Guitar Acquisition Stories (A Different Form of GAS)

[Strings4Him]

I just read this great story from another forum member.  It made me wonder how many other such stories lurk in the memories of others?

I started the thread in the OTHER GUITAR MAKERS so we can include both Larrivee and other makers.

So, anyone have a hair-raising, white-knuckled story to tell about how they got their Larrivee or other guitar?

http://www.larriveeforum.com/smf/index.php?topic=39176.0

Thanks for sharing.  I look forward to reading some. . . .

[WileE]

Great story to start with CBarclay and good topic Strings4Him.

My P0-1 acquisition is not as good a story as Chris's.  There are no hair-raising or white knuckle escapades to describe but the road trip was longer.

A couple of years ago we (my wife, dog (puppy then), and I went on a road trip from here (California) to Nova Scotia and back.  It was a great trip all the way around and one that I was looking forward to for many reasons.  One of the major ones was that we were going to go right by Elderly Instruments in Michigan.  I'm originally from Michigan and I've bought and sold many things from and to Elderly Instruments online but I'd never been to the store.  I was really excited about getting to see everything and figured that I would buy a t-shirt or two since we were in the middle of an expensive enough trip.  On the night before going through Lansing I checked their website for directions and hours and, to my surprise, on the first page of their recent additions was this used Larrivee P-01 Special Rosewood Edition.  I really had no plans or need to buy a guitar but, when I got there, I asked to see it.  The salesperson had to go downstairs to get it so I played a bunch of other guitars while I was waiting.  I was just like a kid in a candy store – there was so much really cool stuff to see and touch and play.

To make a long story slightly shorter, I played it for a while, liked it, knew it was fate, and bought it.  I'll never forget the smile on my face and my wife's total lack of surprise when I walked out to the car with it in my hands.

Here's one of the pics with my new camera from a couple of weeks ago.



WileE

[Danny]

  You can read the whole F-III and F-IV threads (plus the ones before and after the F-III main thread) But that is a lot of reading and you will get sleepy before you finish.

[LeftyBlake]

I saved money for an all solid wood acoustic for months and months. Once I had about $600 saved up, I decided to go play some and narrow down my decision so I knew how much more I needed to save. I wandered in to a guitar store in Phoenix that is pretty lefty friendly. I played a LV-03, L-03 (now mine), OM-03 and a D-03. Played many Martins and Taylors in the sub $1500 range and some Guilds. I spent an hour in the back room trying all these out and I kept going back to the L-03. It was the only time I've ever had that instant bond with a guitar.

I went back to that store at least once a week for about three more months until I had enough money to drop on it. Every time I walked in, one of the sales associates would always ask "Is today the day?" to which I always replied "no, not yet." But he'd pull it down for me anyway and let me "bond" with it some more. After a couple months, he offered me a killer price on it because he knew how bad I wanted it. I told him that I just couldn't swing it yet. About a month later I woke up one Saturday morning. No work, no plans and I was really bored around the house with nothing to do. So I counted all my cash, turned up about $120 short, but said "screw it, I'm buying it anyway." I drove down the store, walked in the front door, and I don't know if it was the look on my face or the way I was walking or what, but the same associate saw me and said "Today is the day, isn't it?" I told him I was ready and he said "I'll go get the case." Came back a few minutes later and we did the paperwork, handed him the cash and charged the last bit to my credit card.

It was a cool experience for me because it was my first "real" guitar. I've had lots of import guitars, but nothing that was made in North America, and my Larrivee was my first. I've still got it today and I plan on keeping it forever.

[tuffythepug]

  You can read the whole F-III and F-IV threads (plus the ones before and after the F-III main thread) But that is a lot of reading and you will get sleepy before you finish.

Like Danny says.     My best guitar acquisition story has been told in many, many pages of posts about the Forum III guitar which culminated in the Vancouver Forum III unveiling and tour.
I suspect that for several other forum members their story would be similar.

[cbarclay]

Great idea for a thread. More often than not there seems to be a great story behind our guitars. I'll go look into some of the Forum guitar threads.

[DJ in FL]

Great idea for a thread. More often than not there seems to be a great story behind our guitars. I'll go look into some of the Forum guitar threads.

10-4   on this topic being a GREAT thread...really interesting stories which we can all relate to and appreciate!

[WileE]

Here's another of my guitar acquisition stories.   I started getting back into playing guitar again when I was about 30.  I bought a Washburn D10 or something and it was good to get my enthusiasm up but it just didn't sound like I wanted it to – especially after I heard one of my friends play it.  So, I looked around and found this used 74' Guild D25M hanging in a shop where I lived then.  It was mostly a piano store so it was priced pretty high at $350 or so.  At least I thought it was high then.  It also had been played a lot (see the buckle rash/burn pic) so I sweated over it (a lot).  I played it from time to time and was comparing it to a nice slightly used Lowden (I should have bought both) that was about $50 or $100 more.  Then on my 30th birthday, I thought, why not, and just bought it.  That night we went down to LA and I saw John Hiatt in concert for the first time.  That was a little over 23 years ago.  The guitar is 38-39 years old, has a mahogany top, back (bowled), and sides, and has been a great friend since.





Thanks for reading and looking.

WileE

[Strings4Him]

WileE,

Another cool story.  Thanks.

[BLTQ]

I've bought several solidbody electrics but when I got an itch for a steel string acoustic I had no clue how to tell a good one from a dog.  I figured I'd go for one that was an acoustic-electric and that had a cutaway body.  Knowing that I was fairly likely to regret my decision I enlisted the help of a friend that I knew wouldn't steer me wrong.  I had $700 in my pocket and we headed up to GC.  Watching him test out the various offerings in my price range was truly something to behold.  He'd take a guitar off the wall and strum a chord or two (literally) and make an assessment of it, then move on to the next.  That's what occurred over the first 10 to maybe 15 minutes.  Most of the guitars were returned to their hanger with a comment like "Maybe" or "Nah."  He then took down a Takamine dreadnought, strummed it a few times and declared with complete certainty "Found it!"  It was not a cutaway and didn't have a pickup or any bells and whistles whatsoever, so it clearly was not the guitar I would have chosen on my own, but trusting my buddy the way I do I bought it then and there.  I barely even tested it out for myself.  I left that store with my new guitar in the hardshell case I bought for it, and just one penny in my pocket!  And every time I play that Takamine I'm blown away by how beautiful it looks and sounds.

[WileE]

Nice story!  Thanks for sharing it.

[markslife]

I was fortunate to have an old 67 Gibson SG among other great instruments stored in my childhood closet that my mom couldnt keep me out of growing up.....and yeah I aquired 'em alright.

A guy that I know saw a trailer tire on the side of a KY expressway and had been hunting for a certain size wheel for his trailer. He went to the trouble of turning off and circling all the way around again. After closer inspection the tire was of no interest........because his heart pumped with expectancy over the Taylor Acoustic case laying in the grass hastily left behind with the guitar still in it!

Another old friend of mine was digging up a sewer line in a commercial parking lot quite a while back. The equipment operator told him to go look at something he could see in the dumpster, but wasnt sure what it was. He's thinking "I dont need more garbage, or what could it be?" To his delight a brand new USA 50th Anniversary Fender Strat unplayed still had stickers, etc in case (there wasnt any Larrivee dealers out here then much less a Bakersfield). Called it in to detectives and was never reported stolen.

Next time you are strolling through KY, keep your eyes about.

I lose my pics, but hope I never forget where I put my guitar at last.

[SMan]

My Mom passed away in 1968 when I was 13.  My Dad remarried a short time later but couldn't get along with the new wife so we spent the next few years moving in and out from the stepmom every few months after losing the childhood home I grew up in and living mostly in apartments and trailer parks.  One day while at a laundromat in a strip mall (when I was 15) my Dad left for a few minutes and returned with a guitar case.  I opened it up and there was an inexpensive Navarra classical guitar.  Laminate meant nothing to me back then, I just thought it was very cool.  My Dad bought it out of guilt trying to make up for all the times we moved.  That is what really started my true interest in music.  42 years later it still has surprisingly good sound and playability despite being impaled by one of those folding music stands back in the 70's.  The night my Dad passed away in 2001 at the Veteran's home near Seattle I was playing it for him.  It was the last sounds he heard.

[L07 Shooting Star]

Nice story and very compelling, SMan.

Thanks

[Strings4Him]

My Mom passed away in 1968 when I was 13.  My Dad remarried a short time later but couldn't get along with the new wife so we spent the next few years moving in and out from the stepmom every few months after losing the childhood home I grew up in and living mostly in apartments and trailer parks.  One day while at a laundromat in a strip mall (when I was 15) my Dad left for a few minutes and returned with a guitar case.  I opened it up and there was an inexpensive Navarra classical guitar.  Laminate meant nothing to me back then, I just thought it was very cool.  My Dad bought it out of guilt trying to make up for all the times we moved.  That is what really started my true interest in music.  42 years later it still has surprisingly good sound and playability despite being impaled by one of those folding music stands back in the 70's.  The night my Dad passed away in 2001 at the Veteran's home near Seattle I was playing it for him.  It was the last sounds he heard.

That is a very touching story.  That guitar will forever hold a special spot in your heart.

[Queequeg]

  You can read the whole F-III and F-IV threads (plus the ones before and after the F-III main thread) But that is a lot of reading and you will get sleepy before you finish.

Sleepy? You'll be sleepy?
You will be very old by the time you read all that. 

[Queequeg]

SMan, what a touching story. Thanks for sharing that.
You could expound on that and it would be a great 4-6 page short story.

[Danny]

SMan, what a touching story. Thanks for sharing that.
You could expound on that and it would be a great 4-6 page short story.

[maLavvo]

SMan, what a touching story. Thanks for sharing that.
You could expound on that and it would be a great 4-6 page short story.

Thank you for sharing.   

[SMan]

I thank you all for those kind comments.     Yes that guitar will always be special to me and yes there's a bit more to the story but I cut it short as I was typing through my tears.  I really miss my Dad.