Gear Acquisition Timeline (GAT)

Now that I have reduced the number of guitars to just three here in the Short Punks house, Pearl has suggested I create a great archive. I think of this as my Dickens-like holiday review of guitars past. Do I miss any of these? Not really. They served a purpose and marked certain periods in my life and when those times were done, the guitars and I had to move on. I have photos of most of these instruments so I may add illustrations as I find them. Unfortunately there is no existing picture of my Mickey Mouse guitar. I'm sure it will look much better in your imagination than it did in real-life...let's see, where shall we begin...?

1990...The Mickey Mouse guitar. After listening closely to Lou Reed, Paul Westerberg, Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, and The Edge, I found I had the urge to learn guitar. My parents took me to a Toys-R-Us on Cape Cod (we were on vacation) and I found a plastic toy with plastic strings and a chord sheet. I learned all my cowboy chords on this guitar.

Christmas 1990...an Applause student-model acoustic guitar my mom found for me at T.C.'s Pawn and Gun in Waterbury. I played this guitar for years, did a lot of gigs with it, wrote a lot of songs. I think my mom gave it to my cousin, so it's got a good home.

Spring 1991...fake Les Paul from T.C.'s Pawn and Gun. This guitar looked kind of like a Les Paul, Jr., which some kid had assembled in shop class. It had cardboard shims in the neck and a horrible wiring job. On the plus side, it was easy to play, had two great humbuckers (which had been sabotaged by the faulty wiring), and a brass nut. I think my cousin has this one, two, or it's been recycled and gone back to the earth which spawned it.

Winter 1991...a Grand Prix Telecaster. I bought this for $75 at Blue Mountain Guitar in West Lebanon, New Hampshire. Within a week the nut had fallen off the neck and I tried to repair the guitar with super-glue. It never stayed in tune and had a pointy head-stock, so it was the unholy union of amber-colored Tele body with a hair-metal neck. I pawned it at T.C.'s for my next instrument...

Winter 1993...a Peavey Fury bass. In the fall of 1992 I joined my first band. I couldn't get very far with my Grand Prix guitar and Matrix amp (sort of like a Gorilla practice amp without the fake "tube" overdrive), so I rented a bass and bass amp and, within twenty-four hours, I was a bass player. I needed a bass for my first gigs in early 1993 and ended up back at T.C.'s trading my barely-playable Grand Prix for a Peavey Fury with a warped neck. I used a shoelace to keep the A-string intonated. A small family of trolls could have lived in the huge gap between the strings and the fretboard. A few years later I asked Duke (dukeplaysbass.com) to fix the neck. His response? "Nice log. You got a fireplace to go with it?"

Winter '92/'93...Fender Squire Stratocaster. Made in Korea. Great neck, comfortable body. This was my first playable guitar. I got it for Christmas, but the day my dad came up to Dartmouth to take me home for the break, I had a massive hangover. Having never gotten drunk before, especially on cheap red wine of all things, I was afraid my parents would take the guitar back to Blue Mountain. When we got back to Connecticut that evening I tried playing it but I still pretty toasted.

I will add details to the next set of guitars as soon as I get back from Christmas shopping...

Summer 1994...Rickenbacker 335 from Banko's Music in Ansonia, CT. I traded this in at Blue Note Guitars in Northampton, Mass., in 2004 just before Pearl and I moved to Louisiana.

Fall 1994...Yamaha 12-string acoustic from--you guessed it--T.C.'s Pawn and Gun.

Fall 1996...Gibson Les Paul Studio from Banko's Music in Ansonia, CT.

Summer 1998...Fender Tex-Mex Telecaster from Lasalle Music in East Hartford, CT.

Summer 1999...Martin D-15 acoustic from Banko's.

Spring 2000...Danelectro reissue Longhorn bass from Banko's.

Summer 2000...Rickenbacker 335 12-string from Banko's.

Fall 2000...Fender reissue '62 Jazzmaster from Lasalle's Music.

Spring 2005...the Great Gear Sell-Off! Green Ibanez bass from some little shop in Baton Rouge, LA.

Spring 2005...A red MIM Fender Stratocaster from C & M Music in Baton Rouge.

Spring 2005...G & L L-2000 Tribute Bass from Fat Katz Music in Baton Rouge.

Spring 2005...Fender American Jazz Bass from Fat Katz in Baton Rouge.

Summer 2005...Used MIM green Fender Stratocaster from the Old Town School of Folk Music garage sale.

Fall 2005...Martin SWOMGT acoustic from Old Town.

Winter 2006...MIM Fender Precision Bass from Guitar Works, Ltd., in Evanston, IL.

Spring 2006...MIM Fender ash-body Telecaster..from Guitar Center (say it ain't so!).

Summer 2006...G&L L-2000 bass from some little shop in the Chicago suburbs.

Fall 2006...Ibanex Artstar hollowbody from The Music Shop on Irving Park Road in Chicago.

Winter 2006...gold MIM anniversary Stratocaster from Guitar Works in Evanston.

Winter 2007...Reverend Flatroc from Ax in Hand in Schaumburg, IL.

Spring 2007...Reverend Charger from Ax in Hand.

Summer 2007...Reverend Buckshot from Ax in Hand.

Summer 2007...MIM purple Fender Standard Stratocaster.

Fall 2007...Gibson Les Paul Studio Vintage Mahogany from Fat Tone Guitars in Northbrook, IL.

Fall 2007...Fender American Telecaster from Midwest Buy & Sell in Chicago.

Only THREE of these guitars remain. If you can correctly guess which three, I will buy you the Mountain or Hawkwind album of your choice! Have at it!