This is a fantastic post on so many levels.
It is amazing that you found this guitar in such good condition, in the box, with the "case candy." You must feel like I did when I found a 6 switch Atari 2600 with imitation wood grain, in the box, with all the original contents. The nostalgia meter is high.
The beginner guitar with inbuilt speaker concept has been around since the Sears Catalog Silvertone days. I remember seeing guitars like this in the Sears catalog in the early 80s, though they had a Les Paul shape. It's fascinating to see how the concept evolved both stylistically and from a marketing perspective. The Synsonics Terminator looks very similar to the earlier Teisco designs, with the single coil pickups and trem, though it's cosmetically dressed up for the 80s. That box should be in a museum that preserves iconic 80s designs.
The implicit tie in with the Terminator film is amazing. If this guitar was indeed made in 1989, then that must mean that it's referencing the original Terminator film, not the juggernaut that was T2, which only appeared two years later in 1991.
In an amazing twist of synchronicity, I recently purchased a T-120 Samsung VHS tape at a thrift store which somebody used to record the local channels in NYC around Christmas 1989. They left the tape recording in between
White Christmas,
I Love Lucy, and
The Nutcracker, so all the seasonal commercials and local news broadcasts are there. This tape is a time machine back to Christmas 1989. At the very end of the tape is a segment from a Channel 13 fundraising drive showing Itzhak Perlman performing selections from Mozart. That is real shredding.
As far as your demo . . . I mean, c'mon. Everyone here knows you could string some cat whiskers up to to a cigar box and a broomstick and still melt our face. You're AGF's own Itzhak Perlman.
