Time...

The time may be coming to stop 'holding' old guitars. I speak treason... but hear me out. Some musicians own older guitars... they love them, and also trust that in a time of severe need, that old guitar will bail them out of financial trouble... the person on the other end of the deal is generally a collector. Why? Because these guitars (sometimes as old as 50 years or more) are really not reliable players any more. The electronics in them came from our early astronaut and military program, and was never made to last as long as an old violin. In addition.. Leo made some of his older Broadcasters and stuff with paint that is already breaking down and turning into old furniture. The plastic on the old Les Pauls is turning into gas and lumps, sort of like my Grandpa... their is little shielding in these things to speak of... the pickups are also losing not only their magnetism (they can be re-magnetized)... but they will also eventually need a rewind...the bone nuts (the ones I have seen from the 50's on Tele's) all have either vibrated or been filed almost all the way down to the fretboard... some of the fretboards have such deep gouges from years of play, that they are almost unplayable... soon collectors will realize that they have to put these on a wall, in a cabinet, next to their wine collections. These guitars will end up living in Chalets in Vail, Telluride and Aspen... and the only place any musician wants to be there is in the bar, playing the blues...with a newer instrument. I have not heard any real stories recently about older Tele's screaming... I am wondering if they are... like the wine... getting past their prime. Remember... the 50's Tele's of the seventies, are like the 80's guitars of NOW. I still own a '59 Rosewood Esquire (other older guitars are either sold, or on 'the block')... I don't play it ... and the nut is almost gone... the pickups worked last month... but who know's today... so why worry... if that was a nice Charvel, I could stop worrying about it..(Fender owns Charvel... unless they sold it again recently...)....