I had seen them in git mags, those full back cover ads and was like, MAN that's nice. I had a stable of strats and others and wasn't really looking. As was my ritual, I went to GC in central Dallas one Saturday morning and saw what I now think was a Whale Blue Santana. Having an American Hamer with the same body style, I was interested. I had never ever played a guitar that was as effortless to play, bend, and overall enjoy. The price tag made me put it back quickly, and... carefully. After that, I had interest but no real funds to afford an unneeded guitar. Eventually, I played a few more and continued my long distance broke love affair. In 04 after moving to Hawaii, I was back in the store on a family visit, my lady in tow. I picked out a cherry sunburst McCarty to fool around on and liked it. I was jamming around on it as she looked around at different stuff. Suddenly, the sales guy brought over the case and candy and was like "here you go", and I was like, "I didn't buy this", and he was like,"No, but she did". I look over and she's waving the receipt.....it was a joy.