I’ve got no story...but quite a story!

[CoryB]

Originally Posted by ManyMartinMan

Okay first "grab the guitar and run......."??? Next, I found this on line (no idea if correct but here it is).... "Dates of manufacture: 1901 to 1939, 1968 to 1981
Martin 5-28 is a three quarter sized acoustic produced from 1901 to 1939 and again from 1968 to 1981. The 5-28 has also been available recently as a Martin Custom Shop model and also influenced the design of the 1999 Mini Martin - as played by Sting."

If correct, they were made for 38 years then 13 years, so 51 years plus later customs. You stated yours is a 1969 so not pre-war (thank goodness for the poor family that gave it away). However, either way, the guitar would have been worth (and yes, still) thousands of dollars. I'll leave you to your conscience but please stay away from my family if they have to sell my property.

I realize now that I forgot the smiley re:grab it and go. My son talked to his neighbor selling it and she verified that her MIL only wanted $200 for it - she just wanted it gone. So that's what I paid her. As I said, I overpaid by a good amount for two Alvarez guitars that I didn't particularly want as she would not accept any more money for the Martin.

Had it been a pre-war, I would not have purchased it, but would have strongly suggested that she have it appraised and sell it on the collector market.

As far as production dates, you are correct. The 5-28 was available from Martin for many years but, again according to my source who spoke to knowledgeable historical people at Martin, only 24 were ever built. Is that correct? Who knows? I certainly don't, but he has more sources than I do.

Thus far, I have not been able to find anyone who can accurately appraise the guitar. I have had it looked at by several vintage instrument dealers, as well as the vintage instrument manager for Sam Ash Music. None of them can find enough information on those guitars to where they are willing to commit to an appraisal. I've gotten guesses on the value from $300 to $25,000 but with no corroborating evidence to back up those guesses.

At $300, I'm in the hole because it needed a neck reset and had been refinished at some point in the past so much of the value was lost in the refinish. At $25K, I came out way ahead, other than the fact that I don't intend to sell it.

Do I feel bad about buying it for that price? Maybe a little, but I offered more after a bit of research on my part and it was refused.

So my conscience is clear.

[slooky]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

I'm still trying to figure out the meaning of the opening sentence.

I'm guessing the doctor gives his patients guitar picks.

[whvick]

Originally Posted by upsidedown

I'm still trying to figure out the meaning of the opening sentence.

Sorry, I figured people had seen my other posts.
This one was “A good smelly guitar story”:
Just for fun I had a bunch of guitar picks printed for my optometry practice. If I find a patient is a guitar player I give them a pick.
The effect is great. Normally nervous patients open up and tell me about their guitar.
So last month I had a patient who said he was a guitar player and I gave him a pick. He got a big smile, his eyes glazed over a little, and he said “I gotta tell you about my Martin”.
Seems 25 years ago a guy comes into a barbershop with a guitar and asks the barber to give him $10 and hold his guitar for collateral. The barber gives him a 10 spot and hangs the guitar on the wall.
My patient comes in for a haircut, sees the guitar and asks what’s the story. He tells the barber he would like to have that guitar, cause it’s a Martin. But the barber can’t sell it cause he is holding it for the owner.
So for years my patient keeps getting haircuts and checking out this guitar that never gets redeemed by the owner.
One day my patient goes in and the barber tells him he is retiring and closing up shop. Of course he asks what will happen to the guitar. And the barber says, “I’m giving it to you!”
He is thrilled and takes it home. But the guitar had hung in the shop where lots of cigarette smoke had coated it.
I don’t remember how he did it, but he finally got it clean and the smell gone.
And of course he finishes by saying it’s the best guitar he’s ever played!
I don’t remember which model he said or how old, but that is one proud Martin owner!

[guitar george]

Where can you buy a decent vacuum for $50.00?

[815C]

Around 1980 I was living in Texas, about 30 miles from where my folks lived. My mom called one day and from an estate sale and and told be she had found this "little guitar" that was only $5 and it said "Gibson" on it. I told her, "BUY IT!!!!"

Man, I burned rubber to her house and beat her home. She arrived with an early 1950's Gibson BR-9 lap steel in the original case!

Great work mom! I told her anytime she see's something that says Martin, Gibson, or Fender on it for $5, buy it!!

[CoffeeFan]

Originally Posted by CoryB

Do I feel bad about buying it for that price? Maybe a little, but I offered more after a bit of research on my part and it was refused.

So my conscience is clear.

As it should be. That was the right thing to do.

You can't force people to take more money...

[Wade Hampton]

The guy who told you that story got his urban legends completely garbled. Yamaha never copied Martin. The first few years of Takamine guitars on the US market they did look very similar to Martins, but Martin’s attorneys sent them a cease and desist letter and Takamine changed both their headstock logos and their headstock shape.

Those Takamine Martin copies are what are usually what’s referred to as “lawsuit Takamines,” but there was no actual lawsuit ever filed.

The one time Martin DID take an Asian guitar manufacturer to court was when a Japanese company that called their guitars “Martin Professional” started exporting their instruments to the United States. Like the Takamines, the Martin Professional guitars were Martin copies, and Martin was on them like white on rice, took them to court and won.

Those are the only actual “lawsuit guitars,” but they’re extremely rare. I’ve only ever seen pictures of a couple of examples, and never seen one in person.

But the so-called “lawsuit Takamines” are very common and easy to find.

I guess “cease and desist letter Takamines” doesn’t have quite the same ring to it....

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

[CoffeeFan]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

The first few years of Takamine guitars on the US market they did look very similar to Martins, but Martin’s attorneys sent them a cease and desist letter and Takamine changed both their headstock logos and their headstock shape.

Back in the mid-1980's I saw Stephen Stills in a bar in Charleston, SC. He was playing a Takamine with the "Martin" headstock.

That thing sounded great, too...

[Cabarone]

"Back in the day" I had a boss who bought a Takamine Martin copy...he made it a point to tell everybody that looking at his guitar and my D 28 you couldn't tell them apart and I paid twice as much for mine...I told him, "I can tell them apart w/my eyes closed"...

[upsidedown]

Originally Posted by whvick

Sorry, I figured people had seen my other posts.
This one was “A good smelly guitar story”:
Just for fun I had a bunch of guitar picks printed for my optometry practice. If I find a patient is a guitar player I give them a pick.
The effect is great. Normally nervous patients open up and tell me about their guitar.
So last month I had a patient who said he was a guitar player and I gave him a pick. He got a big smile, his eyes glazed over a little, and he said “I gotta tell you about my Martin”.
Seems 25 years ago a guy comes into a barbershop with a guitar and asks the barber to give him $10 and hold his guitar for collateral. The barber gives him a 10 spot and hangs the guitar on the wall.
My patient comes in for a haircut, sees the guitar and asks what’s the story. He tells the barber he would like to have that guitar, cause it’s a Martin. But the barber can’t sell it cause he is holding it for the owner.
So for years my patient keeps getting haircuts and checking out this guitar that never gets redeemed by the owner.
One day my patient goes in and the barber tells him he is retiring and closing up shop. Of course he asks what will happen to the guitar. And the barber says, “I’m giving it to you!”
He is thrilled and takes it home. But the guitar had hung in the shop where lots of cigarette smoke had coated it.
I don’t remember how he did it, but he finally got it clean and the smell gone.
And of course he finishes by saying it’s the best guitar he’s ever played!
I don’t remember which model he said or how old, but that is one proud Martin owner!

Great story.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by CoffeeFan

Back in the mid-1980's I saw Stephen Stills in a bar in Charleston, SC. He was playing a Takamine with the "Martin" headstock.

That thing sounded great, too...

Back then the pickups in Takamine guitars were about the best available to get a good acoustic guitar sound onstage.

Where in Charleston did you see him, if I may ask? Charleston was my mother’s hometown and I attended the Citadel, though I was long gone by the mid-1980’s.


Wade Hampton Miller

[MikeBmusic]

Of course you guys have all seen the meme:
My biggest fear is that when I die my wife sells my guitars for what I told her I paid for them

[Brucebubs]

Nothing over-the-top but this lady did OK considering she had no idea what she was buying.

[The Bard Rocks]

I think many of us rush to judgement on these kind of stories, the ripping off the old lady stuff. If she got what she wanted, she was satisfied and happy. It is not always easy for someone who knows the value to actually get it - you have to know the right people to get started.

And it's easier to be judgemental with no skin in the game. People are opportunists. Suppose it was the other way around and the buyer needed money for his kid's education, for an operation, to pay overdue rent... and he came across this $50 bargain. Would you blame him for ripping off the old lady?

It reminds me of the story of the $50 Corvette that appear in the classifieds. The guy calls and asks if it is a typo. No, that's what she wanted. So he rushes over and looks at it. Perfect in every way. So he agrees to buy it, gives her the money and then asks what was wrong with it. "Oh, nothing. You see it belongs to my husband and after 44 years of marriage, he just ran off with his secretary. A month later, he ran out of money, called me, and told me to sell the Corvette."

I had my own moment of finding a completely unplayed 50 year old Gibson and by the time the repairs were made and I sold it, I broke even. No one got ripped off, no one made anything.

[slowesthand]

Long story short.... A 1962 Jazzmaster sitting in a garage, no case, completely caked with dirt, in the heat of Phx. az. Traded even up for a used lawn mower,

True story