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Topic: Three Gary Hogue Treasures |
Jim Lindsey (Louisiana)
From: Greenwell Springs, Louisiana (deceased)
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Posted 30 Nov 2016 8:12 am
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Recently, on Nov 5th, Gary Hogue's custom "blue sparkle" Mullen was auctioned off at the Skinner Auction in Boston as part of a Marty Stuart Collection that was being auctioned.
I, and my nephew, would never have known of the auction had it not been for a friend of mine, Scott Anderson, seeing a Facebook photo of Gary's guitar that had been taken while it was on display at a guitar show in Dallas. In that photo, a Skinner business card lay on top of the strings. When Scott mentioned that the guitar was going to auctioned off, I was thunderstruck. The whereabouts of that guitar have been a source of many discussions over the years ... we all knew that Marty had it, but that was about it. Now, to learn it was being auctioned off! Wow.
I mentioned it to my nephew, Sheldon (whom I've been teaching steel over the last two years), and he suggested we "go for it" ... the worst that'd happen would be the obvious; we'd get out-bid. So, I contacted Skinner and got us set up for phone bidding during the auction and we waited for Nov 5th to come.
The day finally arrived and the auction started promptly at 12:noon Eastern Time. They went down the line starting with Lot 001. We had a bit of a wait because Gary's guitar was Lot 544. Most of the stuff going before it was Little Jimmie Dickens stuff. Finally, at 6:02 our time (Central), the phone rang and it was the proxy auctioneer/bidder who would convey our bids to the floor auctioneer.
Then, there it was ... the auctioneer describing Gary's guitar and asking for an opening bid of $1000. The floor bidding took off and in seconds it was climbing. Our first bid was 1400, then it hit 1500, so we bid 1600 and immediately it was 1700 and we made our final ceiling bid of 1800 (fully expecting that we'd be out of it ... we figured the bidding would escalate into the 3000s or 4000s or higher).
We held our breath as we heard the auctioneer saying over and over, "We've got 1800, looking for 1900" ... miraculously and mysteriously no bids from floor, phone or internet ... we finally heard, "Are we all done at 1800? SOLD for 1800 to IN-639" which was me & Sheldon. We were dumbfounded as the phone auctioneer congratulated us and we started saying, "We won? We won?!?" The auctioneer briefed us that we'd be getting an email invoice including the 23% premium fee and the sales tax. The invoice came and we immediately paid for it and arranged shipping.
Here are some photos (including my other two Gary Hogue guitars) ...
Some details about the guitar ... Gary Hogue ordered this guitar as a custom job and Mullen built the cabinet, then sent it to Fender Guitar Co., who put the blue sparkle custom finish on it to match the same finish they put on the other Marty Stuart band instruments ... drums, bass, guitars, etc. Then Fender sent the cabinet back to Mullen and the guitar was built. Gary took delivery of the guitar on 4/20/1999 and even signed it underneath ...
He played it until he passed away on Mother's Day of 2000. It is a Royal Precision model and is equipped with George-L 10-1 pups. D-10 with 8&8. Except for a "character mark" on the rear apron (perhaps from a belt buckle?), it is pristine in every way. The guitar arrived the day after Thanksgiving and much of my big thanks on Thanksgiving definitely included the blessing of getting this guitar!
P.S. We have searched the whole underside of the guitar searching for the serial number and it's nowhere to be found ... Mike Mantey, if you see this post, can you look up the serial number for us? Thanks! Jim _________________ 1986 Mullen D-10 with 8 & 7 (Dual Bill Lawrence 705 pickups each neck)
Two Peavey Nashville 400 Amps (with a Session 500 in reserve) - Yamaha SPX-90 II
Peavey ProFex II - Yamaha R-1000 Digital Reverb - Ross Time Machine Digital Delay - BBE Sonic Maximizer 422A
ProCo RAT R2DU Dual Distortion - Korg DT-1 Pro Tuner (Rack Mounted) - Furman PL-8 Power Bay
Goodrich Match-Bro by Buddy Emmons - BJS Steel Bar (Dunlop Finger Picks / Golden Gate Thumb Picks) |
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Dale Rottacker
From: Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Henry Matthews
From: Texarkana, Ark USA
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Posted 30 Nov 2016 11:41 am
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Y'all got robbed, the yellow sticker says 40 cents, just kidding, What a great find and a great deal. Gary himself was great guy, helped me a lot when I started playing. Know you will enjoy it. _________________ Henry Matthews
D-10 Magnum, 8 &5, dark rose color
D-10 1974 Emmons cut tail, fat back,rosewood, 8&5
Nashville 112 amp, Fishman Loudbox Performer amp, Hilton pedal, Goodrich pedal,BJS bar, Kyser picks, Live steel Strings. No effects, doodads or stomp boxes. |
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Andrew Wright
From: Indiana, USA
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Posted 30 Nov 2016 5:39 pm
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Beautiful guitar. I believe I was the bidder at $1700 - I also figured it would go for a good deal more. Congrats! |
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Dale Rottacker
From: Walla Walla Washington, USA
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Jerry Hedge
From: Norwood Ohio U.S.A.
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Posted 30 Nov 2016 6:56 pm
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I'm glad to see this guitar went to someone who can appreciate it. I remember this guitar from the "Red,Red Wine and Cheatin' Songs" video. That blue sparkle finish is beautiful!!! |
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Lavon Chappell
From: The Heart of Dixie
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Posted 30 Nov 2016 10:13 pm
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What a steal of a steel |
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John Peay
From: Cumming, Georgia USA
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Posted 1 Dec 2016 6:30 pm
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Awesome, Jim! I need to catch up with you and Sheldon.... |
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Dan Robinson
From: Colorado, USA
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Posted 1 Dec 2016 7:21 pm
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Where's the "LIKE" button when you need it? What a find! |
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Mickey Adams
From: Bandera Texas
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Posted 1 Dec 2016 11:30 pm
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And Christmas is upon us... mankind is in need of "feel good" human interest stories like this one... such a bright light in a sea of seemingly endless "bad news"... Jim, your dedication to the memory of Gary is an inspiring thing... no doubt he had a hand in
this somehow.....God bless you my friend.... make her sing again!! _________________ ARTIST RELATIONS: MSA GUITARS
2017 MSA LEGEND XL D10, S10, Studio Pro S12 EXE9
Mullen G2, Rittenberry S10, Infinity D10, Zumsteel 8+9
Anderson, Buscarino, Fender, Roman Guitars, Sarno Octal, Revelation Preamps, BJS BARS, Lots of Blackface Fenders! |
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Joachim Kettner
From: Germany
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Posted 2 Dec 2016 4:08 am
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Congratulatins! Such a nice guitar that came from such a great player. _________________ Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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Frank Freniere
From: The First Coast
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Posted 2 Dec 2016 10:04 am
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Great story, Jim.
Here's a poem Marty wrote on Gary's passing in 2000.
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Joachim Kettner
From: Germany
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Posted 6 Dec 2016 3:57 am
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Jerry Hedge wrote: |
I'm glad to see this guitar went to someone who can appreciate it. I remember this guitar from the "Red,Red Wine and Cheatin' Songs" video. That blue sparkle finish is beautiful!!! |
So this could be the guitar he used on "Reasons" from the Pilgrim album. That's some beautiful playing!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=udyScnvJ74I _________________ Fender Kingman, Sierra Crown D-10, Evans Amplifier, Soup Cube. |
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