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Re: Michael Angelo\'s stolen Quad X returned!
Well guys, I am the person who actually bought the guitar from a pawn shop here in my home town of El Paso, Texas. Just in case anybody is wondering I didn't steal it, I was probably still in middle school when it was stolen. I actually still have the receipt from where I purchased it.
When I first saw the guitar at the pawn shop it honestly looked like a piece of s**t. I remember even making that comment to the sales person. I really didn't know what it was. I thought it was homemade. I didn't recognize the brand name on the headstock and the bodies were screwed on to an aluminum plate that was missing about 5 screws. So the bodies were actually just dangling on the plate. I actually thought it was a doubleneck lap steel guitar. Since the bodies were only being held by three screws, the bodies were sitting parallel to each other.
I initailly walked away but curiosity got the best of me. I asked for a second look and noticed that it had Gibson made in the USA neckplates. Then I figured that I must be some kind of Custom Shop piece, so I put it in layway.
After I paid for it and took it home I realized how the guitar bodies were supposed to fit and only one person came into mind, Michael Angelo. I checked out his website and saw a few pics of his guitars, one with the Ritz logo and the Quad neck guitar with Gibson Necks. By then I really thought that my guitar could have been a version of the Quad that had the necks replaced at some time. It looked almost identical but the bodies didn't line up the same on the aluminum plate and my guitar had Ritz guitar necks.
I continued doing some research on the guitar but really couldn't find any info on Ritz guitars, except on Ed Roman's website. I even called up Ed Roman and spoke to him on the phone. All he told me was to send it to him and he would buy it from me, but I really wasn't up for that and I really hadn't heard very many good things about him so continued my search for more info.
From Ed's site I found out that Wayne Charvel was involved with Ritz guitars so I took pictures and sent them to the email listed with Wayne Guitars website. I remember asking for info on the guitar and whether it was built for Michael Angelo and Michael Charvel responded saying only that his father built the guitar but offered no other information other than his father had built many guitars for Angelo.
<font color="red"> Transcript </font>
During some one of my searches I found a transcript of Nitro on Headbangers ball and there he stated that his Quad guitar had been stolen in El Paso, Texas. When I read that I was pretty much floored. I really felt that my guitar could could probably a portion of the Quad guitar, I wan't sure. If this was actually true then it lot of sense to me because the bodies never really aligned to the aluminum plate correctly. I thought maybe this part of the plate was for the other two necks.
My last attempt for information before selling was posting a thread in the original Ezboard JCF forum. I posted pictures of the guitar and Angelo's Quad guitar and asked if anyone thought that there might be a relation between the two or if my guitar might actually be part of the Quad. Everyone pretty much said that it was not the same guitar because they didn't the bodies didn't line up the same way and my guitar had Ritz Necks.
It was then that I put it on ebay and then pulled that auction after 3 days with not even one bid with a starting price of $500. After pulling it I recieved an email from Simon Jones offering to buy it for a few hundred dollars above my starting bid. I really just wanted to get another guitar that I could actually play. So I sold it to jones.
It wasn't until about two months ago that I finally saw a picture of the quad with the Ritz necks on Michael Angelo's website and then I really almost knew that it was the same guitar. I really felt that those pictures were my smoking gun. It was the first time I had seen the quad with Ritz Necks and confirmed all of my assumptions.
Below are the pics that I have from when the guitar was in my posession along with the reciept from the pawn shop. Hope this clears things up.
Notice how the bodies don't really align compared the the original quad.
The only picture I had to work with
Notice how that bodies hang off the plate by about half an inch.
Gibson Neckplate
My original reciept.
Well guys, I am the person who actually bought the guitar from a pawn shop here in my home town of El Paso, Texas. Just in case anybody is wondering I didn't steal it, I was probably still in middle school when it was stolen. I actually still have the receipt from where I purchased it.
When I first saw the guitar at the pawn shop it honestly looked like a piece of s**t. I remember even making that comment to the sales person. I really didn't know what it was. I thought it was homemade. I didn't recognize the brand name on the headstock and the bodies were screwed on to an aluminum plate that was missing about 5 screws. So the bodies were actually just dangling on the plate. I actually thought it was a doubleneck lap steel guitar. Since the bodies were only being held by three screws, the bodies were sitting parallel to each other.
I initailly walked away but curiosity got the best of me. I asked for a second look and noticed that it had Gibson made in the USA neckplates. Then I figured that I must be some kind of Custom Shop piece, so I put it in layway.
After I paid for it and took it home I realized how the guitar bodies were supposed to fit and only one person came into mind, Michael Angelo. I checked out his website and saw a few pics of his guitars, one with the Ritz logo and the Quad neck guitar with Gibson Necks. By then I really thought that my guitar could have been a version of the Quad that had the necks replaced at some time. It looked almost identical but the bodies didn't line up the same on the aluminum plate and my guitar had Ritz guitar necks.
I continued doing some research on the guitar but really couldn't find any info on Ritz guitars, except on Ed Roman's website. I even called up Ed Roman and spoke to him on the phone. All he told me was to send it to him and he would buy it from me, but I really wasn't up for that and I really hadn't heard very many good things about him so continued my search for more info.
From Ed's site I found out that Wayne Charvel was involved with Ritz guitars so I took pictures and sent them to the email listed with Wayne Guitars website. I remember asking for info on the guitar and whether it was built for Michael Angelo and Michael Charvel responded saying only that his father built the guitar but offered no other information other than his father had built many guitars for Angelo.
<font color="red"> Transcript </font>
During some one of my searches I found a transcript of Nitro on Headbangers ball and there he stated that his Quad guitar had been stolen in El Paso, Texas. When I read that I was pretty much floored. I really felt that my guitar could could probably a portion of the Quad guitar, I wan't sure. If this was actually true then it lot of sense to me because the bodies never really aligned to the aluminum plate correctly. I thought maybe this part of the plate was for the other two necks.
My last attempt for information before selling was posting a thread in the original Ezboard JCF forum. I posted pictures of the guitar and Angelo's Quad guitar and asked if anyone thought that there might be a relation between the two or if my guitar might actually be part of the Quad. Everyone pretty much said that it was not the same guitar because they didn't the bodies didn't line up the same way and my guitar had Ritz Necks.
It was then that I put it on ebay and then pulled that auction after 3 days with not even one bid with a starting price of $500. After pulling it I recieved an email from Simon Jones offering to buy it for a few hundred dollars above my starting bid. I really just wanted to get another guitar that I could actually play. So I sold it to jones.
It wasn't until about two months ago that I finally saw a picture of the quad with the Ritz necks on Michael Angelo's website and then I really almost knew that it was the same guitar. I really felt that those pictures were my smoking gun. It was the first time I had seen the quad with Ritz Necks and confirmed all of my assumptions.
Below are the pics that I have from when the guitar was in my posession along with the reciept from the pawn shop. Hope this clears things up.
Notice how the bodies don't really align compared the the original quad.
The only picture I had to work with
Notice how that bodies hang off the plate by about half an inch.
Gibson Neckplate
My original reciept.
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