Photos of your guitars

so interesting story. i go into eddie's guitars in st louis yesterday. i was in the neighborhood visiting accounts and thought i would stop in. i had not been there since before covid when they made everything appointment only. i showed up without an appointment and since there were no customers in there they let me in. i asked them if they had any 60s spec les paul standards in stock. they said that they had two, a honey burst (i think) and a pelham blue. the pelham blue was on sale because there is some finish checking on it. i asked to play the pelham blue because i was sick of gibson not making any more of the british racing green les pauls.

so i played it and was talking to the salesguy for a bit and it is an interesting story. it is a 2023. they got it in brand new and it had sat in the store since they got it new. a guy online in virginia bought it about 2 months ago and it got damaged in shipping resulting in 3 long narrow finish checking lines that you can't even really see unless the light hits it right. the guy sent it back to eddie's. they could not sell it as brand new since it was damaged in shipping and they had made a damage claim on it so the buyer sent it back to them and exchanged it for a new 2026 one. turns out the guy has the same first name as me. the price was marked down from $2599 to $1850, so i bought it. i don't mind some finish checking. it is probably going to check at some point anyway. in total i paid like $2040 for it, which is almost $600 off. i just couldn't pass it up. the reverb listing is below, and of course the price is not correct. i would not have paid full price for it. i haven't taken pics of it yet but probably will tonight or tomorrow. until then you can see them in the listing. i am pretty happy with it so far.

watch, gibson will restock the british racing green les pauls tomorrow, haha

https://reverb.com/item/89573268-2023-gibson-les-paul-standard-60s-plain-top-pelham-blue-top-9-15-224030220?show_sold=true

mcgruff10 said:

That's a beautiful guitar!  Good luck with her!!

thanks man!

i already messed up the pelham blue les paul. i took a strap button off to install a strap lock system and broke the screw off in the guitar. the screw is partially hanging out but is stuck. i tried to back it out with several sets of pliers and in the process damaged the natural finish near the strap button. i called the guy that does all my repairs and he said that it probably needs to be core reamed to get the screw out, then filled with a dowel. and then once that is done screw the original strap button back on there. he is currently booked out 3 months for repairs, so that is annoying. i did not know that the trend was to get away from straplocks and used these rubber washer things to block the straps from coming off of the strapbutton.

it is really frustrating that something that takes 15 minutes that i have done 15 times before can now cost hundreds of dollars to fix. i can't even play it standing up now because i have no way to put a strap on it. ugh...

bootlegger10 said:

That's painful to see!  Sorry that happened.  At least it isn't a neck crack.  I had no idea that strap locks weren't in vogue anymore.  That's great if there is an easier solution.

I have a Martin Gruhn 0000-28H I bought when I was in town in Nashville seeing a show.  I would get back from exercising and sit on the porch and play it and forget to wipe it down.  Messed up the finish on the top of it with sweat/deodorant.   I just tell myself it is character for the guitar.  I do like that for an expensive guitar I don't feel like I need to baby it anymore.      

oh yeah it could have been much worse i guess. at least most of that defect would be covered by the strap button. it is just a matter of building it up and putting a little lacquer on there and i would think it would not have to match perfectly. at this point if i can get the original strap button on there i would be good. 

these are what many people are recommending now. you just put your strap on the strap button and then put these things over the strap button to block the strap from coming off. such a simple solution that i never would have thought of. supposed to be pretty effective if you are not going to be swinging your guitar around your body.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/0990819006--fender-strap-blocks-strap-locking-system-set-of-4-black

sorry to hear about your guitar. like you said it is character, and now if it ever gets lost or stolen you can tell it is yours without the serial number.

found a place that thought it was going to be as simple as just backing out the screw and using the same hole for the original strap button. They were able to get the screw halfway out and it broke off inside the guitar, so now they have to take a small drill and drill around the screw hole to get the screw out, then fill it with a dowl, then touch up the finish and put the original strap button back on. initial quote is only $50 but if they have to do more with the lacquer around the hole to touch it up more it could be another $50. we shall see.

at any rate, lesson learned. i ordered some strap blocks from sweetwater just now...

mcgruff10 said:

I m really itching for a new acoustic.   Must resist 

yeah you had a good year and probably have a tax return coming, so there might be a way......