doublea
08-12-2011, 06:36 AM
A brown box arrived at my house yesterday from Ireland...
A little background on this story. Like most of the members here I started playing guitar in my teens. Learned on a cheap Yamaha acoustic that I had to string backwards due to being left handed. By 14, I had saved up enough money to buy a nice electric guitar. A black lefty USA made Fender Strat. It was brand new and was purchased in fall of 98. I remember having to wait until Christmas to actually hear it because I had no amp. My parents took me a couple of times to the music stores in Raleigh just so I could plug it in.
After having the Strat for a year or so I changed the pickups to the EMG DG-20 system. I must have watched Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse on VHS a thousand times as a kid and Gilmour was playing the red Strat with EMGs on both those tours. At the time, there was no way to get a lefty preloaded guard so I bought a right handed one. Took everything apart and put it in the left guard that was original to the guitar. It took me awhile as this is the first time I soldered so it was a good learning experience.
Fast forward a couple of years and by this time I was buying and selling guitars online through eBay. I had always wanted a Les Paul so my Strat was put on eBay. A man living in CA bought it and based on email communication was pleased with the guitar.
In 2005, after going through 15 or so various guitars I got burned out on flipping guitars every 3-4 months and decided to buy one or two to hold onto. First thing that popped into my head was my old (to me) Black Strat. I was able to track the buyer down through saved emails and asked him if he still had the guitar and if he would sell it back to me. I received a nice reply saying he did still have it but wanted to keep it. I was bummed, bought a different Strat that I ended up selling within a year.
A couple of weeks ago I get a message through eBay that was sent to multiple people looking for the owner of a USA Strat that he purchased approx 10 years ago. He had bought a few Strats during that time on eBay according to his message and he was looking for the owner of one specific guitar. I responded with the details about my first guitar, USA Black Strat with EMGs, etc. Two days later I get a reply informing me that I was the person he was looking for with the eBay message and that he did still have my guitar. He had remembered my email back in 2005 about wanting to buy my first guitar back.
Now this is the awesome part...I expected him to offer it back to me for the price he paid for it, around $700. Instead, he said that he wanted me to have my original guitar back as he was no longer playing it. Asked for my mailing address and sent my Strat back to me from Ireland at no cost. It arrived in NC yesterday and is exactly how I remember it, minus a pickguard change. The original guard was also in the box as well.
I can say with confidence I will not sell it again and it's really neat to play the guitar where I got started playing after 10 years. Mr. Gert in County Donegal, Ireland. I owe you more than a few pints next time I travel across the pond. :beer
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7900788/Photos/Forums/98Strat.jpg
A little background on this story. Like most of the members here I started playing guitar in my teens. Learned on a cheap Yamaha acoustic that I had to string backwards due to being left handed. By 14, I had saved up enough money to buy a nice electric guitar. A black lefty USA made Fender Strat. It was brand new and was purchased in fall of 98. I remember having to wait until Christmas to actually hear it because I had no amp. My parents took me a couple of times to the music stores in Raleigh just so I could plug it in.
After having the Strat for a year or so I changed the pickups to the EMG DG-20 system. I must have watched Delicate Sound of Thunder and Pulse on VHS a thousand times as a kid and Gilmour was playing the red Strat with EMGs on both those tours. At the time, there was no way to get a lefty preloaded guard so I bought a right handed one. Took everything apart and put it in the left guard that was original to the guitar. It took me awhile as this is the first time I soldered so it was a good learning experience.
Fast forward a couple of years and by this time I was buying and selling guitars online through eBay. I had always wanted a Les Paul so my Strat was put on eBay. A man living in CA bought it and based on email communication was pleased with the guitar.
In 2005, after going through 15 or so various guitars I got burned out on flipping guitars every 3-4 months and decided to buy one or two to hold onto. First thing that popped into my head was my old (to me) Black Strat. I was able to track the buyer down through saved emails and asked him if he still had the guitar and if he would sell it back to me. I received a nice reply saying he did still have it but wanted to keep it. I was bummed, bought a different Strat that I ended up selling within a year.
A couple of weeks ago I get a message through eBay that was sent to multiple people looking for the owner of a USA Strat that he purchased approx 10 years ago. He had bought a few Strats during that time on eBay according to his message and he was looking for the owner of one specific guitar. I responded with the details about my first guitar, USA Black Strat with EMGs, etc. Two days later I get a reply informing me that I was the person he was looking for with the eBay message and that he did still have my guitar. He had remembered my email back in 2005 about wanting to buy my first guitar back.
Now this is the awesome part...I expected him to offer it back to me for the price he paid for it, around $700. Instead, he said that he wanted me to have my original guitar back as he was no longer playing it. Asked for my mailing address and sent my Strat back to me from Ireland at no cost. It arrived in NC yesterday and is exactly how I remember it, minus a pickguard change. The original guard was also in the box as well.
I can say with confidence I will not sell it again and it's really neat to play the guitar where I got started playing after 10 years. Mr. Gert in County Donegal, Ireland. I owe you more than a few pints next time I travel across the pond. :beer
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/7900788/Photos/Forums/98Strat.jpg