|
|
Late 1997: another Covent Garden antiquue market discovery. My third guitar
in a year - my boss was starting to make jokes about me starting a guitar
museum (work humour eh?)
This time I felt more like an archaeologist coming up for air with a strange
thing from a mysterious, distant and romantic past: the 1950s!
Yeah, it was in a terrible state, but the black and textured paint job was
quite recently applied, and I was confident I could restore it...
It had a plate on the back reading 'Hagstrom Made In Sweden' and a long
serial number. My interest in guitars as objects and artefacts really springs
from this period. I got an old nickel bridge and a modern chrome tailpiece.
My researches suggested it would have been red, blue or gold sparkle; I opted
for gold.
The finish was hand applied (12 layers of a water-based glitter gel and
several of spray-on polyurethane varnish). I did alright. Eventually I
emailed Hagstrom via their official site with the serial number. Turns out it left
the factory in 1959 with a plain varnished mahogany top! It's either
called a Standard or a Sweetone, not really sure which. The scratchplate's
home made. It's not perfect but it'll do.
They were branded Goya in the USA, where the pearl-effect plastic has become
known as 'mother of toilet seat'.
Although the Motherfucker will always have a place
in my heart, this is just about my favourite guitar.
|
|
