Back in the early 90's there an older gentleman who used to frequent our venue on industry nights. His wife had died and so he used his generous pension to collect guitars even though he didn't play. He asked if he could bring a guitar in once in a while for me to check out and maybe play a set on. Now, at the time, I was a total non-believer in vintage voodoo. I had some older instruments but none that really qualified as collectible.
We settled into a routine where, once a week, he would bring some lovely old beast and I would check it out and maybe do a quick setup and, then, if it proved to be playable play a set or two with it. It was fun, he enjoyed hearing his baby played and the band turned it into kind of a "hey, come hear a vintage guitar night" thing. Several old Strats, Les Pauls and some oddballs passed through my hands. However, I was generally all too happy to get his guitars back in his hands at the end of the night.
That was, up until the night he brought in a mid-fifties Strat that looked really rough and, in spite of everything I could. do, was just passable from a playability point. However, once I plugged it in, I ended up playing it the rest of the night. That was the only time I asked him about selling one of his guitars. He told me what he had paid and I gulped and then offered him that plus my rig and the two guitars I had at the club that night. He wasn't interested.
We settled into a routine where, once a week, he would bring some lovely old beast and I would check it out and maybe do a quick setup and, then, if it proved to be playable play a set or two with it. It was fun, he enjoyed hearing his baby played and the band turned it into kind of a "hey, come hear a vintage guitar night" thing. Several old Strats, Les Pauls and some oddballs passed through my hands. However, I was generally all too happy to get his guitars back in his hands at the end of the night.
That was, up until the night he brought in a mid-fifties Strat that looked really rough and, in spite of everything I could. do, was just passable from a playability point. However, once I plugged it in, I ended up playing it the rest of the night. That was the only time I asked him about selling one of his guitars. He told me what he had paid and I gulped and then offered him that plus my rig and the two guitars I had at the club that night. He wasn't interested.