Hello, from NoVa USA

Hi there,

I always think it's good form to introduce oneself when joining a new club (forum). My name is Fred, and I live in Northern Virginia, USA. I'm returning to guitar after a very long layoff; as I told my son-in-law the other night, if the Internet had existed when I first learned to play, I'd be AWESOME today!

My first guitar was an old Sears Kay that I bought from my neighbor friend. Its neck was bowed and the action was horrible, but it was easy for me to convert from playing piano in my parents' basement to carrying my music around with me. I bought a 12-string Framus when I was attending college in Germany. Later, I swapped some stereo equipment for a 1957 Gibson ES-225. I still have those two guitars.

I played for 22 years until I shattered my left elbow (I'm a right-handed player). The immobility and the rut I was in caused me to put my guitars in their cases, where they stayed for years.

Now, getting up in years and living alone, I've felt the desire to start playing again. The church band has invited me to play with them, so there is my motivation. I took my guitars to a luthier for some professional TLC, and thinking they would be there for a while, bought two new guitars. My BIg Baby Taylor-e arrived yesterday, and my new Fender Stratocaster is scheduled to arrive within a week.

So, here I am, wanting to catch up on years of inactivity. I feel like (and properly so) I'm starting at square one. Be kind to me, folks. as my sales engineer at Sweetwater said the other day when I was asking about cords, "Oh, those are pretty retro." To which I replied, "That's me 100% -- I"m totally retro!"