"In 1966, Tony Acuri competed in the Allegheny Guitar and Accordion Contest. The young guitarist didnуt place and was quite dejected, but there was a silver lining to the defeat. рMy dad said if I won first place overall in 1967, he would buy me any guitar I wanted,с remembers Acuri. рI spent a whole year practicing тMalague√aу and lo and behold, I won the 1967 competition. So the next time I was at my guitar teacherуs studio, I went through his catalogs to pick out a guitar, and I came across Gibsonуs Firebird. The only reason I wanted it was because of the cool emblem on the pickguard!с Acuriуs father put the order in and was charged $291.50яincluding a hardshell case and a $50 up-charge for the custom left-handed setup (shown on the receipt at right). In addition to the left-handed Firebird I, he purchased a Gibson Explorer GA-15RVT amp. It took more than a year for the package to arrive because apparently back in the у60s, the entire production line had to be stopped, shut down, and reset for a left-handed instrument. The best part of this tale is that Acuri still owns and uses both pieces of cherished gear."