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There's a thrift store at the mall by my parents house. I was craving a sammich at Firehouse Subs. So after I gorged my face with meats and hot sauce, I swung by to see what knick knacks they had, and look what I found:

A 1960's/70's National SG430-2GT. For $50. Fuck yes. Bought it without thinking twice. Took it home, got the sticker it had off of it and tuned it to pitch. It's got tons of mojo, but the frets are ok, and it weighs almost nothing. It looks like it had a trem originally, but it's been removed and replaced with a stop bar tailpiece. If it works when I plug it in, it'll be a win. And if not, it'll look awesome on my wall.

And pics!

Before:


And without that fucking sticker

My congratulations, looks like a very interesting guitar. It has a three peice laminated bolt on neck. I bet it is an example of rebranding in 60's and this guitar was made in Japan.

Total Win at $50. Demo please.

I hate stickers on my guitars with one exception:

Wow...What a score! Here is one on Ebay for $599.

That looks glorious! SO JEALOUS.

The internet is full of info (and porn)... here's info courtesy of tabdog over at squier-talk

They were imported from Japan and sold in 1972 or so by Strum & Drum in Chicago

Since Chicago has one of the larger (but not the largest) Puerto Rican populations in the mainland US, it would make sense to me that the guitar was purchased by a Puerto Rican who lived or studied in Chicago, and brought it back to PR when they returned. Or a serviceman who was stationed in PR (we had several bases up until the late 90's).

Anyway, some related pics







From what I've read, the guitar originally had gold hardware and a vibrola-ish trem, which has been replaced with a stopbar tailpiece (gonna leave it). Also, the original tuners were gold trapezoids, replaced with Kluson Keystone replicas. When I get home from work, I'm gonna pop off the pickguard and find out what the pickups are, and what needs to be replaced to get it working.

Ibanez sold them too, Adalita from Magic Dirt used to have one as her #1

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I think that GFS has that same trem for cheap from the original National catalog! Might be better way to cover those screw holes!