Can't remember how or why, but I somehow got my hands on a Gibson guitars brochure
just when I'd started taking a real interest in Top of the Pops
and buying records around age 12..
I hadn't even considered learning to play yet,
but was just interested in the pictures.
Like I would be with something like the Ladybird Books, or collectable cards out of tea packets.
Anyway, even then I took a dislike to all the over-ornate guitars smotherered in fancy pearl and gold bling..
My standout favourite was the plain and simple SG.
All the others looked too old fashioned.
The SG looked modern, and was what I noticed my favourite bands playing on the telly...

Even then around 1971, I must have been developing a proto punk rock sensibility
for plainer cheaper minimilistic guitars...

These days I only own a handfull of guitars with gold hardware..
Not by choice, only because they were heftily discountsd in sales,
and no cheaper chrome or nickel options were available...