GUEST: My parents moved to Hamilton, Illinois, and my dad got a job at Montgomery Ward Store, and while he was working there, he bought this guitar for me. I believe it was for my birthday, they bought it for me, and when he bought the amplifier that goes with it, he had to get a used one and he apologized that the amplifier had to be used because he'd spent all his money for the guitar.
APPRAISER: Now do you remember about what year that was?
GUEST: It was either '55 or '56.
APPRAISER: And did you used to play in any kind of a band with it?
GUEST: No, no I kind of taught myself to play a few songs, and I really never did get very good at it, because I like to work on a farm with cattle and stuff. I was always mashing my fingers, you know, so I just never did really get good at it.
APPRAISER: So as a result, the guitar never really got played a whole lot, so it's in what we would call almost-new condition. It's called the Les Paul TV special, and they painted it this certain color so that it would show up well on the old black-and-white TV sets, but it is indeed a 1956 with a single cut-away, and it was sold as an economy guitar when it was new. A Les Paul TV special in this condition will have a retail value of about $11,000 to $12,000.
GUEST: That's good.
APPRAISER: That's good.
