Page 1 of 5 12345 LastLast
Results 1 to 25 of 108

Thread: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

  1. #1
    Front Porch & Sweet Tea NursingDaBlues's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2015
    Location
    My heart is in The South.
    Posts
    522

    Default Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Talking with some guys from the neighborhood last evening during one of our sort-of-regular garage jam/noise-making/BS sessions, and the conversation sort of circled around to the wants and hindrances of getting a birth-year musical instrument — for most of us said instruments originating in the 1940s and 50s. A young man who occasionally drops in agreed at how difficult it is to find one, lifted up his probable ‘90s Flatiron, and said that it took “forever” to find his birth-year mandolin. Then he added: “It was kind of funny buying something this old. I mean, this is from my parents’ generation.”

    Ow.

    Will somebody help me with my lap blankie and dribble cup?

  2. The Following 12 Users Say Thank You to NursingDaBlues For This Useful Post:

    + Show/Hide list of the thanked


  3. #2
    Registered User Hadji36's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2014
    Location
    Pittsburgh
    Posts
    87

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    I recently had a similar experience with my daughter who was born in ought-5. She asked me on my birthday in what year I was born. When I told her she gasped, "Wow! You were born in the 1900's?!"

    I suppose it happens to all of us...eventually.
    "If you pick it... It will never heal." - Mom

  4. The Following 3 Users Say Thank You to Hadji36 For This Useful Post:


  5. #3
    Registered User Drew Streip's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2016
    Location
    Chattanooga, TN
    Posts
    442
    Blog Entries
    2

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    If anybody gets a lead on a nice low-mileage '88 I'd be pretty happy

  6. The following members say thank you to Drew Streip for this post:


  7. #4
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Sep 2007
    Location
    NC
    Posts
    4,787

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Compounding issues for us forty-somethings is the fact that the seventies weren't exactly anyone's golden eras (other than maybe some of the guys doing Gibson copies). Have a sweet little 1974 Martin Style A, but it doesn't get a ton of play...
    Chuck

  8. The following members say thank you to CES for this post:


  9. #5
    bon vivant jaycat's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2010
    Location
    Boston, Mass.
    Posts
    2,775

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    I threw in the towel when I was told by a young man that he had "read about Woodstock in history class."
    "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

  10. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to jaycat For This Useful Post:


  11. #6
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Posts
    5,293

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    My year ('53) was great for electric guitars and cars, but not so hot for acoustic instruments. All the classics of the 40's weren't being made the same way any more, and there was a long dry spell until the Golden Age of independent luthiery started getting rolling somewhere around the 80's.

    Considering that I've aged out of my electric guitar phase (and couldn't afford a Les Paul or Tele from that period anyway), maybe I should pick up one of these. I've got just a few years left until they take my car keys away...


    Click image for larger version. 

Name:	top-10-classic-american-cars-of-all-time.jpg 
Views:	154 
Size:	43.0 KB 
ID:	153610

  12. #7
    Gibson F5L Gibson A5L
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Posts
    2,526
    Blog Entries
    1

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    It took many years of visiting sites from stores and places like MC to find an instrument from my birth year. One I both wanted and could afford w/o ruining my budget. I played it again last evening flatpicking a few tunes I am working on in the key of C. I said thank you to the guitar and whosoever was listening that such a lovely instrument came to live with me. I am truly blessed , or lucky if you prefer, to have the instruments I have to "play". R/
    I love hanging out with mandolin nerds . . . . . Thanks peeps ...

  13. #8
    Middle-Aged Old-Timer Tobin's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2009
    Location
    Kerrville, TX
    Posts
    4,004

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Quote Originally Posted by CES View Post
    Compounding issues for us forty-somethings is the fact that the seventies weren't exactly anyone's golden eras (other than maybe some of the guys doing Gibson copies). Have a sweet little 1974 Martin Style A, but it doesn't get a ton of play...
    Yup. There's not much from the '70s that I really care to have. Instruments or otherwise. I look back at photos of my childhood and wonder "what were they thinking?" about clothing, architecture, hairstyles, even vehicle aesthetics. Decades up through the '50s had style. The '60s had groove. The '70s were just barf. I'm a product of the '70s but I don't see anything there worth longing after.

  14. #9
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Jan 2008
    Location
    Gainesville, FL
    Posts
    2,664

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Yea, there are two things about getting old that are problems, one is you can't remember anything and the other is...............ah.................

  15. The Following 2 Users Say Thank You to Denny Gies For This Useful Post:


  16. #10
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2007
    Location
    Howell, NJ
    Posts
    26,874

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Hey, the crappy Stella, Harmony, and Kay instruments I suffered through in my younger years because I couldn't afford a Martin or a Gibson are now sought after vintage instruments with great mojo. I still can't figure that out. Last week we had a member post an instrument that was "really old", 70's maybe 80's. Old is relative.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

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

  17. The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to MikeEdgerton For This Useful Post:


  18. #11
    Registered User Randi Gormley's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jun 2008
    Location
    Connecticut, USA
    Posts
    3,379

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    I face this daily, alas. I work with a couple 22-year-olds. One of them was talking about a house he'd seen, a mansion with white pillars on the porch, and my boss and I said "like Gone with the Wind?" and he had never heard of the movie. He said it reminded him of "Django Unchained."

    Probably the closest instrument to my birth year is my '52 strad-o-lin -- only a year older than I am.
    --------------------------------
    1920 Lyon & Healy bowlback
    1923 Gibson A-1 snakehead
    1952 Strad-o-lin
    1983 Giannini ABSM1 bandolim
    2009 Giannini GBSM3 bandolim
    2011 Eastman MD305

  19. The following members say thank you to Randi Gormley for this post:


  20. #12
    Martin Stillion mrmando's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2002
    Location
    Seattle
    Posts
    13,103

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    '69 ... not a great year for instruments ... good year for music, though. Maybe I should just get an old Sly & the Family Stone LP and call it good.
    Emando.com: More than you wanted to know about electric mandolins.

    Notorious: My Celtic CD--listen & buy!

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

  21. The following members say thank you to mrmando for this post:


  22. #13

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Compounding issues for us forty-somethings is the fact that the seventies weren't exactly anyone's golden eras (other than maybe some of the guys doing Gibson copies). Have a sweet little 1974 Martin Style A, but it doesn't get a ton of play...
    I am with you on less than desirable birth years for instruments! I am mostly screwed on cars too.

    I had a birth year VW camper van (not that it is many peoples dream car, haha)up until our move to Reno, NV. Only now am I mature enough to realize just how cool that was (now that it is gone). Selling it is high on my list of regrets, despite it nearly killing me a few times! It almost took me and a friend to our death one rainy night coming down the Pacific Coast Highway. ahh, the joys of youth.
    Robert Fear
    http://www.folkmusician.com

    "Education is when you read the fine print; experience is what you get when you don't.
    " - Pete Seeger

  23. The following members say thank you to Folkmusician.com for this post:


  24. #14
    Registered User dustyamps's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jan 2011
    Location
    Springfield Missouri USA
    Posts
    300

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    No mandolins but I have 2 amps from my birth year 1953. Both are in working condition and have that great primitive sound of an early tube amp.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	005.JPG 
Views:	95 
Size:	1.38 MB 
ID:	153621   Click image for larger version. 

Name:	IMG_8934.JPG 
Views:	91 
Size:	908.2 KB 
ID:	153622  

  25. The following members say thank you to dustyamps for this post:


  26. #15

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    OK children. Did they make mandolins in 1943? Ha, I'm sure they did but I'm also quite sure a birth year mandolin is just not affordable.

  27. The following members say thank you to Bruce Cech for this post:


  28. #16
    Registered User jefflester's Avatar
    Join Date
    Jul 2003
    Location
    California
    Posts
    2,471

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    '65 is my year. I continue to keep my eye out for drum sets, as Ludwig put full date stamps on theirs from that era. I've got a couple of '69 sets and and EM-200 from 1959. Maybe I'll settle for a Fender blacktop amp.

  29. #17
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Lopez Island, WA
    Posts
    219

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    I Might have a line on a 1888 Dobson 5 string if you're interested…….

  30. #18
    Registered User
    Join Date
    May 2013
    Location
    Lopez Island, WA
    Posts
    219

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Quote Originally Posted by Drew Streip View Post
    If anybody gets a lead on a nice low-mileage '88 I'd be pretty happy
    See Above ^^^^

  31. #19
    Registered User
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Columbus, GA
    Posts
    1,360

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    The only things they were making when I was born were tanks, guns, ammo and airplanes. They didn't get serious about anything else until 1945.
    David Hopkins

    2001 Gibson F-5L mandolin
    Breedlove Legacy FF mandolin; Breedlove Quartz FF mandolin
    Gibson F-4 mandolin (1916); Blevins f-style Octave mandolin, 2018
    McCormick Oval Sound Hole "Reinhardt" Mandolin
    McCormick Solid Body F-Style Electric Mandolin; Slingerland Songster Guitar (c. 1939)

    The older I get, the less tolerant I am of political correctness, incompetence and stupidity.

  32. #20
    formerly Philphool Phil Goodson's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2006
    Location
    Statesville, NC
    Posts
    3,256

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Quote Originally Posted by Tobin View Post
    Yup. There's not much from the '70s that I really care to have. Instruments or otherwise. I look back at photos of my childhood and wonder "what were they thinking?" about clothing, architecture, hairstyles, even vehicle aesthetics. Decades up through the '50s had style. The '60s had groove. The '70s were just barf. I'm a product of the '70s but I don't see anything there worth longing after.
    Thanks Tobin.
    I've felt cheated for a long time. My '70s were spent in getting an education and I'm afraid I took it way too seriously and pretty much missed the whole decade.
    I'm now spending my later years trying to get some of that back.

    I feel much better now that I know I didn't miss too much.
    And I AM having fun!
    Phil

    “Sharps/Flats” “Accidentals”

  33. #21
    Mando accumulator allenhopkins's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2006
    Location
    Rochester NY 14610
    Posts
    17,378

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Jeez, I've got instruments ranging from 1860 (estimated -- parlor guitar) through 2015 (Weber sopranolin). Closest thing to my 1943 birth year are the back and sides of my re-topped Martin 00-42 guitar, which date from 1940 when it was a 00-28G nylon-string. The top and neck are from the '80's or so.

    I'm just lucky to have functional heart, lungs, liver etc. from my birth year.
    Allen Hopkins
    Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
    Natl Triolian Dobro mando
    Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
    H-O mandolinetto
    Stradolin Vega banjolin
    Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
    Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
    Flatiron 3K OM

  34. The following members say thank you to allenhopkins for this post:


  35. #22
    Mando-Accumulator Jim Garber's Avatar
    Join Date
    Mar 2003
    Location
    Westchester, NY
    Posts
    30,753

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    I thought I had two birth year guitars from my birth year, 1950, both Gibson flattops that were (and still are) wonderful guitars. I did a bit of research on them and discovered that they were actually from 1948. Oh well...
    Jim

    My Stream on Soundcloud
    Facebook
    19th Century Tunes
    Playing lately:
    1924 Gibson A4 - 2018 Campanella A-5 - 2007 Brentrup A4C - 1915 Frank Merwin Ashley violin - Huss & Dalton DS - 1923 Gibson A2 black snakehead - '83 Flatiron A5-2 - 1939 Gibson L-00 - 1936 Epiphone Deluxe - 1928 Gibson L-5 - ca. 1890s Fairbanks Senator Banjo - ca. 1923 Vega Style M tenor banjo - ca. 1920 Weymann Style 25 Mandolin-Banjo - National RM-1

  36. #23

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Being of '58 vintage there is not a lot I crave, though I have long had a notion for a Levin Model 40 Aristokrat.
    Attached Thumbnails Attached Thumbnails Click image for larger version. 

Name:	1959_Levin_Model_40_Mandolin_catalog.jpg 
Views:	87 
Size:	109.9 KB 
ID:	153628  

  37. #24
    Registered User foldedpath's Avatar
    Join Date
    May 2007
    Location
    Pacific Northwest, USA
    Posts
    5,293

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    Quote Originally Posted by DHopkins View Post
    The only things they were making when I was born were tanks, guns, ammo and airplanes. They didn't get serious about anything else until 1945.
    Yep, that's what killed off the original pre-War National and Dobro guitars. No more aluminum available for recreational uses. It all had to go to the War effort, and those guitars (and mandolins) were based on spun aluminum cones. National and Dobro died with the war. Airplanes were more important.

    National guitars were successfully resurrected in recent years, but the Dobro brand went through a bunch of different owners until Gibson finally bought it and basically killed it off through neglect. The desirable Bluegrass "Dobros" are now made by independent luthiers using variations on that original 1930's idea.

    The one instrument I own that's older than me is an old steel body, "fiddle edge" roundneck Dobro from 1936, because I just love the sound of those for bottleneck Blues. That's a really niche instrument though. Not much demand for them now. National guitars retained more vintage value over the years, and a new one is probably a better buy for most actual playing purposes. That goes double for mandolins. The current production National RM-1 seems to be a better instrument than the surviving National and Dobro resonator mandolins.

  38. #25
    Innocent Bystander JeffD's Avatar
    Join Date
    Sep 2006
    Location
    Upstate New York
    Posts
    24,807
    Blog Entries
    56

    Default Re: Don’t Know If I’m Strong Enough To Talk About This Yet…

    My body is birth year.
    A talent for trivializin' the momentous and complicatin' the obvious.

    The entire staff
    funny....

  39. The following members say thank you to JeffD for this post:


Bookmarks

Bookmarks

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •