Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

[Gearjoneser]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

One time, I moved the guitars at Hardrock Cafe LA and handled some of these
SRV's Custom made strat that has his name inlaid on the fretboard. Not #1
also, one of his Sombreros
James Hetfield's white Explorer
One of BB King's old touring 355's.
and a bunch of others from famous bands.

I met Kenny Wayne Shepard one time and he let me play his #1 strat.
I played a gig with Robby Krieger from the Doors and got to handle his SG and 335.
The old rep for PRS, Tim ?, let me handle the 1st Dragon in 1994. Gorgeous!!!!

Probably picked up quite a few 50's and 60's Gibsons and Fenders, but unlike Lew, never had the opportunity to own any for normal money.

 

[Im_in_Disguise]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Guitar teacher at my work owns a '57 Les Paul... an actual '57 mind ya, not one of the reissues. Sat down and played and I swear I never liked a Les Paul before that one. it was magic.

 

[JumpMarine]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I played on several occasions my friend's dad's early 60's red ES-335. Little did I know what I was playing way back when. Makes me sick to think that he basically gave it away when his country band broke up in the mid 80's.

 

[tone4days]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

back in the mid 80s i played a STEPP midi guitar .. very rare, even at the time ... played like crap but tracked flawlessly (switched frets, no 'pickup') ... i think it cost somewhere around 6 grand at the time, maybe more ...

back in the early 90's i played a gorgeous hand carved archtop gibson L5 that guitar center had (way up high) on the wall for $5000 - played beautifully ...

my mom's boss collected, but couldnt play, guitars ... i was there when he brought a new aquisition into the office and got to play a pre war martin that i have no idea how much it cost, but i bet it was somewhere in the low 5 figures at least ...

 

[Hot _Grits]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I've played my old luthier's 52 tele, but most of the vintage stuff I've played has been 60s era. Probably 10 strats, including a sherwood green '62, a les paul from the year they went to the sg shape and Les himself threw a wobbly about it, 330s, 335s, an early black beauty, and a bunch of other stuff.

I've done pretty well for encountering vintage gear onsidering I live in New Zealand, which is not exactly ground zero for such things. I've been lucky enough to know the two dealers that have moved genuinely vintage items on a regular basis. Most of the cool stuff has dried up now, and crappy 70s gear and reissues seem to be the norm.

I also had a Jem 777 in loch ness green for a bit, one of 777 in existence. One word describes this guitar: lurid.

The most expensive new guitar I've played was a custom historic r9 valued at about $6-7000 US. Amazing instrument, perfection itself.

 

[Bluzboy66]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

......The old rep for PRS, Tim ?, let me handle the 1st Dragon in 1994. Gorgeous!!!!.

My friend Will and I visited the old PRS factory in Annapolis, MD back in '91/'92. They didn't give 'tours' back then, but I'd met Paul at a PRS seminar in Baltimore, and was able to schedule a walk-through with Paul himself. Back then he was a nice, humble guy. He even showed us a small fiberglass rowboat that he'd been building in the back of the shop.......a personal side project. I've talked to him since then and now he's not so 'personable'. I guess being rich and on top of the world can do that to ya' if you let it.

Anyway, that 1st Dragon you mentioned..........After Paul walked us through the factory (only about 30 workers at the time), he invitied us into his office and showed us 'this really cool NEW guitar he'd been working on'. I doubt he did much of anything on it himself, but anyway, it was the 1st green Dragon guitar......you'll know it if you've seen it. It has a dark green bookmatched chevron flame top with a very dark, almost black, 'V' shaped area between the 2 pickups where there's no flame figure, just dark stain. He was really pumped about the guitar, and needless to say, Will and I were pretty impressed. There was nothing like it at the time.

Mike

 

[Old Ghost]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I got a chance to play a vintage 1958 Gibson Les Paul Sunburst that a friend used to own back in the early 80's. The guitar was sold to a japanese collector for $25,000!
Used to own a Vintage 1967 Gibson Flying V. :bowdown:

 

[Scott_F]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I recently played a 56 Strat and a 59 Les Paul. Not a bad deal.

 

[Evan Skopp]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I've played a few expensive ones. The ones that come immediately to mind are:

Seymour's "Jeff Beck" Esquire - currently on display at the RRHOF Museum
The Millionth Martin - I was the first person to play it at NAMM last year
Wes Montgomery's "Heart" Guitar - At Mandolin Bros: they were asking $250K
Benedetto 25th Anniversary - I used it in an ad
Slash's LP - After a Snakepit show here in Santa Barbara

 

[XSSIVE]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

i guess it has to be my Les Paul for Rarest since it's a 1 of a kind prototype...as for most expensive that would be a '59 Gibson Les Paul burst (~$300K)!!!

-Mike

 

[iceman79]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Nothing really spectacular, but I've played a real (not a reissue) Mosrite Ventures model and a Vox Phantom thru a non-reissue Vox AC-30TB. The sad thing is my friend never played them, just kept them on display. His main guitar that he played all the time was a Fender Coronado.

 

[Quencho092]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

gretsch white penguin

 

[aleclee]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Its rare in the sense that it has a 3-way toggle like Santanas guitars do and crem & black custom wound pickups. No CE's ever had the toggle or those pickups ever. It also is black sunburst which was not a color option for Ce's.

3-way toggle? Actually, all the early CEs had a 3-way toggle (as opposed to the rotary switch) and no coil taps.

As for black burst, that's very rare, indeed. In fact, it officially becomes a production color next weekend at NAMM.

CEs rock. I have three of 'em (including an '89).

The rarest guitar I've played is one I own. It is the 62nd Diablo that Joe Driskill built. Since he's barely broken 100 guitars, I'd say I'm still in pretty sparse company. Second rarest is also mine: a PRS Custom 24 with solid unfinished rosewood neck (about 200 Custom Rosewoods were built, all last year).

Most expensive was a PRS Dragon.

 

[75lespaul]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Okay, I own the first guitar Dennis Kline ever painted a mural on. He's the guy that painted all the guitars for Kramer, the Marilyn Monroe guitar, the Motley Crue comedy & drama guitar etc... My cousin Billy was his best friend. Billy passed away in 1977 and I made it my mission to get his guitar back, which had been clipped by people who went into the house after he died. I had to trade a 72 LP deluxe for it in 1981. It's a 68 Epiphone Casino thats been heavily modded including cutting off one of the cutaways! What a unique looking guitar that is.

Back in the eighties my brother's friend bought a strat from an old woman they worked with for $200 including the case. Turned out to be a 64. That one played like a dream.

Lastly, again in the 80's in Oradell NJ, I bought an amp from a fella who owned Mary Ford's Gibson Les Paul (SG). It was white with the hole drilled in the horn for the microphone. This is what he told me, don't know if it's true (Mary Ford I believe was Les Paul's wife). :smoker:

 

[Skarekrough]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Man.....I aint played ****!

In all the years I've been playing I wouldn't ever dream of asking a shop to pull down something I couldn't afford on the spot. Maybe it's just me....

Probably the priciest was when I was looking for a 73' Les Paul and played a few at the local GC. About a year later I bought one from a private party and it was in better condition than anything they'd had at GC.

So...I guess technically the priciest guitar I've ever played I actually own.

.......God that's depressing.

I may have to remedy this tomorrow. I can think of nothing to brighten up my spirits like an afternoon in the city playing guitars I'll never be able to afford!

 

[danglybanger]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

The rarest thing I've ever played is my old Jay Turser Spirite...

Cause no one else was probably stupid enough to buy one

The priciest is probably a Les Paul at a Guitar Center somewhere. So about 2 grand? I'm usually afraid to pick up guitars I can't pay for.
slade

 

[GuitarGuy503]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I don't know about rarest but a Gibson LP Standard is probably the most expensive guitar I've played. I only play guitars that I can afford so if I happen to get hooked on it I can buy me one... :32: It just doesn't make much sense to me to play and try out a spendy guitar you probably could never afford unless you won the Lottery or something..... :smack: :laugh2:

 

[TattooedCarrot]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Played these two at NAMM.

 

[JeffB]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

Can't contribute much here. I've never been around many vintage instruments (like 'em just not as enamored as many are with them).

So most expensive would prolly have to be my old 87/88 Reed 24 fret ten top w/ birds.

 

[bluey@sunni]

Re: Rarest guitar you've played? Most expensive?

I had a very well misspent youth as two of my teachers at high school let me play their guitars.
The music teacher, Russ Castleman, had a mid '60's Martin D28, pre CBS Strat and an early J-Bass (REALLY EARLY) that was my first ever music video circa 1979. I gringe now thinking about how I thrashed it doing my "best" Amazing Poodles (Can't even remember the band's name, but Brit punk band who did the most bizarre version of White Christmas: Bing Crosby vocals with the Ramones as the backing!!). I think it was some cheesy west coast/country rock thing but I played at a tempo that later became speed metal.
Then there was Barry Larkins, at one stage my maths teacher, who had a '68 Tele and a Maton electric that I almost bought (strange Vox cut out on the body where the bevel is on a Strat, P-90 style pup's and a Bigsby style vibrato and a nice shade of salmon pink.) I've only ever seen one like it and Maton have it in their reception area, in a nice glass case so as to avoid the drool stains.
It's hard to get one's hands on a rare or vintage guitar in Australia, even harder in New Zealand for "Hot Grits", in the normal sense so weird and strange maybe the go; I have Hi-Lo that was of the ilk that Teisco Del Ray once offered as a prize back in the mid '80's in a competion in Guitar Player. Mine is even cheaper than his $29.95 version as it had single coils that howl like nothing on Earth and it was free complete with a Schaller PAF bridge humbucker. This is my slide guitar Lindley, named after Dave, as it makes great sounds out of something you wouldn't use for firewwod.