Blast From The Past

This is the exact black Gibson L6-S that was my very first electric guitar. 

 Why am I mentioning this in my Japan blog? 

 Well, after an early shift (getting up at 6am!), I had a little wander around Shinjuku and went into the Rock Inn primarily to get a guitar strap for my headless Steinberger Spirit GT-Pro.

 I remember seeing a simple strap for 399 yen and since I looked around at other shops this was the cheapest I could find. 

 Looking at it again I noticed a better leather Fernandes strap for only 1050 yen. A little more yes, but still much cheaper than the equivalent with other brands. 

 While I was there I saw a natural finish L6-S, making me reminisce about my first guitar. 

 To tell you the truth I thought my black Gibson was a total piece of junk, with muddy sounding pickups and frets so low it felt like I was hugging a tree trunk. I traded it in for $800 towards my super Gibson Les Paul that still rocks my world. 

 Here, at the Rock Inn they were asking for the equivalent of about AUS $1600! I have read quite a few favourable reviews of this on Harmony Central, and it looks like it's increasing in value. Could I have been wrong? 

 Just to make sure, I asked if I could have a play on it. 

 To my surprise, it actually sounded a whole lot better than what I remember mine did. Even the frets were a lot faster to get around. Maybe mine was poorly set up. Still, I think my Les Paul sounds better than this. The L6-S has a vintage 70's sound, not very modern to my ears. 

 I had a go of a heavily discounted Paul Reed Smith guitar. I don't get why these cost so much, but again better than the L6-S. I know, I DON'T need another guitar. The prices here are too irresistible though. A Ibanez Jem for $2000? (about $4000 in Australia). Amazing.