He thinks I should settle on one and sell the uly can't understand it. One of my uncles (86 years old) can't understand why I have more than one Martin. They just played the &^%^ out of those guitars. Nobody every thought of humidity or lack thereof. They would also admire if one of the uncles played above the fifth fret (made them seem like a real pro).īottom line is, although they never actually abused their guitars (screwdriver story notwithstanding).they didn't exactly "care" for them either. "Hey you missed the third verse in that song.(Maybe something like "Life is Like A Mountain Railroad").Why'd you skip it?" "Jimmie Rodgers was the best guitar player of his day." His guitar was out of tune on some of his records though." "Hank Williams (they never had to say "Senior") was the best songwriter ever. What I do remember them talking about quite a bit was arguing over the lyrics of an old song, or arguing who was the best singer or player from back in the 30s or 40s or 50s. They did like the feel of my dad's guitar since it was smaller, but there weren't many comments on it. They thought of their guitars as tools, and that was about it. I didn't dare stop him - he was my dad after all - I remember thinking that you shouldn't use a screwdriver on such a nice guitar. For instance, when I was 17 and my D18 pickguard started to curl, he took a friggin' screwdriver to it and took it off (I've since replaced it). The guitars are/were almost meaningless to them outside of the fact that they play music with them. (Hurts to write the price in that sentence.amazing.!) His younger brothers got Martins (one got a used 1936 D18 - no idea of the price) and the other bought a new 1950 D28 (still has it) when he got out of the Navy. Since I was born in '57 I can't comment from personal experience, but I can give you first hand attitudes from my dad (born in 1917), and a few uncles - 5 and 7 years younger than him.ĭad bought a small bodied (00021) for $165 in 1939 - used. Ok guys, the OP asked about players in the 40s and 50s. Yes, we had dirt too, but not the good stuff.and we couldn't afford new dirt. I lost track of how many times I had my Martins refretted, but I remember thinking how expensive the $40 charge was.you could buy a nice used guitar for that in those days. I sold the Hummingbird and bought a new D 18 which I played while I had the D 28 refretted. However, while I was at the factory, they said it would take about 4 weeks, and I was unable to part with it. When I wore the frets out, I bought a used, bare wood Gibson Hummingbird which I had refinished by Eric Schulte.so I would have a guitar for gigs while the D 28 was at the factory. , and I knew it was Brazilian rosewood because I memorized the catalog in my preMartin drooling years. The truth is my new D 28 cost me $369 which was a lot of money for a kid just out of college. I would say, "No, I was rich before I bought the Martin." When I got my first Martin, people would say "A Martin! You must be rich!" We were so poor we couldn't get into a fight unless it was a free for all.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |
AuthorWrite something about yourself. No need to be fancy, just an overview. ArchivesCategories |