Tell a story about a guitar find!

[StringPicker6]

I'm curious so hear some stories that anyone has about either discovering a hidden gem of a guitar or getting a fantastic deal on one.

I'll start: around 2009 a girl sold me an all mahogany Martin D-15M for $60 dollars because her cat once pee'd in the case and she didn't want it anymore.  Her Daddy bought it for her, so she probably didn't even know much about it. She did offer it to me for free, but guilt made me give her $60. I then cleaned it up and traded it in for a Gibson Les Paul Jr.  I'm hoping to one day be that lucky again...

[B0WIE]

Lots of deals.
One of the first G&L strats for $25.
An Ibanez Jem for $500, that I was offered $3k for the next day.
Many crazy deals on recording gear.

[eded]

Back in ??? 1994 or so, my wife and I were in the car and driving past a yard sale. I caught a glimpse of a familiar shape and asked my wife to stop.  As I walked up, I could see it was a weird guitar shape but was made of stamped metal.  I thought it must be some sort of wall art.  When I got close enough, I could see the familiar Richenbacher (yes, spelled that way) logo.  I kind of sized it up and thought it was interesting. I asked the woman how much and she said "3 bucks".  I told her it was worth more and I could giver her a couple phone numbers to get it appraised.  She said "3 bucks".  I told her I'd give her more because it was an antique...  $50, $100.  She came back with "3 bucks".  I gave her 3 bucks and walked off with the thing.

It needed a little fixing, cleaning the tuners and cleaning in general, and a bit of rewire (the original horseshoe pickup worked and sounded great).  I fooled around with it for a while and ended up trading it for some other gear.  My wife and I talk about it and tell the story once in a while.  We aren't sure what someone did to make her so mad that she'd sell all his stuff for nothing at a yard sale, but it must have been a doozy.

Ed

PS: it was from around 1936 (if I remember right).  A year or two later, Richenbacher changed the company name to Rickenbacker so it wouldn't look so German.

[StringPicker6]

That's a great story!!! Thanks for sharing that!

[unclrob]

Back in the 70's buying a 52 LP for $125,a 53LP $125  and 59LP for $275.A 61 Tele for $300.I've owned a bunch of stuff over the years.


Keep smilin and keep dancin 

[ducktrapper]

I recently found a 2007 candy apple red MIM Strat in a local pawn shop for 100 bucks. Some spit and polish and 40 bucks worth of parts and it's a sweet guitar.

[eded]

Back in the 70's buying a 52 LP for $125,a 53LP $125  and 59LP for $275.A 61 Tele for $300.I've owned a bunch of stuff over the years.


Keep smilin and keep dancin 

I still have the 66 Guild Starfire III I bought in 75 for the princely sum of $165. Not quite the deals you mention, but not awful.

Ed

[unclrob]

I love Guilds and wish I had bought some.I do have a 68 Starfire 1 Bass one pu got for $100.


My most recent steal is a 98 L10 koa its a lefty put a right handed nut and its a Great guitat crazy cheap price.


Keep smilin and keep dancin 

[StringPicker6]

I've never tried a Guild and don't know much about them.  I need to check them out one day.  These stories are great, keep 'em coming!

[unclrob]

The hard thing about Guild right now is finding a dealer.I replaced my 87 Guild JF30/12 after playing it to death about a year ago with one from China,felt like my USA one.It had a Hog neck instead of a maple neck lam side sides and press arch back but felt right like my old one.Very happy with it.I've also thought of buying one of there jumbo jr. which is an OM size but jumbo shape.Atlast no money.


Keep smilin and keep dancin 

[teh]

Here's my story.

In 2004, I visited Trinity Guitars for the first time and met Jim Holler who had five Larrivee Parlor guitars in stock including two rosewood, two mahogany and one Special Edition Flame Maple guitar. At the end of the day, I put a $50 deposit on the maple guitar so I could sleep on it. I returned the next day and paid $400 for this guitar plus an additional $70 to buy a hard shell case to replace the gig bag it came with and had Jim remove the clear pick guard.

My satisfaction with this parlor guitar led me to order a Larrivee Custom 12 string (LV03) in November 2005 and I added a Venetian cutaway, mahogany top, bone nut and saddle and Jim installed an I-Beam active pickup. Once again, Trinity Guitars and Larrivee exceeded my expectations.

Last year, I had the opportunity to purchase a Forum VI and for the third time, ended up with a great guitar. I added a Venetian cutaway and Anthem dual source pickup to this guitar and I just finished playing it for an hour through my Fishman Loudbox Mini.

[Silence Dogood]

I'm curious so hear some stories that anyone has about either discovering a hidden gem of a guitar or getting a fantastic deal on one.

I'll start: around 2009 a girl sold me an all mahogany Martin D-15M for $60 dollars because her cat once pee'd in the case and she didn't want it anymore.  Her Daddy bought it for her, so she probably didn't even know much about it. She did offer it to me for free, but guilt made me give her $60. I then cleaned it up and traded it in for a Gibson Les Paul Jr.  I'm hoping to one day be that lucky again...

Wow, that's a great story!  I'd love to find a deal like that. 

I'll post a good deal I got, and one that got away. 

The good: When my oldest son was about 15 (22 now) and wanted to start playing guitar, I began looking online for a Larrivee.  I found a 1998 D-03 on my local CL and inquired.  Showed up at the guy's house and out of the case comes what looked like a new guitar.  I had a wad of $100 bills in my pocket and asked how much.  He said, "$400, I guess..."  I remember trying to hide how many hundreds I had while I peeled off four of them before he could come to his senses.  My son considers that Larrivee his lifelong guitar. 

Now for the one that got away... A few years ago I kept seeing an L-body Larrivee 12-string on my local CL for $400.   I mean, it was on there for months, possibly a year.  I assumed it was damaged.  I finally emailed the guy and asked what was up.  He said, "There is nothing wrong with this guitar, but for some reason nobody wants it."  He sent detailed photos and all but begged me to come buy it from him.  I couldn't spare the money at the time and had to let the deal go.  Man, I wish I had that guitar. 

[StringPicker6]

Your story made me curious and I just jumped on my local (Philadelphia) Craigslist, and right now there's a nice 2008 P-09 for sale for $1,975. 

[247hoopsfan]

All my Larrivees have a bit of a story.  I found my D10 Brazilian Flying Eagle  12 years ago on Craigslist in mint condition from a music producer in Hollywood at an incredible price. I happened to be in Orange County visiting my son and the seller met me there.  He had received the guitar as partial payment on a record deal he produced and never really used it.

I bought my JCL after touring the Oxnard shop in 2008.  It was the last 40th Anniversary Edition they had and Jean wasn't happy with the finish as some of the pores made microscopic dimples on the back.  Hardly noticeable, still love that incredible guitar today.

Found an OM05-MT on my local San Francisco Craigslist.  The guy was asking $600 for it.  I checked it out and it was mint condition, but my sone was with me and noticed a hairline crack in the finish on the neck near the nut.  They seller had it checked by Gryphon Strings and confirmed it was not structural, and  wanted $250 to repair it. 
The seller called me and said I could have it for $300.  So I took it, have never bothered to repair it as it doesn't even hardly show.  Gave that one to my son, he still has it.

Four years ago I happened to be checking out Craigsilst and found another Larrivee, a D09.  The seller had taken really poor fuzzy pics, but I could make out a small Flying Eagle on the headstock.  It looked just like the Flying Eagle on my D10 Brazilian.  I arranged to drive up to Santa Rosa and meet the seller.  Turns out he was a Storage Wars guy, and bought storage lockers for auction.  The Larrivee and a Martin happened to be in one of the lockers he had bought.  The Martin went fast, but no one had come to check out the Larrivee.  Went I opened the case it confirmed my suspicion.  inside was a mint condition D09 Brazilian Flying Eagle.  Bought that one for another great price.



86D75EA1-3F61-45F2-8AFE-BAFFAE1C48D1 by KEITH GREENAWAY, on Flickr

[StringPicker6]

Amazing find with the Brazilian flying eagle, well done!!!

[ducktrapper]

Got an email from Larrivee concerning new models. Seeing the price on the Willie Watson OM-01 model, I guess my original OM-01e was a real find for $380.00. I'd truly love one of those new Bakerfields too.

[fongie]

Just purchased myself a Martin 000C-1e this week. I think it was made in "96-"97 in Nazareth. Solid Spruce, solid Hog not Sapele. Sides were laminate hog so I believe. Fishman pickup. Paid 1300 for it, a little rough around the edges, gave it a clean and a change of strings, but it was well worth it.

[Riverbend]

A few years back, a new neighbor stopped by to visit and as she was leaving asked if I played guitar. She said she was going to go offer her guitar to the local music store as she was trying to declutter and hadn't played it in several years. She had paid $975 for it in 1994 at Elderly's Music in Lansing, MI, and still had the receipt in the case. The guitar was in excellent condition with one little character ding. I easily agreed to the $900 she was asking. Really nice guitar. That's it to the left of my Forum VI. 

[headsup]

 

50 years ago, while living in Montreal, playing folk clubs and working @ Rufus guitar shop, some-one left an old Gibson arch top in the garbage can.

It wasn't a fancy one, but nice enough with a spruce top & hog B&S, no stings, no bridge, single side of tuners.

found a bridge, some tuners, strung it up only to discover the top was sagging.
removed the strings, shone a light in and with inspection mirror saw a main top brace had cracked ad was giving away with each bit of tension.

this was early december, because I had already decided to give the guitar to a relative  who would appreciate it and play old jazz music on it, (he was old- my age now).as a Christmas present.
My heart sank when I found the cracked brace.

time was short, so removing the top or back to make the fix wasn't an option.
I cut a small square on the lower bout, where the guitar would rest on a knee.
the hole had to be big enough to get in with a small jack, syringe (glue) to make the fix.

Once the brace was repaired, I replaced the piece of Mahogany (cut on an angle to fit tightly ad hide the cut.)
restrung the the guitar a few days later and delivered it t a happy guy.

He played it a good deal, and it was passed on to his son .

I never mentioned the fix, it has never been mentioned to me, ( the square replace wasn't invisible.)

one persons garbage became another's challenge and another's  joy.

[StringPicker6]

A good friend of mine once showed me his grandfather's old arch top Gibson. At the time I recognized that it was special, but I want that familiar with guitars yet. I gotta ask him if I can see it again one day....