at least a year and we kept running into the same issue over and over again!! NO ONE BELIEVED US!!! Even with the documents! They kept asking for photos of Mary playing it, we couldn't find any So with that being said, we thought taking it to Pawn Stars was our only hope in getting a decent amount for something that has been hiding in home for over 30 years with only close friends and family aware of existence. All of the experts we spoke to told us we MIGHT be able to get $15 to $30K for it. Antique Roadshow had their opportunity as well as Gibson but nobody seemed interested, go figure!

 

Mary personally handed that Les Paul Custom to her nephew when he was a mere 12 years old! He was admiring it and Mary wanted him to learn so she put it in it's case and handed over. The guitar was played as it should have been and enjoyed by our family for a very long time and we felt that it was time to bring it into the public's eye to be loved and enjoyed as well, even if for only a TV show. Yes it may end up in some Rich Guys's collection but that was a chance we had to take. Museum's and hall of fame's don't pay for their collections and we weren't in the position to donate it at this point in our lives.

 

I'm not here to open a BIG can of worms or piss anyone off, it's just hard to sit back and read all the nice and mean things people are saying and hold my tongue. The world can speculate all they want but I'm here to tell you that the show was not staged (edited yes) and it broke our hearts to sell it like we did but we did what we needed to do and what we thought was best. It's a material possession that we can't take with us when we die and we felt like the music community would love it as much as we have.

 

Pawn Stars may get $250K for it but we would have never been able to do that! We don't have the marketing or the connections they do nor a TV show. We are common people who live paycheck to paycheck like the majority of the public and have had a very rough 3 years financially and emotionally due to unemployment and losing immediate family to cancer related deaths.

 

Think what you'd like, say what you'd like but we did what we thought was best for Mary's guitar and we hoped the public would to.

 

BTW: to answer a question I've seen more than once: The pickups are the original Seymour Duncans and I'm pretty sure the covers are floating around here in Mom's stuff somewhere (Mary's Sister who passed already), I just haven't found them

[D-poland]

From the niece of Les and Mary

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not sure I should post anything here but for some reason I feel compelled to do so because from what I'm reading people are having very mixed emotoions about Aunt Mary's Guitar being sold for what we sold it for and to whom we sold it to so here it goes......

 

We did our research before we took our guitar to Cowtown Guitars in Las Vegas to put it on consignment, we weren't born yesterday and we have more than half a brain. There's a story behind the guitar which we shared with the people involved the day we negotiated the deal, they just edited it out. My husband is NOT uptight, a ****** bag, a prick, have a drug problem or any of the horrible things that are being spewed about him! He's a very humble guy who was blessed enough to be born into a musically talented family and didn't want to do the show out of the gate, tried to talk me into doing it for him but they wanted FAMILY!

 

I had been in contact with guitar experts from around the United States over the period of at least a year and we kept running into the same issue over and over again!! NO ONE BELIEVED US!!! Even with the documents! They kept asking for photos of Mary playing it, we couldn't find any So with that being said, we thought taking it to Pawn Stars was our only hope in getting a decent amount for something that has been hiding in home for over 30 years with only close friends and family aware of existence. All of the experts we spoke to told us we MIGHT be able to get $15 to $30K for it. Antique Roadshow had their opportunity as well as Gibson but nobody seemed interested, go figure!

 

Mary personally handed that Les Paul Custom to her nephew when he was a mere 12 years old! He was admiring it and Mary wanted him to learn so she put it in it's case and handed over. The guitar was played as it should have been and enjoyed by our family for a very long time and we felt that it was time to bring it into the public's eye to be loved and enjoyed as well, even if for only a TV show. Yes it may end up in some Rich Guys's collection but that was a chance we had to take. Museum's and hall of fame's don't pay for their collections and we weren't in the position to donate it at this point in our lives.

 

I'm not here to open a BIG can of worms or piss anyone off, it's just hard to sit back and read all the nice and mean things people are saying and hold my tongue. The world can speculate all they want but I'm here to tell you that the show was not staged (edited yes) and it broke our hearts to sell it like we did but we did what we needed to do and what we thought was best. It's a material possession that we can't take with us when we die and we felt like the music community would love it as much as we have.

 

Pawn Stars may get $250K for it but we would have never been able to do that! We don't have the marketing or the connections they do nor a TV show. We are common people who live paycheck to paycheck like the majority of the public and have had a very rough 3 years financially and emotionally due to unemployment and losing immediate family to cancer related deaths.

 

Think what you'd like, say what you'd like but we did what we thought was best for Mary's guitar and we hoped the public would to.

 

BTW: to answer a question I've seen more than once: The pickups are the original Seymour Duncans and I'm pretty sure the covers are floating around here in Mom's stuff somewhere (Mary's Sister who passed already), I just haven't found them =======================================================================================================

[/quote :wub: I PERSONALLY WANT TO THANK YOU, FOR YOUR POST AND INSIGHT VERY ENLIGHTENING!

[BigKahune]

From the niece of Les and Mary ......

 

 

AXE -

 

Did you pull that from somewhere?

 

Regardless - Sorry to read this has upset the family.

 

.

[AXE®]

Yes, she posted on MLP.

[BigKahune]

.

Thanks AXE.

 

I don't think there was any negative comments on the sale here. I'm gonna take a look over there.

 

 

.

[AXE®]

And...

 

She joined MLP last October.

 

LONG before the episode went public.

 

http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/members/lesandmarywerefamily.html

[BigKahune]

.

 

Damn, a couple of those MLP members went off pretty hard on Mary's nephew.

 

For those interested, here's the MLP thread - http://www.mylespaul.com/forums/vintage-sg/179047-pawn-stars-1961-gibson-les-paul-sg.html

 

 

RIP Mary.

 

 

.

[cookieman15061]

90 grand thats about 85 grand than I would ever even think about paying for any guitar. This is why guitars are so expensive the holy grail wood and someone who knew someone who owned the guitar makes it such a better playing and sounding guitar.

 

Sorry I don't feed into the whole collector crap. That guitar like all are made to be played not hung on a wall in a personal collection never to be played again. Its a disgrace to those who really are musicians, false values added into whats happens to be just a guitar.

 

Nothing special, no fairy dust, its a chunk of wood with electrics.

 

Ahhh maybe so but its history.

[Searcy]

If I had the money I would but the guitar and every instrument of historical significance I could get my hands on. I would store them in a climate controlled studio / museum with recording and rehearsal rooms on site. Then I would insure them and start a service that allowed them to be rented out to reputable recording artists and producers for session work.

 

All I need is the start up capital. I think a zillion samolians would be a good start. Any investors in my little plot.

[Malchik]

All I need is the start up capital. I think a zillion samolians would be a good start. Any investors in my little plot.

I can spare a zillion rupees.

[stein]

I just watched that episide on the net...those guys are a buttload of fun.

 

And yea, those guys at MLP forum who were slamming the guy were showing a lack of class. The guy seemed straightforward and polite.

 

I would like to read some of those documents, it would be interesting to know details and dates about his deal with Gibson.

[Searcy]

I tried out the MLP forum years ago and found it to be teaming with a lack of class.

[jaxson50]

The guy was a idiot to sell for 90K. With all the letters and documents he had? With the right presentation the package will be worth a lot more.

Which is how the pawn shop makes money.

[pippy]

I can't understand all the fuss and confusion.

 

It's an old Gibson Les Paul SG Custom, once owned by Mary Ford. It was a working instrument. If things have been swapped-out then what does it matter?

 

If a collector wants an old Les Paul SG Custom which is all-original then there are enough of them out there for him (or her) to pick-and-choose.

 

I don't, as a rule, use all-caps as I know it's considered rude, but there are times when it seems the best way to stress the only really important and unique bit as regards this particular instrument;

 

IT WAS OWNED BY MARY FORD.

 

You will either understand or not but the value of THIS instrument is not related to the originality of the thing. Rather it is in it's unique provenance and it's player's contribution to the history of music.

 

IMHO, of course.

 

P.

[alexri]

The most ironic thing of all is that they'd ship a $250,000 guitar in the mail.

 

WTF ahahhaha

[stein]

I believe the guitar is the real deal, here is why:

 

The show doesn't really say much, and OBVIOUSLY there would be more checking and verification than what made it to the screen-mostly because a lot of it would be boring and over the heads of people not into guitars.

 

These cats on the show: the are pros, they know how to get info. And, they were in touch with someone who would know what to look for. If there were issues, they had the contacts and the experience to catch it. The fact they went ahead and paid the 90 cake doesn't prove anything, but it leads me to believe that before they did, they verified.

 

And, the question of provenence: it is the actual guy, the relative who has the guitar, who verifies a lot of that. Unless he is not being truthful, but there really is no evidence of that. Not to mention the documents he has along with it.

 

I have a feeling a LOT more was explained and said about the guitar we don't know from just the show.

 

I am curious however, about some of these detail like the pups and the repairs, frets, etc. And also, I would be curious to know more about the history of the guitar, the rest of the guys story, etc.

 

Surely, this is ONE of Mary's guitars.

[pippy]

Of course, the provenance has to be in place and accepted for my previous comments to be applied. That should be understood.

 

If the provenance is not there then it's just a s/h LPSGC.

 

Living in the UK I didn't see the original programme and therefore don't know how much certificated evidence there is to prove that this guitar was owned by Mary Ford but from the comments made here by BigKahune and Jaxson I thought there was little doubt it was actually hers.

 

It's certainly different from the one she's holding in the snap of her and Les where they are both standing and each is holding the peg-head of a white Custom as both those instruments have only two pups but, like stein, I would doubt that she only had one LPSG.

 

P.

[pippy]

Yeah...me too.

 

Where's my Lester?

 

 

P.

[stein]

Post #46, GUITAREST has a link to the thread in a Forum.

 

I just re-read it again, and the wife states that the guy DID in fact tell more of the history of the guitar, but, alas, nothing we can read about.

 

I don't know why she makes reference to "original Seymour Duncans". That is the only reference to them being such. Perhaps she is mistaken, as in doesn't know what exactly she is talking about? Or, perhaps they were replaced?

 

What I AM curious about, is why in the EBAY add, there isn't more info about the guitar. It only seems to tell info seen on the show. SURELY there is more.

 

I mean, they thing that makes this guitar so cool being Mary's is the STORY behind it. So where is the story?

[stein]

LOL...seller (the pawn shop from the show on EBAY) has only a 99.6 % positive feedback.

 

Not bad for a pawn shop I suppose.

[AXE®]

.....

[DanvillRob]

I guess I don't understand the emotions exhibited about the sale of this guitar.

 

Is it "really" Mary Ford's guitar? (probably one of her many guitars).

 

Is the show staged? (who the hell cares?)

 

Is Mary Ford's nephew a scumbag? (again, who the hell cares...save for his friends and relatives).

 

I enjoy the show, and like it when they confirm something is "real" and I also enjoy it when the confirm that something is a fake.

 

Good information, and entertaining.

 

If I was a guitar collector, I'd like to have Mary Ford's guitar, (along with Les Paul's guitar, BB King's, Leadbelly's, Clapton's, Willie's, etc....etc....etc......)

 

but I ain't, and I still have my $90K No harm no foul.

[Jeff-7]

Someone posted the eBay link in the SG subsection, think 125k is the min bid?

 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=220939792311

[RS1976]

am i the ONLY one here who hopes the Pawn Stars guys lose their *** on this? those guys have been hangin people over a barrel since day one. then these sharks land a TV show that shows just how greedy they are.

 

so they ponied up 98K? and they might make a profit? no... i hope they get their asses handed to them.

 

Mary Ford's voice been known to bring tears to my eyes. she owned several guitars. goldtops, archtops, SG's etc... this was one of hers no doubt. but for these dicks to hawk it off as THE Mary Ford SG of all time.... makes me ill if i think about it too much. so i won't.