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Thread: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

  1. #1

    Default A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    A true story...

    The year is 1980, the place a music shop in upstate NY...

    I walk in and see an interesting old guitar on the wall. May I play it, I enquire ?

    I learn it's a 1958 Gibson ES-335 dot neck, tobacco sunburst, stop tail piece, P.A.F pickups. (Aka, the Grail).

    I first play it acoustically, then amplified. It is, by far, the finest guitar I had ever touched or heard... Fat neck, fat tone, indescribable mojo...


    The price ? $2,000. That is, ten times my monthly rent and food allowance combined...

    I sadly hand it back...

    Two days later, I am inexplicably drawn back to see it again, and it's gone !

    Where is it, I ask ? The shop owner responds with a question: who gave a concert last night ? Eddie Van Halen, I replied. Well, that's who has it, he said. It seems that the day after I played it, the maestro himself came into the shop and bought it on the spot !

    I believe it remains in his collection to this day...

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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    I think I meant inexorably... :-)

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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    I had a similar (sort of) experience in Owensboro in '92. The weekend after the IBMA Festival,there was an open air concert down at English Park in Owensboro. I'm pretty sure that it was Elderly Instruments that had the stall there,where i played the finest banjo i've played to date. It was a pre-war Gibson TB6 tenor to 5-string conversion. It looked old,shabby,& dusty. The skin on it was as stained as hades,but it rang like the proverbial bell,even with the old strings on it. Nobody had touched it while i was standing looking,but i though 'what the heck',picked it up & was astounded by it's tone. I played it for around 20 minutes or so,including playing 'Santa Claus' for Bill Keith who was standing smoking a cigarette a few yards away. After i'd finished playing it,there was a queue of folk waiting to play it. I went back to the stall a few hours after & might well have persuaded myself to buy it.The reason i didn't buy it straight of,was that i had my Stelling banjo with me & didn't want to haul 2 banjos around the US for 2 more weeks. I could have afforded the $5,750 US that it was on sale for - but somebody had already bought it. I'll always regret not buying it,but some lucky person has the finest banjo i ever layed my finger picks on - he who hesitates...... !
    Ivan
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  5. #4
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    So I have the reverse story to tell you.

    For many many years I wanted a Lyon and Healy asymmetrical two point with a fiddle scroll peg head. I though, and still think, its the most beautiful mandolin in the world.

    I saw one for a lot more discretionary money than I had. So I started a virtual coffee can account for it, and every time I got MAS pangs I tossed some money in the account. Its my strategy for doing something in response to MAS pangs.

    So cut to several years later. I was checking out the cafι classifieds, not something I do all that often actually, and there was the mandolin of my dreams. I checked my coffee can and I was within striking distance. So I called the number in the ad.

    It turns out he had just posted the ad, and had not even gotten up from the computer yet when I called. We talked, I bought it, and I love it even today.
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    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
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    Registered User LongBlackVeil's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    So I started a virtual coffee can account for it, and every time I got MAS pangs I tossed some money in the account. Its my strategy for doing something in response to MAS pangs.
    .
    what a great idea!
    "When you learn an old time fiddle tune, you make a friend for life"

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    Barn Cat Mandolins Bob Clark's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by JeffD View Post
    It turns out he had just posted the ad, and had not even gotten up from the computer yet when I called. We talked, I bought it, and I love it even today.
    Great story and a really imaginative strategy for handling MAS. That would make this mandolin even more special to you than it would normally be.

    I have sold only one mandolin in the Cafe's classifieds, but it sold just as you are describing here. In fact, the person who purchased it not only responded immediately (while I was still at the computer), he was within easy driving distance and near to where I was working. We met in a parking lot a day or so later and the deal was done. What could be easier?!

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    Registered User T.D.Nydn's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    In about 1971 I take a trip down to the city,to go to the legendary Mannys in manhatten.i went to try out les Paul's and other gibsons.i played a lot of instruments and of all things I pick up a Baldwin ode banjo and start playing it.when I finished I looked up and there was Leslie West ,standing about 4 feet in front of me ,watching me play.there were other people with him I didn't recognize ,but we shook hands and started talking .he said he had to stop and listen to this kid play the banjo.

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    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Well, I drooled on a Fletcher Brock mandocello that went to Petri Hakala and a Paul Lestock tenor that went to Joe Craven ...

    Never shoulda sold my Schwab electric tenor. It was a peach. Still miss it.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

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    Lyon & Healy • Wood • Thormahlen • Andersen • Bacorn • Yanuziello • Fender • National • Gibson • Franke • Fuchs • Aceto • Three Hungry Pit Bulls

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    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by T.D.Naydan View Post
    In about 1971 I take a trip down to the city,to go to the legendary Mannys in manhatten.i went to try out les Paul's and other gibsons.i played a lot of instruments and of all things I pick up a Baldwin ode banjo and start playing it.when I finished I looked up and there was Leslie West ,standing about 4 feet in front of me ,watching me play.there were other people with him I didn't recognize ,but we shook hands and started talking .he said he had to stop and listen to this kid play the banjo.
    Several years ago I was sitting in one of the rooms at Mandolin Bros playing guitar with a guy that I later learned was Leslie West. I'd never heard of him.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
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    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    My college roommate went to high school with him in NYC. If I'm not mistaken, at that time he was known as Leslie Weinstein.

    I have vague memories of seeing Mountain play at Woodstock. I guess they weren't the worst act there . . .
    "The paths of experimentation twist and turn through mountains of miscalculations, and often lose themselves in error and darkness!"
    --Leslie Daniel, "The Brain That Wouldn't Die."

    Some tunes: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCa1...SV2qtug/videos

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    totally amateur k0k0peli's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by jaycat View Post
    I have vague memories of seeing Mountain play at Woodstock. I guess they weren't the worst act there . . .
    No, that would be Crosby Stills & Nash, who hadn't yet learned to sing harmony together. Ouch.
    Mandos: Coleman & Soviet ovals; Kay & Rogue A5's; Harmonia F2 & mandola
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    Others: Maffick & First Act dulcimers; Mexican cuatro-menor; Puerto Rican cuatro; Martin tiple; electrics
    Wanted: charango; balalaika; bowlback mando

  16. #12
    Mandolin Dreams Unlimited MysTiK PiKn's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by Midnight View Post
    A true story...

    The year is 1980, the place a music shop in upstate NY...

    I walk in and see an interesting old guitar on the wall. May I play it, I enquire ?

    I learn it's a 1958 Gibson ES-335 dot neck, tobacco sunburst, stop tail piece, P.A.F pickups. (Aka, the Grail).

    I first play it acoustically, then amplified. It is, by far, the finest guitar I had ever touched or heard... Fat neck, fat tone, indescribable mojo...


    The price ? $2,000. That is, ten times my monthly rent and food allowance combined...

    I sadly hand it back...

    Two days later, I am inexplicably drawn back to see it again, and it's gone !

    Where is it, I ask ? The shop owner responds with a question: who gave a concert last night ? Eddie Van Halen, I replied. Well, that's who has it, he said. It seems that the day after I played it, the maestro himself came into the shop and bought it on the spot !

    I believe it remains in his collection to this day...
    circa 1972, I had in my hands the 1959 version of the same 335 guitar you describe. I met this guy who was almost begging me to buy it. I was there to buy something else; forget what that was. He was almost apologizing for the fact that he had special setup w the volume control on the pickguard. I told him it was way over my head, I had no use for it, but it was a beautiful guitar and in literally mint condition except the vol control.
    He wanted $900.
    One of several I watched go by - and they all still haunt me.

    While I have your attention, I had a friend who was into serious buy n sell hobby (?). Bunch of friends went with him to view a guitar. In some upstairs apartment somewhere in Toronto. 1959 Les Paul previously owned by Mike Bloomfield, supposedly used on the "Supersession" album w Stephen Stills, and I forget who else. He didn't buy it (price?). I played it for a few minutes - it was very carefully passed around the room.
    This same fellow told me to go look at an acoustic - I did - it was my 53 J45. In appreciation, I asked if there was anything I could do in return. He said "If you ever see a Firebird....". A year later in Winnipeg, I saw a Firebird 1, early 60's, PAF. Made a phone call, laid down the cash. Delivered it to him. He loved it. And I love mine.

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    = Harmony, Monterrey c.1969 = collapsed ply - parts, testing, training, firewood.


    "The intellect is a boring load of crawp. Aye. Next wee chune".

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    Henry Lawton hank's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    In my youth I used to spend a lot of time hanging out on mountain tops waiting for the right conditions to launch my foot launched hang glider. The Idea was to watch the trees down in the valley and along the mountainside below for movement to predict the approach of a thermal. We used to call it the window of opportunity. Through trial and error we learned that identifying and lauching off the mountaintop into that window was the only way to to get to cloud base. That understanding of knowing that opportunity only arises in short windows has always proven beneficial in my decision making and guides my path to this very day.
    "A sudden clash of thunder, the mind doors burst open, and lo, there sits old man Buddha-nature in all his homeliness."
    CHAO-PIEN

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    Mandolin Dreams Unlimited MysTiK PiKn's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    I like that kind of talk.

    = The Loar, LM700VS c.2013 = "The Brat"
    = G. Puglisi, "Roma" c.1907 = "Patentato" - rare archBack, canted top, oval
    = Harmony, Monterrey c.1969 = collapsed ply - parts, testing, training, firewood.


    "The intellect is a boring load of crawp. Aye. Next wee chune".

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    Registered User Ivan Kelsall's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    MysTik - The J45 has to be one of Gibson's all time great guitars. A friend of mine who now lives over in Ireland bought a really beat up one many years ago for not too much cash either. He knew the great luthier Paul Zamaitis,having bought a guitar from him a couple of years earlier ( it was the prototype of the 12 string guitar that Zamaitis built for Eric Clapton),so he took it to PZ to have it refurbished. The result was a J45 with a blonde top but with it's original side & back colouring & i have to say that it's the most awesome acoustic i've ever played. It hardly needs playing. It's so responsive to touch & the tone/volume is off the planet. I'm a finger picker on guitar & when i played this J45,i was dumbstruck. That was going back over 40 years,before i even decided to buy myself another acoustic guitar,but i'd have robbed a bank for that one.
    My only fairly recent stroke of luck in not hesitating,was when i bought my Weber 'Fern' around 8 years ago. It was about 3 weeks before the UK £ crashed against the US $. When that happened,the cost of a new Weber went up by £1,300 UK ($2,063 US currently) within 3 weeks. Am i ever pleased that i didn't 'dither',
    Ivan
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    How could i ever forget this guitar - ''Ivan the Terrible'' Eric Clapton's Zamaitis 12 string.
    Weber F-5 'Fern'.
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  22. #16
    Gibson F5L Gibson A5L
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    People .... I truly believe instruments are like cats. The ones you truly get on with come to you. It's magical , serendipitous ... how and when ..... there are always some that " get away" .... but wow ... the ones that come in and stay ...... our work mates .. friends ... partners ..... for those that attribute living qualities to " things" ... anthropomorphize .. I had to look that one up ..... Fine tools to those that don't .... they are the spice to our lives ..... R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

  23. #17

    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by hank View Post
    In my youth I used to spend a lot of time hanging out on mountain tops waiting for the right conditions to launch my foot launched hang glider. The Idea was to watch the trees down in the valley and along the mountainside below for movement to predict the approach of a thermal. We used to call it the window of opportunity. Through trial and error we learned that identifying and lauching off the mountaintop into that window was the only way to to get to cloud base. That understanding of knowing that opportunity only arises in short windows has always proven beneficial in my decision making and guides my path to this very day.
    Years ago, I spent quite a bit of time in a similar way but on a smaller scale. Hang-gliding in Ohio, we were launching from hills rather than mountains. Rather than thermals, we took advantage of ridge-lift to extend our flights. The same skills applied though, as far as recognizing the best opportunity and the timing of your take-off. As your analogy suggests, much of this knowledge applies to life as well.

    In our situation, the only safe landing spot was a small cow-pasture. As in life, cow-pastures have obstacles one hopes to avoid.

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    Professional Dreamer journeybear's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by jaycat View Post
    I have vague memories of seeing Mountain play at Woodstock. I guess they weren't the worst act there . . .
    Far from it. That wasn't CSN (so newly formed, I'd give them a break), but Grateful Dead. Not their fault, because some creep dosed them, and they were getting shocked horribly in the middle of a thunderstorm. They insisted they not be included in the movie and record. Apparently they also had had a bad time at Monterey a couple years before - although not as dramatically. Bob Weir says it's weird how things went wrong at the "big" moments.
    But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller

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    mandolin slinger Steve Ostrander's Avatar
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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    No, that would be Crosby Stills & Nash, who hadn't yet learned to sing harmony together. Ouch.
    It was their first gig, and they were scared shirtless....
    Living’ in the Mitten

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    Default Re: A non-mandolin Gibson tale you might enjoy...

    Quote Originally Posted by Steve Ostrander View Post
    It was their first gig, and they were scared shirtless....
    Indeed.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

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