A colleague is selling one of his guitars to raise money for the Tsunami Appeal. He will donate all proceeds. Also, our employer has promised to match the donation, therefore doubling the sale price of the guitar.

It is red Fender Telecaster JD Limited Edition which is in excellent condition. It comes in a padded flight case.

The approximate value is £450 and it will be sold to the highest bidder.

To make your bid PM me. Also, if you have any questions about the guitar, or if you want to try it out and live near Newcastle Upon Tyne, let me know.

Sorry to sound like a cold hearted ass, but this media hyped tsunami melt down is getting on my nerves. & big time.
The UN estimates that 50.000 people die each week as a consequence of conflicts & war & diseases. This is mostly in Africa though, so who gives a shit.
Don't get me wrong - I feel really bad about all the victims in Asia, but put the whole thing into perspective. had the victims been just Sumatra and Sri lanka citizens, even if there were 200.000 of them, the death toll would be a small Reuters telegram notice on p. 14 in the newspaper. :rant:

well put Dr Sprtsch :applaud:

Thanks mantpl.
Though I feel a bit bad now putting my rant on the board here- I DO hope the Fender sale will raise cash. Just don't forget the other vidtims around. Bam,Iran - remember? Afghanistan,civil war in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Ivory Coast you name it...

I feel you may be correct and cannot disagree with the thrust of your argument but the point is - do you want a classic guitar? If you do you may as well buy this one, especially seeing as the cold hearted exploit Asia multi-national we work for will be putting their hands into their pockets. The more you bid, the more they put in.

Personally I'm suspicious of charity as a whole but if someone else wants to do something then i won't stand in there way.

This would be a good debate on the General thread but as it is 'buy sell exchange' then please just let me try and help my colleague link up with a buyer.

Yeah - so please, could someone move the rant to General Chat?

yes, it's wrong to focus on this disaster just because western tourists were involved. But newspapers and the media exist not only to inform, but to sell units. It's naive to expect otherwise. In any case, the good newspapers would have given considerable coverage to the disaster even if no westerners had been involved. Finally, the deaths of several thousand westerners is not more important than those of several hundered thousand Indonesians...each death is as tragic as any other...but this is no reason not to mourn one's own dead.

the logic that says i should grieve more over the tragic death of one of my countrymen than the tragic death of any other human escapes me.

I suppose it comes down to a question of patriotism. I personally don't believe in the concept of being a traitor, except in specific circumstances like war (and not spurious wars as in Iraq). Therefore I don't think I owe anything special to my country, it is an accident of birth that I hold a British passport.

This has been a most catastrophic event, I can think of nothing more so, I was moved by the quake in Bam & especially Bhuj in Gujarat, a city I had visited twice, but this is on a completely different level.
I am saddened to see such negative attitudes to attempts to give as much aid as possible as quickly as possible.
I know it does not exist in isolation, but this one single, overwhelming event will have far greater effects on the world than we can predict today.
I know that deaths from AIDS in Africa is probably the biggest single thing to worry about, I know that malaria kills masses, I know that clean drinking water is vital etc etc etc…. but this transcends it in its sudden & colossal effect.
I believe that the presence of Western tourists has merely served as a focus. Bringin’ it all back home..... “Shit that could have been me”.... & I know, it really could have been me; I have been to nearly every place blasted by this wave.
And forget ye not, many people in our fortunate countries have lost or are seeking loved ones
Initially, I was revolted by the “40 westerners from 40000” headline, but gradually, I have come to realise that it is only by breaking things down that we can even begin to comprehend the magnitude.
What will the locals think about the dead tourists? I imagine they will hope that more will come, their livelihood depends upon it.
I really hope (and would pray, were I a prayin man) that we never see such an event in our lifetime again, but I also hope that from this there may rise a spirit of allegiance between donors & victims.
Unbelievably, John Howard, the old tightarse himself has donated a billion of our Australian Dollars to Indonesia, a country which he, and many more here obviously distrust. This is the first time that I can say since I “signed up” that I feel honoured to be an Australian.
And if your world crumbles, lets hope that someone is willing to help you too. Quickly, generously & without strings.

For many areas in Asia, tourism, heroin, prostitution, sweat shops producing 'designer gear' provide the main sources of income. Why? And now to make matters worse, charity. Why? Maybe people's 'contributions' might move beyond throwing a few coins into a bucket. Can we look forward to seeing people taking an active interest in this part of the world which isn't related to any of the above? It was depressing to read that the money raised would be used to ensure that, once the immediate problems (the magnitude of which nobody is underestimating) were sorted out, the staus quo would be resumed. The papers showed pictures of tourists returning to the beaches, no doubt availing of the cheap drink, drugs, sex to which they are so accustomed to. And , worse still, 'local' people (i wont go into who these local people are and whose interests they represent because it just doesnt bear thinking about) encouraging tourists to return at the earliest possible opportunity :banghead:

I've moved the post to General....

Well Northern Sumatra is not a hot tourist spot & that's getting lots of attention here in Aus.

I was around there 12 yrs ago; most unwelcoming actually.


I begrudge them nothing.

(Tsunamis tend to hit beaches, something about the interfsace between land & sea)
The world is complex., but this is something from a different level. many of the other affairs mentioned are chronic,long term issues, that need chipping away at. If help is not delivered FAST, the death toll will escalate from water borne disease. Misery is being compunded by the minute.

Send money NOW.

The highest bid he has received so far is £225.

Get yer bids in now.

I'll avoid ideology and just say that I love telecasters. I am sure this is a great, quality guitar.

Top bid now £350. Auction closes this Friday (14th Jan).

Tis a fabulous guitar y'know.

The guitar has been sold. It went for £500.

That means a donation of £1000 to the Tsunami appeal.

it's good to raise money whatever the reasons... i wish there was more unity though...but everyone feels screwed ...

even so...it's good to raise money :applaud: