New Old Guitar (Re)finish Day! A pic before the story:
(http://www.mcallisterra.com/photos/burns/refinish.jpg)
My Dad gave me this guitar 10 years ago for my 18th birthday. It's a 1966 Burns/Baldwin Marvin. He had it from the mid 70's I think.
It has been refinished before but it developed a crack around the neck pocket in the really thin part of the wood, so my Dad repaired it and refinished it again. He owns Spectrum Guitar Finishes (www.spectrumguitarfinishes.co.uk (http://www.spectrumguitarfinishes.co.uk)) so a lot of my guitars have been finished by him :)
Anyway it has been apart for almost a year because right when I sent the body off to him (he lives in Spain), he was diagnosed with cancer and needed surgery and chemo so was out of action for quite a while. He's feeling better these days so got back to work recently, and when I went to go visit him at the beginning of this month, he had finished it all ready for me to bring back. I got it all put back together over the weekend.
This guitar has quite a history to it - my Dad used everything from it but the body/pickguard in a left handed version he had made as he loved the neck so much. He gigged it for years that way. Then he put it back together, and the rhythm player in his band used it in their Shadows cover band for quite a while. They recorded some of the tunes back in the 90's using this guitar, and shortly after recording, the rhythm guitarist, a very good friend of my Dad's, was killed in a motorcycle accident. The guitar then wasn't used for years and sat in it's case until I decided I'd like to learn to play, and since it was the only right handed guitar in the house, it was the one my Dad started teaching me on before I got my own. Then a few years later he surprised me with it for my 18th birthday.
It's a fantastic sounding guitar - Strat like but bigger sounding with more bite. It's a very special guitar to me and I'm just really happy to have it back together again :)
I love that this (extremely cool) guitar has a great back story! Congratulations! Also, good news that your dad is doing well.
That is really such a great story and background, awesome! And what a cool guitar it is too, looks sweet and in top notch reconditioned! Superb...
Thanks guys :)
My Dad and I sometimes scour eBay and Reverb just looking for these guitars, but invariably the one we find are beat to hell. Usually that big metal plate with the engraving on is scratched and tarnished really badly. Even before the refinish this one was in great shape.
The guitar and the story are both lovely man. Cherish it.
nice guitar and story! It looks like new.
In what part of Spain does your father live btw?
I've been looking at the facebook page and those finish are gorgeous man.
He lives in a small town called Catral. It's about 30 minutes SW of Alicante.
Yea he does some awesome stuff. It's dangerous really - like having your own custom shop lol. I run the FB page and his website, so a few of the ones he did for me are on the site - namely the orange metallic Toronado, the Surf Green Jazzmaster, and the Twilight Blue Metallic Strat.
the strat is beautiful.
Alicante is far from where I live, but I've been there on vacation. Too hot for my taste and the cities and beaches nearby are usually ugly and overcrowded, but there are some lovely places in the countryside.
THAT is an awesome looking guitar!
Quote from: micromegas on April 28, 2015, 02:03:19 PM
the strat is beautiful.
Alicante is far from where I live, but I've been there on vacation. Too hot for my taste and the cities and beaches nearby are usually ugly and overcrowded, but there are some lovely places in the countryside.
Thanks!
Where he lives is pretty rural, and the heat doesn't bother me because I live in Florida ;D
Quote from: jprizz on April 28, 2015, 02:25:42 PM
THAT is an awesome looking guitar!
Thanks! :)
WICKED cool guitar, Andy! Just wicked!
Quote from: Haberdasher on April 28, 2015, 05:30:50 PM
WICKED cool guitar, Andy! Just wicked!
Thanks Keefe :)
Now that I'm back I can get started on the Lightwah too!