Pacific VintageStories
The guitars, the builders and the people behind them.
The next owner of this guitar will be one of my kids.
That part is already decided.
This is #32 of only 40 guitars created by Anderson Guitarworks to commemorate its 40th anniversary.
I bought it because I thought it was extraordinary.
Then I learned something about it that changed the way I saw it.
During a conversation with Danny at Anderson Guitarworks, I learned that the tops chosen for the 40th Anniversary guitars came from Tom Anderson’s personal wood stash.
Suddenly, this guitar had a history that began long before I owned it.
Before #32 existed, there was simply an exceptional piece of wood that Tom Anderson had chosen to keep.
Years later, that wood became part of an instrument built to celebrate four decades of Anderson Guitarworks.
And somehow, this one found its way to me.
I’m not going to preserve it behind glass.
I’ll play it.
It’ll collect little marks and memories. My hands will get older holding it. And eventually, I’ll open its case with one of my kids beside me and tell them the story.
Where the top came from.
Who Tom Anderson was.
Why this guitar mattered enough to me that I never let it go.
Then I’ll hand it to them.
And maybe, many years from now, they’ll open the same case and tell the story again.
Because the greatest guitars eventually become more than instruments.
They become part of a family’s history.
This one is just beginning.
Every great guitar leaves a story.
Some guitars never really leave you.
Four months ago, I brought home one of two 2018 MacPherson Preachers.
They were built side by side from the same pieces of wood, then voiced differently by MacPherson Guitars.
Two guitars with a shared beginning, each with its own personality.
The one I chose was everything I hoped it would be.
But every so often, I’d catch myself thinking about the other one.
I wondered who would end up with it.
I wondered if I’d regret leaving it behind.
The feeling never went away.
So four months later, I made the drive back.
Not because I needed another guitar.
Because some opportunities only come along once. Once it was gone, the story would have ended with someone else.
Now, these two 2018 MacPherson Preachers are together again.
And somehow, that just feels right.
Every great guitar leaves a story.
Sometimes the colour is only the beginning of the story.
In 1955, Gibson displayed five distinctive Les Pauls at the NAMM Show in Chicago.
Samoa Beige. Copper Iridescent. Nugget Gold. Platinum. Viceroy Brown.
Seventy years later, Gibson Custom returned to those five colours for the 1955 NAMM Show Commemorative Edition Les Paul.
Only 70 were made in each colour — 350 guitars in total.
This one is Platinum.
And photographs don’t quite tell the whole story.
In person, I see far more green and gold than I expected. Depending on the light, the character of the finish seems to change.
The details reach back to 1955 too — P-90 Soapbar pickups, colour-matched Speed knobs and historically accurate specifications, finished with Murphy Lab Light Aging.
But what interests me most isn’t the specification sheet.
It’s the connection.
A handful of unusual guitars appeared at a trade show in Chicago in 1955.
Seventy years later, that small piece of Gibson history inspired this guitar.
And now one of the 70 Platinum examples is part of my story.
Every great guitar leaves a story.
Know a story we should tell?
We’re always looking for exceptional guitars and the builders behind them.