Let's show off some vintage instruments!

[Chas]

It's just a pity that such a fine horn goes unplayed, that's all.:cry:

 

[draws]

Recommendation

Your uncle left you a fine instrument- many consider the Conn Conqueror the best vintage tenor of the 20th Century. It is a real pity that it isn't being played, so you should really consider taking up the sax. It's not the easiest instrument, but it's very rewarding all the same. I have the exact same case - mine has an insert for a clarinet on top of the inner box lid. Very cool. I also see that you have some nice vintage mouthpieces there- I see a vintage Otto Link and a couple of hard rubber pieces. Very nice. I use a Conn Eagle, which was probably the same model of mouthpiece that was originally sold with the 30M.

Regardless of what you do with this instrument,
"Always, always, always practice Safe Sax"

lol lol lol lol

 

[Silver Dollar]

This is the guitar I'm playing now. It was made by John D'Angelico in 1939 in New York City. This is the Excel model which was next to the top of the line New Yorker. It's 17" wide at its widest point and the scale is 24 and 3/4". I added the close up shots to show off the Art Deco appointments which was one of D'Angelicos trademarks. For those not familiar with this type of guitar, it's an archtop which is made more like a violin. The top and back which are arched out are hand carved with hand chisels, planes and sandpaper to very specific measurements for the best tone the wood is capable of. The archtop was generally used in the rhythm section of a big band.

 

[Mario]

Oh boy...I'm green with envy and at the same time speechless with admiration...what a beauty! :eusa_clap :eusa_clap :eusa_clap

 

[Silver Dollar]

Thanks Mario. It took me a long time to save up for this beauty. It's what you call a real player. As a true investment collectible, it's not in that category. It's been refretted, refinished and had some repairs done so it wasn't 100% original. The good thing about it is that it's been well played, the wood has been well vibrated and I don't have to worry about a pristine finish. That's the problem with the many of the really great condition collectible guitars out there. They haven't really been played enough to be broken in and develop full tone and soul. The really mint ones can sound kind of cold and stiff but they fetch the most money. From what I've heard, some of the worst condition instruments sound surprisingly the best. Besides, ya just gotta love that Art Deco styling.

 

[Mario]

That's the problem with the many of the really great condition collectible guitars out there. They haven't really been played enough to be broken in and develop full tone and soul.

So true. I stopped playing electric guitars (most definitely solid bodies) many years ago and only play steel stringed acoustic guitars. I've had the chance to try a few very old acoustics, like some pre-war Martin herringbones, of which one had been stored away for decades and the sound was disappointingly dull, even with the brand new D'addario phosphor bronze strings. The wood was as stiff as concrete and it would take a long time of playing to break it back in again. On the other hand, I have a custom guitar that was handcrafted for me exactly ten years ago (by Heiner Dreizehnter) and I have played it ever since I've got it, almost every day. So it's not exactly vintage, but I made it mine.

Yours is a real beauty, and I'd really be tempted to pick up an electric guitar again...

 

[Silver Dollar]

You know exactly what I mean. That cold dead sound just doesn't make it. When I was in Nashville Tennessee, I visited George Gruhn's vintage guitar shop. I played a 1941 Stromberg archtop while I was there. The sound on this thing was the best I ever heard coming from an acoustic guitar. It was the loudest one I ever played and it played like a dream. I just didn't have the spare $30,000 bucks in my pocket to get it. Oh well, at least I got to play it.

I also know hwat you mean about the custom guitar. I haven't heard of that particular luthier but having a guitar made just for you can't be beat. Plus, you're the only one that can get your sound out of it. That's priceless.

 

[Mario]

Oh yes...those prices...

Just to think that some top-earners out there buy extremely rare vintage guitars for really big bucks - just to lock them away in a well climated, computer controlled high-security locker and have them sit there untill the price goes even higher. And nobody will play those instruments again, as they are merely investment objects. Makes me sick...

 

[Dated Guy]

I play stringed stuff a whole lot, but own nothing ancient, but, a guy who sometimes sits in with the band on a Sunday lunchtime, collects old Jazz styled guitars. I have never seen all of them together, as he has a pile of money and, as you say, keeps them stashed in a temperature controlled room somewhere secret. He must have about £150.000 worth of guitars, or so I am told, and I do not think that is a lie. The last one was a 335 Gibson, cherry red, of some ancient vintage and provenance, some name from the rock idiom owned it, £24,000. I have two almost the same, one Epiphone, which I prefer, and one Gibson 335 dot, that has a weird neck that I just cannot control in the heat of battle..The Epi' is the magic beast though, it is so accurate and plays well, has it's own unique sound, just like in the 60's.....

 

[Silver Dollar]

That's a beautiful instrument Mario. The flat top definitely sounds different than the archtop. It usually sounds fuller and bassier than the archtop which was made to be loud to be able to cut through a full horn section. The type of pickup on mine gives me a more modern jazz sound reminiscent of the bebop and cool period. It mellows out the tone making it very sweet and full. If you listen to Django Rheinhart who led the way for a lot of European style players, his tone was very steely and harsh.

It's also a bit weird how the vintage guitar market works. some of it just doesn't make much sense Many acoustic hand made archtops are losing value while some of the factory made solid bodies are fetching record high prices. The price for a really good archtop from the late 30's and 40's can go from about $5000 up to $75,000 for the really good ones like the original D'Angelicos or Strombergs that a famous jazz guitarist might have owned. The 1959 Gibson solid body, factory made Les Pauls are fetching up to $250,000. And that's not a celebrity instrument. There is nothing at all wrong with the Les Paul but the inherent value just isn't there compared to the hand carved stuff. At least the Martin D-45 prewar flat tops are still fetching about $150,000.

 

[Mario]

That's a beautiful instrument Mario. The flat top definitely sounds different than the archtop. It usually sounds fuller and bassier than the archtop which was made to be loud to be able to cut through a full horn section.

Thanks. I really needed a guitar with a big, booming bass that still has those well defined, crisp middle and high frequencies to help me carry a whole fleet of flutes, fiddles, banjos, boxes and even uilleann pipes through countless sessions and stage shows, as I usually had to provide the rhythm, the harmonies and a proper bass line to boot, all at the same time. The sound also had to be transparent enough to carry some rather intricate finger-style stuff as well. Having a guitar custom made for me was the next logical step. I picked every little piece of wood that went into the instrument myself. Gives you a completely different attitude towards your own guitar.

Still, I'd LOVE to own a pre-war herringbone Martin D-28...not to mention the D-45, but I believe there are only around 90 of them...

BTW: That guitar in the background is a mid-80s Lowden L-27F which I just sold on the 'Bay for 694€ (~$940). The guy who won the guitar showed up on Wednesday (he lives in Berlin as well), supposed to pick up the instrument - and instead he told me that he doesn't have the money to pay for it!!!!! :rage: I was so flabbergasted that I really couldn't say much. He tried to press the selling price to 500 € which I refused. In the end I told him that I'd try to make second chance offers on the 'Bay. After those offers were turned down I decided to really stand my ground and performed the whole range of mountain gorilla mannerisms, like poundig my chest, showing my fangs, roaring at the top of my lungs and throwing excrements at him - of course all through the eBay mailing system and in a very polite, refined language. Well, last night, after only two of those gorilla mails, he finally surrendered and delivered the money just a few minutes ago. :whip:

 

[Silver Dollar]

Hey Mario. Looks like you have the right tool for the job. It's too bad that the buyer did what he did. He needs to get thrown off eBay. I wonder how many times he was successful with that technique.

 

[Silver Dollar]

Hey, I almost forgot something. Tuesday, I was at the Air Force Museum and spending some time in the WWII area (seems that it's the only section I really love) and I was walking in the back of the area and saw something that will stay with me for a long time. There in it's glass case was Glenn Miller's trombone along with one piece of sheet music that was written for the piano. I must have stayed looking at that 'bone for at least 30 minutes. What a fantastic museum piece. I'll post a picture sometine tonight.

 

[Silver Dollar]

Here we go. For those who are into vintage horns, enjoy. For those who are not into vintage horns, enjoy.

Here's the proof

Here's the music.

 

[fluteplayer07]

Used to play guitar myself many years ago, but I gave it up. Don't remember how to play it any more, sadly. But I know a guitar-that-I'd-love-to-own-without-having-any-use-for-it-at-all when I see one!

flute

 

[Silver Dollar]

Thanks flute. The thing about this instrument is not so much its collectibility or the brand name but what it brings to my mind. In my head, visual triggers can be very intense. What I see when I look at this instrument and play it is Art Deco New York City, the 30's and 40's. I grew up in NYC in the 50's and alot of the old architecture from the 30's and 40's were still very prevalent. Plus, as a teen and an early "twentier", I used to gig in some of the catering halls and hotels in Manhattan. Many of them still had their old Art Deco motifs and hadn't been renovated and "ruined". All I could see were the sophisticated men and women of high society who went to the night clubs in all their finery and jewelry which we now prize as vintage formal wear. They danced to the best music of the times written by Gershwin, Berlin, Porter, Arlen, Mercer, etc and played by the best musicians such as Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Kay Kyser, Harry James etc. Any other maker's instruments no matter how great they sound compared to mine including the old Gibsons and Strombergs (from Boston), can't bring those things to mind for me. You can say that the visions I've just described are my "happy place" (that is without the depression overtones and the big war. :eusa_clap