Guitar Adventures
Frank Lucido in the Valley
San Fernando Valley, Circa 1983-84
Visiting Frank Lucido in the Valley, with Cash in hand and ready to spend!
If I recall correctly, this trip to the USA was in the early to mid 1980s, around the 1983-84 mark, and by this time Frank Lucido had moved from Santa Barabara down to ‘The Valley’ (San Fernando Valley) in the outskirts of Los Angeles. Yes, the same Valley where the movie Valley Girl was set.
On this same trip to Los Angeles, I was also going out to see one of my favourite bands, The Plimsouls, who played a killer set that I have never forgotten. Incidentally, The Plimsouls appeared in the Valley Girl movie too. But I digress…
Frank Lucido’s store in the Valley was not as impressive in terms of size, as his Santa Barbara store, but he did have some tasty vintage Fender guitars on my visit, including some mint condition rarities that he was photographing when I was there. They were out of my price range at the time, but I did scoop up a couple of nice pieces to bring home to Australia.
Note the white 1963 Stratocaster to the left, only $1599, and the 1958 Blonde Stratocaster with gold parts above, and a price tag that either says $1599, or $4599, hard to tell. $1599 seems too low, and $4599 too high…
Lake Placid Blue Heaven!
During the mid 1980s, we were all after custom colour guitars, with Lake Placid Blue being one of the sought after colours. How convenient then that Frank had two rather nice pieces on offer during my visit. However he also had one of my all-time favourite Telecasters, the bound body sunburst Telecaster Custom.
During the 1980s here in Australia, Both Phil and Tommy Emmanuel used to play these types of Telecasters, as too did one of my favourite songwriters, Mark Moffatt from Matt Finish. Sadly however, it was sold, which left me with the two Lake Placid Blue guitars on offer, the mid 60s L Series Telecaster and L Series Jazzmaster.
While I was not a big fan of Jazzmasters, I decided go for the pair with the intent off selling the Jazzmaster on my return to Australia. Neither guitar was what you would call pristine condition. I was not entirely certain the Telecaster was original finish, the Jazzmaster certainly was, but the Telecaster was a great guitar to play, with an excellent neck.
On my return I put the Jazzmaster up for sale, and it was bought by Faye Reid from a local Sydney band called The Party Girls. (which is odd given she was the bass player). I kept the Telecaster for a while, but as usual, eventually put it up for sale and away it went…I really should have kept this one as it was such a good player, and I never did get myself a Sunburst Telecaster Custom!
Note the Esquire to the left of the Lake Placid Blue Telecaster, a bargain at only $1799!
