Is There Something About A Piece Of Gear That Reminds You Of That Childlike Excitement...

Same. I used it last night to hook a battery charger up to my son's car. Winter is wintering here.
 
I had stored some of my guitars in my parents' basement because I just don't have the room for all of them in my apartment. I don't have a massive collection or anything, this was just 4 guitars.

Went to visit during the holidays and opening those guitar cases was like getting Christmas presents.
 
Everything about my ‘96 MIM Strat still gives me the same feeling it did the day I bought it.

Especially the Fender logo on the headstock. I had a friend with a Squier and this was the first “real” Fender either of us ever got to play.
 
Everything about my ‘96 MIM Strat still gives me the same feeling it did the day I bought it.

Especially the Fender logo on the headstock. I had a friend with a Squier and this was the first “real” Fender either of us ever got to play.

My best friend got his MIM Strat for Christmas the year before I got mine, he had a white one with a rosewood board, mine was candy apple red with a maple neck and we argued back and forth over which one was better due to the neck.

Shit, I hadn’t realized it until just now, but I was destined for guitar forums since the very start. :rofl
 
96 MIM Strat

MIM Strat

My MIM story begins with joining a cover band in the mid 90s to make a few extra bucks for bills. All I had was a Les Paul and the band played lots of stuff that I could have done with the Gibson but if you're gonna do something, do it right!

Drew, you may know this area; adjacent to where Rte 93 crosses the border from MA to NH there is a parallel Rte 28. On a 2 mile stretch of 28 in Salem NH there was at one time a Daddy's Junky Music, an early Guitar Center, a EU Wurlitzers and a long time husband and wife place.

Spent a day at all the stores with $1K in my pocket playing every strat (new and used) in that price range - unplugged - just looking for one that had some magic. Could have afforded plenty of USA stuff but ended up with a $600 sunburst/rosewood MIM that was one of those mass production diamonds in the rough. DAMN, would love to have that thing again - itching for a Strat lately.
 
My MIM story begins with joining a cover band in the mid 90s to make a few extra bucks for bills. All I had was a Les Paul and the band played lots of stuff that I could have done with the Gibson but if you're gonna do something, do it right!

Drew, you may know this area; adjacent to where Rte 93 crosses the border from MA to NH there is a parallel Rte 28. On a 2 mile stretch of 28 in Salem NH there was at one time a Daddy's Junky Music, an early Guitar Center, a EU Wurlitzers and a long time husband and wife place.

Spent a day at all the stores with $1K in my pocket playing every strat (new and used) in that price range - unplugged - just looking for one that had some magic. Could have afforded plenty of USA stuff but ended up with a $600 sunburst/rosewood MIM that was one of those mass production diamonds in the rough. DAMN, would love to have that thing again - itching for a Strat lately.

Not that particular one, but that’s kind of funny because that MIM Strat as bought at Daddy’s in Nashua which is practically the same location relationship with Mass and also had a Whirly’s on the same stretch, but they both closed and a GC took over. They were across the Pheasant Lane Mall.
 
In 1974 I bought a beat to crap Sears Silvertone 2x12 mini stack from their first ever location - an old gas station that was falling apart and all they sold in the beginning was used stuff.

It's a true story that the place was named by the guy's little girl - it literally was "Daddy's Junky Music Store".
I'd shop there just based on the name alone! Hilarious!! 100 times better than "Guitar Center"!!!
 
I'd shop there just based on the name alone! Hilarious!! 100 times better than "Guitar Center"!!!

I'm not sure how they got a building inspector to sign off on the place in the beginning. We're talking fixtures dangling from the ceiling and big holes in the plaster. Pretty sure folks had been squatting there before he bought it.

Was cool getting in on the ground floor with them for sure. Their first official nice store was also in Salem NH and they always took really good care of their early clients. I scored so many good deals from them - I remember getting a call one night and having to show up an hour before opening the next morning to check out something they'd just got in. Can't remember what it was though. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

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Boy do those cars reek 70s! :rofl
 
My best friend got his MIM Strat for Christmas the year before I got mine, he had a white one with a rosewood board, mine was candy apple red with a maple neck and we argued back and forth over which one was better due to the neck.

Shit, I hadn’t realized it until just now, but I was destined for guitar forums since the very start. :rofl

Mine is black/rosewood because the ‘80s metal dude who sold it to me told me I had to get black because it was the most metal color :rofl
 
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