Alembic Guitars Club

Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: gtrguy on February 11, 2016, 08:26:12 PM

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: gtrguy on February 11, 2016, 08:26:12 PM

Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
 
70 year old snare drum, circa early 40?s Slingerland Radio King
 
Show me your old musical instrument examples, this one is cool (it's not mine, just one on EBay).
 
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Slingerland-Radio-King-Snare-6-1-2-X-14-30s-HARLEQUIN-BRASS-RIMS-DRUM-/111899017851?hash=item1a0db3827b:g:pC8AAOSwezVWt45Y (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Slingerland-Radio-King-Snare-6-1-2-X-14-30s-HARLEQUIN-BRASS-RIMS-DRUM-/111899017851?hash=item1a0db3827b:g:pC8AAOSwezVWt45Y)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: sonicus on February 11, 2016, 09:11:56 PM

I would think that how carefully and lovingly that an instrument was cared for is relative to it's condition. I have some very old brass instruments that look great and play great as well . One from 1920 another from 1932 another 1937 and yet another 1947  etc ... etc ... . It's all relative . I can & will post pictures of my horns ! LOL !  
Show and tell ! I will have time to post the pictures early next week .  
 
Wolf

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: elwoodblue on February 11, 2016, 09:54:29 PM

Check out this 80's G&L SB-2 ...this guy must play it in his sleep.  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225367.jpg)
  Here's a '69 goldtop I have,  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225368.jpg)
  ...and it being played in'72 before Red Rhodes added the strat pup. All the checking happened on the road in the seventies with the guitarist pictured. (The band is Tongue)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225369.jpg)
   They played several shows with the Dead, around Wisconsin.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: elwoodblue on February 11, 2016, 10:07:06 PM

a thought...
 The misc. section might be a better subforum for this, since it will be more than just an ebay PSA.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: edwardofhuncote on February 12, 2016, 06:40:22 AM

I used this old 1930's Kalamazoo mandolin for an album cover once...  
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225389.jpg)
 
...always loved the way the finish had reacted with the pickguard material, producing a weird crazing.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: StephenR on February 12, 2016, 09:25:38 AM

Here are a couple of pics of my 50+ year old instruments. After seeing some of the pictures already posted they seem to be in better shape than I thought.  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225404.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225405.jpg)
  1961 Brazilian Rosewood Martin D-21  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225406.jpg)
  1964 Precision Bass  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225407.jpg)
  1964 Stratocaster

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: gtrguy on February 12, 2016, 09:46:17 AM

Here is the snare from my first post on this thread(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225414.jpg)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: edwardofhuncote on February 12, 2016, 09:50:18 AM

Oh man... that D-21 is incredible!

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: keith_h on February 12, 2016, 09:52:29 AM

Can't leave out Willie's guitar.  
 
Keith
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225417.jpg)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: ed_zeppelin on February 12, 2016, 11:37:40 AM

quote: ... just don't have the interest in doing the right thing re-building it 99% original parts25.00?
 
I wonder why that 25.00 is tacked on the description? Perhaps the seller may have pasted the description from the original auction, in which case that may be the price they paid.
 
I'm not faulting the seller - even though it suggests a possible 1,000% profit margin - my point is that it's rare to find real deals on eBay any more.
 
That snare was probably untouched for 80 years or more (according to the old Slingerland catalogs (http://www.vintagedrumguide.com/slingerland_catalog_pages.html), it appears to be @ 1936 confetti finish Radio King - their student model) and it has to have suffered the worst extremes of heat and cold for the finish to have disintegrated like that.  
 
To paraphrase Alan Watts; the difference between wealth and money is that you walk into a grocery store with money, and leave with wealth. I'd venture to say that the same is true of price and value.  
 
Is it worth $280? All I can say is: not to me.
 
My dad met a man who claimed to have a Stradivarius violin. He wanted to know what it was worth, so he took some pictures and sent them to me. It was in a similar condition as that snare. Nobody had touched it in at least a generation or more, and the wood was cracked, parts were missing and weird molds were growing on the case.  
 
I told him that it was worthless, that zillions of Strad copies had been made and that all of Stradivarius' violins are accounted for (the really valuable instruments are his violas, by the way, because you can't have a strad quartet without one. One sold for $45MILLION (http://www.bloomberg.com/bw/articles/2014-06-24/45-million-stradivarius-would-set-new-record-price-for-instruments), making it the most expensive musical instrument in the history of mankind).
 
Prior to 1891, when international law dictated that all violins with Stradivarius labels must cite country of manufacture, a Strad label just indicated the style of violin, and was almost exclusively used on student grade instruments.  
 
From the Smithsonian Institution's Stradivarius archive (http://www.si.edu/Encyclopedia_SI/nmah/stradv.htm);
 
quote:...Affixing a label with the master?s name was not intended to deceive the purchaser but rather to indicate the model around which an instrument was designed. At that time, the purchaser knew he was buying an inexpensive violin and accepted the label as a reference to its derivation. ...
 
The guy refused to believe his Stradivarius was kindling because his head was full of ... Well, ideas for how he'd spend his million$ (I was going to say something else  ), instead of throwing money away on a proper appraisal - so an expert could tell him that his Strad was kindling - he just stopped being friends with my dad. No value lost there, in my astoundingly humble opinion.
 
There was a classified ads magazine in New England called the Want Advertiser that was a fantastic source of deals for over half a century until eBay and the internet killed it. (http://m.metrowestdailynews.com/article/20081010/News/310109894) There were thousands of instruments and parts in every weekly issue.  
 
I worked at Daddy's Junky Music, the world's largest retailer of used instruments at the time (eBay and the Internet killed them, too (http://boston.cbslocal.com/2011/10/26/daddys-junky-music-closes-all-locations/)), with 20 stores throughout New England, especially a huge store directly across the street from Berklee Music College. I bought and sold tons of guitars and banjos through the WA and either sold them to Daddy's or just re-listed them in the WA, especially Alembics and Martins (the Alembics listed in my profile are just the ones I could remember!) I never lost a cent on the transactions. Some - especially the fretless Excel (with the most amazing pillow quilted maple top I've ever seen), which I bought for $350 and sold that night for $1100, I never even played!
 
I really miss those days. Since you couldn't look something up on the internet, in almost every case, people simply didn't know the value of the instruments they were selling, much less the price. You simply can't find deals on eBay anymore. Like the Slingerland snare that set off this seemingly never-ending rant: it's just overpriced junk. Humph.
 
The system is broken.
 
 
 
Oh yeah, one more thing:
 
quote:(The band is Tongue)
 
Maybe so, but the drummer is a Dick (according to the picture).
 
Okay, rant over. I need coffee.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: lidon2001 on February 13, 2016, 02:53:13 AM

 
 
(Message edited by lidon2001 on February 13, 2016)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: lbpesq on February 14, 2016, 12:53:56 PM

Here's one that is about 100 years old.  The back and sides are, I believe, quarter-sawn oak.  I have found little info on Eugene Howard, the maker.  It was distributed by RWB which, I believe, was an early Wurlitzer trademark.  If anyone knows anything about Eugene Howard guitars, or RWB, please let me know.  Bill, tgo  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225522.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225523.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225524.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225525.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225526.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225527.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225528.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225529.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225530.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225531.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225532.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225533.jpg)
  (edited for photo alignment)  (Message edited by mica on February 15, 2016)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: ed_zeppelin on February 14, 2016, 03:34:31 PM

I found another Eugene Howard parlor guitar (https://www.ebth.com/items/30221-1910-s-eugene-howard-acoustic-parlor-guitar), with lots of pictures. The RBW logo (for Rudolph B. Wurlitzer (https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wurlitzer)) is on the tailpiece. The label is identical to yours. I really like the ebony pyramid bridge and those nifty tuners on yours.
 
The only other info I found was from a Martin guitar forum:
 
quote: ... from Mugwumps: Eugene Howard was the Cincinnati, OH maker of Howard brand instruments c1896-1920s. They were distributed by Wurlitzer, a major wholesaler, with branches in Cincinnati and Chicago. Later, Howard became a Wurlitzer brandname.
 
Cool sitar you've got there, too.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: pauldo on February 14, 2016, 05:40:41 PM

Bill,  
That is one very sharp looking guitar.
Does it sound as good as it looks?

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: bassilisk on February 14, 2016, 06:04:22 PM

This is a 1966 Jazz and I am the second owner. The original owner put all the visible mileage on it, and there is a good amount of checking that didn't come through in the pic. However, he also bought a body guard when he bought the bass so the back is practically pristine.  
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225538.jpg)
 
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225539.jpg)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: lbpesq on February 14, 2016, 07:05:11 PM

I love the ones that are road worn from actually being used for a long time!
 
Paul, as is often the case with these old Parlor guitars, this little sucker puts out a lot of volume.  It doesn't have the depth of tone that one gets with rosewood or other more traditional tone woods.  I suspect there is a reason why you don't see too many oak guitars.  Nevertheless, it is fun to play and holds its own, tonewise.
 
Bill, tgo

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: gtrguy on February 14, 2016, 09:40:03 PM

I remember those Fender shaped body guards from back in the day. I didn't get them at the time, but now (after decades of use) I totally see what they are all about!

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: elwoodblue on February 14, 2016, 11:18:35 PM

Isn't Sonicus' series bass an oak core body?
That is some tiger-ey oak.
 I bet the later Howard models have more run of the mill back and sides.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: sonicus on February 15, 2016, 07:27:21 AM

73-32 seems to have an Oak core indeed !

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: bassilisk on February 15, 2016, 01:31:12 PM

gtrguy -  
 
I actually found a NOS body guard on ebay! These are pretty rare, never mind new in the original box. Now that super clean back will remain impervious to buckle rash for the coming years.
 
 (http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225590.jpg)

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: smokin_dave on February 15, 2016, 02:19:09 PM

Wow.A 66 Jazz.Beeeutiful.I'm totally jealous.And a body guard as well.
Awesome.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: ed_zeppelin on February 15, 2016, 07:50:06 PM

The snare sold for $685. Shows you how much I know.

Title: Want to see what 50 plus years does to a musical instrument?
Post by: gtrguy on February 15, 2016, 08:47:29 PM

That is one boatload of bucks for a beat up snare, even if it is a vintage Radio King!!!