Hi Folks,
I stumbled accross this thread and was reminded that I have been wanting to get back into playing guitar again.
I have known about this thread for years and admired a lot of the goodies shown here. I have several guitars stashed away, but I need to start playing again, so where do I start. How about a guitar that I have owned for about 50 years.
I was doing some part time repair work for a CB radio shop in Miami when a guy walked into the shop with a guitar in hand asking to trade it for some radio equipment. The shop owner told him that he wasn't running a pawn shop, go away, I followed him outside and offered a swap, the CB radio in my car for his guitar. The Hagstrom that I got in 1970 had been stolen and I had no guitar at the time, so the swap was made. I now had a Japanese made, Univox branded Mosrite clone. It sold new for $89 which was about the same as the radio I traded for it. I played the frets off the thing and eventually retired it to the closet in favor of something newer and shinier. Guitars came and went and I got a Squire Strat in the early 90's that I recently rebuilt after a spontaneous self disassembly event in the mid 2000's.
I recently dug the Univox out of storage, cleaned it up and put some strings on it. I had to raise the action a bit to compensate for the fret wear, but it still plays pretty well, and doesn't look bad for its age and neglect. The serial number dates it to 1972. I think I got it in 74 or 75.