I'm hard on my instruments. I use them, and although I don't abuse them, they are tools, and I don't keep them anywhere near museum condition.

I play one-nighters for a living, and one-nighters are notoriously hard on equipment. When it's time to replace one, it's pretty well worn.

But having a musician for a wife (I know, I'm lucky) it takes self-discipline to get rid of something. If I ask Leilani about getting rid of an instrument, she will probably say, "Are you sure you want to get rid of it?"

In fact, a few years ago when she saw me drooling over the Parker Dragonfly when it first appeared in the Sweetwater catalog, she said, "You need a better guitar." I now own two. One production model and one custom.

Unfortunately, you can't get a USA built Parker anymore. Great guitars, but bad marketing and they couldn't crack the Gibson/Fender/Ibanez mentality.

I gave away an Epiphone to a needy student when I got the Parker. I probably could have gotten a hundred or two for it, but this made me feel good. The kid was a talented and enthusiastic student of a friend of mine who taught. He is from a poor family, and was playing a junker. My friend let him skip payments when he couldn't afford the lesson. My friend passed on a year or so ago and I haven't heard anything about the kid since, but that's OK with me.

When we get one of those "Christmas Trees" for charity at a local Elks club that we play at, we try to fulfill the wish of someone who wants something musical. This year we bought a First Act for a kid, last year a microphone. It's a small thing to give back for all the years music has made my living.

Insights and incites by Notes

Bob "Notes" Norton smile Norton Music
https://www.nortonmusic.com

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