NGsD

[213Cobra]

Here are three guitars, relatively inexpensive compared to other recent acquisitions, one intentional and two just because. They might be interesting to some here.

First, for many years I've been mildly interested in finding a birth-year guitar for me. I used to look for 1954 Martins, because I'm from Pennsylvania and grew up about 50 miles from the Martin factory. But never found one in the right condition, at a price I was willing to pay. And anyway, in flattops, I like Jumbos better than dreadnoughts, so I lean Guild in that domain. Every now and then I'd peruse Reverb to see what's around. In recent years I shifted focus to archtops for a birth year guitar, and right before the end of '25, I found this sweet 1954 Gibson L-50 acoustic.



Not a lot of bass but it's a sweet-sounding, responsive, dynamic player that projects bigger than it is. Super lightweight. This guitar looks age-appropriate but never thrashed.

Next, a forum member here offered a mint ATC 150cc right before the end of the year. I didn't go looking for it but sometimes I make the mistake of perusing the For Sale section here. I had been interested in getting a real, three-bolt CC pickup archtop with a carved top but had other priorities than to pay a used Gibson price. It seemed a perfect solution for an itch. It has a faithful modern reproduction of a long-magnets CC pickup and despite that thing being bolted and levered to the top, its acoustic voice is also unexpectedly sublime, if not the loudest. It's a faithful repro with a flat back. I have to say, if this is typical of ATC craft (and I believe it is) their Gibson replicas are built with care beyond reproach. Fab, full-handed neck, too. It has CC sound which will get more so with time.



Last, I have a couple of MIJ Telecasters as project guitars, but never had anything with P90 pickups. So, I happened upon a local dealer offering a new John Page Classic. Now, for context, my first Telecaster was a 1991 Fender Custom Shop 40th Anniversary Tele. They made 300, and mine was cherry red, with a gorgeous flame maple cap and top binding, plus a nice baseball bat neck. John Page established the Fender Custom Shop in the late 1980s and was its first director, well into the '90s. It was one of the guitars I reluctantly let go when my wife's sudden dementia made extensive pre-emptive selling of most of my former collection prudent, before we had a diagnosis and didn't know what we were facing. I dearly loved that Tele. Last fall, I missed by just hours buying it back after I tracked it down to a dealer. That got me looking again, since I'd already mentally spent the money. I had not heard that John was building guitars again in his own company. Most of the very best FCS guitars I've seen came from his tenure. I used to have four.

I couldn't resist it and it was nothing like a Custom Shop price. Roughly what a new Ultra II costs. It's a John Page Classic USA model, alder body, maple neck, tobacco. with his own design P90 in the neck and P90-voiced bridge p/u also his design, reverse slant. I couldn't be more pleased. It's not as glammed as my old FCS 40th Anniv Tele but it's sublime with "that" sound. Feels great in all respects.



All three together cost a few thousands less than one of my Super 400s. Now, I gotta sell some lesser-used guitars.

Phil

[Rob MacKillop]

Lust Alert on FULL!

All of them are beautiful, Phill, and I know you’ll appreciate and take care of them. If I were to chose one of the three, it would - judging by your description - be the ATC.

But most importantly, how’s your wife? Best wishes to the both of you.

[213Cobra]

Lust Alert on FULL!

All of them are beautiful, Phill, and I know you’ll appreciate and take care of them. If I were to chose one of the three, it would - judging by your description - be the ATC.

But most importantly, how’s your wife? Best wishes to the both of you.

Rob,

Thank you for asking. Fronto-temporal Dementia is a one way street, like the rest of the dementias. There is no treatment; the reason for instigation of self-metabolism and protein gunking of the frontal and temporal lobes is unknown. She is English, a British Mensa member who became a six year old girl in a steep slide of 15 months. It turns anyone's life upside down if any of these dementias happens in a family. After a steep slide initially, she now intellectually and behaviorally regresses at an incremental but inexorable pace. New problems to cope with show up about every 5-6 weeks. We are now early into our fourth year of dealing with this. It's a career killer for both of us. Everything becomes different and more basic. My life is organized around three essential objectives: keeping her safe, healthy and happy. It happens that guitar helps me keep an even keel. The extended outlook is nothing good, and the core element of experiencing this is you lose your partner twice -- first when the sudden onset progressively wipes the person you've been with from cognitive and interactive existence, and the second inevitability of when you will lose them physically. The rate at which cognitive decline affects physical function is highly variable and impossible to predict. Thus far, she remains physically healthy and robust, agile, mobile, and strong. I am doing everything I can to keep those things true as long as possible. One keeps on keeping on! I love her and will do whatever it takes to keep her with me instead of resorting to a facility. We've been together for 36 years and counting. We're doing OK for the situation.

Meanwhile, from what I've heard of your playing, I have no doubt you'd find the 150CC plenty engaging, but your Eastman-owning self would find the affordable L-50 pretty sweet, though not as big-voiced as a contemporary Eastman. I think if you give the 804 some fair playing time its "mellow-Benedetto" tone, it will become equally engaging for a different expression, as the 910 already is.

Phil

[Rob MacKillop]

Very powerful story, Phil. What can I or anyone say. Hopefully within her condition there is some room for her to experience happiness.

And I’m so glad you have your guitars! Long may they communicate with you. I left hospital 14 months ago after six months of hell. I thought I’d enjoy playing guitar again, but for a long time they only served to remind me of my illness, and I gave up for a few months. Then suddenly one morning I opened the curtains, and the sunshine poured over me. I picked up a guitar and slowly picked a few notes. A month later: this morning I played Bach on my 910CE for a whole hour. Yes, guitars can sometimes be our lifeline.

Let’s get back to your beautiful guitars

[213Cobra]

For a John Page reference, here's the 1991 Fender Custom Shop 40th Anniversary Telecaster from John's FCS tenure, that I lost my grip on after 32 years. The dye bleed into the binding started about 12 years after I bought it new in January '91. These pics are from 2023.















This was from only about 2-3 years into Fender Custom Shop production. And of course, pre-relic era.... John was, is, nails. If you need a Telecaster, consider a John Page T-type.

Phil