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dibart77

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 15, 2008
Messages
1,456
Location
New York
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Welcome to Day 14 of my annual New Year's New Guitar Days (NYNGD)!

OK, guys. We have come to the end of 2020 and also to the end of the 2020 edition of my New Years New Guitar Days (NYNGD). I have done this now for 9 years and I really enjoy recapping my GAS and sharing with my fellow Knuckleheads. As I've said in my manifesto, (and I quote myself):

Hopefully most of the folks here get the vibe from me that I am down to earth, not an egomaniac, not cocky, and not trying to rub anybody's nose in the fact that I have been blessed and have earned some bucks and spend my money. Hopefully most of the folks here -- and I sincerely get this vibe -- enjoy living vicariously through me and think it's fun and cool to come along for the ride. Kind of like that buddy of yours who seems to get all the girls (which I was definitely not that guy) -- you can either be jealous of the guy or high five him and listen to his stories! I've always been one of those high-fivers.

I am glad I was able to plan it out to complete by New Year's Eve, which is the tradition (that I have been late on the past couple of years). This takes quite a bit of time -- I spend about 45 minutes to an hour photographing each guitar (because I am not a pro photographer), and then for each guitar I spend another another five hours sorting through the photos to find the best color accuracy and angles, cutting the images, cleaning the images, etc. I love every minute of it, and it's an OCD freak's dream, but it takes time.

I've enjoyed reading your feedback and thoughts and POV's. And I've enjoyed feeling like it's maybe a little bit of a smaller world by being able to "hang" and shoot the sh!t about the guitars we love with you guys from around the world:

  • Australia (DavidOfOz, Stevie)
  • Canada (beej, fogman)
  • France (DrKev, fbecir, threeminutesboy)
  • Germany (banjoplayer)
  • Greece (johnnyboogie)
  • Sweden (Keno)
  • UK (TripHazard)
  • US - Alabama (Razzle)
  • US - Arizona (xjbebop)
  • US - Florida (GoKart Mozart)
  • US - Hawaii (kimonostereo)
  • US - Illinois (edhalen, Flash Gordon)
  • US - Indiana (jlf599)
  • US - Maryland (2mdude)
  • US - Massachusetts (GWDavis28, wired)
  • US - Missouri (John C)
  • US - Nevada (Sweat)
  • US - New Jersey (tbonesullivan)
  • US - New Mexico (Astrofreq)
  • US - New York (LesPaul)
  • US - North Carolina (vic_loher)
  • US - Ohio (click track, mikeller)
  • US - Oklahoma (Fro)
  • US - Tennessee (jones4tone)
  • US - Texas (brett8388)
  • US - Virginia (JasonT, mb99zz)
  • US - Wisconsin (wannarock8)
  • Unknown (gamecax, Jimmy3711, kingdoublecut)

This "smaller world" has been especially important in 2020 given the pandemic and the dire circumstances that we find most of the world in -- you all (and the photo work) have taken my mind off that crap for a few hours every day. So thank you all. Hopefully I've done the same for you.

Finally, thanks to BP, Brian, Scotty, Derek, A.J., Tomas, Teri, Drew, Dudley, Jim, Joel, Robert and the rest of the good folks at EBMM who continue to dedicate themselves to creating the tools that we enjoy -- that help us make our music, help us aggravate our spouses, and bring us together as fellow Knuckleheads!

OK Jeff, enough of your babble. Let's get to the final NYNGD of 2020: NYNGD #2020-14!

Today's NYNGD is one that some of you might have guessed: a Purple Nebula Majesty. JUST LOOK AT THAT QUILT! You all know I am a sucker for purple. And I'm sucker for quilt. No way I could have turned this down!

Funny story: I bought this used from a guy in Toronto, CA (hi Steve!). We did the deal and he shipped via UPS Ground. Now, you may know that Toronto is about a 9 hour drive from where I am on Long Island, so we expected a couple days for UPS plus maybe an extra day for U.S. Customs. Mark the package "Electric Guitar Made in USA" and you should have no problem, right? Wrong. The guitar got held up in U.S. Customs for 15 days. We finally got UPS to investigate and they passed us off to U.S. Customs who informed us that "The shipment gas been refused by Fish & Wildlife and will be going for destruction this week."

(!)

The seller and I pushed harder and asked to talk to the inspector in Customs Fish & Wildlife division. They connected us and she told us, "The guitar contains real mother of pearl inlay" and indicated that's illegal to import.

We scrambled like crazy and A.J. and Tomas at EBMM quickly replied that indeed, "When we changed from the mirror inlays we went with a synthetic material called atlante that looks like mother of pearl. Should be no issues," and we linked to the EBMM blog and wrote: "You can see on this blog that those inlays are being laser cut from a sheet of synthetic material (not from a piece of real MOP)."

Thankfully, she quickly replied clearing the shipment.

The bottom line is this: EBMM's synthetic OP inlay is so high quality that it fooled the U.S. Customs inspector and the guitar was headed to the crusher!

WHEW. A $5k guitar in the crusher! And one with this good a quilt?!? CLOSE CALL.

This is another great Majesty and, IMHO, is the prettiest because I have been getting tired of the flame maple shield. Plays great and does all the things that Majesty is supposed to do!

You gotta agree this guitar deserves the Grand Finale[SUP]TM[/SUP] slot!

So, there we have it. 2020's NYNGD run in the books. Onto another year of GAS! So far, the class of 2021 is wide open. I really do need to dial it down... Having said that, what could be in store for 2021? Time will tell, my friends! Cheers and HAPPY NEW YEAR! And, above all, be safe and stay healthy!


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Past Days:
#2020-1 | #2020-2 | #2020-3 | #2020-4 | #2020-5 | #2020-6 | #2020-7 | #2020-8 | #2020-9 | #2020-10 | #2020-11 | #2020-12 | #2020-13 | #2020-14
#2019-1 | #2019-2 | #2019-3 | #2019-4 | #2019-5 | #2019-6 | #2019-7 | #2019-8 | #2019-9 | #2019-10 | #2019-11 | #2019-12 | #2019-13 | #2018-14 | #2018-15 | #2018-18 | #2018-19
#2018-1 | #2018-2 | #2018-3 | #2018-4 | #2018-5 | #2018-6 | #2018-7 | #2018-8 | #2018-9 | #2018-10 | #2018-11 | #2018-12 | #2018-13 | #2018-14 | #2018-15 | #2018-16 | #2018-17
#2017-1 | #2017-2 | #2017-3 | #2017-4 | #2017-5 | #2017-6 | #2017-7 | #2017-8 | #2017-9 | #2017-10 | #2017-11 | #2017-12 | #2017-13 | #2017-14 | #2017-15 | #2017-16 | #2017-17
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #2016-12 | #2016-13 | #2016-14 | #2016-15 | #2016-16 | #2016-17
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #2015-12 | #2015-13 | #2015-14 | #2015-15 | #2015-16 | #2015-17
#2014-1 | #2014-2 | #2014-3 | #2014-4 | #2014-5 | #2014-6 | #2014-7 | #2014-8 | #2014-9 | #2014-10
#2013-1 | #2013-2 | #2013-3 | #2013-4 | #2013-5 | #2013-6
#2012-1 | #2012-2 | #2012-3 | #2012-4 | #2012-5 | #2012-6 | #2012-7


(The back story in case you're new to my NYNGD: For the past couple of years I've done a fun thing that most of you I think enjoyed, and I thought I would do it again this year. Every year, I am a slacker about keeping my Guitar Gallery up to date... So, as a fun holiday thing, let's launch a guitar in the Guitar Gallery each day leading up to New Years Eve! In the past I've received PM's about my collection and whether I play all of these guitars. :) The same question came up during my NYNGD posts a few years ago and my answer was pretty detailed and well thought-out, so please check it out here!)

(Also, in case anybody gets any funny ideas -- these guitars are not at my house. They are all in my very secure and alarmed studio facility. I usually only have two guitars floating around the house...)


 
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Sweat

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2006
Messages
7,037
Location
Texas Finally!
Damn awesome finish to my favorite NYNGD, thanks for sharing and as always just killer guitars and pictures.

Happy New Year to you and all the EBMM fan bois 2021 has to be better
 

GWDavis28

Well-known member
Joined
Jun 23, 2003
Messages
12,507
Location
Mass
Jeff, excellent way to end it, those are killer for sure!!!

Very much appreciate all the work you do, doing this.

Happy New Year to you and your wonderful collection.

Glenn |B)
 

jlf599

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 1, 2020
Messages
318
I have zero desire for a Majesty...but that...that's beautiful.

So, this was my first NYNGD and all I can say is...WOW. Thanks for sharing!

Happy new year all!
J
 

threeminutesboy

Well-known member
Joined
May 11, 2003
Messages
6,909
Location
France
Awesome story for an amazing guitar!!!

Indeed a number one!

Happy new year to all and thank you Jeff for taking the time to share your passion with us.
 

LesPaul

Well-known member
Joined
Mar 12, 2016
Messages
233
What a way to finish! That Purple Nebula is just drop dead gorgeous! I wish I could've grabbed one, but I didn't want the wife to murder me.

Thank you so much for all the effort you put in to this Jeff! All of us here truly appreciate it and look forward to this end of year tradition.

Happy New Year!

Jon

Sent from my SM-G975U using Tapatalk
 

GoKart Mozart

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 21, 2002
Messages
1,002
Location
Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL
Wow, what a crazy story! I did not realize that US Customs went into such thorough detail of inspecting guitars and definitely did not realize that anything seemed unimportable would be destroyed! Geeze, what happened to return to sender?? Haha

Awesome end to 2020 Jeff! Happy New Year!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

JasonT

Well-known member
Joined
Nov 12, 2006
Messages
949
Wow! What a finale, Jeff! That guitar is phenomenal.

And to think it was close to destruction - unbelievable. Glad you were able to get some assistance from EBMM to spare that amazing guitar. Rock on!
 

mikeller

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 11, 2007
Messages
2,762
Location
Central Ohio
Amazing finish!!! Thank you as always for sharing with us!!! Wish you, and everyone here the very best for 2021!
 

xjbebop

Well-known member
Joined
Jan 8, 2013
Messages
2,793
Location
AZ High Country
1- AMAZING guitar!
2- AMAZING story to go with it! Thank goodness you & the seller caught the mix up, and thank goodness the right people stepped up and saved this from what would have been a very cruel and unjust fate!!
3- Looks like a very difficult piece to photograph! Great job!
4- Thank You for all the time & effort to share these amazing instruments! Your work makes a lot of people happy!
 

click track

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 14, 2016
Messages
242
Location
Northern Ohio
WOW !!!! and from the story it sounds like this was your first real "Rescue Guitar"..... Thanks again for sharing, and all the work you put into this. I hope you and your Family have a great year!!!
 

Flash Gordon

Well-known member
Joined
Oct 8, 2013
Messages
472
Location
NW Burbs - Chicago
Good god that is absolutely stunning. Did I say stunning? Drop dead gorgeous!

Happy new year, Jeff. Thanks for the uplifting build up to the new year! Until this time next year... be happy and be healthy! (((Cheers)))
 

vic_loher

Well-known member
Joined
Jul 23, 2016
Messages
112
Location
NC
Beautiful color! Thanks for sharing and all the time you put into this. I always enjoy your year end shares. Happy 2021!!!
 
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