Over the years of my producing this blog I’ve written about my love of guitars. I’m not real sure if it’s a love of guitars or a love of buying and selling guitars. After some consideration I’m guessing that it’s the latter. This proves beyond a reasonable doubt that the act of losing money is addictive.
The past two weeks have involved my selling three Fender Strats, all of which I have sworn that I would never sell. The wife has learned to interpret that phrase as “I will never sell this guitar in the next 3 days.”
As is common in my marathon selling sessions, the minute I sell off unwanted instruments, my fingers magically drift to Craigslist to look for castaway guitars that have lost favor with their owners. Craigslist is a guitar freak’s godsend - eager sellers, reasonable prices and cash only.
Now, to the subject at hand.
Let’s rewind the clock to the mid-1960’s. One of my first guitars was a model called a “Texan” made by the Epiphone Company of Kalamazoo, Michigan. I was very taken by the sound of this guitar when I tried it out in a music store. In fact, I passed over more notable brands such as Gibson and Martin in favor of buying the Epi Texan.
I kept that guitar through my years in the military and during college. This is where things get a bit weird. For the life of me I cannot remember what happened to my Epi Texan. Did I sell it, give it away, pawn it, lose it in a bet?
No matter - it’s gone.
To make things worse, I have learned that 1964 Epiphone Texans are very valuable collectors items. This is due to the fact that a Beatles song was produced using the very same model of guitar that I used to own, thus sending its value through the roof.
The final miserable chapter to this story is the fact that I can’t recall the name of the Beatles song in question.
All I know is that this experience has left me with some terrible emotional scars. Ultimately my feelings are that:
I’m not half the man I used to be and that there’s a shadow hanging over me.
Readers, enjoy your day.
