Three chords....can make someone happy...

At least I hope it did.
For the last 2 1/2 decades, I'd been toting my bro's old guitar around. He bought it used while in the Navy. Twenty something years ago, he decided to upgrade it. He bought a couple of pickups and then proceeded to strip the finish off the entire guitar down to the bare mahogany. Well it turned out that guitar was a '68 Gibson Melody Maker. It sat stripped in it's tattered original case (the hardware lost) in my belongings for more than two decades. When ever we talked about it, he just didn't want to bother with it. I certainly didn't want to, as it needed refretting (a costly project on a set-neck guitar) and all new hardware.....and a paint or poly finish. A bit to much for me as well. We've been in the midst of a big purge for the last couple years, so I decided to do something with it. I shopped it around to the two big music stores in our area (Guitar Center and Sam Ash). It was there where I found out what it actually was. Since it was stripped, I didn't even think I could prove it was a Gibson. Turns out my bro had NOT stripped the serial # off, a quick search showed what it was (if I'd bothered to look at it and saw the S/N, I could have looked it up myself). In decent condition, it could had easily gone for a grand.....but hardwareless with worn frets, some grease staining, and a jilted neck joint...I couldn't imagine what it would go for. I decided to go on the trade concept, because both stores had someone who wanted it (salesmen/guitarists). Guitar Center offered the better trade, which was a Squier Stratocaster I liked this guitar right from the start, but it was impossible to keep in tune with the Tremolo bridge, so I blocked it, but the tuning was still a bit off. I decided to convert the bridge to a fixed model, so I put on one of these. I also did away with much of the guitars hum by utilizing star grounding as discussed previously at Guitar Nuts. The guitar had a fantastic neck from the start, but the above modifications made this a rock solid guitar to play. This guitar (and the one the Mrs got me for Xmas) are what got me playing again.....and yet....every time I played it, I thought of my brother. My Mrs joked one day: "So the next time you see him, you'll give it to him?" (she's always looking to downsize our possessions). While I have always liked it, it is a guitar more suited to his style of playing (I'm more a telecaster kind of guy). Well, he was in town last week....and while he was here, I talked him into playing it, he really liked it.....and after some coaxing....I convinced him to take it with him.
I didn't think I could feel so good giving away something that I like so much, mostly because it is kind of his already, but more so because I know he'll really enjoy it (though I don't know if his family will ;) ).
Jim,
I hope the next time you come up, that you bring it with and we can play together like we used to .