My first guitar, again.
When my dad passed away I inherited his 1945 Martin 00-18. It used to sit near the fireplace in our house in Connecticut and dad used to strum it every now and then and play “Waltzing Matilda” and a few other folk songs. When I was about eleven years old, he showed me how to play a C chord, and the rest is history. I’ve now been playing over 30 years. Yikes.
My dad bought the guitar at a pawn shop, probably in the mid 1950s. He got a good deal because there was a considerable amount of damage to the top. The shopkeeper told him that the previous owner had used the poor helpless instrument to batter his poor helpless wife. If the couple was having money troubles, perhaps they could have gotten more for it without the top being all smashed up? I guess you can’t expect a guy who bludgeons his family members with guitars to be exceptionally bright, though.
When I got the guitar it was in pretty bad shape. The top had been repaired at the Martin factory in the 1970s, but the bridge was starting to bow up again and the action was pretty high and awful. Dad had it sitting in a soft case at his house in New Mexico and I would play it a little and tend to it when I would visit. I had been keeping it detuned somewhat to keep the top from bowing further.
Once I got the guitar back to Tennessee I took it to John LeVan at LeVan Guitar Services here in Nashville for an extreme makeover. John is George Gruhn’s right hand man when it comes to restoring vintage instruments. He’s done a fantastic job on some of my electric guitars in the past and I knew he was the right man for the job.
After spending a couple of months in the shop I got the guitar back today. John reset the bridge, replaced the bridge plate and two of the internal braces. He repaired a couple of cracks that had developed on the sides. He also reset the neck angle and used period-correct hide glue instead of the Tite-Bond that Martin had used for the earlier repair. (Go figure…)
The guitar now plays and sounds like a dream. The top is flat. The action is nice and low, perfect for fingerstyle playing. And it’s LOUD. No longer a closet queen, this one’s a player! For a small guitar, the projection is incredible. It’s much more resonant than before, and John says that with the hide glue, it’ll continue to improve as the years go by. The damage to the top isn’t as noticeable now and doesn’t seem to affect the tone. Playability-wise it’s almost certainly better than new.
With my dad’s help, this little instrument started my life’s musical journey. Now that it’s been restored, I know I’m going to be playing it a lot.
Thanks, Dad.
Gig at Puckett’s Grocery
Pssst… I’ve got a little gig with “Ace of Blues” next Saturday night the 27th. We’re playing at Puckett’s in Franklin. There’s a festival in town that night so reservations are recommended. We go on about 8pm.
Update: We had a great time! Thanks to everybody that came out to hear us. It was a lot of fun playing for you guys! We hope to do it again sometime soon. Here’s a collage of pictures Stephanie took at the show. I guess Dean didn’t get the “mandatory hat” memo…
I shall smite thee with many guitar solos
I’ve played a lot of guitars over the years (decades?) but this is one of the coolest I’ve seen. OK, so it’s just slightly over the top. Custom made by ESP for Toshihiko Takamizawa of the Japanese rock group The Alfee, this one plays on all the classic guitarist fantasies. Guitar as weapon, guitar as phallic symbol, guitar as vehicle for soaring improvisational odysseys.
The guitar is currently available for a Buy It Now price of $4,500 on eBay. From Gizmodo:
O Lord, bless this thy Angel Sword Guitar, that with it thou mayst blow Christina Aguilera and A-HA and Ricky Martin and Enrique Iglesias to tiny bits, in thy mercy. If you want it, follow these steps: first shalt thou get to eBay. Then shalt thou pay $4,500, no more, no less. $4,500 shall be the number thou shalt pay, and the number of the payment shall be $4,500. Once the number $4,500 be paid, then riffed thou thy Angel Sword Guitar towards thy foe, who, being naughty in my sight, shall snuff it.
