I went to Mozingo Music’s Insider Connection launch party tonight. Mozingo has had a customer loyalty program for a while, but with a revamp of the program, they decided to throw a little send off for the IC.

Since my office is near the store in O’Fallon, I just hung around, got some dinner, and went over to the shop as they were reopening for the event. Frankly, it was kinda sparsely attended. I don’t know exactly why that was, but there was nothing nearing the “crowd” status I was expecting. However, with the smaller crowds, Chris, Matt and Eric were able to spend some real quiality time with me.

Ordinarily, I wouldn’t feel comfortable taking two hours of their collective time just kicking the tires on guitars I’m not likely to buy, but with nothing much going on at the store, they were more than happy to put guitar after guitar in my hands. I played A/E’s, hollowtop electrics, solidbody electrics… probably a dozen six stringed beauties. This also gave me the chance to play several brands — some new guitars, some old (the oldest I played was a 1967 Gibson) — but I kept coming back to the Takamines.

Among others, Mozingo had a ETN10BC bearclaw spruce limited edition (Natural line) and a TAN15C with a Cool Tube preamp in it (Supernatural line). Man, the TAN15C really sounded good, but the feel of the ETN10BC in my hands was glorious! It’s definitely a step up from my EF740SGN, and really played well. I was making music easily with it, and could feel differences between it and my ‘740. Unfortunately, it’s just not the right time to be putting another guitar in the rotation — vacation is impending!

As I talked with Matt about vacation coming in a couple of weeks, I told him that I was looking to find some kind of “campfire” guitar that could go to Branson with me for the fiddle convention, or go roadtripping with me. Ideally, it’d be something inexpensive, that would play “well enough” for me to continue practicing daily without carrying my more expensive guitars with me. Matt showed me a couple of Yamahas as food for thought, but again, the timing just wasn’t right to put another pony in the corral.

The night wound on with Eric showing me more about the Cool Tube preamp in the TAN15C — man, that’s a cool toy! — and then he realized it was time to draw a ticket for the grand prize for the night. There couldn’t have been more than a dozen-and-a-half tickets in the fishbowl. Even with those odds, I didn’t figure to have my ticket pulled, but sure ’nuff, it was! And what was the grand prize?

A new guitar!

Now, it isn’t anything extraordinary — an Ibanez “Jam Pack” with an IJV50 acoustic guitar, gig bag, and tuner. This is really designed for someone just starting out — but it is exactly what I need for taking on roadtrips and to Branson. I’m absolultely floored, and can’t hardly believe the fortuitous timing.

Watch out desert — I’m coming, packing a six-string!!!

(BTW, you can see a photo of me with my major award here!)