Acoustic Guitars

[Opa John]

The nephew of Les Paul and Mary Ford came in with Mary Ford's white 1961 Gibson SG Les Paul Custom guitar. He also had a few photographs and quite a few type written contract letters that were signed by Les Paul. Apparently Les Paul and Gibson Corp. didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on a lot of their business dealings. They brought two outside parties in to verify that everything was legit. One to verify the paperwork and one to verify the guitar. The final offer, that the guy accepted, was $90,000 for everything. He originally had asked for $250,000 for everything!

Personally, I think he could've done a little better if he could've gotten the whole lot to the right auction house on the right day. Mary Ford's Gibson SG looked like it was in immaculate condition.

[Bernie P.]

I saw that a while back.Les really didn't like that git much either as I recall.

[Opa John]

I saw that a while back.Les really didn't like that git much either as I recall.

Yeah.......you're right. I'd forgotten about that part. I kinda got the impression he wasn't even all that crazy about the "Les Paul" model he created! I guess, at one time, he even considered discontinuing his relationship with Gibson entirely and going with a different guitar builder. That kind of move could've changed guitar history!

[knockwood]

Didn't see the episode, but IMHO taking a possession of that kind of history and value to a pawn shop is an act of lunacy. I would first have tried an auction house like Christie's or Sotheby's. Set an acceptable reserve, pay 10% to the house.

[Opa John]

Didn't see the episode, but IMHO taking a possession of that kind of history and value to a pawn shop is an act of lunacy. I would first have tried an auction house like Christie's or Sotheby's. Set an acceptable reserve, pay 10% to the house.

Yep! :thu: My thoughts exactly. The guy could've probably doubled his money at the right auction house. Back before the "Craig's List" days, I took a cheap Hondo banjo to a local pawn shop and got $40 for it. That's the best they'd do on it. I told myself, before I went there, that I was going to sell it no matter what they offered me. I know, if it happended today, I could get twice that amount for it. I also let an old '50s Kent baritone uke go for $5 years ago. I'm still kicking my dumb ass for that one!

[knockwood]

Yep! :thu: My thoughts exactly. The guy could've probably doubled his money at the right auction house. Back before the "Craig's List" days, I took a cheap Hondo banjo to a local pawn shop and got $40 for it. That's the best they'd do on it. I told myself, before I went there, that I was going to sell it no matter what they offered me. I know, if it happended today, I could get twice that amount for it. I also let an old '50s Kent baritone uke go for $5 years ago. I'm still kicking my dumb ass for that one!

Pawn shops really depress me, which is why I cannot watch that show. I've been there, done that - been desperate and taken a complete bath at the pawn shop. Damn, those are sad, shitty memories. It's not that people are dumb; I doubt there are many people who pawn anything and think they're getting a good deal. The house always wins.

[valentsgrif]

Pawn shops really depress me, which is why I cannot watch that show. I've been there, done that - been desperate and taken a complete bath at the pawn shop. Damn, those are sad, shitty memories. It's not that people are dumb; I doubt there are many people who pawn anything and think they're getting a good deal. The house always wins.

+1 here. Also depressing is those Storage Wars shows where rapacious speculators bid up abandoned storage lockers. Never stated is that for somebody to abandon a locker with valuable stuff in it they are either broke, sick, jailed or dead. Great joy seeing folks heirlooms or the remains of a family home carted off by strangers.

[valentsgrif]

Pawn shops really depress me, which is why I cannot watch that show. I've been there, done that - been desperate and taken a complete bath at the pawn shop. Damn, those are sad, shitty memories. It's not that people are dumb; I doubt there are many people who pawn anything and think they're getting a good deal. The house always wins.

+1 here. Also depressing is that Storage Wars show where rapacious speculators bid up abandoned storage lockers. Never stated is that for somebody to abandon a locker with valuable stuff in it they are either broke, sick, jailed or dead. Great joy seeing folks heirlooms or the remains of a family home carted off by strangers.

[lz4005]

Apparently Les Paul and Gibson Corp. didn't exactly see eye-to-eye on a lot of their business dealings.

It's well documented that Les hated the wrap-under bridge on the first couple of years of the Les Paul because it made palm muting much more difficult, and he almost split from the company when they went to the SG body shape. That's the irony of it all. He hated that guitar and neither of them probably played it often. Mary generally used the same kind of guitar he did.

Mary Ford's Gibson SG looked like it was in immaculate condition.

There was a 2" chunk of the body ripped out around the output jack that was glued back in and not refinished. Plus their 'expert' kept calling it an input jack. I've seen that guy do some hack-ass stuff. Including putting steel strings on a banjo ukulele. After it aired the first time a year or more ago it came out that the guy who sold it has had a lot of drug problems and trouble with the law.

[knockwood]

+1 here. Also depressing is that Storage Wars show where rapacious speculators bid up abandoned storage lockers. Never stated is that for somebody to abandon a locker with valuable stuff in it they are either broke, sick, jailed or dead. Great joy seeing folks heirlooms or the remains of a family home carted off by strangers.

Rapacious is right. I've watched one or two episodes of that show, and one of the things that amazes me - aside from the whole notion of making a living off the misfortune of others - is the practice of deliberately bidding up the auction prices on lots not actually desired, just to hose other bidders. What possible benefit could there be? Seems like pure spite, which I guess is in line with the sort of attitude that would be attracted to an enterprise like this in the first place. Shows like this jack my blood pressure dangerously.

[Tony Burns]

I don't think half of that stuff is legit - how can a pawn shop get all that interesting stuff and cram it into episode after episode . Your probably looking at staged purchases . Mary ford was a legend , that instrument would of easily brought more than twice that . If this was legit , the guy who sold it was a moron.

[lz4005]

the practice of deliberately bidding up the auction prices on lots not actually desired, just to hose other bidders. What possible benefit could there be?

I know a couple of people who, until recently, made part of their living doing the storage auction thing. They want to kill everyone associated with those shows. Since they became popular attendance at auctions has gone up by 400% and the prices have gone up 300%. It's all noobs with no idea what they're doing bidding each other up far more than the contents justify. According to them it is impossible to make any money at it anymore.

[guildfire]

I don't take the Pawn Stars too seriously. It's a TV show made for entertainment purposes. Wouldn't be surprised if the "negotiated" prices are set in advance.

[Zigeuner]

I don't think half of that stuff is legit - how can a pawn shop get all that interesting stuff and cram it into episode after episode .
Your probably looking at staged purchases . Mary ford was a legend , that instrument would of easily brought more than twice that .
If this was legit , the guy who sold it was a moron.

I definitely agree. That instrument should have been sold at auction at a place like Christie's Auction House in New York. It would have brought double as you say. Also, I noted in that episode that they pay with cash. Holy cow! They guy walks out with $90K in cash! Good luck putting that in the bank without getting an IRS audit. Anything more than $10K and a report is sent in to the government for analysis of the transaction.

I don't usualy like anything to do with pawn shops because of the misery they often deal in. The show is fun to watch, however because of the odd items they see. I do believe that much of it is staged, like when Chumlee paid $1,500 for an inexpensive Asian mandolin allegedly thinking that it was a real Gibson. I doubt that would happen.

[Opa John]

I definitely agree. That instrument should have been sold at auction at a place like Christie's Auction House in New York. I do believe that much of it is staged, like when Chumlee paid $1,500 for an inexpensive Asian mandolin allegedly thinking that it was a real Gibson. I doubt that would happen.

I agree with all of this, especially the part about Chumlee paying $1500 for a fake Gibson mando. Why.....all you have to do is just LOOK at Chumlee to plainly see he's a friggin-ass genius!!

[haredawg]

Pawn Stars Les Paul guitar got sold on ebay. http://www.webwire.com/ViewPressRel.asp?aId=152358

[poppytater]

A column I wrote a while back. Money Let’s talk about money shall we? Not that I’m an expert or anything on the subject, never had much of it. Don’t it seem strange to you , all the things we’re willing to do to get it? All the toil and trouble, the angst of not having enough, all the blood ,sweat and tears over little scraps of paper. They say you can tell how much a society values a particular thing by how many names it has for it. We Americans must really love money , call it what you will; cash-dough-bread-bucks-clams-greenbacks-lettuce-deniro, we’re obsessed with it. Money sure complicates things, I think I’d like the old barter system better. I build Doc Terwilliger a bookcase, Doc fixes Ma Dumpsey’s bunion, Ma makes me a stack cake or two and we’re all even. Everybody’s happy , no bankers, accountants or tax men involved. Lawyers would probably lose out too, I doubt they’d work for half of a stack cake. Watch a little television and you’ll soon see how much weight money carries, there’s shows about how to get it, how to spend it and how to keep it, whole networks devoted to it. One show in particular baffles me, “Storage Wars.” It follows a group of people who buy the contents of storage units at auctions held when whoever had them leased fails to pay the rent. Now, I don’t know if this show is on the up and up, but if it is, it’s a puzzler. On every show, there’s at least one big score, an old gun worth a couple grand or a fortune in rare coins, I saw one where the buyer netted $20,000 in profit on a unit he bought for $800. That brings up the question, why didn’t the original owner sell some of the stuff and pay the rent, thereby saving his property? They can’t have all died, what happened? And another thing, why would anyone keep a fortune in jewelry in a storage unit? I’m sure a lot of the renters that lose their stuff are just down on their luck, but if you have a warehouse full of treasure, you’re not down on your luck, you’re just separated from it. The guys who buy the units are real pieces of work, never pausing to consider they’re makin’ money off of others misfortunes. Oh, I know it’s a dog eat dog world out there, that it’s not their fault people can’t keep up with the rent, but where do you draw the line? $100 in profit? $1,000? $10,000? If you bought a unit for a few hundred bucks and found something worth $100,000, could you keep it with a good conscience? Would you try to find out if the owner is still alive, and if he is, would you at least split the profit with him? Or would you convince yourself the loot was bought with ill gotten gains, probably some drug dealer, and go on your merry way? I’d like to think that I’d do the right thing, but who knows, maybe I’m a vulture that’s just never had a chance at a really big carcass. Money is the root of all evil, but a little stack cake never hurt nobody.

[MePeel]

Pawn shops exist because people need quick cash. Pawn shops provide the service of allowing people with emergency situations to get money. The shop has to make a profit after overhead. They don't profit from other peoples misery any more than a doctor or a lawyer. I watch these shows because i like to see cool and rare stuff. Pawn Stars may not be as staged as you think, since it's in Vegas. Hard Core Pawn is probably staged, not everyone in Detroit can be criminally insane. I watch Cajun Pawn because many of the items that they show have a southern connection, and I'm from the south.
As far as the Storage shows, most of them are geared to the trashy redneck audience. I like Auction Hunters because of the cool stuff. Again, other peoples misery and misfortune, sad though it is, is unavoidable. Why should the companies loose money on abandoned lockers ? Also, more than one crime has been discovered after the tenant stopped paying.
Just my opinion.

Mel

[FretFiend.]

The storage people are in the business of selling storage space. The pawn shops are in the business of making quick cash available. They're businesses. The objective of a business is to make money. If the owners of these businesses don't pay the rent, and the power bills, and the water bills, and the sales tax, and the county tax, and the business licenses, and the lawyers, and hundreds of other expenses, they're out of business, and their kids go hungry. And contrary to any crap you hear otherwise, they are making it on their own. No one is doing it for them. This talk about these guys profiting from others' misfortune is a lot of bullshit.

[Pitar]

The storage people are in the business of selling storage space. The pawn shops are in the business of making quick cash available. They're businesses. The objective of a business is to make money. If the owners of these businesses don't pay the rent, and the power bills, and the water bills, and the sales tax, and the county tax, and the business licenses, and the lawyers, and hundreds of other expenses, they're out of business, and their kids go hungry. And contrary to any crap you hear otherwise, they are making it on their own. No one is doing it for them. This talk about these guys profiting from others' misfortune is a lot of bullshit.

Damnit Spock, I'm a doctor not a pawn broker!