Funny, I know Joe pretty well, he's a super nice guy and a real guitar geek. He hadn't seen this guitar, and he's touring in Europe. We were swapping pictures as he was about to take delivery of a different (and even prettier) 'burst. His deal closed two days after mine.
Yep, I'm blessed to own this guitar. It's an ex-Mick Ralphs one from Bad Co. days. It's a loooooong story, but i flew to NY to look at another guitar, which turned out to be a fake. I had my authenticator guy drive 12 hours to meet me....so we were bummed that it was a fugazi. We had a chance at some others, but they all had issues (Bigsby holes, neck breaks etc...) and I decided to fly out to be at home with wife/kids on my birthday. I'm checking in for the flight and I get a call to come back to Manhattan. Not keen, I was tired of the chase by that point......but hell, it was what I was there for, so why not. This guitar REALLY came out of left field. Early meeting with the seller the next day, easy deal, super nice guy. He's had it out of public view for 18 years.
I can honestly say it's the best guitar I own by quite some way..........and it sounds awesome through the Axe.
Appreciate the comments..........and yes, it was all the $......but I doubt I'll lose money on it, which is my benchmark.