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Joined:
May 2009
Posts: 1433
Location: Right now? | http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lOL39ROknpg
Gorgeous, and the back! Look at that back! Drool, as some of you say, lol.
And here's another ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04urAaL00VQ&NR=1 |
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Joined:
May 2009
Posts: 1433
Location: Right now? | And a 1928-30 Martin KOA ukele. So this is "guitar porn" fer sure:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bby0NS27udk&NR=1 |
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Joined:
May 2008
Posts: 1559
Location: Indiana | I was staying in the beach house of a songwriter friend of mine down on the gulf coast once.
Got up the first morning and saw a Martin propped up in the corner. Picked it up and started visiting with it when I was informed that it was built in the 1890's.
I immediately couldn't help wondering about all the people that had made her sing through the years and the stories she could tell. Just an awesome thing to hold in your hands. Then I started spooking myself about being the guy after all those decades who busted something on it and had to put it down...
Be just my luck.
I'd like to think someone will be keeping my guitars alive and fed a hundred years from now. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15676
Location: SoCal | There used to be, in Torrance, a small guitar store down the street from a Guitar Center. It was in the corner of a small shopping center. I went in once and discovered that along with all the cheap guitars they had, was an old Martin from the 1890's or there abouts. The owner let me play it and I thought the same kind of thoughts.... wonder who's played it in the past?
About 15 years ago the shopping center burned down and along with it, that guitar store and probably that old Martin. I still think about it every time I drive past..... |
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Joined:
September 2006
Posts: 10777
Location: Keepin' It Weird in Portland, OR | Willa, Antiques Roadshow sez six to eight thousand dollars...
I think the appraiser was trying to low-ball him and snag it for himself.
I believe that any 140 year-old guitar in playing condition should be worth that much and that particular one, more than that.
Hearing him describe the features and materials of that guitar... :eek:
I've seen lesser guitars in my local shop listed for more money. |
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Joined:
March 2008
Posts: 2683
Location: Hot Springs, S.D. | I've got an old parlor guitar hanging here in the shop. It is not in playable shape. At some point the bridge lifted and somebody did a lousey job re-gluing it, plus it has two cracks in the top. There are no identifying marks on it but when I looked on-line I found guitars that were ALMOST identical, and they were from the 1850's. This guitar has a wooden herringbone binding and the back and sides are gorgeous Brazilian rosewood. I picked it up at a consignment shop for ten bucks. I have a "Not for sale" tag on it but it makes a nice conversation piece. I'd love to find out what it is and get it repaired, but it would cost quite a bit. If I ever get around to buying a digital camera I will post some pics. |
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Joined:
April 2006
Posts: 1017
Location: Budd Lake, NJ | $6,000-$8,000?
You can drop that on a modern guitar without the provenance or the accoutrements of that one. I was expecting him to say more like $10,000-$15,000 (and maybe even higher.)
I was browsing Mandolin Bros. on-line once and they had some pretty pricey things there; I don't remember some of them going that low.
Still, to have a guitar in the family that long, that's preeeetty special. I wonder how long ol' Gertrude will be around.......
--Karen |
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Joined:
February 2002
Posts: 5750
Location: Scotland | Originally posted by Old Man Arthur:
Willa, Antiques Roadshow sez six to eight thousand dollars...
I think the appraiser was trying to low-ball him and snag it for himself.
I believe that any 140 year-old guitar in playing condition should be worth that much and that particular one, more than that.
First of all the expert got at least a couple of facts wrong. Secondly, the valuation does seem a little low, but not by much. Martin guitars from that period are historically important but that's about all. They were designed for gut strings, so their potential market is limited. Classical guitarists aren't interested because they don't have the power and projection of a modern concert instrument, and they don't produce what is now perceived as the classic Martin sound. So they are very much antique guitars or museum pieces rather than "Vintage Martins" There's a lot of trashed 19th Century Martins around because later in their lives they got steel strings when players saw the pinned bridge and assumed the obvious. A cedar neck with no trussrod doesn't like steel strings either. Martin eventually started building for steel strings in the late 1920's and that's when they took off, with the OM's, D's and 14 fret necks. It's those pre-war "Golden Era" Martins that command the crazy money. |
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Joined:
March 2002
Posts: 15676
Location: SoCal | I've got a 1914 0018 that's a family heirloom. It's a nylon string and has a great sound, but I doubt if it's worth more than a couple grand. My next guitar project is to put some money into it. It's ready for a neck reset and a general sprucing up. |
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Joined:
March 2005
Posts: 5567
Location: Blue Ridge Mountains | I was the manager of Three Guys Music in Hampton Virginia in 1984...It was in the fall with Christmas coming...a guy walked in with an old black coffin case which contained a 1866 Martin w/Brz. Rosewood back and sides...the dates of manufacture were written in pencil on the underside of the tops...that one was Appraised by Gruhn @ $1200...that was a fortune to me at the time and I had to let it pass...
FF to now...I wouldn't let my '48 D-28 go for anything... |
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Joined:
May 2009
Posts: 1433
Location: Right now? | Arthur, I agree with you about his under estimation. That guitar looked GOOD, haha, and when the appraiser picked it up and played it a little bit, I thought the same thing you did; that he'd try to talk the guy into selling it to him. I'd never let it go for that price.
I bought a Martin D-28 in 1971 as a surprise gift to my ex. He never played it. It looks like it did the day I bought it, but he'd never give it back to me. I wish I still had that one, and I wish I'd bought it for myself. Woulda, shoulda, coulda, I guess ...
Surely there are gems out there. Now with the availability of the information highway, people naturally are more informed, and not so quick to let stuff go. I worked with a woman who had stored an original Les Paul under her bed, like, FOREVER. It was MINT. At the time, she was asking $1,000 for it and I didn't have the money! Arrrrgggh!
:( |
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Wow ... 19th century parlor
