NYNGD: New Year's New Guitar Days! NYNGD #2020-14

OK, guys. We have come to the end of 2020 and also to the end of the 2020 edition of my New Years New Guitar Days (NYNGD). I have done this now for 9 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):

I am glad I was able to plan it out to complete by New Year’s Eve, which is the tradition (that I have been late on the past couple of years). 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 five 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’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:

• Australia (DavidOfOz, Stevie)
• Canada (beej, fogman)
• France (DrKev, fbecir, threeminutesboy)
• Germany (banjoplayer)
• Greece (johnnyboogie)
• Sweden (Keno)
• UK (TripHazard)
• US – Alabama (Razzle)
• US – Arizona (xjbebop)
• US – Florida (GoKart Mozart)
• US – Hawaii (kimonostereo)
• US – Illinois (edhalen, Flash Gordon)
• US – Maryland (2mdude)
• US – Massachusetts (GWDavis28, wired)
• US – Missouri (John C)
• US – Nevada (Sweat)
• US – New Jersey (tbonesullivan)
• US – New Mexico (Astrofreq)
• US – New York (LesPaul)
• US – North Carolina (vic_loher)
• US – Ohio (click track, mikeller)
• US – Oklahoma (Fro)
• US – Tennessee (jones4tone)
• US – Texas (brett8388)
• US – Virginia (JasonT, mb99zz)
• US – Wisconsin (wannarock8)
• Unknown (gamecax, Jimmy3711, jlf599, kingdoublecut)

This “smaller world” has been especially important in 2020 given the pandemic and the dire circumstances that we find most of the world in — you all (and the photo work) have taken my mind off that crap for a few hours every day. So thank you all. Hopefully I’ve done the same for you.

Finally, thanks to BP, Brian, Scotty, Derek, A.J., Tomas, Teri, Drew, Dudley, Jim, Joel, Robert 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 2020: NYNGD #2020-14!

Today’s NYNGD is one that some of you might have guessed: a Purple Nebula Majesty. JUST LOOK AT THAT QUILT! You all know I am a sucker for purple. And I’m sucker for quilt. No way I could have turned this down!

Funny story: I bought this used from a guy in Toronto, CA (hi Steve!). We did the deal and he shipped via UPS Ground. Now, you may know that Toronto is about a 9 hour drive from where I am on Long Island, so we expected a couple days for UPS plus maybe an extra day for U.S. Customs. Mark the package “Electric Guitar Made in USA” and you should have no problem, right? Wrong. The guitar got held up in U.S. Customs for 15 days. We finally got UPS to investigate and they passed us off to U.S. Customs who informed us that “The shipment gas been refused by Fish & Wildlife and will be going for destruction this week.”

(!)

The seller and I pushed harder and asked to talk to the inspector in Customs Fish & Wildlife division. They connected us and she told us, “The guitar contains real mother of pearl inlay” and indicated that’s illegal to import.

We scrambled like crazy and A.J. and Tomas at EBMM quickly replied that indeed, “When we changed from the mirror inlays we went with a synthetic material called atlante that looks like mother of pearl. Should be no issues,” and we linked to the EBMM blog and wrote: “You can see on this blog that those inlays are being laser cut from a sheet of synthetic material (not from a piece of real MOP).”

Thankfully, she quickly replied clearing the shipment.

The bottom line is this: EBMM’s synthetic OP inlay is so high quality that it fooled the U.S. Customs inspector and the guitar was headed to the crusher!

WHEW. A $5k guitar in the crusher! And one with this good a quilt?!? CLOSE CALL.

This is another great Majesty and, IMHO, is the prettiest because I have been getting tired of the flame maple shield. Plays great and does all the things that Majesty is supposed to do!

You gotta agree this guitar deserves the Grand Finale^TM slot!

So, there we have it. 2020’s NYNGD run in the books. Onto another year of GAS! So far, the class of 2021 is wide open. I really do need to dial it down… Having said that, what could be in store for 2021? Time will tell, my friends! Cheers and HAPPY NEW YEAR! And, above all, be safe and stay healthy!

Past Days:
#2020-1 | #2020-2 | #2020-3 | #2020-4 | #2020-5 | #2020-6 | #2020-7 | #2020-8 | #2020-9 | #2020-10 | #2020-11 | #2020-12 | #2020-13 | #2020-14
#2019-1 | #2019-2 | #2019-3 | #2019-4 | #2019-5 | #2019-6 | #2019-7 | #2019-8 | #2019-9 | #2019-10 | #2019-11 | #2019-12 | #2019-13 | #2018-14 | #2018-15 | #2018-18 | #2018-19
#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…)