17
Guitar players are often chronic tinkerers. It could have something to do with that ever-elusive search for the “right” sound. Or maybe it’s more of an obsessive need to remanufacture such sounds from the guitar you just happen to have in your possession.
I can’t tell you how many guitars I’ve encountered that were fucked with, almost beyond redemption—I’ve seen it all: shaved necks, terrible refins, homemade crack repairs, changed pickups, tuners, tailpieces, the list goes on and on.
Even at the beginning of my journey in the vintage guitar world, I was a stickler for originality. I knew then, as I know now, that most collectors will not pay top dollar for “player-grade instruments.” I’ve made it my business always to look under the hood. Especially, if you’re dealing with a 1958–60 Les Paul—any funny business with the solders on those P.A.F.s can cost you thousands. I pride myself on knowing what’s original and being straightforward to my customers, in all aspects. But occasionally, I’ve second-guessed myself.
•••
I was on the fence about telling this story, but it’s pretty amusing. Back in the late seventies, a lot of local guitarists found their way to my store. It became somewhat of a hangout. One of these fellows was a very nice, young man who seemed like a regular guy. He’d often come in with a six-pack of beer, and share it with everyone in the store. It didn’t matter what time of day it was, we all enjoyed cracking a cold one and talking music and guitars.
Like all of us, he dreamed of owning an original Sunburst Les Paul.
He was an excellent player, and I had no doubt he would succeed. After getting a substantial signing bonus from a major record label, he came to me, ready to do business. He chose two Les Pauls from my collection, and we made a deal. One had a moderately flamed top, and I believe the tuners were replaced. The other Les Paul had the flame top of doom. It was in excellent condition with kind of a honey-burst finish. It was radically flamed and fully original.
He paid $5,500 for the moderately flamed one, and $6,500 for the one with the killer top. The prices at the time were a little under market value, but I liked the kid, knew he had talent, and wanted to give him a good deal. Even though he has never been known for playing Les Pauls, he has been pictured with these guitars on occasion over the years.
After that purchase, he came in from time to time and bought a few other guitars from us. I remember one was an excellent Don Musser flat-top guitar, a wonderful sounding instrument.
As expected, he ended up having tremendous success with his career and later was anointed with “Guitar God” status. However, the days of him hanging out in the shop and sharing his sixer were long gone. As the years went on, I never saw or heard from him. Granted, he was busy, touring the world with his band.
Decades later, in early 2003, I received a call from him. I was sincerely happy to hear from him. Before we could get through any small talk, he cut to the chase.
“Norm,” he said. “You remember the two Les Pauls I bought from you, years ago.”
“I’d never forget them,” I said.
“Well, on one of the Les Pauls, the pickups aren’t P.A.F.s.”
“That’s strange,” I said. “Because the first thing I do whenever buying a Sunburst Les Paul is open up the pickups to make sure they are, in fact, P.A.F.s.”
As I’ve already said, I always try to be very accurate in describing guitars, and checking those pickups would be the first order of business. I could not imagine ever buying or selling a Sunburst Les Paul without doing my due diligence. Of course this was twenty years after the sale, so I didn’t necessarily have the actual memory of checking those specific guitars in my gray matter.
In any business, the customer is “always right,” even if he’s wrong. So I figured I’d compromise.
“I’ll be glad to give you a refund or even buy back the guitar for four or five times what you paid, because the prices have gone up so much. You should come over here and give me a kiss for selling you those guitars. This is probably the best investment you ever made!”
He said, “What would the guitar be worth if it was completely untampered with?”
I said, “A lot.” And I meant it.
Gibson Les Paul, no pickups. (Photo courtesy of Norman Harris)
He said, “Then I want you to pay me the difference, because I thought this guitar had original pickups.”
“Are you kidding?” I said. “I sold those guitars to you twenty years ago. How do I know that you or one of your techs didn’t change out the pickups?”
He had been well known for modifying and custom building his own guitars, so that was a red flag. He also definitely seemed kind of agitated, and I had known he had substance abuse problems, which didn’t make me trust him any more in this situation.
I tried to cut through the crap. “What do you want from me?”
“I already told you, Norm. The difference between what the guitar was worth with changed pickups, as opposed to having the pickups being original.”
So I offered to find him a set of P.A.F.s, or to buy the guitar back for five times what he paid. He was trying to stick me with a raw deal, but at least there would be an added memorabilia value in addition to the normal worth of the instrument, even with the P.A.F.s gone. He said he’d get back to me.
I never heard back from him, and I often wondered, “Could I possibly have overlooked opening the guitar’s pickups to check for authenticity?” It was highly unlikely, but it still ate at me a little.
•••
A few years later, one of my customers came into the store bearing pictures of some of the Nudie Suits he had been recently buying and selling. (Nudie was the legendary western tailor who made fancy custom-made suits for famous Western stars.) Along with the pictures of the suits, he showed me pictures he had taken of popular LA bands of the time. As I browsed through the photos, I took some satisfaction in knowing that many of these people were customers of mine.
Then I stopped short. There was a photo of this particular “Guitar God.” It literally took my breath away. Why? Because it showed him playing the exact Les Paul that was in question with the neck pickup completely removed from the guitar! You could tell by the picture that this was taken a long time ago because he was still a very young man.
I said to my friend, “How much do you want for this photo?” He didn’t want to sell it. “I’ll give you $250 for it.”
“Sold!”
This picture was the absolute proof I needed that he had in fact modified the guitar by removing the pickup. It confirmed that I did do my due diligence, and he was just trying to hustle me at that moment. After acquiring the photograph, I showed it to some of my friends, and they said that there are a lot of shots of him playing this guitar with the pickup removed. I felt stupid for paying $250 for the picture, but at the time I felt this was my only proof, in case he ever showed up again trying to get over on me.
If he had been playing the guitar with any two other after-market pickups in the guitar, I would not be able to prove my case. However, the empty cavity totally confirmed that he had modified the Les Paul. To this day he never manned up and apologized to me for his accusation. I don’t hold it against him because maybe this was at a bad time in his life, but I still wouldn’t mind receiving an apology!