Gibson ES-335 vs Samick Royale RL-3

Back in 1977 while working a construction job, my boss decided to take a chance on a guy named Sam who was fresh out of jail. He seemed to be a pretty good carpenter but he liked to drink way too much. It wasn't even two weeks before he started showing up late for work hung over. Within a month he was missing whole days. Through conversations with Sam I found out that he played guitar at some of the local bars in the evenings and with a country band at the VFW from time to time. He was always bragging about his red Gibson. Knowing that I played in church, one evening when we were getting out of work he asked me if I wanted to stop by and check it out. I had no plans so I said "sure". Generally the boss gave him a ride to and from the job site but since he wanted me to see his prize possession. I drove him downtown to his two room apartment. We went inside where he reached behind a well worn love seat and pulled out a beat up old case, unclipped the latches, and pulled out a beautiful red 1963 Gibson ES-335. He sat there on the edge of the love seat and picked out a couple of classics. Then he handed me the guitar. As he did three things went through my mind almost simultaneously. The first I spoke out loud. "I sure can't play like that." I said as I sheepishly strummed a few chords of Amazing Grace. The second of the three thoughts was, 'what a waste of God given talent for this guy to be driving nails and drinking his life away'. The third of those memorable thoughts was, 'I have played this guitar before.' I was sure of it, you don't forget a guitar like that. We passed the guitar back and forth for half an hour or so. Mostly he played and I tried to glean as much as I could from his incredibly smooth style of flat picking. I got up and started to leave, reaching the door I turned and asked him "Would you let me borrow your guitar to play it in church on Sunday? I'll take good care of it."

"I don't usually loan it out but I guess it wouldn't hurt it to be played in church. Where is the church and what time is the service? I'll bring it to you." Sunday morning came and I was sitting on the platform with the band tuning up my Montgomery Wards Teisco electric guitar. I looked up and saw Sam with that tattered old case in his hand and a big grin on his face. Putting down the Teisco I met him about half way down the right side aisle of the church, took the case from his hand and said "Thank you. I hope you enjoy the service." Back on the platform where everyone was pretty much tuned up and ready to go, I moved the Teisco aside and plugged in the Gibson. I got some looks as I hurried to tune up and then the service started. At the end of the service I held the guitar out to the bass player and said "Look familiar?". There had been a break-in at his house on a Sunday morning while he was at church some four years earlier. Among the things that been stolen were a Martin D-28 and a red 1963 Gibson ES-335. He took the guitar from me like it was made of glass. He examined it carefully then he turned it around and looked at the serial number on the back of the head stock. As he did, he handed it back to me and said "That was settled with the insurance company a long time ago. I don't want to know."

"I borrowed it from a guy I work with. I thought it looked familiar."

Knowing I needed a real guitar, he said "See if he will sell it to you. I only paid $75 for it. The old guy I bought it from had no clue what it was worth."

I returned the guitar to Sam and insulted him by offering him $75 for it. I didn't think about it much for the next two weeks. Sam only worked a few days of those two weeks. On Friday after the paychecks had been handed out Sam was trying to bum money off of anybody who would even talk to him but he owed almost everybody already. By the time he got to me I had heard him say that magic number $75. He had to have $75 or his landlord was going to kick him out in the street. He came to me and said "Can you lend me some money until next payday."

"I'll give you $75 for that red Gibson" was my answer.

"It won't do me much good on the street." He replied.

That Sunday and almost every Sunday for the next 25 years I played my red 1963 Gibson ES-335 in church. I never saw Sam again. He didn't show up for work the next Monday and he never came back.

Looking back there is no doubt that I played that guitar for more than 8000 hours. I completely wore out two sets of frets and was well into the third when I found myself in need of money. Like Sam, the most valuable thing I had monetarily was that red 1963 Gibson ES-335, and like Sam I had to sell it for far less than what it was worth. I had to have $4000 to get out of a real jam. A good friend said "I know that it's worth more but I can scrape together the $4000, and if you ever want it back, it will be here."

I guess the moral of the story is "What goes around comes around." But that's not the 'rest of the story'.

After I sold the Gibson, my friend Scott Mulrooney at The Music Shop in Southington, CT asked me "What are you going to do for a guitar?"

"I don't know." I replied. He told me that he would hook me up with a good guitar for his cost. Further, he told me that if after a month, I didn't love the guitar, I could bring it back and he would give me my money back. He then pulled a dealer catalogue for Samick guitars from under the counter, flipped through the pages and pointed out a Greg Bennett designed Samick Royale RL-3 with a quilt maple top. I couldn't believe I was considering buying a guitar without having played it. Since my parents bought me the Teisco EP back in 1968 from the Montgomery Ward catalogue I had never purchased anything without trying it out.

I didn't return the Samick to Scott. As a matter of fact he was right, I do love it. With the exception of the fact that it's not the red 1963 Gibson ES-335 that some people over the years came to identify me with, it is my favorite guitar to play. The propaganda on Greg Bennett's web site is absolutely true. It's a great looking, great playing guitar. Though it will never hold the sentimental value or attain to the monetary value of the red Gibson, parting with it is not something I intend to do.