~ Longest road trip for a guitar?

Open topic / question: What's the longest road trip you've taken to pursue or purchase a guitar (Westone or other)? I keep finding Ws that are around 10hrs round-trip, and none of them are really worth it... but tempting, none the less. Just curious... "talk amongst yourselves - no big deal" (Coffeetalk SNL reference)...

Does getting someone on another continent to do the spadework count?

Sure, why not. I was thinking in light of inflated gas prices, but you've probably got the best stories of all, some c'mon, let us have it!

Ok, then... Spectrum GT from Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England to Waihola in the south of New Zealand, a distance of about 19,000km.
Aria Pro II Inazuma I from Los Angeles to Christchurch, New Zealand.... about half the above.

Last one never arrived...

holycrap! "The last one never arrived" - there be pirates, here!

i drove 2 1/2 hours each way to purchase a 1970's Guild F412 blonde, to match my 1975 Guild F50 blonde. together they make a stunningly beautiful pair. spruce tops and maple sides and backs. (there is currently a listing on SFCraigslist for a pair similar to these and they are asking $2500.)
and on another day i drove 2 hours each way to pickup a hardshell case for the 12 string.
that was over 2 years ago and i don't regret it for one second. i figure that if you are going to keep and play the instrument for many many years, then a few hours on the road is no big deal, and easily forgotten. but the enjoyment of the guitars goes on and on and on....

Was once looking forward to a 1hour road trip. Then I hit a massive (stress that) traffic jam and was stuck in it for 2h30. Parked the car, jumped on the first train and agreed with the seller to meet me at some small station in the middle of nowhere.

I was lucky the seller agreed to do the drive to join me. The whole thing took me a little under 4 hours. Not huge but the distance between my home and the seller's was about 50-60 miles, so that's a killer.

Now I'm getting emotional... I'm a little verklempt... no big whoop.



Sometimes the distance driven is overshadowed by what you GIVE UP to make the trip.

I spent 5 hours getting my Dynasty, but it was DURING THE SUPERBOWL!!! So I missed it.

Sometimes ya gotta do what ya gotta do.

Those Guilds are beautiful Mike.

I once taught with a guy back in the 70's who played one and it was a very impressive instrument. "My big thumpin' Guild" he called it.
We often did assemblies together, me with my MIJ El Degas "Dove" replica. Could hardly hear it over the Guild.
Don't think I've seen one 'in the flesh' since.

Those Guilds ARE very nice indeey.

Longest trip for a guitar, South Africa and back to the UK. That wasn't the only reason for the journey though.

i got the 6-string back in the early 80's from a good friend, who got it new in '75. it is the loudest acoustic guitar i have ever heard. it has amazing sound, full and rich. really sweet to play, but it takes work. the guitar plays best if it has medium strings on it, so got to have the fingers in good shape to really enjoy playing it.

for many years i had dreamed of pairing up the 6-string with a 12-string of the same model. the 12-string was on craigslist for about 2 months with no takers. it was killing me looking at it there all that time. eventually, i figured that 412 was probably the closest i would ever get to making a match, so i decided to go for it. i still haven't seen a 512 anywhere.

The Chad wrote:
I spent 5 hours getting my Dynasty, but it was DURING THE SUPERBOWL!!! So I missed it.

During the ad break?

My first Westone was my black Concord I which my sister-in-law drove 80 miles into the San Diego area to meet the Craigslist seller to pick up for me. Then dropped it off at the UPS Store in Lakeside, CA and from there on to Minnesota.

Drove just shy of 700 miles on a Saturday down to Janesville, WI for the Electra JazzStrad and a MusicMan RD-112 One Hundred.

Picked up a Hondo Professional Lead II on ebay from Topeka, KS for Westbone and then sent it along to him from Minnesota.

Last but not least I THOUGHT I had a red x300 sown up in Thousand Oaks, CA for my sister there to pick up and send me... but Mike had different ideas.

I'm lovin that Beavis almost had a threefer: <plane>, train & automobile.

drsyn67 wrote:I'm lovin that Beavis almost had a threefer: <plane>, train & automobile.

Ha yeah, I felt like Ethan Hunt, sort of. The seller, some sweet girl in her 20s was really cool though. I remember calling her up at some point after I had parked the car. Told her I was on the verge of tears I was so pissed off. Heehee, she must of thought I was wacko or something. And it wasn't easy getting the beast (MIJ strat replica, might post some pics of it, interesting guitar) as someone else was one it first. Anyway, happy end for me

Not sure if this is longest, but it is long, I spent a couple of years in Indonesia, ( Bandung city ) I had a guy in a small company make me a couple of guitars, generally copies of known brands, but made with my own mods, so I had a Gi*son L*s P**l mad for my friends son in Romania, It left Bandung with a mate of mine back to Prestwick ( Scotland ) and then was posted to Bucharest Romania, the guy loves it , his number one guitar, that was seven years ago.
Cheers.

I can't recall what the longest trek for a guitar (I owned to many!!!!!!!!)..but for an amp..
(btwL regarding my mutliple guitars..nothing really expensive,mind you....my motto is "If you can't make a $500 sing....you probably can't play).

So back OT......
My longest trek was for an amp...I drove 9 hrs each way and stayed over at a hotel. I wind up doing these treks every now and then,so...its a hobby/sickness/addiction.

That was for a Randall RM4 amp..they are quite good...like Mats guitars...underappreciatted.

GtrGeorge