PG Music Home Forums General Discussion Off-Topic Vintage Family Heirloom Gibson Guitar to be preserved in Museum

As many of you know and others can see from my Avatar, I have ownership of a Vintage prototype Gibson Double Neck Guitar. The guitar was purchased for my mother Jeanette "Dixie Lee" Fogle in 1959. It has remained in my family since then but not played very much since my mother passed away in 1967.

The guitar was featured in early 2010 on PBS Antiques Roadshow and some of the guitar's history was revealed.

Most recently, I allowed the guitar to be used by a very good Eagles Tribute band, EagleWing during the last song of their show which at the time was "Hotel California". They are nearly a note perfect concert and very authentic musical recreation of an Eagles Concert. Don Felder made the Gibson Double Neck a famous part of the real Eagles concert performance of "Hotel California" so this vintage guitar really stepped up and excited the crowd at EagleWing's grande finale version of "Hotel California" at their concerts.

Most of the time in the years between 1967 and 2017, the guitar saw little use and remained in the case for long periods of time. I would play it on occasion and would bring it out as a novelty when friends visited that could play guitar. One such occasion was several years ago when BIAB forum member Pat Marr stopped by and was able to spend a few minutes playing the guitar.

During the years my mother played the guitar professionally, more than a few professionals had the opportunity to play the guitar as well. Leon Rhodes, Larry Carter, and Don Gibson are some that myself and other family recall.

As I grew older and with the passing of time, it became obvious this guitar had a provenance and authentic historical value that needed to be preserved beyond my generation. On one hand, I could sell the guitar to a private collector but the guitar once sold would lose all the provenance and the family history of the guitar. It was important to me that the history be preserved if possible because it was as valuable to me as was the vintage of the guitar itself.

My late brother Harold was connected with the band Pure Prairie League in their beginning years. Later, Superstar Vince Gill was with the band. Today, Vince Gill is with The Eagles. Vince Gill is a noted vintage guitar collector.

Thus I began a journey to contact Vince Gill with plans to sell the guitar to him. First I'd break the ice with the family connection between my brother, Vince and Pure Prairie League. Make a connection between my vintage Gibson Double Neck and Vince's passion for collecting vintage guitars. Ultimately, Vince Gill would buy This Gibson guitar.

Vince Gill is a celebrity and virtually impossible to get in touch with. Emails to his agent with a letter and photos of the guitar and the same to his fan club all went unanswered and nothing happened for a year or so.

Then one day a few months ago I discovered a YouTube video of Vince Gill at the grand opening of a new guitar museum that not only collects, house and preserves vintage guitars, but also features events where celebrities play the vintage guitars live in concert with proceeds going both to fund additional purchases, and scholarships to a local college music department.

I contacted the museum (currently the largest vintage guitar museum), discussed the particulars of the Double Neck, and within a few days sent them a dozen or so detailed digital photos.

My discussion with the museum director was very pleasant and the director was very knowledgeable about the production of this guitar and the other 45 similar ones manufactured before actual production models began to be marketed.

The museum board met and contacted me and made an offer. We negotiated a price and agreed to a physical inspection of the guitar by one of their curator guitar technicians. If the physical inspection beared out the authenticity of the guitar and the soundness of it physically, the museum would purchase the guitar at the agree price.

An appointment was made for the curator guitar technician to fly from New York City into Myrtle Beach Airport, I met him at the airport and we traveled a few minutes to a nearby music store that I've done business with for years and also played several years in a band with a long time employee there. This provided us with the facilities where the tech could complete the examination.

It was very interesting to watch the thoroughness, care and expertise of the tech complete the inspection of the guitar. He removed the PAF Humbucker pickups, checked the pots, frets, neck, fretboard, paint, tuners bridge, nut - everything imaginable and photo'd each piece with his iphone and sent the photos to a group of other curators in NYC with a live group discussion taking place during the inspection. The guitar was of course authentic and we completed our deal. They wired the agreed amount of purchase to my bank. In 2009, the guitar appraised for up to $35,000 on Antiques Roadshow and it sold to the museum for considerably more than that amount.

We went to lunch and the tech took the guitar (in the original case) to lunch and it sat right beside us at our table. I carried the tech and guitar back to the airport for the flight back to NYC and the tech had also purchased ticket and seat for the guitar to travel with him during the flight in the seat beside his...

Important to me, and a big factor in selling the guitar to a museum rather than to a private party, was preserving the history of the guitar and my family connection. That was also important to the museum so I had to research with family members and reconstruct as much of the history that we could determine. Especially the period when my mother owned the guitar. Much of that was beyond my recollection due to my age and at that time, me not playing music.

An interesting thing I learned from the museum's research of the guitar is the fact we had always assumed the guitar was a 1959 model because that's when the guitar was purchased and each of these guitars during this period were considered special order and no two guitars were exactly the same. For all the years we owned the guitar, there was a Gibson catalog that remained in the case. We always assumed the catalog was the catalog used to select the guitar and from which the guitar was ordered from. That turned out to not be the case. The catalog was for 1960-61 and the photograph for the Gibson Double Neck model in the catalog was this particular guitar owned by my family. The guitar was actually built in 1957 and sold to us in 1959. It was one of the first, if not the first one made.

My family is comfortable with the guitar going to a museum and the fact it can be properly taken care of and preserved for many years to come. We are happy the provenance the guitar's connection for over 50 years in our family will be preserved.

Currently the guitar is located in NYC at a guitar shop being cleaned, set up and fined tuned before being delivered to the museum. The guitar's ultimate home will be Songbirds Guitar Museum in Chattanooga, TN.

So if you ever are in that area, you may find it interesting to drop by and see a guitar you have at least a passing familiarity with. I'm hoping my children and grandchildren can make it there some day. You may even get to see it played in a concert.

What a great story! I'm really happy for both your family and the Guitar. Thanks for sharing.

Hi Charlie

Wow what a fantastic story indeed so pleased that you are comfortable with the outcome .it sounds as if it couldn’t be better.

Do you know it’s a funny thing but my eyes are not up to scratch these days due to cataracts (being worked on at present) but until you said about your avatar I had always thought it was a white rabbit with top hat on and a pinkish shirt,and black tie.
If you screw your eyes and look, I think you will see what I mean.

My very best regards
Mike

Very cool story Charlie and what great fortune to have owned and played such an historic guitar.

Hey Charlie,

Thanks for sharing this wonderful story. I personally really enjoy personal stories about heirloom guitars. To think you had a '57 Double Neck is mind blowing, really glad to hear this piece of history will be preserved for decades to come.

I feel the saying, "They don't build them like they used to", is very fitting for guitars. I remember playing my uncles '67 Tele, then later in life owning a '69 Tele, there is just something about the character of these vintage guitars that you can never forget.

Can't say I had a personal reason to Visit Chattanooga, until now!

That's a super cool story! I feel like that was very much a win-win for you!

What a great story, Charlie. Thanks for sharing it.

Mike, thanks for your comment. I'm sorry about your eyesight but upon seeing "I had always thought it was a white rabbit with top hat on and a pinkish shirt,and black tie.
If you screw your eyes and look, I think you will see what I mean." was an unexpected highlight. I've spent more than a few minutes crossing my eyes and squinting trying to recreate your result.

Thanks Herb. I once had the idea that BIAB user and forum member Rodney Gene Jr. from Texas would have the opportunity to play the guitar. Rodney plays demonstration videos for Carr Amplifiers located in Pittsboro, NC. I spoke with Rodny to see if he ever traveled to NC to the plant but he never has. They work remotely between Texas and NC. Bummer.

This led me to my 2nd idea which I floated on the User Track Forum several years ago to see if there was any interest any having a series of User Tracks of different tones, each pickup position, various strumming patterns for each neck of the guitar that would provide the custom, unique sound of a true vintage guitar to use in BIAB projects. I had you in mind to recruit as my musician to play the User Track Templates because of the driving proximity between the two of us.

Little to no interest came of the idea from the forum and the thought of the large quantity of audio files needed to sample each pickup position of both necks, plus the duplication needed to have audio at different tempos would be a time consuming and daunting task so I abandoned the idea. Otherwise, you may have been part of the guitar's story.

We have collected vintage instruments over the years and that is a wonderful story and you told it so well.

Sometimes every thing lines up and the best possible outcome occurs -- like this.

Thanks for sharing.

J&B

Great story Charlie, Thanks for telling us about the guitar.


Seems like you really followed through to find a good home for it, where it will be really appreciated by all.


Maybe you deserve to treat yourself to a nice Gibson replacement.

Great info Charlie! I've been to Chattanooga many times, it's a great place to visit.

I was staying at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel 2 years ago in one of the train cars. The Songbirds Guitar Museum is on that property and was under construction when I was there. It looked interesting but was off limits. I will definitely want to visit there again.

Chattanooga is a very historic town. Aside from the Choo Choo, there was a lot of Civil War stuff that happened there including a couple of changes between the North and South during the war. There are many Civil War Museums and Parks in the area and all are very interesting.

Great places to visit if you go:

The Chattanooga Choo Choo - Hotel and historic site. Songbirds has a page on this site.
Ruby Falls - Explore caves
BBQ Joints, there are at least a dozen - I love Sticky Fingers.
Aretha Frankenstein's - Punk Rock Waffle House - Awesome Pop Culture (Old Cereal Box Covers all over). The Hard Rock Café for breakfast.

Take a weekend and spend at this great town. Steve - Your Chattanooga Travel Guide

Really interesting story, and an amazing subject.

Would have loved to have seen a picture of the guitar.

Maybe Charlie will post some of the photos he took for the museum or replace his aviator with the guitar photo once more for awhile.

hi Charlie glad you were able preserve this guitar and share this story well done sir eric

Really neat story, Charlie Just read it, and stuff like this always interests me. Can't say I plan to be in Tennessee any time soon, but I'd love to check that out whenever I'm in the area!

Well, at the very least you no longer have to worry about me stealing it....

That is an amazing story and deserves a song be written about it. Get to it.

What an excellent story, Charlie, must be nice to have touched history. My Epiphone G 1275, 12 and 6, is also impressed.

Alyn

Thanks everyone for the kind comments. If you ever do get to the museum, be sure to check into the forum here and let us all know about your experience.

Yes Eddie, I can sleep with both eyes closed now. I heard the museum has military grade security so you better watch out.

good to see you posting Alyn. I think maybe my old guitar would be your Epiphone's Granny....

Hahaha