Spring is on the cusp of Springing and all is well with the world, if you forget about all the barbarous acts being conducted out in Russia and the Gulf....I shake my head, heavy in disbelief that the world has come to this.
So anyway in last months blog I talked about the great Tanglewood acoustic guitars quality and playability at an affordable price.
I have gone to the other end of the price scale for this time around with a couple of classy rarities.
PAY OR PLAY
One thing is sure, if you are going to pay a lot of dosh for a guitar,
then you should consider it's likely value in the years to come.
If you buy a stock Gibson or Martin today you will surely enjoy playing a quality instrument for your lifetime but it is highly unlikely to become a diamond treasure of the future, only some instruments are destined for this, with the forecast value being based upon it's rarity or style and it's condition. The way to do it is to buy something that was available only in small numbers and here are a couple of guitars that fit that bill nicely.
GIBSON KING OF ROCK J200
If you are a fan of the birth of rock and roll like me, you want to be able to get the sound that was made back then. Eddie Cochran, without doubt, had the best recorded guitar sounds of all for the time, especially the acoustic sound of Summertime Blues and C'Mon Everybody.
The crown emblem denoted his reign as the King of Rock and Roll and would be rockers would drool over photos of Elvis wielding such a beautiful thing. The original guitar is one of those on display at Graceland.
In 1996 Gibson remade this fabulous guitar in a limited edition run of 250, and replaced the Elvis name with more crowns as fret markers, and you had to be mighty lucky to get hold of one. It has to be said that you also had to have a pocket full of dosh as the Sale price was around 3500 dollars. There will be NO more of this model made.
The guitar is made of sitka spruce with the back and sides made of maple and the fretboard ebony. The headstock is a thing of beauty. It has wonderfully hidden pickup controls so as not to spoil it's lines and comes with a serial numbered certificate of authenticity.
There is a host of guitar collectors who sadly, never play these beautiful things but would rather stick them in a hermetically sealed cave, high in the hills, until their mint condition value becomes just another saleable commodity, no love attached. This guitar is much sought after with the first 50 of the model being more desirable than others so you would count yourself very fortunate lucky if you own one of the early numbers.
Only someone who can play and who loves music would have bought it to play.
GIBSON CHET ATKINS CE
From one great Gibson to another of their rarities, The Chet Atkins CE (Classical Electric). A chambered mahogany body, nylon strung guitar made initially and especially for Chet Atkins which gets the blood racing for us "pickers". Gibson really made this guitar well with its unequalled electrics delivering a truly believable acoustic sound. Chet Atkins was one of the first real guitar hero's for us kids of the 60's. He was the greatest of pickers and I along with others 'sort of' learnt "Trambone" or other easier type of picking tunes to get ourselves through the basics , all the time improving our techniques. Once you had done that it made playing the picking music of the Blues a bit easier once that came along.
Essentially though, this is an electric, solid body classical guitar and it's tonal range is phenomenal and subtle, a really special 'one off'
Like the Elvis 'King of Rock' this is a real rarity and definitely one for the collectors or musicians alike...I'd love one!
It would certainly be great to have a guitarist in your band that had, let's say, a Fender 60th anniversary Stratocaster and these two great guitars because surely he must be good. It would be even better if he had been around for a few years and had played all those classic songs of the 60's and had gigged at all those great Brumbeat gigs too with great acts.
Well your wish is my command.......Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you:
PAUL BRUNT
Have Guitars will Travel
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| Paul Brunt.......Gis a Job!! |
Paul stopped playing music seriously in 1970, his last gig being with Johnny Neal at The Rum Runner. He had become disenchanted with the scene, which isn't surprising as the band scene was on the wane and disco was on the horizon, enough to make anyone say "enough is enough".
He sold his kit to Jones and Crossland which consisted of two VOX AC30 amps a Stratocaster and a Gibson 335 that he had purchased from Martin Baggot of The Applejacks, Paul said it went for peanuts and, like us all, regrets not having had the foresight to keep the guitars.
GIS A JOB Paul got a 'proper job' just round the back of The Bulls Head in the scaffolding industry and made a hugely successful career for himself travelling the world a couple of times. Then during a night out with his wife watching a band he sort of got the urge again and she kindly bought him the King of Rock J200 for his 50th Birthday, from then he played at parties and social gatherings but also really started to get his interest back, honing his skills with some help from a good music teacher. His guitar collection grew from then on and he has chosen superbly in his purchases and is currently upgrading his Stratocaster pickguard to his satisfaction. Now, he has the time and his beautiful collection of guitars to get back playing again if he can find someone or some band who may be interested in getting together for a chat.
He has a liking for music of The Eagles, Beatles, James Taylor Stevie Wonder and an assortment of other classy guitarists. That sort of rules out Thrash Metal and Hip Hop but if you are on the lookout for a good guitarist with brilliant kit and a great history of playing with top line Brummie bands then you only have to make contact with me or John Woodhouse on the BRUMBEAT.Net webpage and we will forward your details to Paul.
"Well since my Baby left me"........I can almost hear it playing.
Congratulations to Bob Styler on the arrival of his Custom shop 339..
Finally
I'm on kitchen duty today, Mrs Bob is having over the Ladies of The Third Age for a Tarot Reading session, I'm in charge of vol au vants, or "Sick in Pastry" as I refer to them and have also been assigned the duty of passing about the dry sherry, we only had half a bottle so I've decanted the sherry along with some cheap but potent honey licquer, I bought back from a dirty weekend in France, and half a bottle of Gin. I've left it with them so they'll believe anything after they've drunk that lot, there's already the sound of raucous hooting coming from the living room.
Take Care
Bob
Copyright: Bullsheadbob
Contact: Bobsbullocks@GMail.com
