Without a doubt,it was a orginal '51 Tele. Man that guitar was nice,built like a tank and almost as heavy.We got to know an older gentleman who lived down by us and he had this old guitar standing in the corner.It had a a maple fretboard that had mojo written all over it.You could see the dark gouges implanted in the fretboard from being played for over 30 years. He even had the original amp,another thing you don't often see.He had on these super thick flatwounds,which I'm sure I've pulled some tendon muscles in my fingers as I tried to cop a bend.The man has passed on but I still wonder what happen to that guitar.I will never forget playing it.What was the best guitar you've ever played that wasn't your own?
Then again, it's the only hand made guitar I've ever played, but man did it sound nice.
I wrapped a newspaper ’round my head
So I looked like I was deep
Here's a good link (good at this writing, at least) to kent's favorite. Very cool.
My favorite: gotta be a two-way tie. (With both of them it was love at the first note -- the only two times it's happened to me.)
- A Larrivee, unknown model. Encountered it mid-'80s at Mass Street Music in Lawrence, Kansas.
- A Rettler acoustic, at the 2004 Handmade Musical Instrument Exhibition in Portland, Oregon.
Larrivees are common (not as good as my long-lost love), but Rettlers are special. They are $3,000-plus -- but to this day I regret not going into major credit-card debt in order to take it home....
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
I generally just buy them, but this one was out of my price range
If I had a spare $10,000 floating around it would be mine.
The best feeling guitar... the one I would love to own and play is a Seagull Artist. 
Oh yes... some day it will be mine.
My Fingerstyle Guitar Blog:
http://fsguitar.wordpress.com
My Guitars
Ibanez Artwood AWS1000ECE-NT
Schecter S-1 30th Anniversary Edition
Ovation CS257
LaPatrie Etude
Washburn Rover RO10
A black Gibson Les Paul Pro with creme P90's .... late 70's model. The thing weighted a ton! It belonged to a friend that was playing out at the time.
"Work hard, rock hard, eat hard, sleep hard,
grow big, wear glasses if you need 'em."
-- The Webb Wilder Credo --
Gibson Howard Roberts jazzbox in dark blue with gold hardware. Played it working a tour doing lights n general gophering work. Was offered it as a gift. Very politely refused it. Have kicked myself daily ever since.
Add to the list....a 62 sunburst strat and 58 tele. But the Gibby tempted me to try sounds I'm only jut getting to now. Gah, I love that guitar. When I eventually spring for a jazzbox myself, that's got to be on the "try out list" but I dunno how much it's the model, how much that specific guitar. Or how much playing it through a sweet tube amp, into a PA in a major concert hall the afternoon before a show contributed to my falling in love with it. Ah, to be 17 again... :roll:
it was 3,400 $ and some change. a beautiful Gibson acoustic. lots of inlay, maple body. so smooth and sweet sounding.
no wait, it was a 5,000 dollar McPherson. I interviewed for a job at the factory and was ale to play one of their guitars.
it was made from rare wood. incredible feel and tone.
There have been soooo many, but most of them evidently were forgettable.
Like Nick, I try to buy what I can, and otherwise, I don't seem to play others' guitars anymore.
I played many Strats, 1960's from around the World, when I visited bars underage, and somehow got on stage to jam?
Then I started going to guitar shows, saw thousands and played I'm guessing, 200 a year? But I had an accident w/head injury and lost a fair amount of memory. :roll:
Umm, my answer however is clear - last Christmas or about 3 months ago I went to a Coffee House and did not intend to do anything except spectate. A woman involved had an old Gibson J-50 and I talked to her about it during the intermission, because I just wanted to know if my "feeling" or vibe was right, that it was a 1956 - 57? It was actually a 1949, and she let me play it for the entire break, but then I had to open the second and final set with it. :lol:
The sound was great with a great big boom that I wanted to hear, it tickled my tummy, and I surprised her by playing a chord and holding it up in the air to see it flap a little like a butterfly - if you look carefully it shook and shimmered and the borders of the whole thing were not clear, but a little out of focus with vibration. The strings, she said, are always new, and the action was very nice, professionally maintained. :D
FWIW, this is what it looks like, another good example, and there's a Youtube with another J50, 49'er miked & playin'.
http://www.vintageguitar.com/classifieds/item_detail.asp?ItemID=136167
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QUC3XItUdtM ... kaboom! 8)
Like a bird on the wire,
like a drunk in a midnight choir
I have tried in my way to be free.
To date, I have not played anyone else's gear. I have tried several at the two GCs in the KC area here and the one that I still kick myself for not buying, though it was a bit more beat up than I cared for, was a 1989 MIA Strat Plus. I played it through a Fender BDRI like mine and it seemed like I could do no wrong on it. The action was set nice and low and felt like a dream. It would have probably needed a fret job (several were dented) and the paint was blistering and the hardware was rusty. But dang, there was something about that guitar, They simply wanted too much and I couldn't get them to come down to a comfortable price. It was about $100 less than a brand new MIA, so there was no way I could justify it to my wife. If I was a single man, it would be sitting at home as we speak.
Jim
Couple spring to mind. Darth Ordinary's Gordon Smith guitar is a beauty....easy on the eye, and the coil-splitting facility gives it a HUGE range of tones. The neck/fretboard feels a little weird at first if you're used to playing a Tele - but it's a guitar I could get used to playing.
Scrybe's wine red MIM Tele is nice - felt just like playing my own guitar. Betcha she's got 10's on it now, though .... her "Tomcat" guitar looks nice, too, but I never got the chance to noodle on that one. Maybe next week! Ooooh, and her mahogany Martin....fingers are twitching already.....!!!
But I think the sweetest tone I've ever heard on any guitar was a few years ago, when I used to go to a local acoustic jam night - one of the guys who was a regular there had a beautiful Takamine dreadnaught. Got to play it a couple of times - lovely low action, big booming bright sound. Think a couple of Eagles playing acoustic - that's how nice it was!
If I can ever afford one, my next acoustic will be a Takamine.....
:D :D :D
Vic
"Sometimes the beauty of music can help us all find strength to deal with all the curves life can throw us." (D. Hodge.)
Scrybe's wine red MIM Tele is nice - felt just like playing my own guitar. Betcha she's got 10's on it now, though .... her "Tomcat" guitar looks nice, too, but I never got the chance to noodle on that one. Maybe next week! Ooooh, and her mahogany Martin....fingers are twitching already.....!!!
The Tele will get (hopefully!) a Lollar CC pup in the bridge - awesome tone for jazzy stuff, plus I can keep the bridge tele twang for the rock and country/blues tones. No 10s yet tho. But the Tomcat has 11s these days. It has coil-splitting, but I've been using it purely in the bridge humbucker only position with the tone rolled off for a few months now. I've almost forgotten what other tones it has... :shock: :oops:
If the Tele doesn't get that CC pup, you can add "get a second Tele and put a CC pup in that...." to my never ending list of things I simply must do in the next year or so.... :roll: actually, I prefer rosewood board for jazz anyway. think that might settle it! :lol:
