One Saturday, I was driving my motorcycle to work and I saw a sign that said, "Yard Sale." I had about another 30 minutes before I needed to be at work, so i thought I would stop by to see if they had any musical equipment. I saw the house and I dismounted my bike. As sson as I saw the first table I saw a bass guitar that looked something like this:
It just had a bunch of stickers on it and it was a little dinged up. The price tag was $25. I told the yard sale vendor that I had $20 in my pocket and that I couldn't take the guitar with me at the moment due to my current means of transportation. I asked her if she could hold it for me until later that evening when I could show up with my car. She agreed to my terms and I was the proud owner of a bass guitar that cost me $20.
So now I will give you a back Story about my pal/Christmas miracle cohort, Gerry. He and I had been friends for almost a year around the time I bought the guitar. About two weeks prior to the purchase, he and his brother came to my house to hang out. His brother plays guitar very well, so we started playing. During this mirth of music, Gerry saw that I had a bass guitar and amp, he asked if he could dink around with it, just for kicks. I told him that he absolutely could play with it. His brother and I showed him acouple of things, and he picked up pretty well.
The night matured a little and he and his brother had to return to his respective home (They live next door to each other, how cool is that?) Before they left I asked if Gerry wanted to borrow my bass so he cold learn a little more. He asked if I was sure he could borrow it. I told him that it was fine b/c I hardly played it due to rocking out on the guitar. So, homeward he went with my bass in hand.
Upon purchasing the Peavey, I promptly told Gerry about the fantastic acquisition. He was excited for me and was kind of sad that he could not find as good of a deal on a bass guitar. I told hiim that I was going to sand it down and stain and seal it, just for kicks. He said he thought that was pretty cool.
Due to its poor aesthetics, like I mentioned previously, I planned to strip the bass of its factory paint and take off all of the stickers, and subsequently stain the would and seal it. Since I had never done such a thing before, I had my buddy, Trevor come to Lowes with me to help me pick out the right materials for the job. We got a custom wood stain, kind of cherry color, and a decentsealant, I didn't want a heavy duty grade because I wanted the seal to fade away with usage. I now had the materials for the project, so now it was time for the action.
I arrived home and set my bass guitar project in motion. I took the bass apart so I could sand it and paint it. It took about 20 minutes to sand it down. I put the first stain on and waited a few days to put on another coat. It took a few applications to get the stain that I wanted. I had to go away for business for a few weeks after I put on the last wood stain layer.
When I returned home, I knew that there was little work left to be done on the bass. I put on the first coat of sealant, and at that moment I decided I would give this awesome bass to my friend, Gerry. I was filled with anticipation as waited for an entire day to put on the final coat of sealant. Then I needed to wait one more day for the final coat to dry. I arrived home early from working out the next morning and put it all of it together.
It was around 7:30 and I thought Gerry might be awake, so I would give him a call to come over. I called Gerry and he didn't answer. I left a message for him to call me and possibly come over before he went to work to check something out. He called me back about 30 seconds later. He said he could show up around 8:00 to check it out.
Gerry showed up at around 8:00 and knocked on the door. I told him to shut his eyes for a moment. I went to grab the bass and said, "Merry Christmas, buddy!" Needless to say he was speechless. He said he couldn't accept it. I told him that it was okay, but I had a stipulation for it (I know one really shouldn't have stipulations when gifts are involved.) I told him that if he ended up not playing anymore and no one in his family used, that he couldn't sell it, he would have to send it back my way. That made him pretty happy and probably made him feel better about receiving the gift. He went to work and then went home and played his very own bass guitar.
I was so happy to shwre the gift of musical instrumentation with my friend, Gerry's wife later called and told me how happy he was to receive it. Merry Christmas to all and God Bless us, everyone.
These are pictures of what the guitar looked like after I sanded, stained and sealed it:
This is Gerry, receiving his Christmas Present
