I had quite an interesting day Wednesday. Got up really early to take my wife for a same-day surgical procedure in the next city over (Kingsport), and spent the whole day either in the waiting room watching people or back in the room with her (as expected, sick as hell after anesthesia.) Finally got home with her, and the UPS truck was blocking the driveway. I could see that he had a box on the porch and was ringing the doorbell looking for a signature. I pushed the remote garage door opener, he finally saw us and I signed his computer. As we pulled in we saw that the big box said "Gibson." My wife, still sick, aroused enough to say in a rather accusatory tone "You didn't order a guitar, did you?" "No, not me. That certainly is interesting, though. Wonder what it is?" As we went in, she said again "You really didn't order a guitar, did you?" "No, wasn't me!" She said, "Maybe you have a secret admirer." "If they want to send me Gibsons, that's fine with me. Hmmm, I have entered a few guitar sweepstakes on the Web." My son came up from the basement in time to hear that. We went out on the porch and brought in the big box from the Gibson Guitar company. I opened the invoice on the outside first, and it said "Web contest winner." I couldn't stop laughing. Opened the big box and found a fancy archtop hard case with a Pete Townshend SJ-200 super jumbo acoustic inside! Also included are 10 sets of Gibson strings, a bag of Gibson picks, a fancy alligator leather Gibson strap, a sound hole humidifier, guitar polish of two sorts, string cleaner/conditioner and fretboard conditioner. Took me a bit to notice, but the guitar's also fitted with a pickup. Has a 9V battery under the top, above the soundhole. No door or external controls. The spec page says it's a Fishman picked out by P.T. Over on Harmony Central there's a blurb about it with Pete Townshend talking about it. Says he'd no sooner smash this guitar than he would his own right hand. It certainly is a pretty thing, and can be seen here: http://montana.gibson.com/guitars/J-200/ptsj-200.html It's got a wonderful sound and gobs of sustain. Smells new, and wonderful! Has a Pete Townshend signature inlaid in the fretboard, and he's also signed the label inside it. This is one sweet guitar! At an MSRP of $5187 it doesn't quite fit in with my cheap guitar collection, but then, free is pretty cheap!
Now I'm going to be hearing murmurs of "Look at that great guitar! Too bad it belongs to THAT bozo!"
Thanks, Gibson!
The letter with it said there were 10,028 entries, so the odds are a lot better than the big Lotto games and such!
Lots of people won't enter these things for fear of getting spammed, but if I get a nice Gibbie out of it, BRING ON THE SPAM! I don't mind a bit the ads I get from Gibson and their affiliates, anyway.
Funny thing is, whenever I play this guitar I sound just like a deaf, dumb and blind kid!
:lol:
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
You'll have to record with it and give us a listen. Congrats and enjoy.
-Greg
-=tension & release=-
Thanks, Greg!
It's really not a good slide guitar, but oh, does it sound awesome with ordinary fretted picking and strumming! So I'm working on that stuff, which I've so long neglected as I've worked on slide that I've mostly forgotten how! Got to work on being able to play it as it ought to be! I was working (among other things) on "Stormy Monday" this afternoon. Can't play it fluently yet, but man, do those jazzy chords sound sweet!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Congrats on the new guitar! I'm always entering guitar contests, and never won a thing. Nice to hear that someone from the GN family won something, and a sweet something at that! :wink: Have fun! :D
"The only way I know that guarantees no mistakes is not to play and that's simply not an option". David Hodge
Thanks!
:D
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
well of course people win lol
i've won a ton of stuf just not lucky enough to win some kinda instrument...i'd love to get a guitar but would love anything musical...the closest i've come to music is cakewalk project 5
Congratulations!
I bet it sounds sweet...
~ghost~ :)
"Colour made the grass less green..." 3000 miles, Tracy Chapman
Nice guitar, Ric-
Quilted Maple Sides, Spruce Top! Nice inlay work on the fretboard!
I couldn't even imagine playing a 5 thousand dollar guitar!
Last year, on a visit to my hometown, I went into the local music store, and was reluctant to even pick up one of their 1500 dollar Larrivee's!
You must be just thrilled!
Thanks for the pics!
~ghost~
8)
"Colour made the grass less green..." 3000 miles, Tracy Chapman
Oh, I am! Suppose I should've shown the back somehow; it's entirely gorgeous quilted maple, too, with a pretty inlay strip up the center seam. Definitely the nicest guitar I've ever held in my hands!
Haven't even tried out the pickup on this thing. Suppose I'm going to have to plug it in sometime.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I will use my first-ever GN post to say,
"HOLY MOTHER OF GOD, That's a sweet guitar!!!" You've motivated me to spend all of my free time entering contests on the web, when I should be practicing!
Your initial post is far too nonchalant about the entire matter, IMHO! :wink:
Oh, and I'm doubly jealous, as "St. Pete" is a personal Guitar Hero of mine...
Very nice. Congrats!
PS- don't forget to tell the taxman!
Thanks, VeeKaChu!
:lol:
And welcome to GuitarNoise!
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I'm still working on getting those pics to Gibson for their newsletter as requested (they bounce when E-mailed and the Gibson employees can't follow links to outside pics), but I got a nice letter back from a Gibson customer service fellow who said it was really great to hear from a contest winner who was happy and grateful. He said they usually are complaining that it took so long for them to win. Can you believe that?! Winning a free Gibson and bitching that it took so long! Sheesh! Takes all sorts...
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
Nice shirt!
I hope your wife has recovered from this... :lol:
-Laz
She's still under the weather but better, thanks!
Hey, I think the name of the catalog the shirt came out of is "The Music Stand."
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
