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 aw this guitar at a vintage show a few years ago,
was stopped dead in my tracks. As you might know, these shows are largely filled with
Strats, Teles, Les Pauls, mostly being displayed by guys who are thrilled to have the
opportunities to keep their zippers down for an entire weekend, en masse. A fair
number of vintage acoustics in triple-B condition (Boogered Beyond Belief) will
show up, but usually not much else in that arena. I go to these things mostly to
buy for my store and am so happy when on rare occasion I see something that actually
gets me excited. Doesn't happen much anymore since the number of people who are prone
to find, let alone bring to shows, cool weird old stuff has dwindled dramatically in
recent years.
Anyway, same guy had this on his table for five or six consecutive shows, a few years'
worth. The guy, who has a store in California, knew of me, knew I dearly loved the
guitar every single time, and he really appreciated what he had as well. Every six
months or maybe once a year, he'd implore me to buy it just so it would find a good
and appreciative home, but I don't indulge myself the way I used to. Finally, maybe
last Texas or Philly show (can you imagine him carrying this thing around for all
that time? He really loved it too), caught me on the floor, said make me any reasonable
offer, it's yours. I said it can't be reasonable, he said I don't care, you really
should have this guitar, and I bought it.
So.......I'm finally playing this thing, sounds to me like all of Tijuana, Tecate,
and too much tequila rolled into one, a guitar and a guitarron combined if you
will (it's 19" across) and bring it back, show it around to the crew for a few
days, I'm in love. Salesperson on staff, of Mexican descent a few generations back,
grew up in Princeton NJ where his dad is a doctor, says one day "Ya know the name
on the label sounded familiar so I asked my mom, she told me that the guy who
made it [label says Guadalupe Acosta San Antonio Texas January 1949] was her
uncle's brother-in-law, used to come around the house all the time". There
you have it; goes around, comes around. Amazing. Other best part is that
unlike most of that "fancy" Mexican stuff that we usually see up North, the workmanship here is primo,
neat and clean throughout the entire guitar and to a "T" on every single piece of marquetry. And that bridge!
Caramba!! Sigh...............
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