Time for new thread

Walosi

Walosi

Joined
Jan 10, 2001
Messages
2,618

Uncle Bill:

Your Dad is a guitarmaker, or to quote the Irish, a Luthier?? Shades of Yvsa and his flutes!!

AC is off on a flute quest, and now we will both be drooling over git-fiddles. I think he sold his beautiful Washburn not long ago, so I know he's hurting, and the yen has never left me although my fingers won't hold a chord very well.

Go ahead and spam a little bit - What price range, lead time and backlog are we talking about here?
 
Wal, my Italian grandfather made mandolins. Dad learned the basics from him and started making guitars as a retirement project. He doesn't try to sell them. The making keeps him from going nuts and that's his aim. I think he may have 30 or 35 hanging around the house. Different types of wood and I think he even made one out of plastic. If anybody's interested in one I'll try to get some pix and prices.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
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When I first heard the Smoky Mountain Hymns ( 4 volumes - Brentwood ) I swear I heard one of those handmade instruments that was not a tenor guitar ( if that's what normal guitars are ) nor yet a bass guitar. It sounded to me like it was a baritone in pitch. To those of you who've felt the french horn resonate inside the hollow of your lungs, This was a guitar to die for.

Think your dad might have an idee how to make one?
 
Anyone else know what I'm talking about? Cause I sure don't.

But I haven't lusted for an instrument like this since I saw an all metal ( cept for the fretboard ) nickel plated Dobro.
 
Did I hear someone mention guitars???
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Actually, I still have the Washburn and I am beginning to play it more (taking off more time to enjoy life)... The only problem is it really doesn't fit me well. The strings are a little too close for easy fingering. I am tempted to trade it in on a different one.

Uncle, if you can get some pics/prices, I would be very appreciative. I was able to get some back pay, so I have a little money set aside. The flute purchase (tomorrow) will use some of it. I will be selling my golf clubs soon too, which should provide the rest needed. The thought of a handmade guitar by a craftsman is just too interesting to pass up learning more. I was even talking to my Pastor this morning about finding a replacement for the Washburn...

Thanks!

[This message has been edited by ACStudios (edited 06-10-2001).]
 
I don't have any pix or even one of Dad's guitars. He figures it's senseless to give me something I don't know how to use. If anybody wants to contact him for information here's his phone number.

417-881-0663

Dad's name is Frank, 89 years old but hears okay and he can do his share of BSing. He is in Springfield, MO and is up early and to bed early so please consider this when making calls to him.

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Blessings from the computer shack in Reno.

Uncle Bill
Himalayan Imports Website
Khukuri FAQ
Himalayan Imports Archives (33,000 + posts)
Himalayan Imports Shopping Site
 
:
Bro I had forgotten you mentioning that your dad made guitars!!!!
I got my 1st one when I was 13 and never did learn how to play well although I did enjoy playing "at" one for many years.
It turned out that the Indin Flute was indeed "the" instrument for me.
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And Rusty although I really know little about guitars and their types, it seems that a friend back before I got mine at age 13 had what was called a "Concert Model."
And again IIRC it was an old Kay Acoustic Flat Top.
I remember it because of the friend who had it, a very beautiful girl about 2-3 years older than me.
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And Sheesh did I Ever have a crush on her!!!!
Anyway it was quite a bit larger than a standard guitar and had a much deeper tone as well.
I will never forget that guitar or the pretty girl who owned and played it.
Way back then I would have given anything to be a "G" string and that doesn't mean one that is worn, but instead one which was "played" upon.
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Thanks for bringing back an old fond memory Bro!!!!


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Yvsa.

"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
 
Could that have been a plectrum guitar, Rusty? Most of the old ones have been converted to electric by jazz players, but there are still a few unconverted around.... It's tuned the same as a Spanish (normal) guitar but it sounds darker. Instead of the single round tonehole in the middle it has two f shaped holes like the violin family, and the internal bracing is different ... neither like the violin family nor like normal guitars, either.

If you saw one in a music store window you'd likely mistake it for a cello ... many people do -- but it has frets and six strings and machine heads.

 
No idea, Cougar. IIRC, what I was told about the F hole guitars was that the banjo had been a favored instrument up til the depression, but once it hit, the banjo's bright brassy sound went out of favor. Since the guitar has a more subdued and mellow sound, they wanted to use it to replace the banjo in the bands, but the standard hole in the center ones weren't loud enough to carry over the other instruments. Thus the arched front and back in the F hole styles to increase the volume.

Who knows? It might even be true.
 
Well, they're right about the extra volume -- but jazz bands changed from banjo to guitar at about the turn of the century, at the same time they changed from cornet to trumpet, clarinets to saxophones, and tuba to string bass.


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-Cougar :{)
Use of Weapons
 
Hmmm: how does that tie in with the end of the Civil War some 30-35 years earlier? One authority attributed the black influence on music to defeated Southern armies abandoning their band instruments on the way home, with the blacks salvaging them...

Come to think of it, that explanation probably wouldn't hold water. Too many cracks in the pot.
 
Obviously I don't know much about jazz / so it existed pre turn-of-the-century and in separate b/w styles?

BTW, thanks for suggesting the plectrum guitar.

Oh, if anyone called Mr. Martino about his guitars, I'd like to hear about it, rather than calling and bothering him.
 
There were a lot of military band instruments available cheap after what I have gotten the habit of referring to as "The War of Northern Aggression" (for fear Magnum, the moderator of rec.guns, might discover I'm from Massachusetts and reprogram his bot). I don't know about picking them up off the ground, but you could get them cheap.

Incidentally, it was originally spelled "jass" (but always pronounced jazz). The trouble with the original spelling was boys would blot out the "J" in the posters you put up all over town and nobody wanted to go to a nightclub that was advertising "ASS MUSIC ON FRIDAY"

Not a lot is known about the early origins of jazz because there wasn't any recording equipment then and nobody was writing sheet music for jazz; it was all played by ear. There are written descriptions of it, but that's not the same as hearing it....


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-Cougar :{)
Use of Weapons
 
Alan:

When I was 5-6, an aunt had a record player that would also record. She bought small discs and a "recording needle" which cut the grooves as the record was being made, and then a second arm with a "playing needle" was used to play the record.

The first "electric" jazz recording was a Louis Armstrong solo, recorded on this type of mechanical equipment, with a light bulb hanging above. Guys in the band thought it was a great joke.

Although written music came into jazz later, transcribers from several publishing companies interviewed many of the earlier musicians and wrote down their melody lines, and then the back-up and riffs. While this could be considered "copied", much of it wasn't sent in until it was played back to the musician being interviewed. As it caught on, of course, it was copied ad infinitum and usually changed in part to add instruments to make it more "acceptable". Early jazz was mostly black, but not entirely, and as more whites were attracted to it, it became one of the first vehicles of integration.
 
:
Walosi I remember those record recorder/players!!!!
IIRC it was on the old 78 rpm format and like the old radios in a very large cabinet.
All of those used to be real quality pieces of furniture and lasted for years!!!!
There were some people that lived next door to us in Texas when I was a wee lad that had one of them.
And there just might be somewhere an old record that has my voice on it.
What I wouldn't give to be able to hear what I sounded like when I was that young and before the cigarettes and alcohol made my voice sound like a bucket full of frogs croaking.
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Yvsa.

"VEGETARIAN".............
Indin word for lousy hunter.
 
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