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How to track down a long gone Les

Maxmc

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Mar 15, 2015
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652
Odd tuner placement. Musta been a friday guitar. Could be the shadow in the photo makes it look wider than it is. Maybe a friday photo?

I see what you mean but I think its just the shitty photo. If nothing else if I could just get better pictures of it I'd be happy with that. I'd have to sell my house to get it back even if it were for sale and the missus would have something to say about that!
 

chuckNC

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Apr 24, 2012
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I'd have to sell my house to get it back even if it were for sale and the missus would have something to say about that!
But what could bring a couple closer together than sleeping in their car with a brown guitar case between them?
 

Rev.WillieVK

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Jul 26, 2002
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Odd tuner placement. Musta been a friday guitar. Could be the shadow in the photo makes it look wider than it is. Maybe a friday photo?

Shadows on the left side make the headstock look off-center. Look at the tuner shadows on the right side, and look at the double image of the 'open book' on top. :salude
 

RAG7890

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Oct 11, 2011
Messages
146
Where this could all get very sticky is the fact that the guitar went through Jackson's Rare Guitars in Sydney. For those that don't know, Jackson's went down in a shower of shit a couple of years ago. A lot of people who had their guitars on consignment at the shop never saw them again or their money.
I don't think my instrument was caught up in this as I sold it a good 20 years before this happened but I'd feel a bit funny talking to Steve Jackson now.

If you need Steve's Mobile No. send me a PM & I'll forward it to you.

I don't think he'd mind you calling to ask the question Max.

As far as money is concerned with that fiasco.................:## = me, I lost a significant sum but did get all my consignment Guitars (that were not sold) back. According to the receiver I was the onyl one that had accurate, up to date records & paperwork. Many just dropped off expensive Guitars on a handshake.

Cheers, Rudi
 

Maxmc

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If you need Steve's Mobile No. send me a PM & I'll forward it to you.

I don't think he'd mind you calling to ask the question Max.

As far as money is concerned with that fiasco.................:## = me, I lost a significant sum but did get all my consignment Guitars (that were not sold) back. According to the receiver I was the onyl one that had accurate, up to date records & paperwork. Many just dropped off expensive Guitars on a handshake.

Cheers, Rudi
Did you get my PM ?
Max
 

burstman59

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Mar 10, 2002
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1,753
Maxmx, I had its sister Burst ser # 0 0303 from about 85 or 86 to Nov. 89. It had a blister maple top all 59 features as far as neck shape knobs, ect.. Got if from Gruhns guitars in Nashville. it had a beautiful amber/greenish fade. the top looked almost identical to your, its pictures are on burstserial. It may reside in Japan now.
 

Maxmc

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Maxmx, I had its sister Burst ser # 0 0303 from about 85 or 86 to Nov. 89. It had a blister maple top all 59 features as far as neck shape knobs, ect.. Got if from Gruhns guitars in Nashville. it had a beautiful amber/greenish fade. the top looked almost identical to your, its pictures are on burstserial. It may reside in Japan now.
Oh, this is really starting to cut like a knife. Joni was right; you really "don't know what you've got till it's gone".
 

Maxmc

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Progress has been made. I found out that Brad Sheppard (from the well known Australian band Hoodoo Gurus) did in fact own my old guitar. He sold it and the guitar went to Chicargo. I'm going to take a liberty: if no one has any objection, i'm going to name the guitar the Max burst. This might flush the current owner out ! Then the Max burst will have a complete providence.
 

Maxmc

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Hopefully more info to come. I'm expecting some good photos in the not too distant future.
 

Maxmc

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It's a funny thing. I owned this guitar for about ten years and 20+ years after I sold it, thinking back, these are the few things that I remember about it:
it was light. I could stand up all day at a rehearsal without issue.
It was reliable, a good working guitar. Even with the standard tuners it never went out of tune and at the time most of the other Gibbos I tried always slipped out of tune.
It didn't sound like other humbucking guitars. it was open sounding, As Greg Koch commented, like a Tele on steriods.
The tone control particularly on the bridge pickup worked like nothing I've played since. The magic spot was at 1. That for me was where I found the Woman tone, though not necessarily Eric's. Is this effect that the bumble bee caps give you ?
I remember being a little disappointed that the top had very little flame if at all but it was not what you would call plain being very figured. The red had pretty much disappeared even though in some of my photos it seems very prominent. I've seen it mentioned on this forum how hard it is to capture what one of these guitars really looks like in the flesh. I certainly would not be disappointed now!
And that's it. Sadly not much else
 

Maxmc

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Mar 15, 2015
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652
Re: On the trail of a long gone Les Paul

Another clue on the trail. Apparently The guitar went through a place called Music Exchange Chicago, which I assume is the Chicago Music Exchange. I've sent them an email so we shall see what turns up.
 

Maxmc

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Mar 15, 2015
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And what's turned up has just been spam. we live in hope though.
 

Maxmc

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Got a real reply from CME. The present owner took over the business in 2010 and doesn't have any records before then. The trail is growing cold. Just hoping that my contact in Sydney comes good with some photos soon.
 

Maxmc

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Mar 15, 2015
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That's funny. It's disappeared !

Sorry, it's still there, just not in sequence, it's at the end.
 

Maxmc

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Mar 15, 2015
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I made contact with an old friend with whom I did a lot of recording back in the 80s. He now lives in Norway but he has a few video clips of me playing 0 0304 and he has sent me this photo, lifted from a clip, which unfortunately is not what you'd call good quality but it's the best he could do. Probably not good enough to go in the montage which is a shame. At least back then I still had hair!
 

Maxmc

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Mar 15, 2015
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My friend from Norway has put this up. The clip was recorded in his living room when he was living in Melbourne. It's a little embarrassing but again better than nothing. I haven't seen or heard this in nearly 30 years. The playing's a little rough but there you go.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mdDARW_RwP0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
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