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Post by TKennedy on Jan 22, 2018 23:55:31 GMT -5
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Post by mnhermit on Jan 23, 2018 0:16:58 GMT -5
I didn't know that a banjo could possibly cost $50,000  Though I could go for that banjo/mandolin  |
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Post by Chesapeake on Jan 23, 2018 1:27:50 GMT -5
If memory serves, The Earl Scruggs Center: Music & Stories from the American South (which I wrote the wall text for) has on a long-term loan basis the banjo Scruggs learned to play on. That's the one on which nine-year-old Earl finally got the hang of three-finger picking, after spending a long time messing around with two fingers. On that blessed day, he recollected, he was playing "Reuben" while sitting on the sofa in his front parlor, thinking about something else, when suddenly he realized the third finger was engaged. He ran through the house shouting, "I got it! I got it!"
The museum also got custody of several others, including the prototype for Gibson's Earl Scruggs Special limited series.
Hope they never sell that first one.
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Post by jdd2 on Jan 23, 2018 21:15:07 GMT -5
A baby taylor...?
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Post by Marshall on Jan 24, 2018 9:15:36 GMT -5
Goes to show it's not the instrument; it's the instrumentalist. |
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,917 
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Post by Dub on Jan 24, 2018 9:40:00 GMT -5
Goes to show it's not the instrument; it's the instrumentalist. I’d be surprised if that was one that Earl actually played. The same is probably true for a lot of those banjos. People would give him banjos hoping the association would increase their sales. |
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Post by drlj on Jan 24, 2018 11:26:05 GMT -5
I am not impressed by celebrity owned instruments.
The cost is usually three times the value of the instrument and the fact it was celebrity owned doesn’t make it any better than one not celebrity owned.
I really hate those signed by a celebrity instruments, too.
I looked at one in Nashville that was signed by Hank Williams, Jr. I asked what would take the signature off and if there would be any residue left. They hung the guitar back up on the wall.
Why would anyone want a guitar signed by Junior??
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Post by drlj on Jan 24, 2018 12:00:07 GMT -5
Gruhn has sold all but two instruments. I guess there are people who do want celebrity owned instruments.
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Dub
Administrator
I'm gettin' so the past is the only thing I can remember.
Posts: 19,917
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Post by Dub on Jan 24, 2018 12:04:37 GMT -5
I am not impressed by celebrity owned instruments. The cost is usually three times the value of the instrument and the fact it was celebrity owned doesn’t make it any better than one not celebrity owned. I really hate those signed by a celebrity instruments, too. I looked at one in Nashville that was signed by Hank Williams, Jr. I asked what would take the signature off and if there would be any residue left. They hung the guitar back up on the wall. Why would anyone want a guitar signed by Junior?? I share your disdain for signed instruments. As you point out, it's just a blemish on the instrument. I do like owning an instrument that's been played by people I respect or idolize; but only when they've played it in my presence. I used to have a Gibson LG2 from the late '40s or early '50s. It was kind of a clunker with a split-out hole in the side of the lower bout where someone had once installed a plug connector for a pickup of some kind. The neck felt great to play and it carried me through my early days working as a folksinger in Chicago. It had been played upon occasion by Sleepy John Estes, Big Joe Williams, Rev. Gary Davis, Peter Coyote, and maybe even Mike Bloomfield though my memory is fuzzy on that. It was special for its memories long after I'd quit actually playing it. Now I have a Martin HD-28CW with a paper label inside signed by C.F. Martin IV and by Clarence White's daughter. There is also a burned stamp of Clarence's signature on the neck block. I find those signatures almost embarrassing. I have actually met and talked with C.F. Martin IV but the only way I'd want his signature is on a check made out to me. I bought “the Clarence” in one of those chance deals when I wasn't in the market. It was placed in my hands rather against my wishes and I accepted it reluctantly as a favor to a friend. After playing it, I was completely blown away and HAD to have it. I hadn't actually looked inside to see the paper label. |
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Post by drlj on Jan 24, 2018 12:12:17 GMT -5
Signature models don’t bother me if I like the guitar. I had a 000-28EC that I really loved. I sold it in what turned out to be a disasterous attempt to get a special guitar through a celebrity friend with an endorsement deal. The deal blew up and I was out a guitar I really loved, too. That whole episode was a regrettable mistake but nothing can done now. Life goes on.
Any guitar owned by someone I admired would be special to me if I knew the person and the guitar.
And, truthfully, if someone handed me Mississippi John Hurt’s Guild, I would treat it as a relic.
Hell, I have a set of old, used guitar strings given to me by Doc Watson and I treat those like a relic.
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Post by coachdoc on Jan 24, 2018 16:10:58 GMT -5
I also have a bit of disdain for celebrity signed items. Had to get over it to buy my recent Clapton 000-28. Awful glad I did
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