Leaving Musical Instruments Behind

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Neighmond
Date: 06 Jun 12 - 01:48 AM

I have a Gibson from the 1920's (NOT one of the expensive ones, it was a cheaper model) and told a "friend" by the name of Gibson I would leave it to him. He's sort of done me some sneaky business so I am debating risking the bad mojo of leaving it to someone else.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: cptsnapper
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 03:38 PM

Another possible option might be to see if there's a local school or college which would establish a yearly scholarship whereby a talented pupil could borrow the instrument during that year after which it could be passed on for ever.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 12:30 PM

A few years ago I called my then 10 year old grandson to tell him that when I died I was leaving him my Fender Strat.
Instead of the expected reply of "Oh Grandad, don't talk about dying" I got "Does an amp go with that?"

Kids, eh?

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: ollaimh
Date: 05 Jun 12 - 11:31 AM

i'm in the process of making a will with a codicill leaving my musical instruments to people i think will benefit. my decisiona aren't anbout who i like, or have a personal friendship nwith, but who i think is a good player for that instrument and who i think is a decent person. i have several aquaintances who were surprised they were on the list but i would like my instruments to be played and played well, if possible.

of course i hope this doesn't have to happen for thirty or forty years.

i do thinik this also allows one to let go of physical stuff when the time comes. it's best to leave all that behind

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Amos
Date: 04 Jun 12 - 03:58 PM

Ach, Deckman, it's a sad thing to inject stress and wicked feelings into a fine instrument. Very glad to hear you could get them out again!


A

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Deckman
Date: 04 Jun 12 - 03:09 PM

I'm going to add another posting to this thread. This might be a little long, but I think you will find it interesting. Every word of it is true:

My mother was insane most of her life. She lived and died insane ... I was there. But at her occasional moments of sanity, she enjoyed playing church music on her violin. Growing up, her violin became a symbol of her touch with reality. If I entered our home, and she was playing her violin, I knew things were safe.

At other times, she used her violin as a weapon ... "be good to me or you can't play my violin". That's how it was. I was a little kid.

Years after my mother passed on, I came across her violin hiding in the bottom of my closet. I looked at it, remembered it's tortured history, and came close to discarding it.

Then I thought of a close friend who is a fine fiddler and respects the things that I respect. I gave the instrument to him.

He spent some serious dollars to repair it, it was still pieces from breaking it over the head of my father.

After the repairs, it was sent to a man in the southern mountains who knew about such things. He exorcised the demons from the violin.

To this day, the violin smiles as I hear it played among friends. It brings smiles to those who hear it ... but it also speaks in a special voice to me.

This is a statement not just about "leaving musical instruments behind", but also about recovering them for future generations. bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Ebbie
Date: 04 Jun 12 - 03:00 PM

Great stories.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: wilco
Date: 04 Jun 12 - 12:28 PM

I live in SE Tennessee USA, and bluegrass and old time music is everywhere. A Young man about 21 showed up in my store several years ago. He was the best flat pick guitar player that I had heard around here. (Norman Blake lives thirty miles from here). Later, he showed up with a pre-war martin. It seems that a gentleman in Georgia had left instructions with his wife that, upon his death, to give it to someone young who could appreciate it. It took her about 25 years before she picked out Mark.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Stringsinger
Date: 03 Jun 12 - 07:34 PM

The annoying fact is that many great instruments wind up in the collector's museums who can most afford them. Many musicians find these instruments out of financial reach. I think of the exorbitant price being offered for the long neck five string banjos of Erik Darling and Dave Guard. These belong in the hands of younger players who would respect and relish them not for their financial value but for their venerable history.

Musical instruments are meant to be played and honored, not imprisoned in some glass case somewhere.

Violinists apparently know this and you can hear rare Strads and Guans on recordings in the hands of skilled players.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Mark Ross
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 08:57 PM

40 years ago, or so, Utah Phillips and I, over drinks, said to each other, "When I die you can have my guitar."   The amazing thing is that before he passed on, he remembered and told his wife Joanna about it.Well, when he died, since both his sons now play and sing, I wasn't going to go there. She did give me his autoharp.

Mark Ross

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: GUEST,Fred Bailey
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 03:59 PM

A 16-minute independent film on this very theme was made not long ago by Corey Aumiller of Columbus, Ohio. Please give it a look.

http://vimeo.com/40406354

An aging folk musician clears out his apartment as he loses his senses, while a young woman fresh out of rehab tries to put the pieces of her life back together. Magnum Opus is a story about mortality, music, shared experience and quiet, tender moments.
* 2012 Cleveland International Film Festival - Official Selection *
* 2012 Ohio Shorts - Official Selection *
* 2011 Cinemusica - Official Selection *

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Midchuck
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 07:59 AM

When I went in to my cardiac surgery, I was aware of the chance - 1%, but more than zero - that I wouldn't come out. So I gave Kris, who stood to inherit everything under my existing will, a few suggestions about distributing personal property. Among them, I asked her to give my Rainsong (carbon fiber) guitar to a friend, whose name I will not mention, but who is the author of songs now included in Digitrad. He tends to break any physical object he touches more than once, so can't keep a good guitar. I figured it was rugged enough to survive even him, and he needed a good instrument. I let him know I'd instructed Kris thus.

Upon learning that I'd come out of surgery OK, he asked, "Does this mean I don't get the guitar?" I said, "Not yet."

P.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Peter the Squeezer
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 06:55 AM

I was given my current piano accordion, a 120 bass Hohner Atlantic IV from a friend of a friend who had died of cancer some years before. This lady's husband wanted to clear out his house before moving to a smaller home. The instrument turned out to be better quality than the one I was playing at the time - the only work needed was fitting a new set of straps. I sold my old accordion, took out for the cost of the new straps, and donated the remainder to cancer research.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: maeve
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 05:31 AM

I value those friends who gave us banjo, fiddles, guitar, and whistles after our treasured instruments were destroyed. They got to know how deeply appreciated they and their gifts are without having to kick the bucket.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Deckman
Date: 02 Jun 12 - 12:08 AM

My very valuable vintage Martin classic guitar goes to my youngest son. Since he's found out the appraisal value ... I now fear for my life! bob (deckman)nelson

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: katlaughing
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 09:50 PM

No takers for any of them, gnu? Crazy folks! I'd like to hear one opposite our Tiako learner's drum.:-) Since Tiaka blend harmony etc. as well as tap the beats, I think they'd do well together.

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: gnu
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 06:37 PM

I asked my cousin if he had any bodhrans in his house for his kids (3) to learn on. He said that he thinks his father has one (he does). I took it that meant "no thanks".

Subject: RE: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Gurney
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 06:19 PM

The folk club that I attend recently had a sale of vinyl left by an old seaman/shantyman, proceeds to his widow.
A local second-hand-record dealer turns up to sell suitable records at the folk festival. So far as I know, they don't charge him for this, regarding the bring-and-buy session as a service to folkies.

I hope my stuff gets sold at the local folk festival, or maybe here. I wish my son was interested.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: kendall
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 11:01 AM

I did a gig in a town 30 miles away. As I was getting ready to leave the hall, my Cousin Gene Hooper, another performer had a spell of some kind and after it seemed he was ok, I left.When I got home I realized I had forgotten the guitar! I made a call and I just happened to get another friend who told me that they were able to determine that it was mine because of the songs that live in it.
I was panicked because my poor memory told me that I had set it down in the parking lot, and it may have gotten run over! It was a dark and stormy night...

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Ebbie
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 10:57 AM

Bill D, as much as Dick loved music, I suspect that if he heard his instruments now he would nod forcefully and say, I told you so! By the way, what became of his hurdy-gurdy?

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Bill D
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 10:15 AM

Several years ago, a local musical 'icon' Dick Rodgers, died. (Some of you who attended the Getaway in the last 10-12 years will...ummm... remember him playing a beat up guitar...and his homemade hurdy-gurdy, and his fiddle.

Thru a complex set of circumstances, since we had no record of his immediate family, my wife, Ferrara, signed up as executor of his estate, and various of his friends sorted his 'stuff'. (Some of that 'stuff' was sold at the Getaway 'silent auction' to aid the scholarship program.)
   During the process, and because of his obit in the local paper, his sister ...whom he had little contact with ...was found. She turned out to be a very nice and helpful lady, who wanted only a 'few' family items from his estate.... and officially gave my wife Dick's guitar, which we had watched him thrashing on for 30+ years. Turns out it was a really decent Martin 'classical'.... which, after being tweaked professionally a bit, now plays like Dick never even imagined.

Incidently, Dick's Northumbrian Small Pipes, which he played 'almost' as well as the fiddle & guitar, were purchased by our own Big Mick, who promises to show up at the Getaway and play them 'someday'.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Newport Boy
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 09:45 AM

I saw the Ken Colyer Trust band a few years ago. I can't remember who was playing clarinet, but it was a metal instrument. He explained that it was a gift from the family of Sidney Bechet, who he had become friendly with many years before.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Newport Boy
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 09:22 AM

My son has had his eye on my 1965 Hoyer Jumbo for 20 years now, so that's where it will go.

Phil

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: kendall
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 08:54 AM

Hey, Charlie, what sort of instruments do you have?

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: kendall
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 08:52 AM

Some years ago I bought my Taylor at a local music store. Found out after wards that my pal, Bernie Hoolihan, went to that same store to buy it. It is now in my will for him.

Another good friend, Dave Mallett, has always loved my 1956 Gibson J 45. I told him it was his when I "snuff it". Later, I gave it to him.

My old shipmate in the Explorer just gave me his ancient Nicholas Bertolini violin. It's about 100 years old and I've seldom heard one that sounds as good.

Another dear friend, Tom Rowe of Schooner Fare, gave me his 5 string Vega banjo and told me to keep it as long as I wanted it.He has since passed on, and his son, Dave, made me the same offer.

Musicians are great human beings.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: JennieG
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 04:00 AM

When I bought my Rokkoman (Japanese copy of a Martin - has a great sound) over 20 years ago my older son played it and said....."geez.....when you cark it, can I have this?"

He certainly can. Not that I am planning to cark it any time soon. He can add it to his collection of drums, cymbals and percussion stuff.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: John P
Date: 01 Jun 12 - 12:52 AM

I can't decide between leaving my instruments to my musical nephews or to a young folk musician who might appreciate them more. Maybe I'll leave the 6-string guitars to family and the cittern, mandolins, dulcimers, harp, etc to folkies. I haven't a clue how to go about selecting someone to put in my will when I hopefully will still be using the instruments myself for twenty or thirty more years. But if that Mac truck hits me tomorrow it would be nice to have it dealt with so my poor sister doesn't have to try to make sense of it all.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 May 12 - 05:18 PM

Amos-

I was wondering if this thread was about "forgetting" to take an instrument with one after a concert or other musical event. I'm sure your old Gibson was well appreciated by whoever ended up with it.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: katlaughing
Date: 31 May 12 - 05:09 PM

My fiddles/violins are family heirlooms, so will be passed down. All three of my grandsons are musical, but not very active in it, except choir. May it change, in time. The rest, I share with my grandson, Morgan, who will get my dulcimer, Native American flute, some small ocarinas, etc. Night Owl already has most of my old time music books to help replace her collection lost in a house fire.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Amos
Date: 31 May 12 - 04:14 PM

I left my only Gibson in the trunk of a Copenhagen taxicab in the summer of 1968, being under the affluence of inkohol. The taxi company denied any report thereof. A crying shame. But I am confident whoever ended up playing it got a wonderful deal on a hot instrument.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: fat B****rd
Date: 31 May 12 - 04:11 PM

My Harmony 6 and Fender 12 are only of real value to me. However, In my will they are destined for a friend who gave me a home when I needed one, many years ago.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: gnu
Date: 31 May 12 - 02:10 PM

Good thread indeed.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Deckman
Date: 31 May 12 - 01:57 PM

Walt Robertson also left another lasting legacy. He willed me all of his R/R tape recordings of live concerts at "The Ark", in Vancouver, Canada. These were made during a two year period in the early 60's when Walt managed the folk club. I am archiving these right now and they will be released to the public this coming Fall. bob(deckman)nelson.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Mooh
Date: 31 May 12 - 01:02 PM

When a disabled friend passed away 2 years ago, with his prior agreement we gave 2 of his guitars to a little music camp and to be shared with the elementary school local to the camp. It was what he wanted in lieu of never being able to go there himself to make the donation personally. Though we weren't expecting him to die so soon, we had discussed such matters as he had a sort of fatalistic view of his own life. For what it's worth, many of his other possessions were donated to a library, university students, and to a church fundraiser. He would have been proud, we saved everything from becoming landfill as the landlord was trying to dispose of everything.

His will was vague but between selling many things to help pay off his debts, and donating some other things, his intent was met. Luckily his will lawyer was very good.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: wysiwyg
Date: 31 May 12 - 11:59 AM

We pass ours along, in life. After that, I guess I need to add this in my will. My hard drives all go to Mmario first, by longstanding arrangement, for the gospel and spirituals material they are loaded with, so they can eventually get harvested into here.

~Susan

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 31 May 12 - 11:56 AM

yes its odd to think these solid objects will be here (barring a nuclear explosion) after we're dead. Guitar stands, capos, mic stands, microphones, cables........

I think maybe ....just leave some unknown person to sort it all out. better than burdening those we love with a harrowing task.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: The Sandman
Date: 31 May 12 - 09:54 AM

One of my concertinas was previously owned by Henry Walker of Tunstall

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Charley Noble
Date: 31 May 12 - 08:10 AM

Finding "good homes" for such instruments is a wonderful idea.

I wish I knew more about the people who played the vintage instruments I've acquired over the years.

Cheerily,
Charley Noble

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 31 May 12 - 07:30 AM

Yes, I worry about what will happen to my acoustic guitars - and PA rig - and Volvos - and vintage hifi - and vinyl, when I die.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Leadfingers
Date: 31 May 12 - 06:28 AM

My first saxophone was an old Alto that a departing serviceman had left in his locker on camp when he went home from Germany - A 'Left' instrument in a slightly different way !

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Ebbie
Date: 31 May 12 - 02:24 AM

Thanks, Deckman. I'll leave it to the joeclones to decide.

You are right, though. It is a subject that fascinates me. My own brother left me his mandolin.

A week or so before Buddy died, in just about the last phone conversation I had with him, he told me about giving his guitar to Laura, saying that he could get a few thousand for it on the market but this way he knows it will be prized.

Probably about the same thought Walt Robertson had.

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Deckman
Date: 31 May 12 - 12:33 AM

BY THE WAY ... I think this thread belongs ABOVE the line. bob

Subject: RE: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Deckman
Date: 31 May 12 - 12:30 AM

You bet I do ...

Just a few days before the late Walt Robertson passed away, he asked me to give his precious (and very vaulable) vintage Martin guitar to a young lady I knew. He hadn't met her, but he valued my opinion of her talent and he wanted to pass his guitar onwards.

This is a great thread ... thank you for starting it. bob(deckman)nelson

Subject: BS: Leaving Musical Instruments Behind
From: Ebbie
Date: 30 May 12 - 11:53 PM

A few months ago in Anchorage a young barista, Samantha Koenig, working by herself, was shown on survelliance tape to have been walked away from her small building by an armed man. Her body was found later in a local lake. Her suspected killer was apprehended in Texas and was flown back to Anchorage to face trial.

A local radio station today had this story:
"Koenig's father donates guitar to young musician
ANCHORAGE, Alaska (AP) â€" The father of Samantha Koenig has presented one of his slain daughter's guitars to a young musician.

"James Koenig donated an acoustic guitar, with the letters "SAM" on the black case. It was presented to 14-year-old Destany Hawley of Anchorage this weekend at the Mendeltna Creek Music Festival near Glennallen..

"Koenig family friend Darcy Hill tells KTUU that James Koenig wanted to give the instrument to a young person who has a promising future. Destany says it was a "huge honor" to receive the guitar.

"Samantha Koenig was taken from the Anchorage coffee stand where she worked Feb. 1. Her body was found just about two months later at the bottom of a frozen lake. Israel Keyes has been charged in her abduction and death.

http://www.kinyradio.com/juneaunews/latest_juneau_news.html


Along the same lines:

Shortly before he died in February, Juneau's Buddy Tabor, instead of selling his favorite guitar, a Santa Cruz, gave it to the daughter of a local bluegrass family band. She cherishes it, not only because it is a good guitar but because Buddy so obviously recognized her talent.

Anyone have similar stories?

The music lives on...