That One Guitar - Ben Trickey
Name: Ben Trickey
City: Atlanta, GA
Instrument: Guild D-50 BG
This Guild is the first and only “fancy” guitar I ever bought. It has an LR Baggs pickup installed.
For years, I used cheaper guitars to record and play shows. There was the Fender I payed some guy $150 when I lived in western New York, which at the time was a lot of money for me. Then, I broke down and spent $250 on an electric acoustic Ibanez that was too thin and sounded horrible amplified. Then there was the Jasmine by Takamine my ex brother-in-law gave to me, I still have that one. All good guitars for what I needed them for.
I could never get it in my head that I was good enough at guitar to warrant anything pricey. In fact, I still feel guilty knowing no crazy claw-hammer speed-of-sound play-off doesn’t happen on my Guild. It’s a good guitar, though. It’s dreadnaught style. About a year and a half after I bought it, I woke up with a hangover and it had been slightly smashed. Not all-the-way smashed, but slightly smashed.
The person I brought the guitar to do repairs had it a long time. Longer than he said it would take, because he said he was giving me a deal. I really didn’t want the deal, I wanted my guitar fixed right, but he insisted on needing more time. I finally had to go pay the man for the full repairs and grab the guitar before he was finished. See, I had to go on tour and go into the studio and I wanted this guitar, not the Jasmine, not the Ibanez, not the Fender, but this Guild to record and play on.
The guitar has cracks all along the edges, filled somewhat with superglue, the pegs are brand new. There’s a crack on the front of the guitar I have to watch, because if it spreads, I could be looking at some bad splintering.
I love this guitar. It has a good mid-range I don’t hear in cheaper guitars. It now has a bit of character, like that guy you know with a scar on his face, or a slight limp no one ever mentions or inquires about.
Band name: Ben Trickey