My Guitar History

   I visited Penn State Altoona this weekend with my best friend so we could congratulate a mutual friend of ours for enduring all the hellacious and humiliating hazing frat boys have to endure.  One of his brothers (whose name slips me) was a guitarist like me, so we got to talking a little bit.  Naturally, the first question was "what do you play?"  To which we both reply: "A little bit of everything."  The next question was "What do you play with?"

   My new friend is a new guitarist and described his guitar:  A Gibson Epiphone SG.  My first guitar was an Epiphone SG Special as well.  They're simple yet respectable.  They're not like cheap Deans that fall apart, Squires with no bite whatsoever, cheap ESP/LTDs which are pretty much a brand name slapped on a piece of driftwood.

   I've since disassembled my SG for spare parts; It really had no resale value after I had played the life out of it.  The SG had a few nicks and scratches in it and had a broken truss rod and nut.  I fitted a new neck (off of another Epiphone: Some Jackson knockoff) and lent it to a friend to learn guitar.

  I used to own Dean Flying V that was a piece of Korean garbage.  The finish on the neck rubbed off and stained, the knobs came loose and the lacquer on the body was pretty poor and offered no protection.  Worst of all, finding a case for this long piece of cheap alder was nearly impossible.

  I also picked up a few guitars at flea markets.  I bought a cheap, mustard yellow Harmony guitar that I used for spare parts.  At the same market, I picked up a gutted Epiphone that I had my friend at Cindy's Guitar put back together.  I used the Epiphone for about a year before I bought my Stratocaster.  The last flea market guitar I bought was a fifties automotive blue Strat-knockoff with a warped, cracked neck.  The body was a heavy piece of mahoghany and was worth saving, so I tossed the neck and made a new guitar out of it that Chris sometimes uses.

   Finally, I have my Players Deluxe Fender Stratocaster.  It's the guitar visible in all my photos and videos.  True to the Stratocaster reputation, my guitar is simple yet super versatile and built to last.  The beautiful tobacco sunburst finish still looks the same as the day I bought it, four years ago. I shelled out good money to get my pride and joy some decent strap locks so it doesn't crash to the stage floor unexpectedly.  My Strat was a worthy investment.