Jeff Taylor - The Daphne Blue Strat
Around 1980 I was trying to sell four Yamaha
P.A. monitors. I put an ad in the Recycler and got a call from a guy
wanting to make a trade. He offered me a 1961 daphne blue Fender Strat
with the original brown case. Being a Les Paul guy I wasn’t thrilled
but I told him I’d take a look at it.
This guy showed up at the studio where my gear
was with his friend to show me the Strat. It turned out his friend
wanted the monitors but had no cash so the guy with the Strat wants to
trade me the Strat for the monitors which he’ll give to his friend and
the friend will pay him later. (Don’t worry. It doesn’t matter). I
didn’t care what their story was but the Strat was great and I needed
to move the monitors. I went ahead and made the deal.
So I have this Strat for a couple of years
before I decide to sell it. A good friend of mine takes a look at it
and decides to buy it. He hands me the dough and I hand him the axe.
Now before I bottom line this story for you I should tell you that you
have probably heard this guitar on several records, commercials and a
movie or two. I’m sure you’ve also seen it in some of the many magazine
interviews and ads he’s done. My friend still has the guitar and
although he has many other Strats this one still gets tagged for some
of his best work.
I like to think that because of the great deal
I gave him on the guitar it inspired him to the many accolades he has
attained. (Hey! This is my story. When you send us yours you can be
the hero!) He has built a great career but more importantly has a
wonderful and supportive wife and son. He is also one of the great
human beings. I hate to think of what might have been but for the deal
on that near mint 1961 daphne blue Strat. No thanks necessary, my
friend.
Oh, by the way ... the price on that career building, life altering “one that got away”… $500.
This
page is dedicated to all of the musicians who have had a really great
instrument at some time in their life but somehow let it get away. Within the walls
of every music store you’ve ever been in, you've heard stories about
the great guitars, basses and amps that the storyteller had at one
point but was unable to hold on to for one reason or another.
Maybe the proceeds went into a “better” instrument, rent, car
payments or even a meal or two. Whatever ... the nugget got away and
now it’s just a memory and a great story.
If you've been playing for any length of time you have at least one of these tales, so this is the place to tell it. With each telling the “fish” may get just a bit bigger but that’s okay because we'd all love to hear what a “fool” you were. When we tell our story we may embellish it a bit, too, in an attempt to gain some sympathy because, of course, we know we were a much bigger “fool”.
So please e-mail us the story of your “one that got away”.
If you've been playing for any length of time you have at least one of these tales, so this is the place to tell it. With each telling the “fish” may get just a bit bigger but that’s okay because we'd all love to hear what a “fool” you were. When we tell our story we may embellish it a bit, too, in an attempt to gain some sympathy because, of course, we know we were a much bigger “fool”.
So please e-mail us the story of your “one that got away”.
Robert Miranda - Donald Fagen's Les Paul Special
In 1983, I’d recently moved to LA and went to visit a friend in Malibu who was living in a guest apartment over a garage. He said to me, "By the way, this is Donald Fagen’s house." I suddenly got very interested. Donald had previously moved to NY but his ex, Dorothy White, aka "Dotty of Hollywood", who was the artist responsible for the cover art to "Countdown to Ecstasy" and other Steely Dan artwork, still lived in the house.
We spent the afternoon visiting with Dorothy and at one point she brought out an old brown Gibson guitar case. She wanted to show me the guitar to get my advice. It was a single-cut, ¾ scale Les Paul Special with a TV finish. She said Donald had left it for her to sell and that he advised her she should be able to get "about $1,000" for it.
Given the situation, I could have bought the guitar and asked her for a letter of provenance, confirming that it was formerly Donald Fagen’s (I don’t think he even plays guitar ?!), thus amping up the resale value for the appropriate Steely Dan freak. But alas, I didn’t act on it.
Interestingly, I got up at one point to go to the loo and sitting on some chest-high wood trim on the wall was a small painting (smaller than an LP cover) that looked exactly like the Countdown to Ecstasy cover. No frame, no nothing. I asked Dorothy if that was a "mock-up" of the cover and she said, "No, that’s the final painting the label used. They hated it because it didn’t offer enough contrast."
Bruce Kulick - 1954 Esquire
Back in 1984 I was renting a room in NYC from a friend who started to collect Fenders as he saw the value in the vintage market and at that time prices were not so insane.
Among his Strats and Teles from the 50's and 60's he had a simple butterscotch Esquire from 1954 that was light and quite friendly. What a sound. What a neck. He even let me take it to France for a recording project. After that trip I asked him how much... $1400.
By today’s standards that’s unreal but at the time it was too much for my budget and I had to say “Oh well, maybe in a few years”. Of course I never had that opportunity again.
I have gone on to purchase many other fine guitars through the years and some that have increased in value 10 fold but that guitar was truly "one that got away".
Joseph Micciche - Raw Power
This is a fairly recent "one (in this case two) that got away" story, happening just about a year ago...
I had a Les Paul that I called "Raw Power". It had no paint, just a sealer coat. The top was very good, just plain maple and this Paul was a tad lighter than most Pauls. But what really set this one apart from others were the EMG 85 (neck) and EMG 81 (bridge) active pickups. This guitar put out the power in spades! It played great, even though it had the "60's slim neck profile.
Why did I part with it? The usual, a “trade up” and a poor excuse for this very special guitar. I just had to have one of those 1960 Les Paul V.O.S. reissues because the neck was a bit thicker and it was hard ( at least for me ) to sound harmonics with the EMG's. Even the manager at "we all know where" asked me "Do you seriously want to trade this in?" Well, stupidly, I was damn serious! I got the V.O.S, and from then on, it started to give me trouble. The neck was a big time wet noodle. It just wouldn't adjust properly. Also, I couldn’t get the sounds I wanted. Not through my amp, through friends' amps, not even through amps in other stores. Those Burstbucker pickups have to be the laughingstock of the entire industry. I think they might just make decent paperweights in a windowless office!
I went back in there a week later, intending to get, as you’ve probably guessed, my “Raw Power” but it was gone forever. I hope whoever bought it knows what they have.
Now for the second of my “two” that got away. My American Deluxe Strat. To me, the best production Strat ever put out by Fender. Mine was a two-tone burst like Buddy Holly's! Its Samarium Cobalt pickups put out powerful, noiseless and clear sound. With its "S1 switching", I had the classic Strat tones and a few more unusual pickup combinations, all of which sounded great.
But I lost this one to another “trade up”, a PRS Custom 24. And although I know its blasphemy to even think this but the Custom 24 doesn't float my boat.
So my fellow players, if you’ve got a well built and well set up guitar that covers your needs think long and hard before you surrender a steadfast friend to acquire that "new gee whiz do-daddy”.
This is a fairly recent "one (in this case two) that got away" story, happening just about a year ago...
I had a Les Paul that I called "Raw Power". It had no paint, just a sealer coat. The top was very good, just plain maple and this Paul was a tad lighter than most Pauls. But what really set this one apart from others were the EMG 85 (neck) and EMG 81 (bridge) active pickups. This guitar put out the power in spades! It played great, even though it had the "60's slim neck profile.
Why did I part with it? The usual, a “trade up” and a poor excuse for this very special guitar. I just had to have one of those 1960 Les Paul V.O.S. reissues because the neck was a bit thicker and it was hard ( at least for me ) to sound harmonics with the EMG's. Even the manager at "we all know where" asked me "Do you seriously want to trade this in?" Well, stupidly, I was damn serious! I got the V.O.S, and from then on, it started to give me trouble. The neck was a big time wet noodle. It just wouldn't adjust properly. Also, I couldn’t get the sounds I wanted. Not through my amp, through friends' amps, not even through amps in other stores. Those Burstbucker pickups have to be the laughingstock of the entire industry. I think they might just make decent paperweights in a windowless office!
I went back in there a week later, intending to get, as you’ve probably guessed, my “Raw Power” but it was gone forever. I hope whoever bought it knows what they have.
Now for the second of my “two” that got away. My American Deluxe Strat. To me, the best production Strat ever put out by Fender. Mine was a two-tone burst like Buddy Holly's! Its Samarium Cobalt pickups put out powerful, noiseless and clear sound. With its "S1 switching", I had the classic Strat tones and a few more unusual pickup combinations, all of which sounded great.
But I lost this one to another “trade up”, a PRS Custom 24. And although I know its blasphemy to even think this but the Custom 24 doesn't float my boat.
So my fellow players, if you’ve got a well built and well set up guitar that covers your needs think long and hard before you surrender a steadfast friend to acquire that "new gee whiz do-daddy”.
Jim Steinwedell -- The Marshall Stack
In the early 1970s when I was in high school, I went to a party down the street from where I lived in La Canada, CA. There was a live band named Mammoth playing in the garage. (The name Van Halen used prior to Van Halen). As I walked in, they were just starting the first set when Ed Van Halen’s Marshall blew up. He was furious and wondering what they would do now since they couldn’t finish the gig and get paid, (probably about $50.00) plus their mandatory case of Bud. I walked up to him and asked him what was going on and he told me that his amp had blown up. I said that I lived down the street and that I had a 100-watt Marshall stack if he wanted to borrow it. He looked at me as if I were mocking him since back then very few guitar players had Marshalls (I am sure it didn’t help that I looked more like a football player than a guitar player). He made some accusatory statement as if to say I shouldn’t say such things to a guy in trouble, but I continued to insist that I really did have one. He finally believed me and we took his old white Peugeot down the street and picked it up. Ed finished the gig and he couldn’t have been more grateful. That started a friendship that continued to center around that wonderful Marshall amp.
After that night, Ed would call me for any big gigs they’d play and ask if he could borrow the head and cabinets. Ed knew a few of us who had Marshalls so on bigger gigs he’d borrow several. He’d set up 3-4 full stacks, but at that time he’d only play through one head and one bottom. He’d always play through mine and tell me that it was the best 100-watt Marshall he’d ever heard. He insisted that if I ever sold it, I must sell it to him no matter what. I told him I would never sell it but we continued to be friends and he continued to borrow it.
A few years later I attended college in Massachusetts. I had brought my Marshall stacks to play in a band on campus. At the end of the school year, my best friend threw a graduation party. On the way to the party another friend and I were in a terrible car crash. I spent two days in the hospital and when I returned to the house I asked my friend where my Marshall was. He told me it was in his room next to my guitar case. Well needless to say, it wasn’t there nor, we soon realized, anywhere else in the house. The sad, inescapable conclusion was that someone had stolen it at the party.
The greatest amp I ever heard was gone forever. I bought that amp from a guy who lived with his band in a house way up in the mountains of Hollywood. The price for the entire 100-watt stack was $400!
In the early 1970s when I was in high school, I went to a party down the street from where I lived in La Canada, CA. There was a live band named Mammoth playing in the garage. (The name Van Halen used prior to Van Halen). As I walked in, they were just starting the first set when Ed Van Halen’s Marshall blew up. He was furious and wondering what they would do now since they couldn’t finish the gig and get paid, (probably about $50.00) plus their mandatory case of Bud. I walked up to him and asked him what was going on and he told me that his amp had blown up. I said that I lived down the street and that I had a 100-watt Marshall stack if he wanted to borrow it. He looked at me as if I were mocking him since back then very few guitar players had Marshalls (I am sure it didn’t help that I looked more like a football player than a guitar player). He made some accusatory statement as if to say I shouldn’t say such things to a guy in trouble, but I continued to insist that I really did have one. He finally believed me and we took his old white Peugeot down the street and picked it up. Ed finished the gig and he couldn’t have been more grateful. That started a friendship that continued to center around that wonderful Marshall amp.
After that night, Ed would call me for any big gigs they’d play and ask if he could borrow the head and cabinets. Ed knew a few of us who had Marshalls so on bigger gigs he’d borrow several. He’d set up 3-4 full stacks, but at that time he’d only play through one head and one bottom. He’d always play through mine and tell me that it was the best 100-watt Marshall he’d ever heard. He insisted that if I ever sold it, I must sell it to him no matter what. I told him I would never sell it but we continued to be friends and he continued to borrow it.
A few years later I attended college in Massachusetts. I had brought my Marshall stacks to play in a band on campus. At the end of the school year, my best friend threw a graduation party. On the way to the party another friend and I were in a terrible car crash. I spent two days in the hospital and when I returned to the house I asked my friend where my Marshall was. He told me it was in his room next to my guitar case. Well needless to say, it wasn’t there nor, we soon realized, anywhere else in the house. The sad, inescapable conclusion was that someone had stolen it at the party.
The greatest amp I ever heard was gone forever. I bought that amp from a guy who lived with his band in a house way up in the mountains of Hollywood. The price for the entire 100-watt stack was $400!