What’s the weirdest thing you’ve found inside a used guitar?

[UncleJesse]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Not me, but a buddy of mine, who had bought an old (Harmony?) to resell in his store. When looking around inside the guitar for things like loose braces, in one corner tucked out of the way behind a brace he found some tape. When he got it out, he found that it was concealing a half a dozen hits of purple microdot.

So how was it?

[Deliberate1]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

I bought an old parlor guitar from a Goodwill in Maine on ebay.

My last name and 1898 were written in pencil on the back through the sound hole. I didn't know this when I bought it.

I was a little creeped out but thought well, It must be fate. Unfortunately it sounded terrible.

I did some work on it to get it playing better and put it on craigslist.

I make arrangements with a guy who's interested to check it out. We meet and it turns out we know each other from an open mic night we both used to go to.

He's buying the guitar for his girlfriend who I also Know from the open mic.

Later I found out she loves the guitar and named it Martha which was my grandma's name.

Ben, I'm from Maine. And your story does not surprise me at all. It is a variation of what I call it the "3 Minute Rule," and it goes like this. Usually, it plays out on a chair lift. You have four people sitting next to you on the way up. If two claim to be from Maine and they cannot come up with one person they both know within three minutes, one of them is a sniveling liar (other "d" word violated community standards). You'd be amazed. Maine is a small place.
David

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by UncleJesse

So how was it?

Far out, man...

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Deliberate1

Ben, I'm from Maine. And your story does not surprise me at all. It is a variation of what I call it the "3 Minute Rule," and it goes like this. Usually, it plays out on a chair lift. You have four people sitting next to you on the way up. If two claim to be from Maine and they cannot come up with one person they both know within three minutes, one of them is a sniveling liar (other "d" word violated community standards). You'd be amazed. Maine is a small place.
David

The world is a small place.

Once, when I was driving a taxi in Anchorage, I picked up the woman from Cordova, at the other end of Price William sound. We got to chatting, and when I mentioned that I was from Oregon, she asked where. Now I am frankly surprised when anyone, even someone from Oregon, has heard of the little town out in the sticks of SE Oregon where I grew up. But she did. Turned out that she had been a bookkeeper living in Klamath Falls, and had several clients in my hometown. Including a couple with a snot-nosed little 10 year old grandson always underfoot.

Funny old world.

[Dalmationdexter]

Found weed in a gig bag that I got with a Les Paul. That 15+ years ago when weed was still very illegal here. There was also a demo CD in there that looked pretty amateur. Chucked both immediately.

Found a couple rattle snake tails in acoustics over the year. Both were from the south. Lots of dust, especially in a 40's Gibson banner LG-2. Found picks, hair balls.

The pockets on the acoustic guitar cases have had a lot of original receipts from purchase, repairs, old strings, picks, nice capos, business cards from guitar shops, old rope guitar straps. Fingernail clippers.

My favorite: Found two 100 bills stuffed in a pack of strings in the pocket of an acoustic guitar. Took them back to the shop I bought it from and the owner tried to track down the prior owner. Vintage shops here have to fill out police paper work (like pawn shops) when they buy guitars, so my vague memory is that he found him. It was a long time ago. Two hundred bucks back then was a pretty big deal.

cheers,
Mike

[frankmcr]

Originally Posted by Dalmationdexter

My favorite: Found two 100 bills stuffed in a pack of strings in the pocket of an acoustic guitar. Took them back to the shop I bought it from and the owner tried to track down the prior owner. Vintage shops here have to fill out police paper work (like pawn shops) when they buy guitars, so my vague memory is that he found him. It was a long time ago. Two hundred bucks back then was a pretty big deal.

cheers,
Mike

That was really decent of you, well done!

[ceciltguitar]

Originally Posted by Ben M.

I bought an old parlor guitar from a Goodwill in Maine on ebay.

My last name and 1898 were written in pencil on the back through the sound hole. I didn't know this when I bought it.

I was a little creeped out but thought well, It must be fate. Unfortunately it sounded terrible.

I did some work on it to get it playing better and put it on craigslist.

I make arrangements with a guy who's interested to check it out. We meet and it turns out we know each other from an open mic night we both used to go to.

He's buying the guitar for his girlfriend who I also Know from the open mic.

Later I found out she loves the guitar and named it Martha which was my grandma's name.

Ben, this song tells a story similar to yours:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T_Lkg7GsKQQ