Description
What makes this guitar special: We had an amazing experience recently that we wanted to share with our friends.
If you have ever watched the SNL band back some the greatest names in music, you probably saw G.E. Smith on guitar. G.E. has been THE rock steady guitar sound behind SNL, Hall & Oates, David Bowie, Bob Dylan, MoonAlice and many more. For those that want to know more about him, hit this link: https://goo.gl/wM2RGc
He had been thinking about selling some of the gear he'd collected during his long career. While looking for an established, knowledgeable and trusted buyer, he ran across our shop and liked what he saw. After checking out the store's bona fides, he decided to touch base with John Majdalani, Cream City Music store co-owner and head vintage buyer for the store.
Fortunately, John and G.E. hit it off immediately and G.E. asked John to come out east (where he lives) to see in person the portion of his collection he was no longer using. They exchanged some of the collection details via email and agreed to move forward. Within a week or two, John found himself at the wheel of a 26' straight truck motoring eastward to meet G.E. at his place.
When John arrived at G.E.'s , G.E. invited him down into his basement and they spent the next 8 hours deep-diving through the whole thing: amps first, then guitars, all the while jibber-jabbering about gear, life, food and rock'n'roll war stories. To hear tell about it from John, there was a lot about food.
The collection turned out to be a total of 60 pieces: roughly 30 guitars and 30 amps - an astonishing wealth of great vintage gear.
At the end of the long day, as John was packing everything into the truck, G.E. sat on the tailgate and played a goodbye tune on his old, trustworthy '60 Black Beauty Les Paul (pictured).
Most of the collection is currently at Cream City Music and consists of some of the most extraordinary vintage pieces we have seen in many years.
If you're in the area, it's truly worth a visit to the store to see this gear. If you can't make here though, take a look at our website https://www.creamcitymusic.com/vintage-1/ and social media over the next few weeks to see these items as they are posted for sale.
Cosmetic Condition: GE acquired this gorgeous Custom in the mid ‘70s & played it on numerous occasions throughout his illustrious career. The guitar has been on countless recordings & on stages around the world – and it has the battle scars to prove it. Various nicks, chips, dents & dings; scratches, weather checking & lots of finish wear – this beauty is really broken in. Pretty much all of the gold has worn off the hardware. There’s a tiny bit of seam separation in the headstock flanges - those are not cracks. There are multiple screw holes underneath the toggle switch back plate & down by the bottom strap button. There's also a small chip in the bridge pickup tone knob. Overall the guitar has a great, well-worn, true vintage look to it with a wonderful patina.
Neck: Slender profile, one-piece mahogany neck with nicely aged white binding & tortoise side-dots. GE had the guitar refretted some time ago with jumbo frets which are in great shape with pretty much no wear. Grover Pat Pend tuners are in perfect working condition. Serial number reads 010498. 1 11/16” nut width; 24 ¾” scale length. Neck is straight & truss rod is in fine working condition.
Body: Solid, all mahogany body with 7-ply bound top & 5-ply bound back. Stopbar tailpiece & ABR-1 bridge, which according to GE came off of ’59 Burst. 5-ply black pickguard is crack-free. There’s an amusing Japanese sticker on the bass-side of the body which GE told me a fan stuck on his guitar when he was on tour many years ago. He liked the sticker so much he decided to just leave it on. Guitar weighs 10.2 lbs & has an incredible resonant tone to it. A superb player with amazing feel.
Electronics: Three PAF humbuckers with black bezels that are crack-free. The center & neck pickups are original to the guitar & the gold has completely worn off the covers. The bridge pickup is an unopened “zebra” that, according to GE, came off a ’59 Burst that had been refinished and was broken at the heel. He also thought the ABR-1 bridge & Stopbar may have come off that same guitar as well. He said the center & neck pickups are double blacks. The jackplate was replaced with a brass one quite some time ago. Bumble Bee caps & pots are all in good working condition. The pots have some corrosion on them so it was difficult to read the dates. On the undersides of both control plates are various inscriptions scratched in them & also GE’s personal “Owned & Operated” sticker.
Case: Original hardshell case included. The case shows quite a bit of wear & tear, but is still holding up fine & serves its purpose well. It even comes with its original key & hang tag!
