We have a local open air market that comes to our local shopping centre every week. Things like a butcher's stall, a baker's stall, greetings cards and wrapping paper stalls, but with a couple of... well, I guess you can call them 'amateur' stalls, that sell a bit of everything. I like to poke around (I like to support local produce too)
So as I was wandering around the 'amateur' stalls, I see a Les Paul-style guitar, with no strings, no machine heads, no pickups, electrics were effed, half the dials are missing... in fact, the only thing it had going for it was the fact that the nice sunburst finish was not too tarnished, despite being really dirty and dusty. It was going for £35, so I bought it.
The next day I took it to my friend (who plays) and had him look at it. He said the neck wasn't warped, and with some love she'd play again. I took it to
Bonners, my local music store, bought all the bits I'd need gave it a damn good cleaning, fitted the new parts and took it to be rewired, then gave it a nice polish.
I spent all afternoon yesterday stringing her and tuning her, and I look forward to practicing hard on her.
The pic is a result of 3 days love and attention, and has yielded a nice new guitar for me. Every player should own a Les Paul style guitar, right?