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Instruments: Your best cheap one
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Subject: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Wesley S Date: 09 Aug 02 - 01:51 PM Even though I'm about to pay an arm and a leg for a new instrument I realise that some of the best ones can be down right inexpensive. We've all dreamed about going to a garage sale and finding a prewar Martin or a Loar mandolin for next to nothing. Has that ever happened to anyone here? Recently a good friend was GIVEN a 1930's National guitar. Not a resonator - all wood - but a very sweet guitar. The owner was in his 80's and wanted it to go to a good home. Back in the 70's I knew a guy with a wonderful O style Gibson that was beat all to hell. I asked him where he bought it and he told me that a few years earlier he spotted a kid about 8 or 9 walking down the street dragging it behind him. The little boy said he had found it by the railroad tracks and offered to sell it for $3.00 so he could go to the movies. My friend bought it and placed some ad's in the paper but never found the owner. My personal best buy was a mountain dulcimer that I paid all of $30.00 for at the Saturday market in Eugene Oregon. It's plain to look at but has a great tone - I still enjoy playing it. If anyone should know a guy named Dave that sold mountain dulcimers in Eugene during the 70's I'd be interested to find out if he's still a builder. Well those are some of my stories - how about yours ? Ever get a great deal on an instrument ? Do you still have it ? Lets salute those instruments that didn't break the bank.
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Bobert Date: 09 Aug 02 - 01:59 PM Well. my main instrument is a '64 Martin D-18 which I got for a Yamaha 12 string and $150 back in 1969. At the time that seemed like a lot of money BUT my best buy was about 5 years ago when I spied a small bodied acoustic made by Syairia in a pawn shop for $50 and the danged thing plays and sounds better that any of the others in my "beater" collection. Bobert |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: EBarnacle1 Date: 09 Aug 02 - 02:06 PM After several months of stopping in every music and pawn shop I passed and gettting offered a lot of mother of toilet seat anglo concertinas, I stopped into a shop in the Bronx and the clerk brought out a Wheatstone E2. I tried it and it worked. When I asked how much they wanted, I was told $250. I laid down a deposit and said I would be back in a few days with the rest. When I got back, the shop owner offered me $250 to forget the deal as he said the price marked was a mistake. I bought that instrument and, having tried and owned a few others over the years, this is the only one I have stuck with. Put in terms of cost per year, this instrument has given me a lot of inexpensive pleasure. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Cappuccino Date: 09 Aug 02 - 02:12 PM One of my acoustics is a mongrel jumbo of no known parentage which I found in a second-hand shop in Notting Hill, London, a few years back... dirty, battered, no strings on the damn thing, and looking very sorry for itself. Forty pounds sterling, and with a clean-up and a new set of strings it sounded great, and still does - terrific loud rhythm instrument. My only six-string electric is another un-named, by someone who I suspect once saw a Les Paul, vaguely remembered what it looked like, and tried to copy it. Again, forty quid in a junk shop... but it's a wafer-thin body, and the lightest-weight guitar I've ever played! Cheapos all the way, for some of us... - Ian B |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Jeri Date: 09 Aug 02 - 02:21 PM Dave's Dulcimers - it's under construction and there's nothing really there right now, but maybe someday... I bought a hammered dulcimer from a David's Duclimers. Don't know if they do Appalachian/lap dulcimers, but the instrument I bought is sure nice! (Not cheap though - cost more than any other instrument I own.) I bought a Gibson fiddle for $20 once. I fostered it to someone who ended up adopting it. Someone gave me a Harmony mandolin. I'm not a good judge of mandolins, but it seems like a decent one. My wonky index finger just doesn't like mandolins so I don't play it much. My mom bought me a lap dulcimer in 1973 for $60 new. It was made by Leonard Glenn and it's a very simple-looking instrument but has a beautiful sound. I have no idea what it would be worth now, but I'd bet somewhat more than $60. No matter, as I ain't sellin'! |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: NicoleC Date: 09 Aug 02 - 03:12 PM I once picked up a '68 Moserite electric bass -- the hollow-body kind with the guitar-scale neck. I got it for $300 including the original case from an guy who'd had it for over 15 years, and he didn't play. He'd gotten it from his manager who'd had it for 10, and HE didn't play. Upshot was that someone had owned it for about a year, probably played the heck out of it, and it had been neglected ever since. Except for a little sweat stain on the front, it was mint, and had the sweetest, richest tone that sounded more like a top notch acoustic than an electric. I never figured out what it was worth, market value. They're pretty rare. I was quoted everything from $200 to $20,000. It left me under very sad circumstances, but I'd love to find it again. (Even though I'm a lousy bass player.) |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Bee-dubya-ell Date: 09 Aug 02 - 03:14 PM I bought a birdseye maple dreadnought that was built by Grand Ole Opry member Hank Locklin (of "Please Help Me I'm Falling" fame) for $300.00 a few years ago. It sounds great, but Hank apparently experimented with the neck width and it's just too narrow for my big ole hands. I recently passed it on to a friend for the same $300.00 I paid. BTW: A fellow that has come to a couple of our sessions used to play steel guitar in Hank's band, and Hank gave him a Brazilian rosewood Grammer guitar with the most beautiful bearclaw top I have ever seen. Sounds wonderful. Bruce
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Doug Chadwick Date: 09 Aug 02 - 03:17 PM One of the fund raising activities carried out by my Scout Group is to hold an auction each year. We don't have room for storage so there are no reserved prices – everything must go even if the bids don't reach £1. A couple of years ago, an Oscar Schmidt flat top guitar was donated. It had no strings and the body was badly damaged - it had a 6 inch by ¾ inch chunk of the soundboard missing right on the edge. It was knocked down to me for 10 pence. I put on a set of steel strings, although not at full tension, and tested it out for just long enough to prove that it was worth pursuing and then de-strung it for fear of ripping the front off completely. At the time, we had a local music shop where you would find the owner wearing a leather apron with a violin arm, a piece of oboe, or the like, in his hand. He visibly recoiled when I asked him if he could look at a guitar (nasty, horrible, low-brow instrument) but he did check it over. He reckoned he could make it musically stable for £15 and do a proper job for £40. I chose the more expensive option and left it with him for a couple of weeks. The repair was past by best expectations. He filled the hole with violin wood and you would be hard pressed to see the join. He didn't have any matching beading for the edge so he hand painted it instead. The only thing he couldn't reproduce was the high gloss finish, although he did produce a good finish with French polish. It has a really nice action, a sweet sound and has given me endless hours of pleasure. All for less than 50 quid. Doug C |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST,Jerry Date: 09 Aug 02 - 03:47 PM My tale is of another concertina. Friend of mine offered me an English-made instrument years ago for $100. No maker identification in it, but I could tell it was a thoroughbred, compared to the Bastari I'd been playing. With an investment of another $150 I ended up with a box worth $1500 or more. No one's yet been able to say with one hundred percent certainty who made it, but the boys at The Button Box swear that the only maker who used the same shaped mechanism supports was Crabb, which would make this an early 20th century instrument. I've gotten a much better return on this investment than on most of my others of late... Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 09 Aug 02 - 05:41 PM Ya want cheap, and great? I picked up a flat-backed Lyon & Healey mandola in perfect shape for $10.00 and I have a beautiful 5-string banjo with a handmade inlaid neck that I kicked out $20.00 for. I wouldn't sell the for twice that much. I also have a Martin ukelele in fine condtion that someone gave to me, with case. Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Wesley S Date: 09 Aug 02 - 06:06 PM Jerry - Would you take $20.00 for the mandola ? That's 100% profit ! |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Jeri Date: 09 Aug 02 - 06:07 PM Got this banjo fo $125. I still don't know anything about it and no one else seems to have any ideas either. My guess is turn of the century. (the second to last turn) Not my story, but a good one. It was back in the '70s. I was just learning how to play banjo and was taking a class. Another student came in one week with a really fancy bluegrass style banjo. All the metal was gold, it had elaborate inlays and a real fancy eagle on the back. Looked just like the one the guy in the Nitty Gritty Dirt band had. The teacher said it WAS the same banjo (can't remember the make/model) and was probably worth $2,000. Guy bought it at a yard sale for $15. Why can't I find stuff like that at yard sales? |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: khandu Date: 10 Aug 02 - 12:11 AM Hell, every instrument I own is cheap, otherwise I couldn't own it! But I love them every one. I once owned a 1960 Fender Jazzmaster. It was a jewel, sweet action and tone. My wife and I separated for a few months in '73, and she sold it...for $35.00! So...someone in Jackson, MS has a story they can tell about a fine instrument and a great deal! khandu |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: NicoleC Date: 10 Aug 02 - 11:44 AM I found a Teisco del Ray for $5 at a swap meet. Not a sweet instrument by any means, but I bought a cheap beater because I wanted to learn how to do finishes and repairs on something no one would cry over. Was I surprised when I got home :) Made a nice profit, though. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Allan Dennehy Date: 10 Aug 02 - 12:28 PM About 6 years ago I bought a used GW Lyon LD9 guitar by Washburn. I didn't have a clue what I was doing then and wouldnt have known a good guitar if it bit me on the arse! Theres nothing special about the wood quality, the front is probably made out of the same material as they use to make cigar cases but it's got a great unplugged sound and good musicians have often offered me much more than the $100 dollars that I paid for it. It was just plain good dumb luck. If anybody can tell me a little more about Lyons guitars, I'd appreciate it, by the way. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Mark Clark Date: 10 Aug 02 - 12:54 PM I've already described my best cheap guitar in another thread but I sure wish I had it back today. At the time I was—still am, really—taken with the sound of Brownie McGhee's amplified D-28 as heard on the little Folkways 10 in. album “Brownie McGhee Blues.” That old beat-up National sounded just like the Brownie's when played through a decent speaker. I also had a beautiful flemenco guitar that I bought for $40 on the Avenue of the Americas in Mexico City. I never really became a flemenco guitarist and eventually sold the guitar but it was really excellent. Cypress back and sides so thin you could see light through the wood. Finely made blackwood purfling and trim with a perfect spruce top. Wonderfully loud and resonant guitar. The rosette was of the sliced mosaic type often seen in Mexican guitars but very carefully made with many colors of woods. I bought the guitar in the shop of the maker but I think I've lost the name over the years. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Jerry Rasmussen Date: 10 Aug 02 - 01:54 PM Wesley S: Naah, I think I'll keep it. Funny thing is, the guy who sold it to me was a friend of my Father's. He called me when I was home visiting and asked me if I wanted it... for $8. I'd never even seen a mandola before, but I had a mandolin, so I told him I'd like to see it. He brought it over to the house and I was blown away when I saw it. It is beautiful and even came with a case! When I asked him again how much it was, I think that he saw he had a sale and said hesitantly, "ten dollars." I would have paid him $50 for it, even back in those days, so I was happy to pay the ten bucks. He was happy because he figured he suckered a dumb college kid out of an extra two bucks. Whatever makes 'em happy..:-) Jerry |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Genie Date: 10 Aug 02 - 04:10 PM From the thread title, I thought you wanted to know about inexpensive guitars (banjos, etc.) that are actually pretty good instruments.
Since you're asking about high-list-price/high value instruments that we managed to "steal" one way or another, here's the story of how I got my 1955 Martin 00018 for nothing. I'm not sure he really appreciated "Beulah's" value at the time. (If he had, he probably would have kept the original bill of sale and either given it to me -- or not given me the guitar at all.) I certainly did not "know from Martin." It was not until the following summer, 1961, and even more so in the summer of 1962 in Greenwich Village, that I encountered scads of people raving about my having a Martin. I've never found another guitar with action I like as much as that one. Genie |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Kaleea Date: 11 Aug 02 - 01:56 AM My first guitar, I was about 13, was free--an old Harmony, cause my friend bought a new guitar. Then, I was given a flute, cause a friend saw me playing my flute--a was 16. The free one was newer & better! When I was over in Asia, many years back, I bought a nifty bamboo flute for about 25c american. I played it for years, and it has a very unusual minor scale, not quite tuned like anything I have ever heard, one might say---in the cracks (of the piano). And not too long ago, a friend gave me a Zither--Gave--as in FREE! Sometimes, I just can't believe it! I still use the old bamboo flute for demonstrations on ancient & old instruments but I've had to fill the crack running the length of the instrument with gunk. --Zither, I use for showing old time stuff, too, in addition to playing the Zither for fun & for others. Now if somebody would just give to me--for free!--a 9 ft grand piano--Steinway would be good, pre 1991, before they installed the assembly line, of course! And a new guitar with a teeny, weeny neck for my arthritic hands--a Martin or a Gibson to replace the old J-45, or maybe a Larivee would be OK with me!! What? Huh?! Guess I was dreamin' again. Oh, and then there was the old upright piano my brother gave me . . . |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Don Firth Date: 11 Aug 02 - 01:42 PM The best deal I ever heard of was way back in 1952. Claire, my lady friend at the time, had developed a strong interest in folk music and mentioned to her grandmother that she was saving up to buy a guitar. Her grandmother said that she had a guitar that she'd had since around 1900, didn't play it anymore, and gave it to her. It was a Washburn "New Model" parlor guitar made in 1898 by George Washburn. Claire's grandfather had bought it for her new for $50.00. Until then, Claire didn't even know that she'd played. Looks like this, except that Claire's didn't have a pick-guard. I liked the songs Claire sang, wanted to learn some too, and since she was having so much fun with the little guitar, I decided to get a guitar, too. I headed down to Seattle's 1st Avenue where all the pawn shops hung out and wound up in Myer's Music where they had hundreds of guitars of all sizes, varieties, and prices, mostly pretty cheap. I knew nothing about guitars. I bought a Regal, because the price was right—$9.95. I also bought a fiberboard case for $5.00 (by the way, both the guitar and case were new), and the salesman threw in a free pick, a copy of Nick Manoloff's beginners' guitar manual, and a handy-dandy patented "chord wheel" (a couple of round cardboard disks fastened at the center with an eyelet—dial a key and it told you what chords to use). From the chord wheel, I learned about the circle of fifths. I learned the basics on the Regal. Most guitars in that price range were next to unplayable, but I lucked out. It could be tuned accurately, the action was fairly soft, and the tone, although it hinted at apple-crate, was acceptable. I flogged that little guitar for about two years, then sold it for five bucks when I bought a Martin 00-18. One thing sorta led to another. Best deal I've run across lately are Sam Radding's li'l travel guitars. They look like a cross between a guitar and a canoe paddle, but they're small and handy, and they sound like real guitars. Sam makes them to order (Sam's the guy who taught Bob Taylor how to make guitars). I have two of them, both GO-GWs, one nylon-string, the other steel-string. Add the padded gig bag and $18.00 shipping and they come to a little over $300. Great instrument for a wandering minstrel. Don Firth |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Chip2447 Date: 11 Aug 02 - 05:13 PM All of my instruments are inexpensive, and a few of them are even cheap. Recently my younger brother gave me a Harmony (japanese knock off) guitar. Now, this little Harmony has got enough personality to have earned a name; Katy. She's kinda sassy, and a bit loud at times and sometimes fickle (although that might be my fateful fickle fingers instead). But, I do love her sound, and enjoy having her in my lap... Chip2447 |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: khandu Date: 11 Aug 02 - 07:21 PM I have a Harmony Tenor guitar which I found in a trash can. No, I do not normaly rummage through the trash of others, but I saw the neck sticking up from the can. It had no bridge, other than that, it looked in good shape. I bridged it and strung it up. Hell, it played well and has a good sound. According to the writing inside, it was made in '65. It is my cheapest best instrument. khandu |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Mudlark Date: 12 Aug 02 - 02:35 AM I was given a harmony guitar for Xmas on my 17th birthday. It was all mahogany, sounded like it was SOLID mahogany, but I learned to play on it. Then bought a little requinto in Tia Juana for $20, which I bargained hotly for. It had a great sound but came apart so often I finally got tired of having it patched up. I wish I still had it, now that even my little Martin parlour guitar is getting too thick in the neck for my dodgy left hand. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: CharlieA Date: 12 Aug 02 - 04:55 AM Found myself a 19 string folk harp for the grand sum of £50. it needed a little repair - soon fixed by my dear father (it was picked up from the Hobgoblin shop in wadebridge - 15 mins from my parents!). It's not fantastic but i LOVE it. I'm still learning to play it - only got it a few months ago. It's my baby. I also managed to get a £300 flute for £150. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: nickp Date: 12 Aug 02 - 06:40 AM Strange how the name Harmony keeps cropping up here. For many years I've had 2 Harmony Sovereigns (both USA made), one from '68 and the other '74 and both cost me about £50 ($75-$80?) inc. hard cases. They've seen hefty service and have only recently been given a holiday by a Gibson B25 (which cost rather more!!) I also had (have) a Harmony mandolin - again from the 60's which I got for a pretty low price allowing for the fact that it had been excessively repaired. When I got to the stage of affording one to be custom made I had the neck profile/length etc copied so the change was seamless (actually it wasn't but it was a lot easier than a completely new shape). I've since added to the Harmony's repair list by having the neck reset at a better angle (cost a lot more than when bought it!) and it comes out as the reserve - or outdoors in bad weather. Happy days, Nick |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST,Foe Date: 12 Aug 02 - 09:28 AM Back in the 60s, all the folkies in Tucson, AZ, would go to Nogalas, the border town in Mexico, and buy guitars made in Paracho, a small town that had a cottage industry of family made guitars. Most were $4 or $5. If you went from shop to shop and tested them you could find one that sounded good and fretted true. Mine cost me $8 and had a rather thick neck but I learned to play on it and had it for a number of years until it was stolen. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Blues=Life Date: 12 Aug 02 - 10:03 AM My cheapest guitar was an old junker that a guy left hanging on the wall in his dorm room when he dropped out of college. It stayed there for a few months, til the night that his former roommate sold it to me for $5 (beer money). It always amused me that new strings cost more than the guitar($6). Terrible guitar, just right for using in a dorm room. Lasted for 10 years til the neck imploded. (Still had the same strings on it... works out to less than $1 a year, LOL) My best cheapest guitar I got last fall. Walked into the local music store the weekend that George Harrison died, and there was a 1967 Vox Ultrasonic 12-string electric in a custom leather case. The former owner wasn't using it much, traded it in on something easier to play (bad hands, I think) and told them "Try to get it into a good home." Although it was a very cool looking guitar, I couldn't afford the asking price, and wasn't really looking for either a 12-string or an electric at the time. My good friend and salesman "Damn You Ernie" told me, "You have got to play this thing", and damned if once I played it, it just wouldn't let go of my hand. Then he proceeded to cut the price to a point where I didn't want to let go. As I forked over my cash, he told me he'd let the owner know the Vox had gone to a loving owner. Don't use it as much as some of my other guitars, but it sure can sing. Blues |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST,Jenny the T (where's my cookie got off to?) Date: 12 Aug 02 - 02:22 PM I'm in the process right now of acquiring the best and cheapest instrument I'm likely to own, ever. A friend of mine down in Bloomington IN, a tremendously talented craftsman in wood, finished about six mos. ago his very first instrument: a mandolin with redwood top and maple sides, back, and neck. Unusual, yes? It may be his first instrument, but he obsessed over it unmercifully for the four months it took him to complete it. I've played $1,200 mandos, and his instrument has a better sound than any of them. None of them beats it for playability, either. I could not be more impressed with it. The instant I'd done one tune on it, I was begging him to make another and sell it to me. But now he's off making a bozouki for himself (he's a great zookie player), and so he tells me he wants to sell me No. 1 ... for the cost of materials, and he's apologetic about asking even _that_ much. This puts me in the odd position of bargaining him _upward_ in price--I'm telling you, it's the best mando I've ever put my hands to, and I've put my hands to some very fine ones. He deserves a whole lot more than he's asking. But he's digging in his heels, and is not budging from the low low price. I'll have to keep working on him. Life sure can be strange. JtT |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Mark Clark Date: 12 Aug 02 - 02:35 PM Nick, no need to feel bad about Harmony Sovereigns. The first few times I saw Leon Redbone play that what he was using. That was thirty years or so ago but even then I'm sure he could afford better instruments. Still, the sound he got was the same great tone you associate with his playing today. - Mark |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Goose Gander Date: 12 May 06 - 11:49 AM My 1950s-era Harmony accoustic guitar, purchased for $50 at a thrift shop. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: TheBigPinkLad Date: 12 May 06 - 12:10 PM I've been really, really lucky with guitars. My first was had for nothing, about what it was worth. The second, A 1965 Hoffner Verithin, cost £5 from a desparate mate. 20 years ago, I found my Gretch plus a 15watt amp in a hock-shop for CAN$120, and one day the kid next door to me moved to Vancouver and didn't have room in the van for a bass guitar and a keyboard. Then my missus bought me a beautiful Seagull acoustic for my 50th. My favourite instrument is my voice, which I got free from my parents. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Stilly River Sage Date: 12 May 06 - 01:19 PM Yeah, I knew this the wrong thread to post to, you guys are staying on the original subject. What do you think about the old guitar I found at the garage sale? (I don't want to start a new thread just for this, but maybe Joe will open the other one). SRS |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: beardedbruce Date: 12 May 06 - 01:27 PM By EKO archtop was a $30 pawn shop special, but the best buy I think I ever got was a metal necked banjo-uke I got for $3 at a yard sale. I gave it to a Uke playing friend of mine, and her smile was worth more than a Martin. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: TheBigPinkLad Date: 12 May 06 - 01:31 PM Take a guitarist with you, M. and have her/him take a look. You can't assess its playability without strings, but that's a good bargaining point. $20 is already cheap, and you'll probably get what you pay for, but why not offer $10 and get it for $15? That way it won't hurt at all if it ends up on the orthodontist's wall (maybe he'll give you full price!) P |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST,Jim Date: 12 May 06 - 04:00 PM About 1965 I was sent by a friend to a store called (by the kids in Dundas, Ontario) the WE BUY SELL ANYTHING JOINT. There I found a 1918 Martin bowl back mandolin for $20. I kept it till about 30 years ago, when I traded it on a 1962 D-21. I think I was allowed about $250 on it. Unfortunately I didn't get a great deal on the D-21, but I still have it and love it. About 15 years ago I was helping my son pick out his first guitar when I spotted an old open back, no-name banjo with a bird's eye maple pot and a pearl star on the peg head. I ended up paying $2o or $25 for it, and it's one of my favourite clawhammer banjos. I've been offered $500 for it and turned it down. I've also gotten good deals on Autoharps and guitars, but I've also probably overpaid for enough instruments to make up for those. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Little Robyn Date: 12 May 06 - 05:49 PM Yes SRS, $20 is nothing - grab it and if it doesn't clean up you can either decorate the wall or use it as firewood! Robyn |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: EBarnacle Date: 13 May 06 - 01:51 PM A few years ago, I dumpster dove and got a table sized xylophone. One of these days I may learn to play it. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Stilly River Sage Date: 13 May 06 - 02:27 PM Until then it will make a nifty plant stand! |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 13 May 06 - 05:49 PM That old Harmony sound slike a bargain. New machine heads, strings and a bridge aren't a big deal. What matters is whether the neck is in decent condition and not warped, anything else is easy to fix. My two favourite guitars are a jumbo Angelica (which is a sort of Japanese Harmony copy from back in the 60s, I think) which I picked up for £10, and a midget one with a neck you can detach, if you feel like it, set me back £5. Both from charity shops. Took me a couple of hours to fix them up, and I wouldn't be without them. As for "finish" - they're for playing, not looking at, though I like the way they look fine. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Mooh Date: 13 May 06 - 06:49 PM Long gone now, with regret, but I once paid $50 for an old Fender lap-steel guitar with the screw in legs and tweed case, very low serial number. Had the most incredible pickup which did a short stint in a Telecaster I had. Amazing tone. Peace, Mooh. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Big Mick Date: 13 May 06 - 06:57 PM Probably my Seagull S6. Paid $200 US plus change. I have never had a sweeter sounding instrument even though what I have now is worth 8 to 12 times as much. Hated it when the frackin airlines destroyed it. Mick |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: McGrath of Harlow Date: 13 May 06 - 07:01 PM That's the great thing about that midgy no-name guitar I mentioned - If I take its neck off it can fit into the bags you are allowed to carry with you on a plane. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST,AR282 Date: 13 May 06 - 07:58 PM I bought a Dean Playmate just before Christmas. Made in China. It retailed for $185 but plays and sounds quite good. It has lacquer damage on the bout so the guy sold it to me for $110. He threw in a nice hardshell case for $75, so I got the whole thing for $185. I just bought a Washburn also from China. A D-10, it says. Nothing special about it--ordinary 6-string acoustic with no electronix or cutaway but has a nice really dark sunburst finish with a neat little rosette around the hole that kind of looks like something by M. C. Escher. Bright, steely tone (the other Washburns there were a bit clunky and subdued). No damage. Handles nice. With a hardshell case, I got it for under $350. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: The Fooles Troupe Date: 13 May 06 - 09:44 PM My US$50 chinese 8 bass 'Hero' piano accordion does truly amazing things, and is so small and light. It lacks a bit in volume, and a bit in tone, being a bit 'muffled' and 'old reed organy'. I fitted real strap mounts and an old pair of leather straps to lock it down, and it handles just like a bought one! Fits into an airline carry on bag, with room for toothbrushes, underwear, etc. Have often wondered just what the X-ray guys would make of it, and whether they would try to seize it as a 'weapon of terror'... "If you don't fly me to Cuba, I'll play Lady of Spain! Again!" The second best 'cheap one' is my little red 32 bass Settimo Soprani and it's a real screamer - which is why I named it 'Blondie'... I have a 48 bass version too, but somehow it's just not got the 'oomph' of the 32 bass. It's black - I think red ones just go faster... |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Stilly River Sage Date: 14 May 06 - 12:27 PM I was going to move my original post to a thread Big Mick reopened, but the original post seems to have vanished so I don't have my link back to the ther old thread. Anyway, I didn't buy the guitar--I don't need more clutter around here waiting to be worked on, but if it is sitll there and if anyone is really interested, I can go see if he still wants to sell it for $20 and I can ship it to you. Then you can fix it and it'll be your new favorite cheap guitar. (Though after the work is all done it won't be as cheap is it is now.) SRS |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: redsnapper Date: 14 May 06 - 05:44 PM One good cheap one was a free one...an old small bodied Stella with a red sunburst finish that someone gave me. A great blues guitar. Another great cheap one was a 1890s Brazilian rosewood parlour guitar bought for £20 in a house sale. It is not playable fretted as the action is too high and the intonation is not accurate but I did not want to alter it from its orginal state. But I still use this as my main slide guitar aftermany years. Another good cheap one was another free one... a no-name all mahogany (incl. top) jumbo found on a tip in London. The side was badly damaged and caved in and much of the guitar was unglued. I rebuilt the side from laminated mahogany veneer and basically rebuilt the whole thing. It sounded great when finished and I sold it for about £50 (back in 1982). I have two relatively expensive (but not by some standards) instruments, both luthier-made mandolas. All my other expensive instruments, including high-end guitars and mandolins have been traded in for much cheaper and, paradoxically, better-sounding instruments which I gig with every week. RS |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST Date: 15 May 06 - 02:43 PM I was given an old bowl back mandolin a few moths ago, it had been left in a cellar and not played for years, I dusted it down put some new strings on and to my surprise it sounds really good. I showed it to a local musician who owns a shop selling second hand instruments, he offered me £200 for it, which I refused, as he seemed to be over anxious to be its new owner. The mandolin is an Italian Ferrari from about 1890 I have no idea what its true value is, could anyone give me a estimate as to what it might be worth ? |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Tootler Date: 15 May 06 - 06:39 PM Three Yamaha transparent plastic recorders in red, blue and green. Cost each £6. In tune with good intonation, speak easily throughout the two octave range. Great for sessions as they will withstand abuse and make a great talking point Click here for a picture of a green one. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Stilly River Sage Date: 16 May 06 - 12:16 AM That Italian Ferrari mandolin sounds beautiful. Here is an article that may have some information, if not prices. Also, there is one for sale on eBay right now (for another 14 hours), not very high right now (about $134 US) but you never know what will happen as the auction gets to the closing moments. Go to the home page and search on "Antique-Ferrari-Bowlback-Mandolin" to see this one. SRS |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST Date: 16 May 06 - 03:34 AM Generation Bb 3 quid sings like a sad little bird. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: mandotim Date: 16 May 06 - 07:10 AM 1975 Rob Armstrong 6/12 string doubleneck acoustic guitar, bought from a junkshop in Stoke on Trent for £150. Picture at http://www.myspace.com/bit_on_the_side next to my Rigel mandolin, which wasn't cheap. Tim |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: GUEST Date: 16 May 06 - 03:38 PM SRS Thank you for the information on the Ferrari mandolin, its been very helpfull and given me a real good start on getting the information I need. Many Thanks Guest |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Scoville Date: 17 May 06 - 09:55 AM ca. 1995 Alvarez Regent 5212--got it for about $150 at a pawnshop ten years ago. Nothing at all remarkable about it but it stays in tune and I've never been embarrassed by its sound even though it's usually the cheapest guitar in the room. I think I've even gotten compliments from people with "real" guitars. I inherited my great-uncle's ca. 1900-1925 fiddle a few years ago. He paid 35 cents for the case in the mid-1970's and got the fiddle for free. I've paid $24 to have the fingerboard reattached (glue dried out) and $10 to have that metal thing that holds the strings reattached, so for $34.35 all told I've got something that probably would sound good if I could play it better, isn't bright orange, and has a seriously bad-ass vintage case. I look the part even if I can't play worth a crap. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Tattie Bogle Date: 17 May 06 - 07:22 PM Shaker made out of a cardboard tube which originally contained shortbread rounds. Having eaten the shortbread, insert about 25gm long grain rice, replace lid, secure firmly with sellotape (it once flew off in the middle of a session and scattered rice everywhere!)Apply for Blue Peter badge, then get a-shakin' all over! Still going strong after 10 years of shaking and bashing it! |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Stilly River Sage Date: 18 May 06 - 10:17 AM A lot of the men who dance in the Gourd Clan Dances (originally Kiowa but now fairly pan-Indian) used salt shakers and baking powder cans for shakers. Here is a Gourd Clan Dance site with materials |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Midchuck Date: 18 May 06 - 10:33 AM Martin 000-X1. Solid spruce top, linoleum sides and back. $350 on eBay in good-as-new condition. LOUD for the size and cost. And pretty good tone. Peter. |
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Subject: RE: Instruments: Your best cheap one From: Pauline L Date: 18 May 06 - 11:48 AM Beardedbruce, I like your sense of values. Scoville, would you consider selling your 1900-1925 fiddle? Some of them made in Germany or France at about that time are very good. I have a few of them. Years ago, I used to go to used instrument sales. I bought a violin for $300. Back then, before ebay, that was a rock bottom price. That was a lot of money for me, and the violin had one small crack, but I loved it so I bought it anyway. I took it to my luthier for repairs and assessment for insurance purposes. Repairs, which improved the sound tremendously, cost about $25. Assessment was $3500. I love it. I also have a violin made in Germany around 1900. It used to belong to my violin teacher, who lent it to me for several years while I was learning to play. My family didn't have much money. After playing the violin for a few years, I told my father that I loved it and that I'd feel sad when I had to give it back. My father said, "It's yours to keep now." For years, he had been paying my violin teacher for it, just a few bucks at a time. That's the best gift I've ever had. |
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