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The best things in life are free?

I spotted this left handed acoustic guitar on Facebook Marketplace for $0 last night. “Free to good home, Bronte” the advertisement read. Bronte Beach is a couple of beaches away from Maroubra Beach and how often is it that you find a free guitar, let alone a free left handed guitar out there! I sent Tiffany (the seller) a message to at least offer a bottle of wine in exchange for the guitar, she said no need for the wine, but if I could grab it first thing in the morning it’s all mine so I got up this early, made a bee line for Bronte Beach and the guitar is now mine!

It’s a 2003-2004 Epiphone DR-200S with a solid sitka spuce top, mahogany back & sides, a mahogany neck with a really nice thin SlimTaper “D” profile neck. The rosewood fretboard and bridge were both super dry and soaked up some oil really nicely. Strings are rusty AF and will need replacing but she’s cleaned up really nice!

Warming Up!

Tonights forecast? A Dirty Night in with the Artist LP60 + Marshall VS65R. Have a great weekend all!

Good book. Read it!

I started another thread on reddit that’s gotten a fair few responses which you can check out here: https://www.reddit.com/r/Guitar/comments/nqbucc/discussion_im_getting_better_at_ignoring_the_logo/

Background: I’m 46, have owned many cheap guitars for 30 years but early last month I bought “the real deal” for the first time in my life, a Fender AM PRO II. It’s a great guitar, it’s really nice to finally own a guitar I’ve always wanted but could never justify spending so much on, but do I love it more than my cheap guitars? Nope. Does it play better than my cheap guitars? Nope. Does it sound better than my cheap guitars? Nope!

Time and time again I will still grab my old Squier over my new Fender. I’ve since bought a cheap $238 (AUD) Les Paul style guitar made in China but sold by a reputable local guitar company and sure, it had some issues, most annoying of all a couple of high frets that I needed to file down and re-crown, but it plays great, sounds AOK too. Part of me still wants a real Gibson Les Paul… but part of me wants to try other non-Strat style guitars too!

I’m currently looking at buying a Telecaster. $329 buys me an Affinity, $1129 gets me a Player, $3319 gets me an American Original. Will the Player be 3 x better than the Affinity? Will the American Original be 10 times better than the Affinity? I highly doubt it. Pretty sure I’ll be buying the Affinity for sure!

Anyone else in the same boat as me? All good if not, each to their own, right?!

Sold on Facebook Marketplace.

Really does look like Facebook Marketplace is outdoing eBay these days. Last week I decided to sell off a whole lot of guitars and amps I no longer use and put some up on eBay, some on Facebook and I’ve had a shit ton of views and messages (lots of stupid ones!) on Facebook but no bites at all on eBay.

I sold off the Orange practice amp I bought when I was just getting back into playing earlier this year. It went to a really nice guy who lives in my area who’s just starting out. I think he’ll be really happy with the amp as it’s as new, it’s got reverb built in and a tuner too.

I made the call to flip the Japanese Squier back into a right handed guitar as it was just too uncomfortable to play upside down (massive props to Jimi!). I bought it for $300 (with a Roland amp) many years ago and wanted $600 for it. I put it up for $650 thinking people would want to haggle but as soon as I put it up the messages came flooding in so I thought I’d stick to $650 firm.

It sold to a uni student who’s been after a Japanese Squier for some time. It’s his first Strat too. I think he’s bought into a great investment as the guitar will only go up in price from here, and as it’s not a lefty I doubt I’ll ever miss it (ie: if it was a lefty I’d definitely have kept it!).