Eskimo_Joe wrote:I'm shocked in some many ways....you owned a 58 strat (dream), you traded it to Buddy Guy (wow, really cool....how?...what did he trade you???)....you now play that Key West guitar when you could be holding the 58?????????
over the years, I had over a thousand guitars. When I was doing pretty good in the music biz and had a deal and toured, etc, I usually had about 25 guitars in my "stable"
I did a blues festival, and also had worked with Buddy's label Silvertone Records, so I went to go hang out with him.
He saw the '58, and freaked out.
he MADE ME sit on a folding chair directly behind his amp during his show, and would periodically come back there and look at me to see if I was still there!
End of night, we are on bus, and drinking some Remy XO. Buddy tells me he will "trade me ANY of his guitars for the '58".
I told him that the '58 was worth more than any of his custom shop strats.
But he will not take no for an answer.
So I made him trade me the red polka strat, because it was unique, the rest were black. And a big fistful of dollars
Red polka dot strat was NICE, masterbuilt by the same guy who built Claptons, as Buddy had played Eric's and wanted one, with the same electronics, etc.
Last year of college, I was needing money, so I sold the red polka dot strat to the Hard Rock Cafe for a BIG chunk of change. It now hangs in the Atlantic City Hard Rock. Unfortunately you can't see the back of it on display, because on the back is a HUGE inscription to ME --- I made him do it
Then I started to wonder WHY Buddy wanted THAT '58 so bad.
I researched some of his older albums, and saw a '58 3 color sunburst maple neck strat on the ocver of "A Man and the BLues"
The wear marks were VERY similar on that guitar.
And that guitar was stolen from Buddy in the 70s, and never seen again....hmmmm......
I bought it from a well known vintage dealer in Minneapolis.
So......in some strange way.....I think I managed to get Buddy back the guitar he recorded with early in his career.
I know this sounds like a strange story, but it's all true
more pics...me with red polka dot guitar:
THE NIGHT Buddy traded me the guitar.....him playing it at Sarasota Blues Fest:
the polka dot, in front of my Doug Hoffman custom handbuilt 30 watt combo (doug was one of my best friends back then, and he designed this amp for me!!!)
