Keep your Karma bank full...a Ric story
Posted: Thu Sep 11, 2008 1:19 pm
I'm new around these parts.
I'm a 53 year old left handed Beatle freak and local musician and songwriter. I'm the kind of guy who treats people like I want to be treated and I go out of my way to perform "random acts of kindness".
I FINALLY got my first Ric in 1993 while I was playing in a Beatle band called DAYTRIPPER. It's a 330 JetGlo and I'll never part with it.
While in that band I got a nice surprise from my wife...for my 40th birthday/20th wedding anniversary in 1994 we went to Nashville and bought a 360/12...oh man,that was a day I'll never forget.
Fast forward a few years...still playing but not in the Beatle band...not playing the 12 all that much. My daughter is about to start her first year in college and I needed money...fast. So I put a ad in the paper and it was answered by a really nice guy in Jackson Mississippi...he paid me a thousand dollars for it which is exactly what I paid for it...a really sad day for me but I'll do anything for my daughter. I met the buyer halfway between Memphis and Jackson in a little town called Grenada. We met at the McDonalds and he brought a leftie J-180 and I brought my J-160E...I made a new friend and lost one all in the same day. I get the 1000 dollars and drive home.
Now it's October 2007...my British Invasion band is starting to play around Memphis. My Mom, who I loved dearly, had passed away and when we sold her little house, we all got a little money...not much but enough to pay off some bills and keep about a thousand dollars in the bank.
One Sunday night I was watching that 4 hour Tom Petty documentary which as you know, is akin to Rickenbacker porn.
I got a wild thought...why not call my pal and see if he still had the 12 string.
We hadn't talked much since the mid 90's but i thought it was worth a shot.
He said he still had it and hadn't really played it all that much...I asked if he would sell it back and he said "Sure!".
My heart almost beat out of my chest.
Now...the big question was coming..."How much?"
...long pause....
"You sold it to me for a thousand dollars so I'll sell it back for a thousand dollars"
I literally almost passed out.
We met the next weekend at the same McDonald's...I cannot begin to tell you what I felt when I opened that case and saw it after all of those years...I'm not ashamed to say I teared up.
Times are tough in our household...but I pray to God that I never have to sell it again...I cashed a BIG Karma check to get it...but I believe my Mom had something to do with it too.
I named my guitar Melba...after my Mom.
Thanks Mom.
I'm a 53 year old left handed Beatle freak and local musician and songwriter. I'm the kind of guy who treats people like I want to be treated and I go out of my way to perform "random acts of kindness".
I FINALLY got my first Ric in 1993 while I was playing in a Beatle band called DAYTRIPPER. It's a 330 JetGlo and I'll never part with it.
While in that band I got a nice surprise from my wife...for my 40th birthday/20th wedding anniversary in 1994 we went to Nashville and bought a 360/12...oh man,that was a day I'll never forget.
Fast forward a few years...still playing but not in the Beatle band...not playing the 12 all that much. My daughter is about to start her first year in college and I needed money...fast. So I put a ad in the paper and it was answered by a really nice guy in Jackson Mississippi...he paid me a thousand dollars for it which is exactly what I paid for it...a really sad day for me but I'll do anything for my daughter. I met the buyer halfway between Memphis and Jackson in a little town called Grenada. We met at the McDonalds and he brought a leftie J-180 and I brought my J-160E...I made a new friend and lost one all in the same day. I get the 1000 dollars and drive home.
Now it's October 2007...my British Invasion band is starting to play around Memphis. My Mom, who I loved dearly, had passed away and when we sold her little house, we all got a little money...not much but enough to pay off some bills and keep about a thousand dollars in the bank.
One Sunday night I was watching that 4 hour Tom Petty documentary which as you know, is akin to Rickenbacker porn.
I got a wild thought...why not call my pal and see if he still had the 12 string.
We hadn't talked much since the mid 90's but i thought it was worth a shot.
He said he still had it and hadn't really played it all that much...I asked if he would sell it back and he said "Sure!".
My heart almost beat out of my chest.
Now...the big question was coming..."How much?"
...long pause....
"You sold it to me for a thousand dollars so I'll sell it back for a thousand dollars"
I literally almost passed out.
We met the next weekend at the same McDonald's...I cannot begin to tell you what I felt when I opened that case and saw it after all of those years...I'm not ashamed to say I teared up.
Times are tough in our household...but I pray to God that I never have to sell it again...I cashed a BIG Karma check to get it...but I believe my Mom had something to do with it too.
I named my guitar Melba...after my Mom.
Thanks Mom.
