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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink WARNING XXX - Guitar Porn - XXX

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SO, I just got back last night from the Songbirds Vintage guitar museum in Chattanooga, TN
I could tell you TONS of vintage GTR nuggets that I learned while there but I'll share these few:
- The collection is valued at $200 Million
- They have 35 vintage Les Paul "Bursts" in the collection. I saw 3 on display
- TONS of one-of-a-kind gtrs & basses.
- vintage colors I never knew existed

see pix
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Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

The Strat with matching headstock above is 1 of 3 1964 LPB w/Matching HS that Fender made (I think for a trade show if I recall correctly)

The yellow Tele above is a 1970 Thinline Tele in Banana Yellow (A real factory finish)

The collection of Fender 12=strings was breath-taking

I almost cried several times from sheer joy of seeing all of these

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

Oh, and the collection of blonde Fender amps is criminal!!!!

Plus this little ditty...

image

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

GASP! I had no idea I lived only 7.5 hours from that. Wow. Any shots of the blondes? Or how about - more photos of everything!

Now I have to check that out. That's insane.

Daniel Deathtide

I have several more pix and my wife has a bunch on her phone too

(btw: She had a great time there also (mostly just seeing me so happy))

more uploads will be later today.

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

Songbirds is a "must see" for any normal or abnormal (like me) gearhead who happens to find themselves in the Chattanooga area. Fortunately that is only 100 miles from where I live.

One of my ex-bandmates and I visited there last year and spent most of the day gazing longingly at the displays, including one of which was titled "Surf Guitars" or something like that.

But the highlight of the visit was allowing us to play one of (THE) Les Paul's, Les Paul Recording. That was a near-religious experience.

image

Jack
aka WoodyJ

The Mariners (1964-68, 1996-2005)
The Hula Hounds (1996-current)
The X-Rays (1997-2004)
The Surge! (2004, 2011-2012)
Various non-surf bands that actually made money
(1978-1990)

Here are a few more pix...
image
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image
image
image
image

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

Well, it is nice that all of that stuff is in a museum but there are players out there that would like to be using that stuff on gigs etc.

Rondo1 wrote:

Well, it is nice that all of that stuff is in a museum but there are players out there that would like to be using that stuff on gigs etc.

Ha, I asked the guys if these guitars can be rented out for recording purposes, etc. They said no...then I said, so, this is not really a museum, it's a PRISON...maybe we need to commit a "jail=break"......you should have seen the look on his face...

here are some more

image
image
image
image

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

and...the double-necks...

image
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image

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

And here's my ugly-ass posing with two vintage gems in "the Vault"...
image
image

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

Nice collection - that's like being in a candy shop Cool

Rondo1 wrote:

Well, it is nice that all of that stuff is in a museum but there are players out there that would like to be using that stuff on gigs etc.

I always thought the point of a museum is to preserve for future generations. Your thought is nice, but disallows this!

Daniel Deathtide

I’d love to see that in person.

The artist formerly known as: Synchro

When Surf Guitar is outlawed only outlaws will play Surf Guitar.

If the value of the collection is 200 million and they have around 2000 stringed instruments (according to their website), that means each instrument is valued at $100,000.

Love all the colors of the fender electric XII.

Craig Skelly

Little Kahuna
www.littlekahunamusic.com
The Breakaways
The Curl Riders

We made a trek to Nashville several weeks back and stopped off at Songbirds in Chattanooga on our way up. I was blown away for sure but my real soul shaking experience came while visiting The Country Music Hall of Fame.

I stood in awe, in front of possibly the three most important electric guitars in history. All three in the same display case.......

The Rickenbacker "Frying Pan"
Merril Travis' Bigsby and
Les Paul's "The Log"

I could have spent hours standing there, contemplating the significance of these three guitars.

ed

image

Traditional........speak softly and play through a big blonde amp. Did I mention that I still like big blonde amps?

taijiguy wrote:

If the value of the collection is 200 million and they have around 2000 stringed instruments (according to their website), that means each instrument is valued at $100,000.

Well, since they have 35 vintage 1958/59/60 Les Paul "Bursts" in the collection (each, most-likely worth $350k - $650k, it kind of balances-out the average instrument value)
They also had 2 1958 Explorers and at least 1 1958 Flying "V"

Can I have everything louder than everything else!

https://thesurfaces1.bandcamp.com/releases

Boss_Daddy_Meltdown wrote:

taijiguy wrote:

If the value of the collection is 200 million and they have around 2000 stringed instruments (according to their website), that means each instrument is valued at $100,000.

Well, since they have 35 vintage 1958/59/60 Les Paul "Bursts" in the collection (each, most-likely worth $350k - $650k, it kind of balances-out the average instrument value)
They also had 2 1958 Explorers and at least 1 1958 Flying "V"

That may be true, but they're only worth that to very few people. Personally, I don't think any of them are worth it.

"Collectors" view certain collectible vintage guitars, basses and amps as objets d'art and also for their investment potential, while "Players" care primarily about using and enjoying them for their intended purpose.

I would surmise that most SG101 members are in the latter category.

The conundrum is that the collectors have driven up the prices of these "certain collectible vintage" items far beyond what most of us can afford.

But fortunately there are places like Songbirds that at least allow us mere mortals to publicly gaze longingly at classic vintage gear that once may have been within our reach financially in the past, but is no longer.

Jack
aka WoodyJ

The Mariners (1964-68, 1996-2005)
The Hula Hounds (1996-current)
The X-Rays (1997-2004)
The Surge! (2004, 2011-2012)
Various non-surf bands that actually made money
(1978-1990)

Last edited: Feb 25, 2019 15:58:32

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