Latest trip to GC

Was killing a little time the other day, so I went to the 82nd Avenue Guitar Center in Portland to see what cool and interesting stuff they had. First thing I saw was a whole display island of PRS SEs, including the semi hollow body model (who's name escapes me right now). Never been to a GC that had that many SEs in stock.Usually one or two, but there must have been 10 or more. Next I wandered into the Vintage Room, for lack of a better term. There was an old Fender tweed amp for sale for about $13,000. If I recall correctly, it was a '59, but I don't remember which model. There was an EJ Strat (always interested in the Eric Johnson models), a Gretsch semi-hollow body and a solidbody (I don't know model numbers, but the semi-hollow was a Chet Atkins model). A couple other used Strats that didn't really catch my attention. Then I went into the main part of the store. About that time, a guy came in with two young boys, maybe 5 and 3. He wasn't really keeping an eye on them, so I avoided them and went into the acoustic room. Played around with a couple of Martins and a Taylor, the the guy brought the mob in there, so I left and went to the main part of the store. I then played around with a Hot Rod Tele. I've mentioned them before here, but I really liked this one. Sounded pretty good without plugging in, pretty good setup, and felt fairly 'lively' when strumming chords. Then played around with a butterscotch '52 (?) re-issue Tele. I then looked at my watch and realized that I'd been there over an hour. So I checked out the PRS originals ('just looking, thanks"; they had a doublecut with a killer translucient finish that caught my eye) and the various Gibson Les Pauls that they don't let the commoners get their grubby paws on, then scooted out the door. All in all, and enjoyable afternoon.

Anybody else just drop by a shop just to kill time?

If there is a guitar store on the way to anywhere I go in San Diego or LA.... I kill at least an hour there everytime I take the 2-3 hour drive into or out of town!

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I have a cousin who lives in SD. He's been trying to get me to come down and go fishing. I may have to set aside a day to prowl guitar shops.

The SD has some cool guitar shops that rival LA/Hollywood...plus you have the Carvin store and Botique shops like Buffalo Brothers (technically in Carlsbad, but still the Greater SD area).

The ocean is cold, so unless your into big waves and extreme ocean fishing, you'll probably go to a lake.

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THIS SPACE FOR RENT