When I first started playing guitar seriously in January 2008, I bought a Yamaha Pacifica 112, and a small Line 6 -15 watt amp. For a while, at least, I thought I had died and gone to heaven. Then I heard another guitar being played by someone else. It didn't sound the same, and was cooler than mine. Hmmmm.
I began to take a real look at all the offerings available, and to be honest, it was just overwhelming. Sometimes I can see why guitarists have GAS, or guitar acquisition syndrome. Premier Guitar calls it "the relentless pursuit of tone."
Now I know that statement is aimed at them selling more magazines, but there is a truth in that, along with the other major player, looks. A maple cap on a Gibson Les Paul is supposed to slightly brighten the sound. But a flame maple cap is the same, and looks a heck of a lot better! And to finish it all off, a cherry burst coating is the icing on the cake.
All part of the effort to get you to buy that guitar!
But then, most of us cannot afford these wonderful instruments. So there are a whole host of companies that have appeared over the last few decades who have tried to fill that "I can't afford it" gap. And foremost in these offerings are the Asian rim offerings from Japan, South Korea, Indonesia, some India, and of course China.
Some truly strange and wonderful designs have come and gone over the years, and my collection is aimed straight at them. I love the oddballs, the misfits, the models that appeared for one or two years, never to be seen again. Strange controls, weird pickups, laminated necks, oddball paint jobs, it's all there. And most of it, even today, is cheap enough for anyone trying to begin a guitar collection.
Some will not gain much monetary ground. They are the ones that either were just too numerous, or possibly turn off so many guitarists even the collectors don't want them. But then there are the special ones that we covet.
I've got a few, tucked away. Nothing very expensive, but all of them restored. I hope they are all gaining in value. Some day I'll find out. My "Musical 401K".
How do I find these? Well, first off, I stay off eBay. It seems like about 4 out of 10 stories I read about eBay purchases the buyers are not totally happy. I have to hold what I am buying, feel it in my hands. At least then I know what I am about to purchase.
So for me, used music stores and pawn shops are my prime sources. Sometimes a quick look at my local Craigslist. But you have to be diligent. You cannot walk into a pawn shop once every six months and hope to find the gold. You should pick out two or three that will seem to pass a lot of guitars thru, and visit them often. Same with music stores. Guitar Center is NOT the place to look at used equipment if you collect. Negotiation is slim, and their pricing is high to begin with. They know exactly what they have, and push that limit. No, I haunt about 6 or 7 shops in my area, and once in a while, bingo!
Let me tell you about one, actually maybe my favorite.
About mid 2009, I walked into this usual pawn shop I favored. Their negotiations were tough. Family owned, the founder sits behind the long, glass counter that runs the length of the store. It's a run down shop, with a lot of junk everywhere. They make much more money in the pawn end than they do in the sale end, so they are used to things hanging on the walls for months, if not years. They put a price on it, and that's that.
I walked in one day, and here was a hollowbody, in the Gibson 335 style, very old. It had held a knockoff Bigsby at one time, but someone had hacksawed off the handle and spring, to leave just the string bar and tailpiece. There was one trapezoid inlay missing in the neck. The body was amazingly in good shape, but by the wear on the frets, you could see this guitar had seen some serious play. But what caught my attention was the headstock. TRUETONE, it said. But not in the usual crown in circle Truetone that we all are used to seeing. These were block letters, inlaid in the headstock, mother-of-toilet seat.
$150 was the asking price. I looked at the knobs. Aluminum tophat with stamped "V" and "T" in the top. One looked a little different, like someone had lost one and made a new one in high school metalshop class. Who knows? Everything else, including the double bar humbuckers seemed original. I passed.
Two months later on a usual visit, I walked in again. The price strangely had been lowered to $120. This was not usual for this shop. I approached them with an offer of $100 and was instantly turned down. $120 cash out the door was their best offer.
Next day I went in with the cash. I now owned a TRUETONE of unknown origins.
My initial research turned up nothing. The entire Truetone universe seemed to rotate around that Crown logo that all collectors of odd and strange are familiar with. My only hint was hand stamped numbers on the neck plate. EG-665-2HR, with 1018 below.
I typed in all types of combinations on the Internet, with no luck. I am pretty good on the Internet. Usually when this happens, either the guitar was so remote and quick to disappear that no one has documented it, or it was so bad no one wants to give it mention. Or.....it was a private label guitar.
In the meantime, I also looked at the entire lineup of Bigsbys, and found they make a "retro" unit that is pretty reasonable. It even had the faux leather inlay circle, where I could take the fake leather out of the remaining piece of the one I got with this guitar, and apply it to the Bigsby. I ordered one and put it on. It fit perfectly. At least they knew how to knock-off properly!
The inlay was another problem. Finding the plastic is easy, getting it to be tinted the same as a very old guitar is another problem. I solved it by heating it very slightly which opened the pores, then dipping it in medium brown stain for about fifteen seconds. As it cooled the pores pulled in just a little stain. It worked, and I cut and inlaid the piece into the neck.
Now I had a complete guitar with lousy frets. I looked over the wire, and it was a strange size. Only five frets were troublesome, so I pulled and reversed five of them so the bad edge was more to the lower strings. A little adjustment and it improved greatly. Not perfect for intense playing, but good enough. Polished, cleaned, with new strings, it looked grand with it's new Bigsby, but what in the world was this thing??
I kept at the Internet until one evening I discovered it. But with a different nameplate. Norma. Same guitar, same pickups, knobs, there was my chopped off tremolo complete. Even the same color. Norma, and in the same block lettering. It was listed for $995US WHOH! The information listed with the offering said that Greco had made a few guitars for Western Auto before Kay and Harmony took over completely in the mid 60's. (Take that with a grain of salt - it's the Internet, after all!) But it sounded right, and the wiring inside matched the era. The seller claimed 1960 as the year. Hmmmm.
I went back a few weeks later to the site and it had been sold.
But later, I found some on eBay. One Norma, one Truetone. They sold for much less, but the conditions were poor. No one was really sure, but most agreed that they probably were very early Western Auto guitars, made by Greco in Japan. One person even claimed early 50's! (I kind of doubt that, but who knows?)
And my four digit serial number, if that is truly one, is the lowest I have seen. 1018.
So mine hangs in my little studio I use for players to try out their new guitars. I have been offered many times to sell it, but it's not for sale. It's part of my Odd and Strange collection, and very special to me. I can't even find a case, the lower bouts are too wide. Probably came originally with a cheap, chipboard case, long gone. I did see one picture of one with a case. When I do plug it up, about once a year, the humbuckers sound just as good, I bet, as they did the day some lucky person walked it out of, (hopefully), a Western Auto store. If it has some other background, I don't care. I have shown it to numerous people, some who have been in the business for decades, and no one has ever seen that logo. My kind of guitar!
I must admit, this is one of the most interesting hobbies I have ever pursued. I keep looking, and I just never know. Sometimes you get lucky, and sometimes you go months without finding anything of worth. That's what makes it so much fun - walking into a pawn shop, or an old music store, you just never know!!!
See any old Samick Artist Editions Series lately? I'm kind of looking for the 12 string model - the rarest one! I've already found the simple black model, and the more rare pink birdseye maple cap model. But I really want that 12 string. Great guitars!
Good hunting, keep on rocking, and watch for my next Tsunami's Ramblings.
Tsunami
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