My father sometimes spoke of a les paul he recieved for his 18th birthday, and as a high school graduation present. He wanted to learn to pIay the guitar but gave on it without much effort. So he said. 1965 he joined the army, and always said he loaned the guitar to a friend and lost touch, He was never concerned about it. Such is life was his attitude. My grandparents passed away in the 80's when I was young. My father passed away almost 6 years now. His younger sister lived in my grandmothers house, and she passed away last month. So this week the removal of things left behind has begun. While removing things from the shelves in the attic I saw a large object wrapped in thick black trash bags. As soon as I picked it up I knew it was a guitar case. I almost had a heart attack when I opened it up. As soon as I saw the brown 50's Gibson era case I knew what it was. Judging from the amount of dust it has been sitting there untouched for almost 55 years. The case shows a little wear. Mostly from being in an un climate controlled attic. When I opened the case I was shocked. The guitar is in near perfect condition. The nickel plated hardware has tarnished a bit. Seems mostly from case wear. There is a good bit of case candy, truss rod tool, and unopened pack of gibson strings, the hang price tag, and a receipt for $385 from what looks like Yeagers Music store in baltimore from october 1964. I called gibson and from the serial number it was produced from 1959-1960. The store is long gone so I don't know if it was new old stock, or used. It has a beautiful curly maple finish. Lemon drop from what I can tell. All this aside, I don't really know what to do with it. I play, and I love les pauls, but I don't need such a possibly valuable instrument. I could sell it and get custom shop true historic in the same finish. I don't really know where to take it or who to trust. It could be worth 100,000 or possibly much more. I have a few guitar centers in my area, but I really don't trust their opinion.
I'm in maryland. Does anyone have any advice where I'd get a fair deal. I'm willing to travel. I can post some pictures tomorrow. I don't know if I should reveal the serial number just yet though. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.
I'm in maryland. Does anyone have any advice where I'd get a fair deal. I'm willing to travel. I can post some pictures tomorrow. I don't know if I should reveal the serial number just yet though. Anyway, any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks.