for you frenchy....

[ProblemAgain]

i figured you'd love the references...(by the way on antiques roadshow a woman got an appraisal on a 1944 martin D body guitar she had from her brother....the appraisal? 35 to 45 thousand)

Willie Nelson Celebrates 80th Birthday With Old Friend by His Side

By Wendy Geller | Our Country – 4 hours ago

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Willie Nelson has taken his share of beatings through the decades: In his 80 years, he's been through three divorces, an allegedly unscrupulous accounting team, numerous brushes with the law, and a number of non-musical ventures yielding varying amounts of success.

Through it all, there's been a constant companion that's shared the ups and downs, and visibly weathered a beating of its own--Nelson's beloved, battered guitar, which he calls "Trigger" (after Roy Rogers's famous horse) and has credited with giving him his signature sound.

Trigger in 2007 (Photo: Frazer Harrison)

The Martin acoustic, covered with scribbled autographs and sporting several wear-and-tear holes in the wood--including a huge one just below the sound hole--has "the greatest tone I've ever heard from a guitar, and I've played lots of guitars," Nelson, who turns 80 on Tuesday, noted in his 2007 memoir The Tao of Willie: A Guide to the Happiness in Your Heart.

"The two of us even look alike…we're both pretty bruised and battered."

Trigger in 1980 (Photo: Chris Walter)

The acoustic Martin first came into Nelson's possession in 1969, after the iconic star busted up an electric guitar gifted to him by the Baldwin company. He sent the broken instrument to Nashville guitarist Shot Jackson for repairs, but Jackson regretfully called him up and said it was too far gone to fix. Nelson asked over the phone if Jackson had something else around he could purchase. Jackson offered up a $750 Martin he had up on a shelf; Nelson agreed, and requested Jackson put the pickup from his broken Baldwin into the Martin.

When he received the new guitar, Nelson liked the sound of it right off the bat, comparing its tone to the sound achieved by one of his favorite players ever, Django Reinhardt. One small issue: Nelson's Martin didn't have a pick guard to protect the polished wood--which posed a bit of a problem for a guitarist who plays with a pick.

However, of course, it turns out the problem was actually not so much of a problem at all. "The holes I've worn in Trigger are from my pick zinging up and down a million times on the face of an acoustic guitar that's not supposed to be played with a pick, but at this point those holes are part of what makes Trigger sound exactly right," Nelson explained.

http://music.yahoo.com/blogs/our-country/willie-nelson-celebrates-8...

[frenchy]

yeah thats beat up pretty good .. i'm not an expert on classical or what you'd call a nylon string guitar by any means but one of the good things about them is because the strings are nylon they don't exert as much pressure on the bridge .. so that hole at least at the moment isn't givin it any trouble .. if it was a steel string i think that bridge woulda came offa there a long time ago .. and even the nylon strings makes me wonder why its still there .. its probably not the best idea to just let that hole sit there like that unattended to .. but then for some guys the more beat up it looks the better they like it .. its like they think they're gonna get more mojo outta the thing or somethin .. here's an auction that i was watchin just to see where it would end up at the end for an old gibson les paul sunburst .. or what they call a burst .. looks like an old side of a barn or somethin its been around so long .. 1958 .. it was a very good year indeed .. 54 years old and still kickin .. it ended at 106,300.. and the reserve still wasn't met so nobody won it .. 73 bids and nobody won .. don't get me wrong here cause i love guitars but sometimes it just gets too crazy for me .. 

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1958-Gibson-Les-Paul-Standard-Sunburst-PAFs...

[frenchy]

you really made me laugh there chief .. i mean out loud laugh .. cause i'm so far from that kinda number it really is that funny .. i'm still laughin ..  

[T2Friends]

I happen to agree that 1958 was a very good year!  And not just for guitars.  

[Lifesighs]

I can remember my son buying an old les paul from his best friend's dad. I hope he still has it for his retirement. He said at the time it was a collectors item. I don't keep up with all his guitar buys and sells.

[frenchy]

it might be worth a lot more than you or he knows lifey .. he should have it appraised .. and then put it away till he really needs the money .. if you put 100 bucks in the bank and get it out in about 10 years whaddya have ?? at about 2% if you're lucky ?? 120 bucks maybe ?? if the bank don't try to charge you some kinda holdin fee or somethin crazy like that .. but that guitar the way its goin ?? he can buy a whole villa in mexico or somethin .. 

[ProblemAgain]

[frenchy]

yeah i think the prices they're gettin is a bit outrageous .. more than a bit outrageous .. just plain crazy .. i have a les paul .. its a 99 reissue of a 1960 .. called a les paul classic .. but they put these ceramic pickups in there that were wound so hot that i couldn't stand em ..so i ripped them ceramic chainsaws outta there and put in a set of gibson 57 classic humbuckers and all was well .. about now its probably worth a couple of grand at most .. and its probably the most expensive guitar i own .. either that or my american telecaster deluxe .. its pretty close .. both of em are cherry sunbursts .. fender don't usually make cherry sunbursts .. they left that to gibson .. well they used to not make em .. they do now .. but you pay for it tho .. you pay for it .. between the two i pay the telecaster more .. a lot more .. the gibson les paul is pretty heavy .. it didn't bug me to play it when i was a younger guy but the older i get the heavier it gets.. and they both sound good but i do prefer the tone of the telecaster ..

can't seem to find the pic of my american lester .. eeeeeeeeeee 

[frenchy]

lemme try one more time .. i don't know how i lose em .. but i do .. and i know its in there someplace .. just can't remember how i put it in there .. eeeeeee.. everything comes outta the chickens ass but the egg .. still can't find it so this will have to do .. i had a beautiful pic of the tele and the lester together both of em with their sunbursts out on the deck takin in the afternoon sun .. its what i'd call guitar porn if you like guitars like i do .. a real cheesecake pic if you get my drift .. and i can't find it .. anyway what i was gonna say is for les pauls for some guys its all about the bursts and the flame maple tops .. paul reed smith who is actually a relative new comer to the guitar party because he's only been around since the early 80's does a fantastic job on them flame tops .. so much so that only the best get a ratin of 10 .. far as i'm concerned they look nice but just like a new paint job won't make your transmission shift any better on your 57 chevy neither will a flame maple top make your guitar sound any better either.. yet guys lose their flippin minds over em .. the two guitars i posted up above were both made in japan .. the telecaster is a real mij fender .. the electra is a mij copy of a gibson and of all the gibson les pauls i ever owned that electra was better than most of em ..and i had quite a few .. but they stopped makin em in the 80's .. but i found out yesterday that they're gonna start makin em again . if its as good as the one i had it would be worth lookin into .. and they made a lot of different.. les pauls .. they first changed the body shape in about 1959 to a double cutaway .. i might have a pic of one of them .. lemme see..

[frenchy]

ok i'm goin back in again .. lemme see what i come up with ..i had a yellow one .. called tv yellow cause they were supposed to show up really good on a black and white tv back in the day .. but the truth is the gibson model i had was a reissue and it really was a piece of shit .. this is an epiphone which is owned by gibson but made in korea .. its not often that i can say an epi is better than a gibson but in this case i clearly could .. this is also a reissue of a 59 double cutaway because of the cutaway on both sides .. also notice how your access to the upper frets is less hindered by the body bein in the way .. this was a great guitar for what it was .. and it literally wiped the floor with gibsons version .. 

[ProblemAgain]

i keep stumbling across stuff.....

[frenchy]

yeah there's a lot of fakes out there .. some of em good .. some of em not so good .. i just got a glen burton copy of a les paul double cut jr.. the jr only has one pickup .. the epitome of simplicity .. just a volume and a tone .. i'll post some pics of it a little later on . i'm in the process of puttin a p 90 pickup on it and takin the humbucker off .. when i first got it the action was terrible and the intonation was so far off . and it was a real struggle to get it right .. but once i did .. its a pretty good guitar .. it actually surprised me .. as good as a gibson ?? i dunno .. its pretty close tho .. and for what i paid for it its a fantastic value .. about a tenth of a gibson , if you could even get one that cheap ..