[Bevo]

Hello all 2nd post so I thought I would share a story.

First the fellow I got this information from is a person not involved in music nor Guitars. He is also a high level director in my company...I belive him.
Here we go

Back in 2000 a couple called him to ask for assistance (he is a director of some medical assistace type place) and in the chat it was discovered that they were short of cash and the old man was sick..he was in his 70's. long story shorter she asked him if he knows a place to sell a guitar and he said no, she looked in the book and found the 12th Fret down the road.
She takes it there ( she is also in the late 70's) and asks if they want to buy it. She said as soon as they seen the case there eyes lit up, once they opened it they found a 59 sunburst in Mint Mint condition!! She still had her smarts and after the guys started making big offers she said thanks and took it home.
Long story short again, my buddy got in touch with a lawyer who put it up for sale in the US and handled the sale. It sold in 2 weeks for $100.000 plus US. He never did find out exactly what it went for but was told that number.

So... the old man was a country music player from the 50's who lived in the US, he went to war shortly after getting it. Once he came back they moved up here, he never played again and so it sat under the bed since they moved. They lived in the same house they bought back in the 60's

Cool eh!!

Anyone else have a good story?
Bevo

 

[lenbone]

lp

Coooool ! I can't beat that one.I did have a '59 ES-175 I got for $600 back in 1990,but a few years later became kinda Broke and had to part with it.I hate to know what it is worth now.Don' even go there !!--Lenbone.

 

[dwagar]

'59 Les Pauls have entered the realm of Urban Myth.

Most of the stories I've seen in the last couple of years (my wife's uncle has an old Les Paul in the attic), have turned out to be 'other' guitars, or perhaps a 70's-80s LP, or maybe, if lucky, an old Junior.

However, there was one on the Les Paul Forum a year or so ago. A family in the Southern States, dirt poor, inherited the wife's brother's Les Paul after he passed away. She took it to a local music store, lucky for her they were honest. They told her to contact the guy that posted it - a burst collector. He made her a reasonable offer (in the $250K range I believe) and told her of other places to shop it around.
She finally did accept his offer, he flew down to meet them at their bank with a bank draft, and bought the guitar in front of the bank manager. They also asked if he could give them $1000 in cash, as they'd never seen that kind of money. I think they bought burgers for the staff at the bank IIRC.
He had a series of pictures, so it wasn't just a 'story'.

So yes, it does happen. But when you consider there were, what, 1100 '59 Les Paul Standards made? And most are accounted for. So it'd be extremely rare that one turns up.

And hell, 99.9% of us couldn't afford it anyway.
"Honey, I'm going to sell the house to buy a guitar"

 

[guitarzan]

a buddy of mine told me of his friend who was at a yard sale and seen a familiar headstock on a guitar poking out from behind some stuff. he quickly checked it out , the neck was coming unglued and it was in need of some tlc. he bought it for less than 50 bucks.
based on the info he has given me i believe it to be a dual cutaway LP special with p90's. the neck has since been reset and i guess he is quite pleased.
i am still waiting to see the pics.

 

[Kestral]

This is a true story. I know someone here in town, a well known Canadian musician, in the late 90's, he bought a 1959 Gibson Les Paul in sunburst, dead mint condition, all original, for $40K USD.

Sitting right beside it he had is reissue 1959 Gibson Les Paul, also in sunburst. I looked at the two, the both looked the same, played them both, they played about the same to me. I thought he wasted his money. Guess I was wrong on that one.

 

[lespaul2]

Lp

I've got one... local shop in town came by a mint 57 goldtop with a bigsby same deal old guy guitar under the bed, he wanted $5K and the guy that was dealing with him said "no sir this is worth a ton more"... so, the younger guy from the store is getting 20% when and if it sells!?!?!......anyway, another friend at the shop checked it out and it was 100%.... i offered $40K but nothing yet (Jan 2007).... i know that 12th looked at this one as well a few months back from what i was told by the younger kid.... i might go up to $60K but need to see it first hand..... i called a few people to ask them (Dealers Friends)... and they said the same thing being that the guitar is less desirable due to the bigsby and only the right collector would pay $100-$150K usd. in mint condition for this on.... the guitar could sell right away for what i offered -- i guess so....

 

[v-verb]

This is a true story. I know someone here in town, a well known Canadian musician, in the late 90's, he bought a 1959 Gibson Les Paul in sunburst, dead mint condition, all original, for $40K USD.

Sitting right beside it he had is reissue 1959 Gibson Les Paul, also in sunburst. I looked at the two, the both looked the same, played them both, they played about the same to me. I thought he wasted his money. Guess I was wrong on that one.

I know him - still looking forward to seeing it in person. He was going to check out my les paul conversion, but Mr Faragher owns it now!

 

[david henman]

...in the late sixties a music store owner in saint john gave me a les paul. he said it was a '59 or '60. it was sunburst, absolutely mint, with paf humbuckers and no case.

i tried, but could not play it. to this day i cannot play a les paul properly.

anyway, after moving back to halifax, i needed to raise money to buy a sound system for my band, so i sold it to a guy who played in a surf band in new glasgow. he didn't even try it, just gave me the money and strapped it to the back of his scooter and off he went....:wave:

-dh

 

[dwagar]

man, and I thought I had some bad stories about stuff I'd sold. You topped them all.

 

[mario]

...in the late sixties a music store owner in saint john gave me a les paul. he said it was a '59 or '60. it was sunburst, absolutely mint, with paf humbuckers and no case.

i tried, but could not play it. to this day i cannot play a les paul properly.

anyway, after moving back to halifax, i needed to raise money to buy a sound system for my band, so i sold it to a guy who played in a surf band in new glasgow. he didn't even try it, just gave me the money and strapped it to the back of his scooter and off he went....:wave:

-dh

God that is a sad story David. But what the heck...next time you are in New Glasgow track the guy down....it might be sitting under his bed.

 

[ssdeluxe]

I know him - still looking forward to seeing it in person. He was going to check out my les paul conversion, but Mr Faragher owns it now!

was @ Pete's house recently, and what a damn fine conversion it is ! wow.:food-smiley-004: