Well at least Melissa wanted to know the story behind it, so here's the Reader's Digest Version. "My name is John and I'm a Ric 'O-holic..." Well not according to this forum (I'm still a weenie), but try telling that to my family.melibreits wrote:John, that is BEEEEEAAAAUUUUUUTIFUL! Congratulations!
What's the story?
I have always really loved double bound RICs and tried on several occasions to get a hold of a 360 WB or a 360V64, but either I just missed out or they were a little more than I wanted to pay. I've also been enraptured with the Hudson Purple-Burst since the very first time I saw a picture of it. In the back of my mind, I've always thought that something like that guitar would have been my dream RIC, but the closest thing I ever saw was Gary's SH at the 75th (and those were even further out of reach). I thought about getting a 350V63 for a long time and tried hard to convince myself that I liked them, but they just never quite felt the way I wanted them to. I did discover however, that the 24 fret 350's fit perfectly. Months of unfulfilled longing......
Fast forward to MARF 2007. I had not taken 5 steps inside the door when I saw across the room an absolutely stunning 350. Visions of the Hudson Purple-burst danced in my head. Rich Snyder, who owned the guitar, was very gracious with his time (I felt like I had a million questions) and was a great help. All of a sudden, I thought perhaps my "Dream RIC" was not as far away as I had thought. "Boy," I thought to myself, "It's a good thing I left my checkbook at home or I'd be trying to buy a guitar right now." Enter stage left, Mr. Kevin Kuney, who "just happened" to have a MG 24 fret 350 with him that he was willing to offer (I remember a old story about a serpent who "just happened" to show up with an apple....
). To keep it short, Kevin was kind enough to sell me his MG 350, and let me take it home with me without giving him anything but my promise that I'd send him a check as soon as I got home. I had a pretty good idea of what I wanted to have done to the guitar, and after a good deal of searching I finally decided to have the work done by Larry Davis in Atlanta (primarily because of scheduling a start date). In the same way that so many of us have found Paul and Dale to be great to deal with (not to mention the unsurpassed quality of their work), I found Larry to also be a real delight. The pictures speak for themselves about the workmanship. I sent it off at the beginning of May and got it back near the end of last month. Plenty of other details to tell, but I'll save those for people who ask.
