George Benson's 1998 Mortoro Starling (II Storno) Ser. #3398

[Easy2grasp]

Play it till you're as good as George Benson!

It is a very inspiring instrument to be sure. I have been playing more and more. And I am taking this time and opportunity to unlearn my old right hand method and switch to a Benson style. Little by little it is coming.
Ted

[Easy2grasp]

My guess is the piece of wood was the original pickguard brace.
I think the L bracket was added later. Probably for more stability. Or maybe George didn't want that block deadening the top.
That is a really cool piece you have. A handmade guitar that George possibly had modified. Complete with an old jar of bump cream!

Beautiful guitar. Thanks for Sharing it with us.
Joe D

Bingo! You win! It turns out the little piece of wood was from the original pickguard, which was narrower. Gary Mortoro made a second pickguard for GB with his name inlaid. (EDIT: Gary Mortoro stated later that the piece is used on both pickguards. It floats a 1/16" above the guitar body near the bridge end of the pickguard, by the E string.) Gary was finally able to get back to me - he was in the process of moving back to Florida. He was kind enough during all this chaos when the moving truck was at his house in New York to set aside, and send to me, these two photos. Here he is in 1998 with his good friend George Benson who is holding the guitar that I am so fortunate to have now.

[BigMikeinNJ]

Oh Hell Yeah !!!!
So great. Another guitar that I had bid on, a prototype of the GB30th, the one referred to as The Kimono, was pulled the day before the auction. I likely would have gotten it far below what they sell for even with the BP and tax. Not that I was that crazy about it but I figured there was a half chance someone would have snatched Red away from me at some wild nosebleed price...

So cool to have all this authentication from The Champ...

[Easy2grasp]

Oh Hell Yeah !!!!
So great. Another guitar that I had bid on, a prototype of the GB30th, the one referred to as The Kimono, was pulled the day before the auction. I likely would have gotten it far below what they sell for even with the BP and tax. Not that I was that crazy about it but I figured there was a half chance someone would have snatched Red away from me at some wild nosebleed price...

So cool to have all this authentication from The Champ...

That Kimono Ibanez would have been a great score. Especially since it was on the cover of Guitar Player Magazine in March of 2010. I wonder why they pulled it?