Shipping
So I own a Warr guitar. What's a Warr guitar? These are big monster instruments that come in many shapes and sizes. Mine has 12 strings - 6 guitar and 6 bass - with separate outputs for each half. You play both halves simultaneously by tapping the strings instead of plucking them. It seems pretty expert and flashy to rock out on this thing, like you have to be a total freak to be able to wrap your brain around both bass and guitar parts but I'll be frank - playing leads and accompaniment simultaneously is what we keyboardists call "basic rudimentary technique." Okay, okay - I'm just being a dick - I admit even as a keyboardist it's actually rather difficult to figure out Warr guitars, and yes they have their own unique functions and musicality. And it's a fun challenge. Plus they are better to play live than keyboards in that nobody fucking cares about keyboard players.
These are all custom instruments built to your own specifications by Mark Warr himself and his tiny staff. My friend and world class genius performer Brian Kenney Fresno is an expert Warr guitarist. He contacted Mark and put in a good word for me, and I got pushed ahead in the queue. Still, it took a long time to make all the decisions about wood and electronics and source all the parts and assemble them. By "long time" I'm talking months. I didn't mind - I was spending a lot of money - over twice than I spent on any other instrument in my collection. So I didn't want to rush anything. One happy day I got word it was done and shipping (from southern California).
I anxiously watched the tracking on line as it took a week to travel north. I had them ship it to my lab at the University in fear it would be left on my doorstep and perhaps stolen while I was at work. Finally the web site said it was sitting at a station in Oakland and due for delivery that morning. I hurried to the lab to make sure I safely received it, sitting at my desk and hitting refresh in my browser every five minutes in anticipation. And finally the site said, "delivered!"
I ran down to the loading dock and talked to Larry who managed incoming shipments and whatnot. He said nothing of the sort arrived. Hunh. I ran back up to my desk and now the web site had some additional scary information: the delivery was signed for by someone named "G. Rossi." Who the hell is that?
Nobody with that name worked at the lab. Maybe it got shipped elsewhere on campus? I frantically searched the university directories and couldn't find that name anywhere. I made calls to various other labs to no avail. Boy was I stressed out.
So I called the shipping company to see if I could get more information about exactly where my guitar ended up. While raising my panicked voice at the human on the other end I suddenly remembered that my old housemate Vicky's last name is "Grossi" which is suspiciously similar to "G. Rossi." Did they ship the guitar to my old house (which I moved out of almost two years ago)?!
I unceremoniously hung up and called Vicky, who was at the old apartment. "Did a big box just arrive with my name on it?" I asked. Yes, it did. Yeesh! After work I went over there and claimed it.
It was quite fortuitous Vicky still lived there and was home at the time to receive it. How my really outdated address ended up on the shipping label instead of my lab address remains a mystery to this day. I admit it could have been my fault, at least partially. In any case - beautiful instrument, had it over 20 years, works great, and it saved my sanity when I broke my left hand as I could still play bass lines with my right (my mental state heavily depends on frequently practicing bass parts along with my record collection).