Second hand goods

There are a lot of good guitar builders out there, making good quality instruments. And, over the years, I’ve owned a few. But, my first guitar was an inexpensive “Simpson’s Sears special”, a Silvertone acoustic flat top. Specially priced for the beginner market back in the fifties, it cost less than $30.00. But, to put that price tag in context, my Dad’s weekly paycheck was just over $58.00 net, which made the guitar pretty special. And, I’ve never been without a guitar in all the years since.

These days I play a Washburn D10SDL, and I also own a Norman B-20-12, a 12 string guitar that’s hand made in Canada. OK, it’s made in Quebec, but whether they know it or not, they’re still part of Canada. Both my current guitars were gifts from family members, just like the first one I got from my Dad over half a century ago.

Recently, while surfing the net, I came across an article on Gallotone guitars. Now, if I were to mention names like Gibson, Gretsch, Martin, Ephinone, etc, everyone who has ever learned how to strum a chord would know what I was talking about. But, I’m wondering how many people out there can tell me what a Gallotone guitar looks like or where they were made? That’s what I thought.

The Gallotone Champion guitar model was a 3/4 size steel string flat-top acoustic made from laminated woods. It was manufactured in South Africa by the Gallo company during the 50's and 60's. It was intended for the beginner market and sold for under $20.00 US.

If I were to tell you that John Lennon once played a Gallowtone Champion, would you know where I’m going with this piece? Sure you would, unless you’re a complete stranger to this web log.

A few years back (eight to be exact), the Gallotone guitar once played by John Lennon sold for 155,500 pounds ($251,700) at a Rock'n'Roll memorabilia sale held by Sotheby's London. There is no indication anywhere that the purchaser is a guitar player. If he were, he would have spent a grand or two on a top of the line instrument that he could play on a daily basis without turning his fingers to hamburger; instead of a worthless piece of junk.

But the man was not a musician; he was a collector of memorabilia. He didn’t buy the guitar to play it, he bought it as a trophy so he could display it and proclaim proudly to anyone who might see it that it was once played by John Lennon. “Yessireebob. Worth every penny of the quarter of a million dollars I spent for it.”

No. I do not envy the man’s wealth and I don’t dispute his right to spend his money in any manner he sees fit. And, I sure as hell don’t envy his intelligence or lack thereof.

It was a cheap beginner’s guitar that plays no better today than it did back in the fifties when Lennon bought it. Its magic was never in the guitar; the magic was in the hands, heart and soul of the man who played it. And, no matter how much the buyer might be willing to spend, he can never buy the magic.

And the same holds true for the guitar once played, but never owned by Sir Paul McCartney, which sold at auction last year for $675,000.00. The guitar was accompanied by a letter from Sir Paul authenticating the fact he had once played that guitar as a boy. The owner, a boyhood friend of McCartney’s sold the guitar to “build a nest egg” for his pending retirement. He has obviously been thinking about his nest egg for a long time if he has managed to keep the instrument in any kind of decent shape over that length of time.

The guitar's buyer, the president of an auction company, is quoted as saying: "This is such an important piece of rock history and I am an extremely happy man tonight. Without this guitar, the Beatles may never have existed and it is a fantastic acquisition." An acquisition? I thought he was buying a guitar.

It may be a piece of rock history, but as such it belongs in a museum, not in the hands of a private collector who wants to bath, albeit second hand, in the brilliance of one of the world’s finest guitar players.

It’s hard to figure out these “collectors”. Is it their colossal ego or just plain stupidity that makes them pay that much money for second hand goods.