FTN 515 (long post)

[oldgeezer]

Hi all! There is a thread on this forum about wanting to find and buy back a guitar you sold/lost years ago.It got me thinking about this:
Some of my earliest memories are of my dad and brothers playing guitar and singing, but they all moved away before I got old enough to learn. On a previous visit on leave while I was still in the military(20+ yrs ago) they had rekindled the desire to learn to play guitar, and my brother taught me G,C,and D.When I got back to Texas(where I was stationed) I was pretty tapped out cash wise, since I had spent all my money while on leave, so I hit the pawn shops looking for a cheap acoustic.Anyway, they were all too expensive, till I found "her".She was hanging on a rack on the wall with 30-40 others.The name on the headstock said Lyle,and I know now that she was a Gibson Hummingbird copy.The top was scratcched up, and the fretboard was so dried out it had several large cracks all up and down it. On the back of the guitar was scratched FTN 515,by what looked like a pocket knife.But the action was sweet, and the tone beautiful.$65 and I took her home with me.
The guitar shop where I began taking lessons sold a product called tres amigos. It was supposed to be for use on fretboards to "keep them from drying out".On the recommendation of my teacher, I bought 3 bottles and took them home with me. Over the course of the next 3-4 days I applied it to the fretboard, pouring it on and letting it soak up what it would until the wood was saturated, letting it sit, and repeating this process until I had used all of the bottles up.At the end of this treatment the cracks in the fretboard had closed up to where you couldn't tell it had ever happened.
I played it for a couple of years, then moved to Florida, where my father and older brother lived. They had both moved away when I was nine after a bitter divorce between my mom and dad, and I wanted to get to know them both better.While there I worked on a golf course and met a friend named Matt. He was a great guitar player, but all he had to play was an old Harmony or Kay(can't remember which) with the strings about an inch and a half off the fretboard. Since I had aquired several guitars while in the military, I let him borrow the Lyle.He loved the guitar. Not only for the tone, but because of FTN 515 scratched on the back. He knew what that meant(and will still know if he's reading this).When I moved to Virginia later, I left the Lyle with him. He had no money, and I knew he would cherish it. And he could make it sing!As the years have passed, I've often thought of that guitar, and it's impossible to do so without thinking of him and all the fun we had together.you see, I lost track of him, but this is the computer generation, the age of the silicon chip.It struck me that with the number of members on this forum, my friend Matt could possibly be a member here. Or he might find his way here one day.I wonder if he still has "her".Either way.I know they made some great music together. So to two long lost friends I say "Thanks for the memories", and thanks everyone for listening.