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Welcome to Day 16 of my annual New Year's New Guitar Days (NYNGD)!
Thanks for the kind words and comments on NYNGD #2016-15!
...And then there were TWO! Again, I had a hard time choosing which order to present these last couple of guitars... This one could definitely be saved for the grand finale, but let's do this one today and tomorrow's will rock too!
Today's NYNGD is pretty special. As you know, back in the late '90s and early '00s I was an EBMM Artist and, even though I've basically given up the dream of "Making It In The Music Business", long ago my relationship with EBMM -- particularly Derek Brooks -- evolved to friendship. We chat from time to time, we hang at the guitar shows, he tips me off on special guitar show one-offs, etc.
Over the summer, I was in SLO on business (Amazon.com, my parent company, has offices there) so I made plans with Derek and Tomas to meet up at the factory and head to Jocko's Steak House in Nipomo for dinner. But I got there early and there was some time to hang before Tomas was ready to leave, so Derek showed me his Cutlass and we headed to the conference / amp room (you know, the one with the brown wooden walls and the black leather couch) to jam the Cutlass through an old Plexi Marshall (more on the Cutlass in a future installment of NYNGD).
When we got in there, Derek said, "Oh, check this out..." And hanging on the wall was today's NYNGD. A Luke III HSS in a one-off finish that the factory computer lists as Smoked Chrome Sparkle. Ho Ly Sh*t. This was a one-off, apparently to try a new finish. Its date of birth is in March 2015 so I would guess this was NOT related to testing options for what ended up being the Starry Night run, but that's just me guessing. In any case, it seems that Smoked Chrome Sparkle is not going to become a production run or standard finish. I met it in August 2016, so it was basically "hanging around" at the factory for a year or so before I came along with my credit card.
I'll say right off the bat: The sparkle on this one is too much for my meager photography skills. These photos do not do this guitar justice. The sparkle is AMAZING. I think the secret here is that there are different sized flakes. Some large, some small. When you walk past the guitar or spin it in the right light, it is like it's encrusted with diamonds. Utterly stunning.
Knowing that I can't leave well-enough alone, I swapped the stock satin black LIII HSS pickup covers for chrome (you can't tell in the photos but the pickup poles on the single coils are still satin black).
Tomorrow brings the final NYNGD of 2016 -- looking forward to sharing it with you!
I'll be back tomorrow with this year's final NYNGD: New Year's New Guitar Day!
Thanks for looking everyone!
Past Days:
(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...)
Welcome to Day 16 of my annual New Year's New Guitar Days (NYNGD)!
Thanks for the kind words and comments on NYNGD #2016-15!
...And then there were TWO! Again, I had a hard time choosing which order to present these last couple of guitars... This one could definitely be saved for the grand finale, but let's do this one today and tomorrow's will rock too!
Today's NYNGD is pretty special. As you know, back in the late '90s and early '00s I was an EBMM Artist and, even though I've basically given up the dream of "Making It In The Music Business", long ago my relationship with EBMM -- particularly Derek Brooks -- evolved to friendship. We chat from time to time, we hang at the guitar shows, he tips me off on special guitar show one-offs, etc.
Over the summer, I was in SLO on business (Amazon.com, my parent company, has offices there) so I made plans with Derek and Tomas to meet up at the factory and head to Jocko's Steak House in Nipomo for dinner. But I got there early and there was some time to hang before Tomas was ready to leave, so Derek showed me his Cutlass and we headed to the conference / amp room (you know, the one with the brown wooden walls and the black leather couch) to jam the Cutlass through an old Plexi Marshall (more on the Cutlass in a future installment of NYNGD).
When we got in there, Derek said, "Oh, check this out..." And hanging on the wall was today's NYNGD. A Luke III HSS in a one-off finish that the factory computer lists as Smoked Chrome Sparkle. Ho Ly Sh*t. This was a one-off, apparently to try a new finish. Its date of birth is in March 2015 so I would guess this was NOT related to testing options for what ended up being the Starry Night run, but that's just me guessing. In any case, it seems that Smoked Chrome Sparkle is not going to become a production run or standard finish. I met it in August 2016, so it was basically "hanging around" at the factory for a year or so before I came along with my credit card.
I'll say right off the bat: The sparkle on this one is too much for my meager photography skills. These photos do not do this guitar justice. The sparkle is AMAZING. I think the secret here is that there are different sized flakes. Some large, some small. When you walk past the guitar or spin it in the right light, it is like it's encrusted with diamonds. Utterly stunning.
Knowing that I can't leave well-enough alone, I swapped the stock satin black LIII HSS pickup covers for chrome (you can't tell in the photos but the pickup poles on the single coils are still satin black).
Tomorrow brings the final NYNGD of 2016 -- looking forward to sharing it with you!
I'll be back tomorrow with this year's final NYNGD: New Year's New Guitar Day!
Thanks for looking everyone!
Past Days:
#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 |
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #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 |
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #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
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #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 |
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #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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