NYNGD: New Year's New Guitar Days! NYNGD #2018-20

OK, guys. We have come to the end of 2018 (and well into 2019 now) and also to the end of the 2018 edition of my New Years New Guitar Days (NYNGD). I have done this now for 7 years and I really enjoy recapping my GAS and sharing with my fellow Knuckleheads. As I’ve said in my manifesto, (and I quote myself):

Again, I didn’t get this together in time to launch the final guitar on New year’s Eve which is supposed to be the plan… work was just too busy in December and I got started late, and I’ve been slammed in January and February too (total repeat of last year… ugh. Need to start in November next year!). And this takes quite a bit of time — I spend about 45 minutes to an hour photographing each guitar (because I am not a pro photographer, and then for each guitar I spend another another three hours sorting through the photos to find the best color accuracy and angles, cutting the images, cleaning the images, etc. I love every minute of it, and it’s an OCD freak’s dream, but it takes time. I’ll try to start sooner for next year’s run, because I really enjoy launching the final guitar on New Year’s Eve instead of (yawn) February 24th.

I’ve enjoyed reading your feedback and thoughts and POV’s. And I’ve enjoyed feeling like it’s maybe a little bit of a smaller world by being able to “hang” and shoot the sh!t about the guitars we love with you guys from around the world:

• Argentina (AgustinJP50)
• Australia (damo_512, Ishmun, Stevie)
• Belgium (Magic Jason)
• Canada (beej)
• France (DrKev, fbecir, MusicMan_Luke, threeminutesboy)
• Germany (banjoplayer, headcrash)
• Greece (johnnyboogie)
• Netherlands (BartB, jzeijen, Santuzzo)
• Poland (look_at_her)
• Sweden (Keno)
• UK (Spudmurphy, TrapperJ)
• US – Alabama (GoKart Mozart)
• US – California (BCMCMoose, Big Poppa, peterd79, xjbebop)
• US – Connecticut (PeteDuBaldo)
• US – Hawaii (kimonostereo)
• US – Illinois (edhalen, Flash Gordon)
• US – Louisiana (spychocyco)
• US – Massachusetts (GWDavis28)
• US – New Mexico (radrock)
• US – New York (ME!)
• US – North Carolina (vic_loher)
• US – Ohio (mikeller)
• US – Oklahoma (jlbasscatcher)
• US – Tennessee (jones4tone)
• US – Washington (Pott)
• US – Washington, DC (Wahoonc)
• Unknown (DevRock, fusionid, JasonT, Kvaksalver, LesPaul, Samoht, vuduhwy)

Finally, thanks to BP, Brian, Scotty, Derek, Tomas, Teri, A.J., Drew, Dudley, Jim, Joel and the rest of the good folks at EBMM who continue to dedicate themselves to creating the tools that we enjoy — that help us make our music, help us aggravate our spouses, and bring us together as fellow Knuckleheads!

OK Jeff, enough of your babble. Let’s get to the final NYNGD of 2018: NYNGD #2017-20!

OK, so this might trigger you guys. #2018-18 and #2018-19 were one-off masterpieces. Yet #2018-20 is standard BFR from the November 2017 Natural Koa Axis BFR run, of which there are a total of 60 pieces.

HOWEVER, just look at this guitar. It looks awesome. Look at the top! The figuring in the koa is basically the perfect size and looks like it’s following the Axis body shape. Man, this tree KNEW 200 years ago that it was going to be in this guitar in my collection!

Let’s run the specs: A Koa top hand-stained with a tranlucent natural finish to bring out the exotic figuring, a mahogany back also finished natural, black binding, a roasted maple neck and fretboard with stainless steel frets and a black neck binding, chrome hardware and chrome DiMarizo Axis pickups. This guitar is stunning. Now… for those of you who are triggered, I get it. I would be, too! But I warned you — any one of the last three guitars could have held the top spot and been called the Grand Finale^TM. But this one did it for me, and since I’m running this thing, you can put that in your pipe and smoke it! LOL!

Surprisingly, this guitar sat at Zzounds for a while and nobody bought it, so I pulled the trigger. And, man, was it worth it! Sounds great — punchy and everything you want from an Axis.

So… that’s it for NYNGD 2018! Onto another year of GAS!

Past Days:
#2018-1 | #2018-2 | #2018-3 | #2018-4 | #2018-5 | #2018-6 | #2018-7 | #2018-8 | #2018-9 | #2018-10 | #2018-11 | #2018-12 | #2018-13 | #2018-14 | #2018-18 | #2018-19 | #2018-20
#2018-1 | #2018-2 | #2018-3 | #2018-4 | #2018-5 | #2018-6 | #2018-7 | #2018-8 | #2018-9 | #2018-10 | #2018-11 | #2018-12 | #2018-13 | #2018-14 | #2018-15 | #2018-16 | #2018-17
#2017-1 | #2017-2 | #2017-3 | #2017-4 | #2017-5 | #2017-6 | #2017-7 | #2017-8 | #2017-9 | #2017-10 | #2017-11 | #2017-12 | #2017-13 | #2017-14 | #2017-15 | #2017-16 | #2017-17
#2016-1 | #2016-2 | #2016-3 | #2016-4 | #2016-5 | #2016-6 | #2016-7 | #2016-8 | #2016-9 | #2016-10 | #2016-11 | #2016-12 | #2016-13 | #2016-14 | #2016-15 | #2016-16 | #2016-17
#2015-1 | #2015-2 | #2015-3 | #2015-4 | #2015-5 | #2015-6 | #2015-7 | #2015-8 | #2015-9 | #2015-10 | #2015-11 | #2015-12 | #2015-13 | #2015-14 | #2015-15 | #2015-16 | #2015-17
#2014-1 | #2014-2 | #2014-3 | #2014-4 | #2014-5 | #2014-6 | #2014-7 | #2014-8 | #2014-9 | #2014-10
#2013-1 | #2013-2 | #2013-3 | #2013-4 | #2013-5 | #2013-6
#2012-1 | #2012-2 | #2012-3 | #2012-4 | #2012-5 | #2012-6 | #2012-7

(The back story in case you’re new to my NYNGD: For the past couple of years I’ve done a fun thing that most of you I think enjoyed, and I thought I would do it again this year. Every year, I am a slacker about keeping my Guitar Gallery up to date… So, as a fun holiday thing, let’s launch a guitar in the Guitar Gallery each day leading up to New Years Eve! In the past I’ve received PM’s about my collection and whether I play all of these guitars. 🙂 The same question came up during my NYNGD posts a few years ago and my answer was pretty detailed and well thought-out, so please check it out here!)

(Also, in case anybody gets any funny ideas — these guitars are not at my house. They are all in my very secure and alarmed studio facility. I usually only have two guitars floating around the house…)