In the days of my youth....

[duhvoodooman***]

....this TRUE STORY happened to me. Nothing of earth-shaking import, but I just thought I'd pass it along to those with an interest in Gibsons:

Back on Christmas Day 1967, I got a call from the kid who lived across the street, telling me he'd gotten a **GASP** electric guitar for a Christmas gift! At the time, I had been playing for a couple of years, had a relatively cheap Epiphone flattop, and had never played an electric instrument. Naturally, I turned several picturesque shades of green with envy, and rushed over to see the object of wonder.

What he had received was a cheap Kay electric--in retrospect, a truly pitiful excuse for a guitar, but it seemed pretty cool at the time. He had only started to play guitar a couple of months prior, so he was capable only of a few rudimentary chords and simple riffs. As I recall, he banged away on "Louie Louie" for a few minutes, as I drooled for a chance to try his new ax. Finally, he let me play it for a couple minutes, but quickly took it back. I sat there watching him play (excruciatingly badly!) for a few minutes more. When I asked for another shot at it, he told me that, hey, it was HIS new guitar and he wanted to keep playing it, but that I could use his dad's old guitar.

His dad's old guitar?? Fearing the worst, I asked what that was. He said he wasn't really sure, but that his father used to play in a country and western band and bought this old electric guitar about ten years ago. However, with family responsibilities and other interests, he hadn't played in several years, and the guitar was in a case pushed under an old couch in the basement where we were at the time. With that, he went over and pulled this old brown hardshell case, layered with dust, out from under said couch. He popped the lid open, and though I was no electric guitar expert, I knew enough to recognize a Goldtop Les Paul when I saw one. While I'm not sure of the exact vintage, from his description of about how long his dad had had it, it appeared to be from the '54 - '57 range. I do remember that it had the P90 soapbar pickups, though. We plugged it into his dad's old Gibson amp (don't know the model; it was quite small), and while this kid banged away on his awful Kay guitar, I strummed on one of the legendary axes of all time. I can't remember much about it now, but I do remember that the neck was quite thick and rather uncomfortable for me at that time. We couldn't crank up the volume for fear of disturbing the family and bringing his irate father down the stairs, so I really didn't get any chance to check out the tone.

Later on, I asked some questions of a couple of the more knowledgeable guitar players at my high school, and was generally met with wide-eyed stares when I described what I'd seen and played. They all told me it was worth well in excess of $500, which was HUGE money back then. I spoke to the kid's dad and told him that I'd heard his old guitar was worth big bucks, and asked if he would consider letting me find a buyer for a small percentage of the profits in return? He blew me off--just a dumb kid who didn't know what he was talking about! I wish I'd had the money to make an offer myself, but that was totally out of the question.

A few years later, he traded the LP straight up to a local music store for a Gibson Hummingbird flattop. Nice guitar, but worth nothing approaching what that Goldtop was worth. It hung from the ceiling in that store for many years, not for sale. I'd heard that the Beach Boys offered the owner $5000 for it in the mid-70's, and he turned them down. I would guess it's worth many, many times that amount today.

Anyhow, that's my "brush with guitar greatness" story that I thought I'd share with you fellow fretters....

[SuperSwede]

Nice story Voodoo. I wonder who owns that guitar today!

[Tone2TheBone]

Excellent story. I've always dreamt of coming in contact with a 59' 'burst personally...still dreamin' it. The Goldtop is far freakin' out too, what an experience thanks for sharing that. Yeah I also wonder where that guitar is today do you know?

[Robert****]

Wow, what a story. I guess we should just hold on to all gear we have, who knows, it might be valuable one day?!

[warren0728]

very cool story voodoo....don't touch my new kay....here play this old guitar instead....great!!

ww

[SuperSwede]

Hey Robert, I were on the Vintage Guitar Expo a few years ago and got to test Janne Schaffers les paul ´59

[duhvoodooman***]

I wonder who owns that guitar today!

Me, too! No idea what eventually happened to it. Wherever it is, the owner has a treasure there!

[r_a_smith3530]

Sweet! I too had a brush with greatness, and a little bit rubbed off. One day, shortly after buying my Peavey Reactor, I walked into this little resale shop that also dealt with used musical instruments. The guy was working on an old Les Paul, replacing one of the pickups. I asked what he was going to do with the pickup he was taking out, and was told that I could have it for $50.00. I paid the man what he was asking without question. As he finished, I asked if I could check out the Paul he'd just put a Duncan JB into. He allowed me to try it out, probably hoping I would then want to buy one of those Duncan pickups as well.

Anyway, that is how I came to own the original, late 50's Gibson PAF that currently resides in the routed out neck position of my Peavey Reactor! It sounds really nice combined with the full power side of the Hot Tele Lead I have mounted in the bridge position.

BTW, at the time, I had just recently traded my first electric, a '74 Gibby Les Paul Custom, for the '83 G&L S-500 I currently own. The Custom was Wine Red, weighed a ton, and was not that great sounding, which is why I had gotten rid of it.