by stephen » 30 Sep 2014, 12:06
In response to Ryan's earlier message about having a mate like mine who was a bit of a stranger to the truth, this was how we initially met.......
It was about 8 years ago at a neighbour's BBQ and I was introduced to 'M' as someone who also had an interest in guitars. He immediately cornered me and demanded what I'd 'got then'. As usual in these situations, I tend to be a bit non-committal, so just mumbled that I had a couple of electrics. He then took me aside and started to give me the benefit of his knowledge on all things guitar-related (and his views on most things in the greater universe).
The first of many golden 'guitar nuggets' was when he explained how five members of his family had chipped in £1k each to order a special Squier Showmaster guitar from the Squier Custom Shop in California! He'd gone into the little music shop in our market town and their resident guitar 'expert' had measured his hands (!) and sent the details off to the Californian facility in order that the neck could be made specifically to these dimensions.
After imparting this gem to me, he nipped off home and returned with this special, one-off Custom Shop Squier and proudly displayed it for my admiration. I had to pretend that I hadn't noticed the little 'Made in Korea/China' lettering....... As I've said, I should have just laughed straight away and asked if this was another example of that exquisite brand of southern humour, often lost on us simple northerners, known as 'the wind up', but I just kept my mouth shut, apart from congratulating him on this fantastic instrument and how lucky he was to have a family that would donate £5k to purchase such a hand-made (pun intended) & unique guitar for him.
Ever since, the stories have become more and more bizarre............
Stephen.
