Worked on a 100+yr. old guitar today.

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goldtopchas

New member
My Schwan food delivery guy told me months ago that he had a old guitar..and maybe I could take a look at it. He explained that his wife is real small and it is a good guitar for her to learn on. I said "sure, bring it by sometime." Well, he finally remembers to bring it along on his route. I looked at it and at first glance thought " OK, ... old piece of crap with the bridge pulling up and cracks in the top- Not worth the time to fix it. Then I look at it closer. Holy crap, this thing is really old. I hop on the net and do a search.
It's a BAY STATE parlor guitar. The co. was in operation from 1865 to 1897. I explain what it is, and that he should probably take it to a luthier and have it worked on. I threw out a ballpark figure of what it might cost. I could tell by the look in eyes that that wasn't going to happen.
This fellow is in his late 60's and probably not that well off. So I told him to leave it and I'd see what I could do. So I took it in to work (I work for a guitar co.) I got a scrap piece of ebony and made a new bridge for it.
Someone had glued a "string-through" classical bridge on it that was way too tall. Not to mention they had two small screws attempting to hold it on.
The new bridge is a "Pyramid" style, like what was used on all the examples that I found in my search. It turned out really nice. I'm not going to charge him...I enjoyed doing it. Maybe he'll hook me up with a box of steaks or something.
 
I think skinning the route driver for a valuable guitar is not a good idea. Fix it up for him and tell him what you think it's worth, and wait for him to initiate a trade or whatever.
 
That reminds me of a wonderful story I heard not long ago. There was a guitar guy in Boston—can't remember his name, never met him—who was the local guitar guru when it came to working on vintage gear. One day some yuppie douche walks into his shop—which was a dumpy garage in brighton—with his uncle's 1965 strat, sunburst.

The guy says this: "I heard you can fix just about everything. I inherited this guitar from my uncle, but I think it would look a lot better in black. Can you re-paint it for me?"

Now, of course the guy says no, you better leave it alone. It's a nice guitar. Why ruin it?

But the yuppie has a job running financial schemes in the Prudential tower. He's used to getting his way. Says he'll pay whatever he asks to paint it black.

Guitar Guru says no way. I'm not ruining that guitar.

Guy says he'll take it to someone else if he can't do it. The Guru thinks for a moment and says to drop it behind the counter and come back later.

The yuppie keeps coming in every two weeks or so to see how it's going. Answer's always the same: Haven't gotten around to it yet. Waiting for materials... etc.

Finally one afternoon Guitar Guru goes down to Daddy's Junky Music shop on Mass Ave and buys a black fender squier strat for $60.00. He brings it home, grinds off the squier on the neck, cleans it up a bit and waits.

Guy comes in... LOVES IT. Pays $450 for the refinish and splits, never to be seen again.

Pretty good job... Made $390 + a Vintage 1965 Strat... all in an afternoon's work.
 
Normally I wouldn't even bother, but...

...let me just say for the record that as a dude working for a finance firm in Boston, that WASN'T me. :lol:

I'd love to see pics of this guitar. And points for playing it legit with him - fuck over the assholes, maybe, but not the guys who deserve better.
 
Reminds me of this classical guitar I bought from an old guy who was liquidating his guitar collection. Me and my Dad saw the ad in the paper and went down to check it out; the old dude had guitars wall to wall in every room in his house. Some were junk but most were really nice. He had no idea what he had really.

I asked him if he had any Hofner's and he said no. 2 minutes later I open up a case and there sits a mint, mid '70's Hofner nylon string with the most gorgeous tiger striped back. The next case I opened had another classical guitar but I didn't recognize the brand. It was a "Mario Bros." classical and the old guy said he got in New York in the '50's.

The Mario Bros. had a tone so sweet it blew away the Hofner and every other classical I've ever played (and I've played some really nice Ramirez guitars that go for thousands.) We bought it and the Hofner (still had to have it) and I've had them both for years now. Great guitars and cheap too...
 
DrewPeterson7 said:
Normally I wouldn't even bother, but...

...let me just say for the record that as a dude working for a finance firm in Boston, that WASN'T me. :lol:

I'd love to see pics of this guitar. And points for playing it legit with him - fuck over the assholes, maybe, but not the guys who deserve better.
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hahaha. Didn't mean to offend your species, Drew.

But yes, that is the maxim: Fuck over the assholes, help the nice guys.

I'm sure it was one of those five commandments that Moses dropped in a History of the World Part I.
 
Well, I got it all strung up and it sounds pretty cool. Surprising amount of bass from such a small body. The action is a little high because of a rather steep neck angle but not too bad. Intonation is off a little. Over all it looks great and sounds pretty damn good for a guitar of it's age and wear and tear. My delivery guy came for it this evening and said his wife would be thrilled with it.

After a short argument over me refusing payment for it. He thanked me profusely and returned from his truck with a box of chocolate sundae cones,(something he knows I treat myself to.) -we're square.
 
P.S- I found our old digital camera (which sucks) and snapped a few pics of the guitar before he picked it up. I just have to find the software for it and re-install because we removed it when we bought a new camera. My wifes got the new one out of town with her and won't be back for a week. I'll try and get a few pics posted soon. I'm quite proud of how it turnded out.
 
pics

Sorry about the quality. Now I remember why we replaced this shitty camera.
 

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Very cool.

I have one of those auto-focus cameras and I've learned to put something patterned on the guitar for the lens to focus on before I take the picture (I take it off for the shot, of course). That avoids the fuzziness.
 
Sailjunkie said:
It's a very nice thing you did for this guy. Instant Karma's gonna get you! I hope it comes back to you.
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Very true. But sadly, he and his wife may never fully appreciate the the unique value of that instrument. If she complains about the action, trade her the Baby Taylor for it. :)
 
Y'all just can't stand it that he's not taking advantage of the route driver, can you?

Guitars are meant to be played, not owned. Get over the greed.
 
lpdeluxe said:
Very cool.

I have one of those auto-focus cameras and I've learned to put something patterned on the guitar for the lens to focus on before I take the picture (I take it off for the shot, of course). That avoids the fuzziness.
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The cameras junk. It used to work ok, but for some reason everything comes out orangish and blurry now. Got a new one for x-mas. 1/3 of what I paid for that one 5 yrs. ago and 10 times the quality and features.
 
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