Guitar Center Files for Bankruptcy

NY Times ^ | 11/22/2020 | Lauren Hirsch

[T.B. Yoits]

Re: Photo in post 113 of your guitars

There's enough room between some of those for a guitarlele. Might also need to go onto another wall to add a baritone guitar.

[T.B. Yoits]

The SG body/neck assembly itself has a funny history. Around 1987 I visited a local music store that took consignment sales, and there was this horrible looking SG in an original Gibson hard shell case on the counter. Beat to crap, hardware shot, and painted garish red which had chipped and faded. It had arrived that morning, for “best offer” sale. The music store guys didn’t know what to do with it, was it worth fixing up?

I picked it up and sighted along the neck — looked true. Frets were in decent shape. Everything else was trash. “How much you want for this ugly thing?” “I dunno, 150 bucks with the case?” “Sure”. Turned it over to my luthier friend who does the fancy custom work on my instruments, said, “Make this into something”. He looked up the serial number (hence 1962), stripped the paint, put all new hardware, ordered the custom pickups, and a Washburn whammy/bridge that was smooth as silk, even stayed in tune. Et voila, I had a marvelous axe that was more responsive than anything I’d ever played.

I was too young and uninformed when I decided not to buy a double-neck SG years ago. I had no intention of playing it. It had seen much better days but it was all original and the hardware on the 6 string side would have dropped perfectly into a beat up SG like you describe. Coulda woulda shoulda...

[dayglored]

There’s actually one more guitar in the collection, not shown hanging there because it’s on long-term loan to a buddy who plays the Bob Weir part in the local Grateful Dead cover band I play bass in. It’s an Ibanez Bob Weir Signature Model. It was in similar shape to the SG, so I customized it a bit, replaced the pickups and put all new gold plated hardware, added a center pickup that could be switch in-phase or out-of-phase with the bridge pickup to get a little “quack” like a Strat.

I don’t dare start down another wall. :-)

[dayglored]

I never had much attraction to double-neck guitars, admiration for Jimmy Page notwithstanding. Seemed like it’d be awkward, and I’m kinda geeky and awkward to begin with, so I don’t think I could have pulled it off.

[Yardstick]

Yeah, my gear fu is a little rusty but I recognize most of those items. Some nice stuff there. My main rig these days is an older road worn strat through a silverface Bassman head and a cab with greenbacks. Also have a pile of pedals but almost always just use a fuzz face and a delay.

[Rebelbase]

Around 1990 the sign at the local music store was “NO SWEET CHILD”.