A very Happy Guitarist

Subject: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Aug 99 - 07:21 PM

This is one of those little stories that might have limited appeal, but I wanted to share it with you. My friend and fellow picker Michael Kaye has found the guitar of his dreams. Like many of us Michael's been searching for many years for that one axe that just "speaks to you". What the guitar usually says is "Take me home, I was made just for you." or often it confides "I've been waiting 20 (or 30, or 50) years for you to find me. Sometimes (just like in love) we find that one special wooden friend and lose them. Sadly I lost my 1960 Epiphone Texan in order to pay the rent, and a few years later sold my 1944 D-18 through sheer greed. Being older and wiser I don't plan on letting anyone else have "Woody" my 50 year old 0-18.

Well, Michael met the "gal" of his dreams (he's in his 50s, so that's a lot of dreamin') about a month ago. She's a 1950 D-28 that would make any red-blooded man drool.(I suspect a few red-blooded women may drool as well, but let's keep this clean)

His playing is cleaner and sharper than I've ever seen, and he's obviously in love. The sound is glorious. He's one very happy guitarist.

Rick

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 17 Aug 99 - 07:37 PM

Hell, Rick, I'm droolin' just thinking about it. I think jO has the Vega banjo I want, but I don't think I have the Martin he would want in trade (aw, what the heck: my perfectly lovely Wildwood Minstrel TuBaPhone is sitting behind my chair in the living room--quietly sobbing.

--seed

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Aug 99 - 08:38 PM

Ahh yes, seed. Instruments DO weep. My now retired Lowden shed a tear or two when Woody came home for the first time. Haven't heard a peep out of the plastic Maccaferri though.

By the way, just wanted to say I keep track of your posts on a pretty regular basis and you are one eloquent and funny guy.

Rick

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Michael Kaye
Date: 17 Aug 99 - 09:46 PM

Thanks for the compliments Rick. But you age me more rapidly than I would like. (grin) I'm 45. When I'm in my 50s, I hope to sound like you do now.

As for the other reply about what it would take to get me to part with or trade this newly acquired 1950 D-28....in a perfect FANTASY world, I would say a pre-1944 HD-28 with braces scallopini, and someone gullible enough to think that my straight braced 28 would sound better. (Like I said, FANTASY.) This IS the "keeper" I've searched for, for a long time.

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Big Mick
Date: 17 Aug 99 - 10:02 PM

My 12 string is kind of like that. Something about that old Guild grabbed me the first minute I touched it. I often comment that my playing doesn't justify me owning it, but it is mine and nobody gets it from me. I am still looking for THAT 6 string to go with it. Not that Dan Milner AKA Liam's Brother hasn't been helping me to try and find it. That gobshite (LOL) emails me every so often and says "Mick, you have got to see this baby". He then gives me a link to an Elderly or Mandolin Bros. vintage axe for sale. He almost got me on a black Martin out of the custom shop with classical tuners. It was a beautiful thing and I was about to have him check it out for me (It was at Mandolin Brothers, I do the same for him at Elderly) when he reported it sold. Thank Gawd...........I really wasn't prepared to spend 3 grand, but I might have held up a gas station for that one. It is my considered opinion that he is trying to get even for the huge amount he had to spend on a Brazilian Rosewood Martin at Elderly that I checked out for him. hahahahahahahahahaha

All the best,

Big Mick

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 17 Aug 99 - 11:29 PM

OK, a little bit of whining here. The Guild 12 string that I bought when I was 25 (it was my second) was "that" guitar! I took it into the shop and had the fingerboard bound with mother of pearl and Gold tuners installed. Took it home and three days later someone (I found out who, but couldn't prove it) broke into my apartment and stole it. Through the grapevine I learned that a person who frequented the pub next door to me had overheard me talking about my wonderful guitar, and when he knew I'd be out working in a club, jimmied the lock and took it. (along with a tape recorder and 300 bucks)

In those days I played a lot at a place called Steel's Tavern which was frequented by the foot soldiers of the Volpe "family". Don't ask me why lesser mobsters and hit men would want to be in a bar that had folk music...but they did. One of them (I think even though it's been many years since then, I shoudn't be telling names) had taken a liking to the music I played and often said "if you ever need a favour, just let me know". For weeks I contemplated asking him to get my guitar back. (and if the thief got seriously hurt , or even killed, I'd have been ecstatic) The only thing that stopped me was that "Godfather thing" about eventually having to "repay" the favour. I was chicken.

But I still think about that Guild. Hold onto it Mick my friend.

Rick

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: ddw
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:04 AM

Congratulations, Michael. Sounds like you've got a real keeper.

Stories like his always make me green with envy, but the one that damn near turned me green for life happened in 1970 when a friend and I were in grad school at McMaster U in Hamilton, Ont.

Dave Smith (really) was a fuzzy-cheeked, bespectacled little Englishman, but if you closed your eyes when he was playing, you'd swear he was black and straight out of the delta. Extraordinary guitarist, but he had a really nothing guitar. Always claimed a GOOD guitar wouldn't play blues right.

Dave took a trip down through the States during Xmas break and came back into Canada via Detroit-Windsor. But before he crossed the border he did a tour of all the old pawn shops, looking for his ultimate blues guitar.

After three or four shops, he told me later, he was about to give up. Just seeing junk or things that were way out of his poor-student price range. He was about to walk out of a shop when he noticed a dust-covered soft-shell case up on a shelf and asked what it was.

"You don't want that," he was told. "It's an old metal guitar."

Dave always swore he didn't pee himself. He played the dumb foreigner — "Gee, a metal guitar? I've never heard of that. Can I see it?"

The nut of the story is that he came back to Hamilton with an absolutely pristeen National Steel. I don't remember details of how old it was, but it turned out to be one of the originals.

Needless to say, I couldn't talk to the boy for weeks, but damn! it felt good to see somebody that happy.

Hope you're feeling about the same.

Cheers,

ddw

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Big Mick
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:05 AM

They are wonderful sounding creatures, Friend Fielding, and if we can find you a gig in the area of the FSGW outing so you can come, then you can play my old friend. I would love for that to happen.

Mick

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: ddw
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:12 AM

On the previous post I forgot to say that the pawn broker was asking $125 for it and Dave had the gonads to haggle him down to $75 — claimed he just wanted it to hang on the wall as decoration....

ddw

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:36 AM

Great story ddw!

Mick, if I wasn't already working during that weekend, I be there in a flash - gig or no gig. (it's the album launch in Toronto)

About twenty two years ago I was in New York cruising for old instruments, and happened by "We Buy Guitars". I wandered in and since it was New York, prepared to be treated like absolute shit by the snotty sales guys (most of them were/are hostile cause they never got to be rock stars). I saw a gorgeous National Triolean on the wall with a "hold" sign on it, took it down and played it. Love at first sight! It was only 350 bucks and I asked the guy how long it was on hold. He checked the records and said "Hey man, that's being held for Gene Simmons of KISS!" Well I WANTED that guitar, so I decided to do a little "acting". "Oh man, he wants another one?" I said, implying that I just might know him. "How many's he got now, ten of them? Guess if you got the bucks you can just buy anything you see". I hit paydirt! The salesguy said "yeah, and he probably just leaves them in the cases and never plays them." I made my move. "What would happen if that "hold" sign just happened to fall off the guitar and sort of disappeared?" I said. "and how about if I give you a hundred and fifty bucks not to notice it?" This was long enough ago when that would have equalled his salary for a week. Five (agonizingly long) minutes later, I walked out of the store minus 500 dollars and with Gene Simmons National!! God forgive me! But I loved that guitar and played it for 10 years.

Have you ever noticed that Mudcat is like a therapist and sometimes you tell it too much. Even Heather hasn't heard that one!

Rick (obviously with selective morality)

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: bseed(charleskratz)
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 02:16 AM

Rick, you saved the guitar from a fate worse than death. Can you imagine that tongue drooling all over the National, causing it to rust away in six months? Oh, and thanks for the note above: the feeling is mutual. --seed

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: dwditty
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 05:56 AM

In the 70's I acquired a 1917 Gibson L-1. It was pretty beat up, but I had some of the major cracks plugged up - you could actually see light through some of them - and started to play. This top of this guitar had been worn through the finish way up by the neck. Lo and behold, after playing it for awhile, my fingers wound up hitting the same place - drawn there by some 50 year old force. Pretty soon, I was learning to fingerpick. It has always felt to me as though that guitar "taught" me how to play. So, Rick, Mick, et al, when you speak of guitars (or other instruments for that matter) as living, breathing souls, full of personality, emotion, and a faintly decernable "heartbeat", I know exactly what you mean.

BTW, my new Gallagher 71 Special arrives today. I can't wait to meet her.

DW

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Roger in Baltimore
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 06:58 AM

I've told this before, but I'll tell it again. My first guitar was a Christmas present, a Gibson classical guitar. It was a wonderful guitar on which to learn. However, I eventually longed for a steel-stringed guitar. I let people know. One night the owner of a local coffee house told me he knew a guy who had a Martin he wanted to sell. I got the guy's number and called him up. He had a Martin, but it was an archtop and in 1965 I knew no self-respecting folkie guitar played an archtop, so I told him I wasn't interested. Then he said, "There's a Martin listed under the 'Money to Load' section of the classifieds that sounds like what you want.

I was down at that pawn shop the next day. I had done quite a bit of reading about what to look for in a guitar. When the man opened the case, it looked like a new guitar. I could find nothing wrong with it. He wanted $180 for it (new D-28's were going for about $500 at the time). I bought it and it is my guitar in every way. All the nicks and gouges are mine, all the fret wear is mine.

I believe this guitar was a gift from God. I am not sure of "the mission" I should be on with it, but I just try to sing my music as honestly as I can. I have a 1957 Martin D-28, a good one at that, and its sentimental value now far exceeds its financial value (and that says a lot).

I don't take her out as much as I used to do, because I fear for her well-being. I will bring her to the Getaway however.

Roger in Baltimore

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: harpgirl
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 08:16 AM

...aka...boys toys thread.....*chuckle*

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: catspaw49
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 09:32 AM

Aw Geez.........Here I go, confessing something here that I rarely tell anyone for fear of being sent away to the "Center." But look here..........anyone with a lick of sense knows that things like guitars, cars, boats, etc. are endowed with some form of "spirit" or "soul" or whatever.....but they definitely have a life and personality, even the bad ones. Dating back to my youth, I have known this to be true and any naysayers are obviously total cretins lacking in any "spirit" themselves.

No stories here for fear of men in white coats arriving on my front porch. But congrats to Mike....and Rick, Mick, RiB, dw, and Seed and any others who KNOW how to "speak the language."

Spaw

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Bert
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 10:07 AM

Yer right 'spaw, they have souls, and like people, even the cheap ones can be most loveable.

I remember this old Kay I picked up at Goodwill for a few dollars. It had three rusty strings and three bridge pins were missing. It was covered in dust and someone had spilled a drink or something on it which smeared up it's beautiful red and yellow sunburst finish.

Well that night I just happened to stop by at Max's place, so on the way I bought a set of strings and some new bridge pins.

Now do you know that Max guy just up and stole it from me. Bold as brass he says "You gonna auction that for Mudcat?". Well I had no choice did I.

Now you know why I wasn't smiling in that picture.

So I hope you enjoy it RiB. Play it often and give it lots of love.

Bert. ;-)

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Peter T.
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 10:27 AM

Nothing to contribute here except a question raised obliquely by Harpgirl -- what gender is a guitar? Obviously the shape says one thing, but the stickout bit says another. Ships are she's, hurricanes used to be, but what of your instruments? Certainly they have souls or personalities, but are they female or male, or polymorphous? What makes you opt for one or the other.... (The old cello joke: "Madam, there you sit with God's greatest gift between your legs, and all you can do is scratch it")
yours, Peter T.

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: Rick Fielding
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 12:44 PM

Harpgirl, my ex-spouse (and wonderful friend) is a psychologist and would no doubt read this and say "oh the boys are comparing penises again"!

If I really believed that Freudian Hocus-Pocus, I'd be discussing my GIGANTIC Epiphone arch-top, and not my little tiny "Woody"!

Big Roger. I have it on good authority that the mission God has sent you on was to give that guitar to the first person to land on your doorstep after this posting. Now where the hell is Baltimore?

Rick

Subject: RE: A very Happy Guitarist
From: j0_77
Date: 18 Aug 99 - 02:18 PM

Victoria 'Vega' Banjess Born 1900 (Nickname Tubby)

Seed - lemme know how much you like that Tubby - I can't stand in your path to celestial enlightnement. BTW This Banjo has had but two owners since new. It needs a musician home not a museum so you are the person who should be owner No 3. (I ain't firm about exchange value where talent is a factor)

Guitars

I have been 'through' many a box - including Martins, Yamahas, Fenders even Echo(Italian) but never did get the one I wanted. I believe *God* does arrange these things and when you need, *it* arrives. I recall my first Guitar with some guilt - at 8 years old you don't really know much. After several Electric Guitars (gawd that sounds weird) got an Aria 6 which was *YUMMIE*, but a college student often needs cash. OUCH - After that I was given several Acoustics by people who played and collected them - often after I showed them a few licks. But for sheer putting the tune *out there* the old Gibson I now have has no equal. It cost me $100=00 in 1998, I had to play for a few hours with one excellent fiddler - never did get the guys name. After finding out that I did not own a Guitar, he put the thing in my hands and said 'thats the guitar for you...gimme what you think its worth' Thats the Okie way :)

In case you feel sorry for the fiddler - the Gibson was a honky tonk Guitar which after settling an arguement had to have a new Back fitted. Oddly the new back give this little tiger more punch than the regular Gibson.