I just bought a new guitar. I didn't really mean to.

ForrestGump

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Tue Sep-19-06 03:27 AM
Original message

I just bought a new guitar. I didn't really mean to.

I'd been looking on eBay, on and off, for Japanese copies of the legendary Gibson J-200 jumbo guitar that Elvis used in the '50s, '60s, and when he came back to live performing in 1969 and the couple of years that followed. I wanted the natural wood finish, and the reason I wanted a Japanese copy was that the real thing sells for thousands of dollars...yep, several thousand dollars for an acoustic guitar. The Japanese copies came out in the '70s and were known as 'lawsuit' copies because they were so similar to the Gibsons that Gibson filed lawsuits to force an end to production of such knock-offs. Earlier this year I bought, on eBay, an early '70s Japanese clone of the Gibson Dove guitar that I intend to paint black to match the Dove that Elvis used on stage for most of the '70s (complete with kenpo karate decal affixed to the guitar). I haven't done that yet but I've been messing around with the guitar over the last few days and got all excited about getting hold of a J-200 copy.

Here's Elvis with his 1956 Gibson J-200 in 1957 and (with custom pickguard and his name on the fingerboard) in 1969 -- he had a 1960 natural-finish J-200, too, bought when the 1956 one was late in coming back from being customized as shown in the second picture:

Anyway, I bid on a couple of vintage Japanese J-200 copies but, to my surprise, the final price ended up significantly over that of a brand new Epiphone version of the J-200, I guess because they're collectors' items. Now, the Epiphone copies are licensed by Gibson -- in fact, Epiphone (once a stand-alone company) is owned by Gibson so they probably make the guitars from the same basic specs and I assume they sell them for less both because they're missing the Gibson name and because they use less expensive woods and construction -- and a quick perusal of some guitar review sites revealed that they are well thought of in terms of sound and playability. Admittedly, the primary duty of any such guitar in my possession is to be a prop that looks the part, but good sound is a plus. Besides, the bridge on the Epiphone is more authentically J-200 than are those on the '70s Japanese copies.

I discovered that the best online price on an Epiphone 200 was a tenth or better the price of a new Gibson J-200 and so I put a natural-color Epihone EJ-200 on my eBay watch list with a fixed price of $349...I had no real intention of buying it, but just wanted it there to remind me. Then I saw a black version, complete with IKKA kenpo decal, that was billed as a copy of Elvis' that he started using on stage in 1974 (minus the pearl inlay of "Elvis Presley"on the fingerboard, that I don't want, anyway), on sale for with a reserve price somewhere below the 'buy it now' price of $450. I did a few exploratory bids before I came to my senses and then found a new plain black EJ-200 with a 'buy it now' price a hundred dollars less -- curiosity struck again and I ended up discovering that the reserve was $249, plus shipping, and spent the next three days half excited about the guitar and half hoping that I'd get outbid.

As it turned out, nobody else bid on the thing, so I'm now the proud owner of it. I can afford it now, at least, but it's not my most cerebral purchase. Still, unlike my Dove, it's ready for the stage as is, right now. I probably won't put the kenpo sticker on this one, either (Elvis added the sticker a few months after he started using the guitar on stage). And I'm for sure gonna apply adhesive film or something to the back of it to protect the finish from my jumpsuit studs and belts -- then again, wearing jumpsuits bought me this guitar, so maybe some authentic scratches are okay. Elvis thrashed his guitars with his aggressive strumming and general fooling around, and destroyed a number of expensive guitars during his career, but I'm going to baby this thing a lot more than he would have.

If anyone out there happens to be interested in guitars, or Elvis,. or both, I heartily recommend Scotty Moore's Web site, that has an excellent set of pages dealing with Elvis' performance guitars...some really interesting stuff there:

http://www.scottymoore.net/epguitars.html

I haven't really played guitar in 20 years, and I've enjoyed (sore fingertips aside) doodling around with it the last few days. I used to love playing guitar, acoustic and electric. Maybe this time I'll go further with the instrument and learn to play it better than I ever did before...for a start, I'd settle for being able to play like Elvis (he was a lot better than many, including himself, have said...he certainly played more than the three chords he claimed to know) and, once there, I'll aim for even halfway approaching the level of competence displayed by my musical hero, DU's very own johnnie. :headbang:

Still want a natural-finish J-200, though. And, of course, a 1964 Gretsch Country Gentleman electric guitar, the same year and model Elvis used on stage and in rehearsals 1969-1970...but the last one of those I had my eye on, on eBay, went for $3000.

In the meantime, I'll settle for buying a couple of the Electrovoice re-10 microphones that Elvis used for most of the '70s, just to add a little authenticity (I've got an Electrovoice mic now, but it's a post-Elvis model). Already got the windscreens for them.

This is fun. Expensive, but fun. :D

Elvis in 1974 with his ebony J-200

Forrest's next step toward a Tufnelesque collection of guitars...all I gotta do now is learn how to play 'em