The one that got away...

[LeftyStrat]

Nope, not talking about a girl, I managed to marry the perfect one. But have you ever played a guitar that you didn't buy that still haunts you?

Some time back in the eighties, I walked into a music store, right after visiting the bank to deposit a huge tax return check, only to find two left handed guitars hanging on the wall.

Now if you are not left handed, you probably don't know that feeling of being a eunuch in a harem every time you walk into a music store with all those beautiful right handed guitars all over the place.

But that day it was different. There hanging on the wall was a black, left-handed Les Paul custom, and a black left-handed limited edition Jimi Hendrix signature Flying V. And I had money in the bank.

I was immediately drawn to the Flying V, being a big Hendrix fan. It was okay. To my ears sounded a little muffled when I plugged it in. It wasn't very comfortable to play sitting down.

Then I picked up the Les Paul, and even before I plugged it in, I knew it was special. It was alive even without a cable attached. Sustain and even a sort of bloom in the notes, all from an electric guitar not even plugged in. Plugging it in was even better, whether clean or cranked, it was like it was playing with me, instead of me just picking on a plank of wood and wires.

Then I made one of the worst decisions I have ever made in my life. I bought the V, because I thought it would be a good investment. And while years later I did sell the V for a profit, I have never to this day ever played another left-handed Les Paul that had the "it" of that guitar.

Sure wish I new what it was that made that guitar special. Maybe just luck of the draw, a certain combination of the wood and assembly? Maybe the guy building it didn't have a hangover that day? Maybe he had just gotten laid? Had the stars aligned on the day it was created?

I'm seriously debating building one, maybe I'll get lucky.

[jelle]

Man I know that feeling...hard to choose, right?

I had a GREAT les paul which I sold to buy a L-series strat and everytime I look at the strat I miss my les paul a little....

I know I made the right decision. The strat is great in every way and tells me when my amps are done. But still......

Good luck finding a great Lefty Paul.

Jelle

[kec]

Sorry to hear that Lefty. Sounds like she was perfect.

That would have been a good time to pick up a 'Paul, when the prices were good (compared to now ) and the quality was fairly good. Now, Gibson seems to be cutting corners with construction - chambering and short tenons. I recently picked up an Epiphone LP Elitist MIJ. Quality is as good or slightly better than Gibson. No chambering and it has a long tenon. The Japanese know how to build instruments.

[tomrasdf]

I know how that goes...

I had a similar experience, but with a happy ending.

Fall of my senior year in highschoo, my parents and I were in Boston. They know that if they're ever tiered of my bad attitude and want to have a peaceful afternoon shopping or something, all they need to do is drop me at a guitar center and I can udually keep myself going for quite a while. The first guitar I picked up was a Larrivee D-09 BZ. Brazilian back and sides with the most beautiful grain I'd ever seen. It was the most balanced, resonant acoustic I'd ever played. All the way up the neck, fingers or pick, you couldn't make this thing sound bad. This was right after the Larrivee factory burned down and guitar center was liquidating all their stock so the thing was cheap even by ebay standards. When my parents came back 2 hours later, I hadn't moved off my stool and I was still playing the guitar. I had the funds, but decided to pass. Regreted it as soon as that afternoon. Played everything from $9k collings to vintage martins to other larrivees and nothing had the same balance.
Then, turns out, me dad went back later and bought it for me to give as a graduation present. Still haven't found an acoustic that rivals it.

But about once a year, I have these nightmares where I bash it into something or I leave it in my trunk on a 110 degree day and it get's destroyed. Freaks me out... If I lost that guitar, I'd probably just drop acoustic altogether.

[Paul86]

I know the feeling.
My first 'good' guitar as Les Paul Studio, which I had to sell to finance my current number one, a 1986 Standard.
I still miss that Studio, however. On the bright side, I sold it to my brother-in-law, who promised to talk to me if he ever decides to part with with, which is very unlikely.
Anyways, at least I get to play with her now and then.

[BBQLS1]

It was a good story, up until you bought the V. To me guitars and amps are never investments.

[muchxs]

I bought a '66 sunburst Strat for myself for my 16th birthday. That was a long time ago but I still got a good deal on it, I paid every penny I had at the time which was $300. It was dead mint, featherweight with the big headstock and rosewood board with perfect frets.

My ol' man was furious. See, I'd save my money from Summer jobs then he'd borrow it a ten, a twenty or a fifty at a time during the school year until it was all gone. The prick figures it cost him $100k to raise me, I'm surprised he didn't send me a bill.

It gets better, it gets worse. There were a lot of pre-CBS Strats available locally and had I known then what I know now I'd have a closet full of '50s Strats. That '66 was a COOL guitar, though. Even at 16 I tinkered on amps. I managed to talk a guy in town into having me service his JTM45 half-stack. It didn't need much, the reference pin had broken on one of the power tubes so it was in there wrong, the bias was off and the preamp tubes were pretty burnt. A few tweaks later the old Marshall was back on its feet. I wired the 25 watt Celestions in the slant front in parallel so they had some chance of handling the power. I set the old Marshall up literally out in the woodshed, cranked it all the way up and did my best Blackmore impersonation. Hell, I can play "Smoke on the Water"!

The old man continued to give me a hard time until I begged the guy I bought it from to take it back. Grudgingly he did.

The ol' man is still a prick and I still miss that guitar!

[kec]

My ol' man was furious. See, I'd save my money from Summer jobs then he'd borrow it a ten, a twenty or a fifty at a time during the school year until it was all gone. The prick figures it cost him $100k to raise me, I'm surprised he didn't send me a bill.

That sucks man!

[muchxs]

My ol' man was furious. See, I'd save my money from Summer jobs then he'd borrow it a ten, a twenty or a fifty at a time during the school year until it was all gone. The prick figures it cost him $100k to raise me, I'm surprised he didn't send me a bill.

That sucks man!

It did at the time but it's all steps on the path. There are several ways to look at this... lacking any point of reference I could adopt the ol' man's way of life, been there, done that. Eventually I let the light shine down and I saw the error in my ways. It's not as efficient as being taught to make good choices in the first place but it beats never learning to make good choices at all.

[LeftyStrat]

It was a good story, up until you bought the V. To me guitars and amps are never investments.

I agree. But I was in my twenties and it was the age of the yuppie and I was trying to justify letting that tax money slip right through my hands within hours of cashing the check.

The profit I made off the V probably would not have been as much as I would have made by investing the money in the stock market. But even if I had made a fortune off those tax dollars, I still wouldn't have that great left-handed Les Paul.

Trust me, I'll never make that mistake again.

[kec]

It was a good story, up until you bought the V. To me guitars and amps are never investments.

I agree. But I was in my twenties and it was the age of the yuppie and I was trying to justify letting that tax money slip right through my hands within hours of cashing the check.

The profit I made off the V probably would not have been as much as I would have made by investing the money in the stock market. But even if I had made a fortune off those tax dollars, I still wouldn't have that great left-handed Les Paul.

Trust me, I'll never make that mistake again.

Just curious. What was the Les Paul going for back then?

[LeftyStrat]

Just curious. What was the Les Paul going for back then?

Well, I don't trust my memory too much, but I believe the V was about $1300 and the Paul was about $1500.

I don't remember however whether this was retail or discounted music store prices. I believe these were the discounted prices.

[muchxs]

Trust me, I'll never make that mistake again.

There's a twist to my story that you might appreciate:

The guy with the JTM45 is a lefty. His main guitar back then was a walnut colored Les Paul, I don't remember if it was right handed and flipped or lefty. I haven't been back there in 30 years but a buddy of mine has. My buddy says the place is like a time capsule. The guy's parents passed away and left him the house, he has every guitar and every amp he's ever purchased. He had good stuff back then, I'm told that in between he's stocked up with Bogners, Soldanos, there's probably an FACS in there somewhere. I can't comment on guitars because my buddy didn't pay much attention to the guy's guitars... they're all LEFTY!!!

That JTM45 is still there. I'll bet he still has the Les Paul.

[dave g]

I know how that goes...

I had a similar experience, but with a happy ending.

Fall of my senior year in highschoo, my parents and I were in Boston. They know that if they're ever tiered of my bad attitude and want to have a peaceful afternoon shopping or something, all they need to do is drop me at a guitar center and I can udually keep myself going for quite a while. The first guitar I picked up was a Larrivee D-09 BZ. Brazilian back and sides with the most beautiful grain I'd ever seen. It was the most balanced, resonant acoustic I'd ever played. All the way up the neck, fingers or pick, you couldn't make this thing sound bad. This was right after the Larrivee factory burned down and guitar center was liquidating all their stock so the thing was cheap even by ebay standards. When my parents came back 2 hours later, I hadn't moved off my stool and I was still playing the guitar. I had the funds, but decided to pass. Regreted it as soon as that afternoon. Played everything from $9k collings to vintage martins to other larrivees and nothing had the same balance.
Then, turns out, me dad went back later and bought it for me to give as a graduation present. Still haven't found an acoustic that rivals it.

But about once a year, I have these nightmares where I bash it into something or I leave it in my trunk on a 110 degree day and it get's destroyed. Freaks me out... If I lost that guitar, I'd probably just drop acoustic altogether.

I had practically the same experience with my Larrivee. I was up at Guitarworks in Evanston (on the north shore of Chicago) one time and I picked up this one D-03R (2001 I believe) off the wall and the thing was MIND BLOWING. Out of the 1000's of acoustics I've played in my life, not a single one even came close to sounding as good as this one. I bought it on the spot. Since then I've played it side by side with insanely priced vintage Martins (one of them from 1918) and it's simply SMOKED them all. I've played a bunch of Larrivees, and while I think that they're generally decent guitars, I haven't ever found another one like mine.

If mine got destroyed, I think I too would simply give up playing acoustic.

[tomrasdf]

I was up at Guitarworks in Evanston (on the north shore of Chicago)

That's a nice store. They have a nice habbit of keeping really nice acoustics on hand. My dad just bought a (REALLY EXPENSIVE) drednought Collings form up there that's pretty stellar. It's the only thing I've played that's come close to my D-09.

On a much sadder note, it might be for sale soon. My dad's been struggling with arthritis in his hands for a few years now, but he just got back from the wrist Dr this afternoon and was told that if he kept playing the guitar it'd lead to serious, permenant nerve/joint damage. He wasn't a career musician or anything, just a closet picker, but it was something he really loved and it breaks my heart to see him have to let it go.
The only thing that dissapears faster than dream guitars is the fragile bodies we call out homes for the short time we have on this earth. You may be blessed enough to find another perfect left handed Les Paul, but once you run out of years in which you can play the instrument, there's no going back. DON'T LET THAT ONE GET AWAY.
After he told me, I took all my guitars and my dumble-clone to church and rattled the stained glass for a few hours. It's an easy thing to take for granted...