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A Taylor-made Gift for Our Guitarist
Fri., Aug. 25. 2006 5:54pm EDT
 If you know anything about ApologetiX, you know we operate on a budget that looks at a shoestring and says, "Someday."
All of the guitars Karl owns were given to him by fans. The only one he ever bought was the Vantage Les Paul copy that he played on all the CDs and the first 400 concerts. Then one struggling winter, we raffled it off to a fan to raise money to keep the band afloat.
For those keeping track at home, here's where Karl's guitars came from:
Epiphone Les Paul: Michael Stillwagon in Michigan
Gibson ES 135: Dave Barnett in Kentucky
Hagstrom 12 string hollowbody: Bruce Benning in Cleveland
Yamaha RGX: Bernie Lewis in Pittsburgh
Starburst Morris: Bernie Lewis in Pittsburgh
Fender LaBrea acoustic*: Originally owned by Karl's dad and given to Karl by his aunt five years after his dad died.
Applause acoustic*: Karl's dad for his 16th birthday
(*Those are the two junky acoustic guitars on the "Apol-acoustiX" CD.)
Well, there's one guitar missing. Every country song in the world it seems is recorded on an old Fender Telecaster. It has that signature twang. We recently played with "Among the Thirsty" and their guitarist uses an old '52 style Tele. He lent it to us to record a song on our new CD, but we didn't get it done in time, so before we played with them the next day, Karl was frantically laying down tracks on the portable recorder in a pavillion behind the church.
And the sad thing is that so many people have great guitars collecting dust and would love to put them into ministry use, but just don't know how. Karl has thought for years to invite folks to send him any unused guitars and if they're one of the styles that we're still looking for for recording (12 string, Taylor or Martin acoustic , Rickenbacker, Gretch, banjo, mandolin...), we'll put it to immediate ministry use on ApologetiX albums.
And if not, we're constantly lending out guitars to budding Christian guitarists. Karl has three or four other guitars that are in various places around the country being played by such folks.
Back to the story:
Our pal John Taylor, who filled in on bass for Keith for four concerts in June 2006, brought his Taylor acoustic guitar and his 1982 30th-anniversary reissue of the '52 Telecaster to our August 21 concert in Elizabethtown PA. He lent them to Karl for use on our upcoming "Wordplay" CD. Karl offered to buy the Tele since it was in pristine shape and high demand for our recording. Karl picks up the story from this email to our keyboardist, Bill "Wild Thing" Hubauer, who missed the E-town concert:
Oh, I forgot to mention. While I was in eTown and you weren't, John Taylor was there and when he heard that I had to borrow and give back Among The Thirsty's tele, he'd offered to lend me some guitars for recording. So, he lent me his prized tele and his lucious Taylor acoustic. He told me to hang on to them as long as I need them, he never plays the tele. I told him I'm in the market for a tele since we're not going to stop doing country songs, and that if it fits the bill, let me know what he'll take for it.
He said, "Oh- just keep it. It's yours."
 It's a 30 year reissue of the famous '52 tele. It was made in 82 and has been out of the case a dozen times and looks it. it plays like a dream.
John has certainly proven himself a great friend in the short time we've known him. We will use the guitar as long as God leads us to do this!
Know anyone with a guitar they'd like to see get some use? Bring it to the show! Or ship it to us! We'll make sure it gets used!
And a moment of silence for the one that got away -- or actually the two: Sarah May's grandfather's 1945 Martin that I played in Kansas and couldn't talk her into giving me, and the Hohner (yes, Hohner!) acoustic Karl and Bill Rieger drooled over in Twin Falls, ID last year. The nicest acoustic they'd ever played. And it was a Hohner!
More info on the Tele:
http://fender.com/products/search.php?partno=0100202850
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Fender-American-Vintage-52-Telecaster-Electric-Guitar?sku=510062
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