How did you get the oldest guitar you have?

[jt1]

Originally Posted by RRuskin

Circa 1967 - I was at my repairman's shop in Dearborn, Michigan for some minor work on my D-28 and spied an interesting neck hanging behind his bench. When asked what guitar it came from, he reached behind himself and put a 1907 Stahl Style 6 body in front of me. I'd never seen one before. When told it came from the same shop that made Maurers, I asked who owned it. It happened to be his and would be put back together and sold. I bought it on the spot and told him to call me when it was done. It was the single smartest guitar buying decision of my life.

Thanks for sharing the story. Those Larson brothers built astonishingly great guitars, which (thankfully) are still undervalued.

[Steve DeRosa]

Bay State Model Z "peanut" parlor, Adi/Braz, ca. 1875 - more tone/volume than anything that small has a right to have; cost me all of $100 at We Buy Guitars on 48th Street in 1975 - including the excellent-condition, metal-handle mid-50's tan/pink Les Paul case they put it in (worth about $3-4K today) when they couldn't find anything else that would even come close to fitting...

[jt1]

My 1910-ish Larson Brothers-built, Style 7 Dyer Symphony Harp Guitar. A fellow guitar-playing friend knew that I was on the lookout for Dyer style 7, whose trim would match my other Larson brothers-built guitars. When at his bank one day, the teller mentioned that she'd recently inherited a strange guitar from her grandfather. My friend connected me with her and what is likely the finest Dyer style 7 on the planet landed at my doorstep. Can you say, "minty 110-year-old guitar?" Can you say, "One of the finest-sounding stringed instruments on the planet?"



Can you say, "I still haven't mastered this beautiful beast?" Exhibit A:

[whvick]

In 1970 my cousin started classical lessons, so I thought that was cool. I traded my Regal flattop for a 1970 Aria A-560. Not a concert quality, but a very good student guitar. I did not Have classical in me so I stopped classic lessons after 6-9 months, but enjoyed folk songs fingerpicked on that nylon string
Guitar. I still have it 50 years later, and it has mellowed to a wonderful sound.

[TwangGang]

My oldest guitar is a 1965 Waltharri Mittenwald classical that I bought new, for 2000 Belgian francs ($40) when I was 14 years old. I had lived in Belgium for three years and just before we were moving back to the States I got that guitar. At the time that was the most I had ever spent on a guitar.

As our home furnishings were being shipped by boat and would take several weeks to arrive our family took a vacation driving from Brussels down to Italy where the car was loaded into the ship that we travelled on. The guitar came with me and was stored on the back deck behind the back seat and under the rear window. The '61 Chrysler Windsor was pretty roomy and sometimes I would play the guitar in the back seat as we drove along.

We stopped in Italy somewhere for lunch one day and locked the car up. It probably got well over 100 degrees under that rear window while we had a typical 1-2 hour lunch. Getting back into the car we rolled all the windows down and got back on the highway. We hadn't gone far when we heard a loud BOING and my mother thought that perhaps a can of hairspray had popped due to the heat in the trunk. We didn't stop to see what it was.

Arriving at our hotel that evening I took my guitar out of it's little gig bag to find the bridge had pulled completely off. It was late afternoon or early evening but my Dad seeing how distraught I was over the condition of my axe took me and my guitar to find the nearest music store. We found one a few blocks away and through broken English, Italian, and French we got the shopkeeper to understand that we were leaving the next morning and needed a quick repair.

He glued the bridge back in place, but knew it wouldn't hold the string tension without being clamped, so he drilled three tiny holes in the bottom of the guitar and affixed a tailpiece and then the strings going over the bridge held it down and allowed the glue to set. It remained in that configuration for a couple of years before the tailpiece was removed and the bridge reset. Many years later (2010 or so) the bridge started to lift again and I had it repaired for the third time and it has held it's own since, but I do not keep it tuned up to concert pitch - it is sort of like a little classical baritone tuned down a few steps.

Over the 56 years that I've owned it, it has not been played that much as I spent most of those years playing electric guitar in rock bands. But I will always treasure it as we've been through a lot together and I learned my rudimentary notes and chords on it.

https://i.imgur.com/iY2UzPK.jpg

[TJNies]

1944 Martin 00-18. Just got it recently, after much research. I wanted a mostly-original model, outside the usual changeout items.
I was lucky to find someone on UMGF who was willing to sell one of his prized possessions after scoring a pristine 1945 00-18.
Turns out it was originally purchased by a serviceman in Hawaii and lived most of its life in the islands. No cracks, minimal items changed out (frets / tuners).
People may not like the 00 bodied guitars, but this thing is SO expressive, sweet, and louder than the small body suggests. A true sweetheart!

[Mycroft]

Well, the question asked is what is guitar that you've owned the longest, not the oldest guitar that you own. About 1/3rd of the respondents have answered the second question instead of the first, likely because they didn't read the entire first post. I'm going to answer the question asked, although I may also answer the unasked question, because, well, you'll see.

The guitar that I've had the longest I bought used in 1998. Now, I had just bought my first "high end" guitar only a few months before, a used Santa Cruz 000-12 fret, bought from Buffalo Brothers whilst on a law school reconnoitering trip to San Diego. I had A/bed it with a used Collings 000-12 fret, and had liked the voice of the Santa Cruz more.

I had also just made a deposit on a McAlister Adirondack over Mahogany short scale after having played a McAlister owned by a hairy-handed gent who lived out in the woods of Chugiak with the wolves, bears and moose. There was a then 3 year wait list for the Mac, but after some serious thought, I pulled the trigger.

However, a month or so later I fell into some unexpected cash, when some friends bought a leftover automobile from when I use to run a taxi permit in Anchorage. It was a former Fairbanks Airport supervisor Chevy Impala, with all the police vehicle add-ons like reinforced doors and heavy generators, but instead of the V8 interceptor it had a flat 6. I had tried to sell it for 2 years, but because it was painted checker cab orange no one would buy it even though it never actually did time as a cab. My friends, though, thought it would be a perfect first car for their soon to be 16 year old son. Heavy, reinforced with armor, underpowered, and colored to be easy to find in a ditch.

So, I had some cash and no plans on how to spend it. So I thought to myself, one slightly drunken evening, perhaps I will by a Mahogany-backed "Interim Guitar" to go along with my Rosewood-back Santa Cruz, that I could flip in a few years when the Mac was delivered. I was encouraged in these thoughts, not just by the cups of wine, but by a perusal of the goods in stock by the fine purveyors of internet guitar pornography, such as Elderly, Mandolin Bros, Gruhn, and… Buffalo Brothers.

Which had in stock a used 1997 Froggy Bottom A12, Adirondack over Mahogany, at a price that I could afford with my windfall car money.

I had played a few Froggys before, in Seattle at Dusty Strings, then a dealer, and had thought them quite nice. I was reluctant, though, as I had never bought a guitar that I had never had in my hands before. After a few days of thought, though, I emailed someone who was a resident of San Diego, whom I knew through my affiliation with the RMMGA usenew group. Now we had never met in person at that point, and I was a little bit reluctant to ask, but I emailed and asked if she might happen to be near the store that weekend. Her answer was that she had been there the last three Saturdays, so why not make it four?

So flash forward to Saturday, and I am kicking around the house waiting for my computer to announce I had “a grail!” An email. And finally “A Grrrail!”

Which said, to paraphrase: “You will buy this guitar. My friend wants to buy it if you don’t. If it had a narrower than 1 3/4” nut that better fit my small hands, I would buy it out from under you! Bob has it on hold for you for a day” I immediately called, got a Bob and said that so and so said that I would be calling. “Ah, yes, for the Froggy Bottom. You are going like this guitar.

So a deal was struck and goods exchanged.

Now in those days I was not entirely confident on my own ear, in my ability to pick out a superior instrument. So when the guitar arrived and cleared the cold weather quarantine, I asked the aforementioned hairy-handed gent to lose the firs and animal skins and don some civilized clothes, and along with another mutual friend, stop in and give their opinion on my new acquisition.

So before playing, the opinion was that a 00 was too small, he really didn’t like slot heads, was not a Mahogany fan. So, after a visual perusal, he began playing. One minute. Two minutes. Five minutes. He then stopped, and looked that guitar for another minute. And then said “You will never sell this. But if you ever do, I’ll buy it.” And so far I haven't. It has a wonderful woody old guitar voice that far belies its years. For fingerpicking blues, old time, rag time, it can’t be beat. Fortunately the Mac, when it can, was different enough in voice that I had no shame in keeping both.

Right at the moment it has been sitting in arms reach, on the stand by my desk. The guitar that I have possessed the longest. It ain’t going anywhere.

The last time that I saw the aforementioned hairy-handed gent, 5-6 years or so ago, he was doing a road trip, from his spawning grounds in the Midwest, to catch the Alaska Ferry from Bellingham. He stopped in and he had a go with the quiver, reaffirming his place of pride on the Froggy list, and then we went down to Dusty Strings, a must visit for guitar geeks in the Emerald City.

While he was off playing something or another, I began chatting with one of the employees. For some reason the fact that I had never bought a guitar from them came up. I explained that they had had many that I liked, but it always seemed that whenever I had the money, they was nothing to struck my fancy, and when something struck my fancy, the coffer was dry.

“Well, what might strike you fancy?” I was asked. I mentioned a couple of things, then “something like my friends ‘47 Gibson LG2.” “Come here” I was told, and we went into the shop. He pulled out an old case, and produced a stringless LG2, with a fair bit of scratches and wear on the body, but no cracks. No closet queen, this. “We have the strings off to go through it and then tweek the setup, and then the owner wants to consign it, as she bought it as a backup to her 30s L-00, but hasn’t used it. Should be out of the shop in a week or 10 days. We can call you.” “Yes, you should.”

So I went back down there the day that she called, dragging along my old ‘57 Martin as a baseline to compare it to. I also had to decide if I could handle that truly baseball bat neck. The setup was excellent. And it had that great old Gibson mid-rangy growl. I spent several hours with it. Apparently several people who had heard about it came in while I was there, and were turned away. “We will email you if it still going to be here tomorrow. But we think that it is sold.” And they were right.

That is my oldest guitar by age. 1943 Gibson LG2 Banner.

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by TJNies

1944 Martin 00-18. Just got it recently, after much research. I wanted a mostly-original model, outside the usual changeout items.
I was lucky to find someone on UMGF who was willing to sell one of his prized possessions after scoring a pristine 1945 00-18.
Turns out it was originally purchased by a serviceman in Hawaii and lived most of its life in the islands. No cracks, minimal items changed out (frets / tuners).
People may not like the 00 bodied guitars, but this thing is SO expressive, sweet, and louder than the small body suggests. A true sweetheart!

Sweet. Straight braced or scalloped?

[Wade Hampton]

What Mycroft left out of his retelling of my interaction with the Froggy Bottom is that at the time he was very high on the Santa Cruz 12 fret Triple O, and fairly uncertain about the Froggy.

Which is understandable - he’d had the Triple O for a little while, liked it and was unsure about the Froggy.

But there was no comparison between the two, which was clear to me because that was the first time I had played either, and I hadn’t had a chance to develop any preferences.

Mycroft was a little bit surprised by my certainty on the subject, but he hung onto the right guitar.

Which I still want first crack at should it ever come to market. Even though my opinion on slotted headstocks hasn’t changed....


whm

[Wild Bill Jones]

I was a poor hippy dippy kid in 1972, trying learn to play folk songs on a garage sale $2 Kay. I called it El Kabong. Made my fingers bleed while trying to learn three chords in an adult Ed class. But I liked it and I knew I had to get something not only easier to play but also sounded like something other than a plywood box with strings on it. Mind you I didn’t know you could (should) change strings. So I quit smoking and saved the money for a guitar. When I had $300 I went to the local guitar store and bought an Ovation Folklore for $299. I loved that guitar and learned to play better on it. Eventually I moved on to other guitars,...but I still have my Ovation. Always will if only for sentimental reasons. And I still have the receipt. ( never smoked again either).

[Zissou Intern]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Well, the question asked is what is guitar that you've owned the longest, not the oldest guitar that you own. About 1/3rd of the respondents have answered the second question instead of the first, likely because they didn't read the entire first post. I'm going to answer the question asked, although I may also answer the unasked question, because, well, you'll see...

There were actually several questions asked in WHM’s initial post. And many people chose to answer all, some, or merely one of the questions, such as the original question.
How did you get the oldest guitar you have?
And what’s made you keep it?
So how about you?
What’s your oldest guitar in terms of being in your possession, how did you acquire it, and what do you especially like about it?

[Eric S.]

My oldest guitar is my father's Kalamazoo K-21 archtop from 1935 that I pulled out of the attic in 67 and learned to play on.

[donlyn]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

And what’s made you keep it?

* *

So how about you? What’s your oldest guitar in terms of being in your possession, how did you acquire it, and what do you especially like about it?

Just curious....


Wade Hampton Miller

Hey Wade,

Oldest Acoustic guitar still in my possession is my 1985 Gibson J-200, spruce topped and rosewood backed.

Bought it new, at a now-defunct guitar store back in '85.

What I like about it is it, in appearance, playability, and sound. Also some sentimental attachment. If I were a viking, I'd have my axe buried with me.

As far as I know, all the production runs of J-200s and J-45s had special woods and appointments that year for the Gibson 90th anniversary. Hence the rosewood back and sides, small pickguard, and fancy inlays on the fretboard and headstock on the J-200. And the now aged patina of the natural top.

I don't have a cell phone or camera, which is no big deal since I can't post pictures here anyway, so here is a video of Mark and Chet playing a couple of duets with '85 Gibson J-200s:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5wTVLIZaxMk



Be well,

Don
.

[phil0021]

Traded a '71 D-28 for the fingerstyle dream I needed - a '73 00-21 that I still love to play.

[CoryB]

The guitar I’ve owned the longest is my 1972 Gibson Les Paul Custom. My father bought it for me for $400 in 1974 from the local Trading Post paper. I’d had a cheapo no-name electric guitar for a while. I refinished it in our basement and while it looked better than before, it still looked bad.

I guess I whined enough that he agreed to buy another guitar and found that Les Paul listed. He asked if I would be happy with that and I said YES! So we went and got it and I’ve had it ever since. I practiced for hours and played many gigs with it and it’s still the most comfortable guitar (to me) that I own. It had the tiny frets and several are about gone but I hesitate to get it refretted because I’m afraid it will change the mojo.

My oldest guitar is a 1953 New York Epiphone Zenith. I was cruising the pawn shops in Casper Wyoming on one of our visits there and it was hanging on the wall. The price was a little high but I picked it up anyway. One of the sales droids came over and said that everything was 30% off that day and that made the price a lot more attractive. I countered with an out-the-door price that was just a bit lower and they took it.

On another visit, a different pawn shop had an L-5 but the price was too rich for me.