How's this for "Treasure in your Attic"? Alec (my artsy child) has been taking guitar lessons for the past 8 months or so. He is very good at it and loves to play (he is playing "Brown Eyed Girl" right now). Anyway, he has been wanting an electric guitar--his instructor lets Alec play one at lessons. We had planned to buy him one for Christmas. A while back Dad gave Alec/Earl (there is a dispute on who) his old electric guitar that I can remember having at the house forever.......Keith and I used to play around with this guitar. The other day Alec had gotten out that guitar and was playing around with it. I suggested to Earl that maybe we could have new strings put on it and any restoration that it needed( it is in GREAT condition!) and let Alec play that. I checked with Dad who gave his O.K.. I took it with me to guitar lessons today and asked if they could fix strings and clean up. David (a long time friend of the family) took one look at it and said he would not touch it. He went on to tell me that there were only a very few of these guitars made and it was worth at least $7,000 or $8,000 dollars (!!). It is a 1962 Gibson Les Paul Junior electric guitar--apparently Les Paul did not give his permission to use his name on this guitar and Gibson had to quit making it. It is now considered vintage collectible---Ebay has one listed for $8,900. David told me to take it home, have a rider for it placed with our homeowner's insurance policy, and put it somewhere for safe keeping. For anyone wondering, I called Mom and Dad immediately and let them know that we could not accept guitar--I told Dad that I had put it up and the kids would not be playing with it anymore. Dad said he paid less than $100.00 for it brand new!
One last thing, David told me that had I not been a long time friend he would have offered me $3,000.00 for it (and then turn around and sell it!!). Tim and David (owners of the music shop) said it was equivalent to giving Alec a brand new BMW for his first car. Needless to say, they were both still drooling over it when we left today....
HAVE A GREAT ONE!!
KIM
3 comments:
That is really awesome! My dad has a guitar that belonged to my grandfather (who was a musician for a living in his young adult years) that is worth several thousands dollars as well. It is so neat to find out that you own a rare item!
When Larry use to take guitar lessons Murray let him borrow that guitar. The instructor would give Larry his guitar and play the Les Paul Jr!
I did some more research and found out that Les Paul had allowed Gibson to put his name on their guitars until they changed the style in 1962. Because the 1962 model came out before Les had a chance to view, his name went on it. Les didn't like the new shape and size of the new model (thinner and more modern-looking) and asked Gibson not to use his name from then on, which is why the guitar is more valuable. Just thought I would pass on what I found out. This was fun! Hey dad, I think you need a jet ski to go along with your new boat!
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