Well, I trucked off to Montreal today and bought my
USA Custom Exotic Wood with Lacewood top in Trans. Red. After buying the guitar I asked if there were any good used gear shops in the neighbourhood, and the former owner of the Custom directs me to one about a mile away... I trek over there and am admiring some guitars on the wall. The owner asks me if I want to try out a PGM30 I'm looking at and I tell him I'm not really interested in the Korean stuff, so he tells me to hold on and heads to the back room for a minute. When he comes back he opens a UV case and whats inside but a well played (and well cared for) UV777GR - the first one I've seen in real life! Right away I see that the neck is discolored from use, but the frets are clean and there's really no dings or excessive wear, so I pull it out of the case and sit down to play it thinking that I'll just noodle a minute for fun and hand it back.... WRONG! This guitar felt wonderful! The neck was just fantastic! I've never, ever played a seven string that felt comfortable to my hands before, but this guitar changed all that in a moment... I asked him what he wanted for it and he said $1500 + taxes... I ended up taking it home for $1350CDN (about $900US) all in
* Now I just have to figure out what to do with the seventh string!
Oh yea, I picked up a Matchless Hot Box in MINT condition there too for about $340US
I'm lucky I have a very patient spouse (who's also a musician) ...but I know I'm going to be on gear-buying probation for the next six months tho' <sigh>
