Guitar Dorks. (Acoustic or Electric) Ever touch or strum/play a "grail"?

A buddy of mine in high school had a Chromeboy

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A buddy of mine in high school had a Chromeboy

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That things hideous.

I've played a pre-war Martin and pre-war Gibson Mandolin.....both belong to my neighbor. And I've been at guitar shows with a lot of rare Strats, Les Pauls, etc. The only one I remember specifically was a Guild Brian May Red Special prototype that Brian May supposedly not only played live but also physically worked on (build) the guitar.

I've played a '59 or '58 Les Paul. I'm not sure which it was. My friends dad had a huge guitar collection full of amazing stuff, and he had bought it in the 70's.

Sad part is I was 13 at the time and had no idea what I was playing. All I knew was that it was a Les Paul. A couple years later he sold most of his guitars to pay for his son to go to Yale.

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Sad part is I was 13 at the time and had no idea what I was playing. All I knew was that it was a Les Paul. A couple years later he sold most of his guitars to pay for his son to go to Yale.

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fricking prick!!! That son better not have dropped out, and better be raking in $$$

I don't think I've ever played a guitar that would be worth more than 10 grand. Best one was a Guild F-50 (I think) which convinced me that I needed to get a Guild back when I was shopping acoustic guitars.

I played around on an old Stratocaster from the 50s that kind of disappointed me. They wanted some crazy high price for it and I think my 2009 model plays better.

I know a guitar collector (can't mention his name) who sold me a guitar years ago; he's a friend of several of my friends although I'm not all that close to him. He showed me several of his more prized guitars back then but I had to find out through another mutual acquaintance that he actually owns a 1959 flame-top Les Paul that was supposedly appraised at six figures. Funny thing, that guy knows I love Les Pauls but he never showed it to me, never even said he had it. The other guy said he never tells anybody about it. He doesn't want anybody to know. I guess he's paranoid about somebody trying to steal it.

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Best one was a Guild F-50 (I think) which convinced me that I needed to get a Guild back when I was shopping acoustic guitars.

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Guild is like an old secret? Or were they always pricey? Seems like they caught on? I know they've always been around. AIC Unplugged certainly helped their price go up, and all of us who watched it are old farts with better jobs now.

ETA... Best thing I've probably ever picked up are just random Guitar Center guitars that accidentally got left on the bottom row. Gibson Hummingbird and a Martin D-"Something or other" it was nice enough to have the CF Martin on the head stock

A friend has a '59 sunburst strat with a tweed combo & extention cab that he bought new. Aside from a bit of discoloration on the bridge & tuning keys, everything looks fabulous. Played it numerous times.
Played a '58, '57, & two '74 strats at Guitar Center in Times square.
Played '63 Gibson es330 & a refinished '61 strat years ago at Austin vintage guitar.
I've heard people say that those 3 bolt neck strats are among the worst fender has ever produced. To me, they played better than any of the pre cbs strats that I tried.
I've got an eric Johnson strat that I think plays better than those as well.
Now, that '63 Gibson was a wonderful instrument worthy of it's price tag.

Coolest guitars I've ever held -

1967 Gibson SG (actually get to play this one a decent bit)

1952 Telecaster

Both owned by my friend's brother who is a luthier.

The Tele got rescued out of the attic of abandoned house after Katrina, one of the guys from the cleanup crew was walking it to the road to go to the dump when said friends dad stopped him and gave him $20 for it. Its been repaired since then but I've only seen it out of its case twice. Did have a light string buzz, but you can't be bummed on a 60 year old salvaged guitar. Especially a Tele

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Did Gibson have a cheaper version of same body style? I remember him telling me it was "fairly valuable" or "few hundred bucks" and that was late 1990's. I do not know the year, 60's seem right.

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My first guitar was what they call an "SG junior". 1964 model; kinda wish I had never sold it. It's exactly like a regular SG but only had one P90 pick up at the bridge. No neck binding, fret inlays are dots instead of trapezoids. Budget-priced guitar in it's day.