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Thread: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

  1. #1
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    I posted some photos of my '78 Sobell in another thread and am really curious what other 70s-early 80s era Sobells or Abnetts (was Joe Foley building then?) instruments might be out there.

  2. #2
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Here's a photo of my band Innisfree with me holding the Sobell Martin Simpson brought over, and that I purchased around 1985. 20 1/4 inch scale, now tuned as a mandola.




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    Allen Hopkins
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    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
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  4. #3
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Here's a couple of photos of the 2nd Sobell I had. This one made around 1980:

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    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    1984 Sobella mando

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    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    1986 Sobell (my 3rd and last)

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  7. #6
    Registered User liestman's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    My "I think we figured 1977" Sobell Mandolin with blue Vader-Shag case. It's my baby!
    I replaced the tuners in the mid 80s and the case handle a few years ago, all else is original.

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    John Liestman -
    Eye new ewe wood lye kit!

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  9. #7
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Here is John Renbourn's Sobell that sold at auction after he died a few years ago:

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  10. #8
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by zoukboy View Post
    Here's a couple of photos of the 2nd Sobell I had. This one made around 1980:

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    Anyone recognize the fella playing my Sobell in the 2nd photo above? (ca. 1983)

  11. #9
    Registered User Steve-o's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by zoukboy View Post
    Anyone recognize the fella playing my Sobell in the 2nd photo above? (ca. 1983)
    Reminds me of Rob Reiner.

  12. #10

    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by zoukboy View Post
    Anyone recognize the fella playing my Sobell in the 2nd photo above? (ca. 1983)
    Looks like a young version of Brian McNeill to me...

    Nigel
    http://www.nkforsterguitars.com

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  14. #11
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by nkforster View Post
    Looks like a young version of Brian McNeill to me...

    Nigel
    http://www.nkforsterguitars.com
    Bing! We have a winner! :-)

  15. #12
    F5G & MD305 Astro's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Nice mandos. Fun glimpse through the years.
    No matter where I go, there I am...Unless I'm running a little late.

  16. #13

    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by zoukboy View Post
    Bing! We have a winner! :-)
    You know, Brian generally thinks of himself as a fiddle player, but for me, he's actually one of the best bouzouki players of that generation - a feller who really understood the percussive role the instrument can play in a band. I saw a lot of folks play zouk whilst in Stafans workshop over the years. Brian stood out to me as one of the best.

    Nigel

    http://www.nkforsterguitars.com

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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by nkforster View Post
    You know, Brian generally thinks of himself as a fiddle player, but for me, he's actually one of the best bouzouki players of that generation - a feller who really understood the percussive role the instrument can play in a band. I saw a lot of folks play zouk whilst in Stafans workshop over the years. Brian stood out to me as one of the best.

    Nigel

    http://www.nkforsterguitars.com
    Hi Nigel,

    I imagine that you would have probably heard Brian's very early album Monksgate, which featured a lot of cittern. I liked it a lot. His cittern playing really swung, especially with Angus MacGregor's Northumbrian pipes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Hwxh5WVNo

    The first time I saw the Battlefield Band was a trio - Brian, Jamie MacMenemy and Alan Reid (John Gahagan joined shortly after).
    They were right into citterns (and actually at this point less into bouzoukis) and often played two at the same time, with the old pedal organ sounding great below it.

    Brian also had a Sobell mandolin and I think Jamie had a Portuguese instrument of some sort. Anyway, there was a lot of nice fretted instruments, and I found it a very attractive sound.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dafmcv3Ptyo

    Latterly Brian tended to use his cittern as an accompaniment to his singer/songwriter stuff, and seemed to move away from the style of playing I had enjoyed so much in his early work.

    I haven't seen or heard of him for a while, actually.
    David A. Gordon

  19. #15
    working musician Jim Bevan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

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    Hopefully surviving well in a basement in Santiago de Chile

  20. #16

    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Dagger Gordon View Post
    Hi Nigel,

    I imagine that you would have probably heard Brian's very early album Monksgate, which featured a lot of cittern. I liked it a lot. His cittern playing really swung, especially with Angus MacGregor's Northumbrian pipes.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=21Hwxh5WVNo

    The first time I saw the Battlefield Band was a trio - Brian, Jamie MacMenemy and Alan Reid (John Gahagan joined shortly after).
    They were right into citterns (and actually at this point less into bouzoukis) and often played two at the same time, with the old pedal organ sounding great below it.

    Brian also had a Sobell mandolin and I think Jamie had a Portuguese instrument of some sort. Anyway, there was a lot of nice fretted instruments, and I found it a very attractive sound.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dafmcv3Ptyo

    Latterly Brian tended to use his cittern as an accompaniment to his singer/songwriter stuff, and seemed to move away from the style of playing I had enjoyed so much in his early work.

    I haven't seen or heard of him for a while, actually.
    I saw The Battlefield Band on several occasions way back then. When Brian left, they seemed to lose a lot of power in spite of the quality of the lineups over the following years.

  21. #17
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Here are some pics of my Abnett bouzouki dated 1980. The pictures tell the story. I am lucky it is very well preserved and has needed only minor split repairs to the rosewood back. The good preservation is helped by the (unlabelled) Calton case. This one predates the time when Abnett started using neck reinforcement and has a little bit of bow to the neck. But it still plays well and the sound is, I think, unbeatable.

    Kevin
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    Anglocelt
    mainly Irish & Scottish but open to all dance-oriented melodic music.
    Mandos: Gibson A2, Janish A5, Krishot F5, Taran Springwell, Shippey, Weber Elite A5; TM and OM by Dave Gregory, J E Dallas, Tobin & Davidson.

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    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Jim Bevan View Post
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    Hopefully surviving well in a basement in Santiago de Chile
    Is that a 10 string mando? mandola?

  23. #19
    Registered User zoukboy's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    Quote Originally Posted by Anglocelt View Post
    Here are some pics of my Abnett bouzouki dated 1980. The pictures tell the story. I am lucky it is very well preserved and has needed only minor split repairs to the rosewood back. The good preservation is helped by the (unlabelled) Calton case. This one predates the time when Abnett started using neck reinforcement and has a little bit of bow to the neck. But it still plays well and the sound is, I think, unbeatable.

    Kevin
    Wow! That is a beauty.

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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

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    I think I got this 10 string Sobell mandolin in 1984. Still my main instrument.
    I use clear nail varnish on bits that have worn down to the bare wood (Stefan's suggestion actually).
    David A. Gordon

  25. #21
    working musician Jim Bevan's Avatar
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    Default Re: Post a photo of your 70s-early 80s Sobell, Abnett, etc.

    The Sobell would be considered a 10-string mandolin, since it has a standard mandolin scale-length.
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    On the left is a Rigel R-200, and this is where the mandolin/mandola designation gets fuzzy – the scale-length is somewhere in-between the two.

    (Why do my photos rotate as I upload them? )

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