I have often said that I feel honoured to have the privilege to play many of the instruments I own. Today I am going to discuss just one of the reasons I feel this way.
Back a few years near the beginning of my quest I saw an advertisement for a Gibson L50? in Kitchener at The Guitar Corner. It turned out eventually that it was a 1946 Gibson L48 modified with a DeArmond Model 41 “Toaster” pickup and it had a few nicks and scrapes and a big adhesive mark on the upper bout… but it got my attention. I kept coming back to it and when the opportunity arrived, I decided to go and buy it.
At the shop I learned that the instrument had one owner who brought it in to have it serviced and to explore selling it on consignment. The gentleman said that his father had taken him into a music shop in the 1940s and they picked out a guitar then he had a pickup and tuners installed on it for him. Over the years he had developed as an artist and played slide guitar. His instrument had obviously travelled and been played and cared for on the road for years and you can see it in the guitar. It isn’t abuse so much as depending on a trusted workhorse, the marks give the instrument presence and even the tape mark doesn’t bother me, I expect he kept a songlist or chord changes or something else he wanted handy there. It’s a working instrument with a long storied history and character and attitude.
So when I say that it is an honour to handle one of these guitars, I come by that notion from an honest source. I pick up a guitar or two almost every day, sometimes for hours, often a few minutes here and there… whatever is available to me. I continue even though I don’t feel as though I measure up to the lofty expectations of such an instrument… I endeavour because I intend one day to be able to truly say that this is MY guitar, and not continue to have to admit that I am just a new passenger on it’s journey…
1946 Gibson L48 
Gibson L48 headstock
