SOLD INVENTORY...
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SOLD INVENTORY
ACOUSTIC GUITARS
83-9331 Tippin (new) OMT-C in Indian rosewood with a Master grade Sitka Spruce top, #1101137, with hard shell case.
Bill Tippin, using nothing more than a standard dove-tail neck joint, fine woods, and his own prodigious talent, builds a guitar that redefines the acoustic six-string experience. This guitar is something you rarely see - a fourteen fret Maccaferrian (soft) cutaway, 15 ¼” wide, with a very deep 4 ½ side measurement and a comfortable 1 ¾” nut width with bridge pins that measure, center to center, 2 5/16th”. He makes his ebony belly bridge with thin wings, which accounts for its angelic tone. The neck is modified V, finished in gloss, shaded slightly with a hint of sunbursting on the back. The top on this guitar is exquisitely and continuously cross-grained - a medullary medley. The slightly smaller than normal, 3 7/8” diameter soundhole (measured diagonally) is bordered by concentric circles including a large ring of highly polished rosewood. The pickguard is abbreviated in the style of prewar tortoise shell. The top is not herringbone trimmed, but instead edged in fine wood binding with grained ivoroid on both of the sides, single bound on the back, and having an alternating natural and black wood marquetry back stripe of Mr. Tippin’s own design. Tuners are Schaller mini- sealed backs in chrome while the peghead is black ebony and inlaid with the playful Tippin stylized logo with the T-umbrella top. Scale length is long at 25.4”, nut to saddle. The sound is sumptuous with harmonics and overtones, richly flavorful and more than a little dazzling. WAS $3447. All of our Tippin instruments are on sale. THIS ONE IS $3067 or at our cash discount price $2975.
48-3556 Gibson (used, 1924) L-2 roundhole archtop, #76473, blonde top, brown back and sides, in very good condition with a pretty awful newer chipboard case.
This guitar, which was made in the Last Lear that Lloyd Loar lawked the lalls at the lactory in Downtown Lamazoo, has the inverted, or snakehead, peghead, with the metal bell-shaped truss rod cover. This makes it quite rare, and ferry tisirable. It is a wonderful sounding instrument that has its "The Gibson" logo inlaid in mother-of-pearl on black headplate, a round soundhole with two rings of five-ply wood marquetry surrounding, a two piece ebony bridge which came in "inverted" and has to be reversed and the guitar "set up." It has a wrap-around nickel plated tailpiece bearing a "Patented July 19, 1910" registration, and a tortoise shell celluloid elevated pickguard bearing a "Pat. Mar 30, '09" stamp while the side clamp has a patent stamp of "July 4, 1911" - this was before July 4 became a day when federal workers didn't stay home and bar-b-que. The bad parts are: the 11" long seam separation from the soundhole rosette to the bottom which was repaired (it has square cleats underneath) but not well, and the 5" long crack on the bass side of the neck which "implodes" a bit into the soundhole. This model has an ivoroid bound fretboard, top and back, is missing its tailpin peg, shows normal signs of playing wear mainly on the top with less than normal signs of use on back, sides & neck for some reason. It came in with a wretched modern chipboard oversized case that we wouldn’t wish on our worst enemy, not that we have any enemies, you understand, it’s only a figure of speech. We are offering this guitar “as is” – set up to play well but without our skilled fangists re-repairing the seam sep or the crack adjacent to the bass side of the fretboard, and this luscious and fine sounding morsel can be yours at only $1644 or at our cash discount price $1595.
43-0627 Collings November 1998 (used) SJ -- small jumbo – au natural, in maple and Sitka spruce, #4401, in near mint condition, with original hard shell case.
Crystal, unobstructed clarity abounds from this 16 1/8” wide festival of flamed maple and moderately wide-grained Sitka spruce, all of it parallel and all of it blonde. All blonde, that is, except for the black ebony fingerboard with the art deco etched “smiling diamond” inlays in 7 positions, the black ebony head plate with its “The Only Way” headstock asymmetry and vertical deco design, its six gold-plated Schaller mini-button tuners, its bright bone nut and compensated saddle, its beveled edge sideburn shaped tortoise shell celluloid pickguard, its five-ply ebony and spruce top, and three-ply back, fingerboard and head plate purfling, its black-white rectangular backstripe, and its crème binding which surrounds the entire instrument in celluloid comfort, including the end piece. The one-piece neck is a barber pole of tiger striping, and the back and sides will captivate all of the other furry feral forest foragers. The sound is clean and vibrant, resonant and long-sustaining, corresponding to the credentials of a Collings. $3294 or, at our cash discount price, $3195
48-4162 Gibson (used, 2000) Custom Shop J-200 Brazilian rosewood with Paua abalone inlays, #02780051, near mint with original hard shell deluxe case.
One of the most beautiful guitars that Gibson has ever created, the Custom Shop Brazilian rosewood Super J-200 with fancy abalone crown inlays, logo and flower is one of the largest, most majestic and unswervingly accurate – clean, clear and having the bearing and mien of a Tyrannosaurus (“Any of you guys hungry?”) Rex . Everything about this guitar is first class including the extra large seat – in this instance the back measures 16 15/16” across and the bottom side is 4 13/16” deep. The scale length is the magical 25.4” and the nut width, due to it have white binding on each side is 1 23/32nd” which many deem perfect. Headstock is likewise bound in white and you have all that abalone inlaid that polished ebony headplate with the word “Custom” etched in white on the white bound black bell-shaped truss rod cover. Fingerboard inlays – all 8 of them, are a nitrous oxide dream of undulating colors and kaleidoscopic designs (don’t eat the purple acid, it won’t be as good as these inlays). The flowered, painted pickguard shows the smallest bit of finger contact on the orange stamined flower just to the right of the fingerboard end, a slight lessening of the intensity of the pattern, The Brazilian on the back shows a combination of straight grain on the left and the right and swirly towards the middle. The sides are mostly swirly. The 3-piece neck is fiddle-back maple on each side. Top is 6-ply purfled, back is 4-ply bordered, while the heel cap is two ply and the back stripe ebony-maple in a pattern of alternate-sized rectangles. Tuners are striped-back, gold-plated large back Grovers with stair step buttons, and a Gibson Custom Shop decal resides, centered, under said machines. This guitar is in “virtually new” condition, and redefines everything you thought about the sound, presence and capability of a Gibson J-200 guitar. $8505 or, at our cash discount price, $8250
48-4159 Gibson (used, 1999) “Early ‘60s” Hummingbird, cherry sunburst, #92919006, excellent plus condition with original hard shell case.
When the Montana Division, Gibson Acoustical Guitars sets out to make a replication of a model that was made in this manner some 24 years ago, you better believe it will be remarkable, and this one is. Made with the etched and painted tortoise shell type four-point pickguard that humming mother fans have come to expect, depicting butterfly (1), hummingbird (1), vines and leaves (5), buttercups (5), and finished on the front in that light (never dark enough that you can’t see the grain, even at the edge) aged cherry sunburst that they do so well, with back and sides of uniform cherry stain. It has a crème bound fingerboard, top and back; the top is bordered in 5-ply and the back in 4, with the pearl inlaid Gibson postwar script peghead logo and flower below, with the white bound black truss rod cover. Below that, please find 8 sets of double parallelogram mother-of-pearl inlays, and a “belly up” rosewood bridge containing a presumably bone bridge saddle with a compensated “B” with pearl dots on either side of the six crème bridge pins. Yes, friends, that’s what a Hummingbird is, but owning and playing it is a whole other experience from reading about it. It soars with effervescence and rich, trustworthy tone, and like many modern Gibson acoustic guitars, every chord comes together with percussive focus and self-assured carriage. $1747 or at our cash discount price $1695.
48-3991 Gibson (used, 2002) SJ-200 Brazilian Custom Shop, in “as new” condition, #02532006, with original hard shell case and “tags” in the case.
This guitar appears to be never owned, never played. It is nearly spotless. If you had to point to just one tiny “thing” it would be that there’s a tiny area, maybe 1 1/2”around the backstrip in which the finish is mildly disrupted. Otherwise the guitar is clean as can be and its special features are numerous: The Brazilian is actually figured, horizontally, like tiger stripe maple, while still having “movement” in the grain vertically. It is like nothing you will ever have seen. Then there’s that figured maple three-piece neck, with the walnut or rosewood center stripe. The fingerboard and open moustache™ bridge are also Brazilian rosewood. The top is said to be Adirondack, but if so it is a master-grade piece that is close and parallel grained consumed with medulary rays. The headstock overlay is jet black with the Gibson block inlaid in colorful abalone, with the crown inlaid there under; the truss rod cover is “wide- white-border” on the bell-shaped cap. Fingerboard inlays are bright white, crown-shaped, pearl; the pickguard is of the hand-painted type, with orange buds with four flowers and many vines and twigs. The bridge has four rectangular shapes and two pearl dots; top binding is 5-ply, heel cap and back are two-ply. This is a remarkable and beautiful instrument and one that also, in addition to all this physical attraction, sounds just astonishing – a voice as clear, clean, full and robust as any late ‘30s one may be lucky enough to encounter. $8242 or, at our cash discount price, $7995.
48-3713 Taylor (used, 1974) Model 810, #224, in excellent condition with newer hard shell case.
This is a true collectible Taylor – it is accompanied by an email from Taylor Guitar Company that reads as follows: “Thanks for writing! Your 810 would have been built in 1974, according to the serial number – obviously one of the very first 810s we ever built! That’s really cool. We could tell you exactly where it lines up in the grand scheme of things, but there were very few guitars built before we went to the [five-digit] 101_ _ serial number system that’s shown for 1975. For that matter, we technically only built 6 guitars in 1974.” The owner tells us that he bought this instrument new in 1974 and, around 1978, it fell off a guitar stand and fractured its neck. He sent it back to Taylor factory where they hand-carved and installed a new neck for it and, as well, a new interior label that has the “Lemon Grove, Calif.” legend and is hand-signed by Bob Taylor. This newer neck is a dark cherry finish and made of mahogany with a good deal of figure in it; its ebony fingerboard is ivoroid bound on three sides and the fingerboard inlays are 8 mother of pearl dots in 7 fret positions. The headstock logo is pearl inlaid modern script into East Indian rosewood that is bound in ivoroid. Tuners were originally gold Schallers, but owner has replaced them with nickel-plated Schaller M-6As to match the added nickel strap pin that penetrates the top of the ivoroid heel cap, but the original Gold plated torque-twisters are in the case pocket. The body is of East Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce, having an abalone bordered soundhole, tortoise shell color pickguard, ebony bridge with a compensated-B saddle and black bridge pins with abalone dots. The guitar has been after-market fitted with a Fishman Thinline (passive) pickup and the strap pin doubles as a jack. There is finish checking on the body and an area of belt scratches on the back, around the size of a quarter, which fails to penetrates the finish. The top is bordered in five-ply and back in single ply; neck binding is notably whiter than the yellowed body binding. What you have here is an instrument that, although one might not use the term “vintage” to describe it – having a Taylor from the first production year, even one with a couple-of-years-later Taylor-made neck on it, is still, by anybody’s standards, quite a find. It also happens to be great sounding, with warm, saturating bass response and, like Saturday afternoon at the Lido, good projection. $3093 or, at our cash discount price, $3000.
48-3118 Collings (new) SJ Cutaway Custom, #10495, with East Indian Rosewood back and sides, Adirondack top, 1-3/4" Nut width, Broken Glass inlays on Peghead and fingerboard, with hard shell case.
$5219 or, at our cash discount price, $5063. This one’s sold, but if you provide us a deposit and the strong suggestion of a personal commitment at the intensity level of, say, a betrothal, we’d be glad to order one for you.
48-3891 C F Martin (used, early 1960) model 5-18 acoustic guitar, #171991,
in excellent condition with original chipboard case. This guitar shows light normal signs of use only, a small incipient pickguard crack in the wood at the lower bass edge of the pickguard; it is missing a black bridge pin and it needs (and by now hopefully will have received) a neck reset, a refret and a bridge reglue. The guitar has its original (somewhat oxidized) Grover brand open-back tuners, a rosewood fingerboard inlaid with 3 pearl dots, a rosewood bridge with a “through” saddle, a tortoise-colored teardrop pickguard, white-black-white top purfling and tortoise celluloid binding top and back. These little “three-quarter” sized Martin Minnys will fool ya – they look petite, but they roar like a mountain lion that has managed to fall headfirst into a Postal Service mailbox. $1850 or, at our cash discount price, $1795.
83-6428 Martin (new) DM-12 759636 H
A fine sounding dreadnought 12-string in mahogany back and sides and solid spruce top. Martin list is $1199. Martin MAP is $899.95.43-0365 Goodall (new) MhCJC which, for the layman, reads Mahogany sides and back -Engelmann Top Concert Jumbo Cutaway, MHCJC3225, with hard shell case.
HSC; $3846 or, at our cash discount price, $3731
83-3008 RainSong (new) WS-1000 Grand Auditorium Guitar, cutaway, #5764, black, all graphite composite construction, with a 1 ¾” nut width, a low profile neck, the Fishman Matrix pickup and preamp system.
The Manufacturer’s List Price is $2995 and the MAP is $2229.
48-3295 Bruko (new) Octave Guitar, ISI-1410, with a concise, nicely made gigbag.
This is a delightful, useful, inexpensive instrument, made for travel, made for children, made for portability, made in Germany. It is all-wood including what appears to be mahogany top, sides & back, maple three-piece neck (for strength and durability), with a rosewood nut and pinless bridge, and what might be a stained mahogany fretboard. The nut measures a comfortable 1 10/16th”, total length is 23 ½”, scale length is 14” from the zero fret to the bridge, the body width is 8”. Tuners are decent quality three-on-a-plate with ivoroid buttons. Round soundhole is bordered in black-white. Tuned exactly one octave above a regular guitar it is the perfect instrument for playing James Taylor’s “There’s something in the way she moves, or looks my way, or calls my name,” on helium. $228 or, at our cash discount price, $221.
C F Martin D-18VS, 12-fret slope-shouldered dreadnought, with hard shell case.
A larger, longer sensuously extended body meets the wider, more comfortable 1 ¾” nut width neck. The mahogany and the spruce love one another very much. Since your chops will be improved by owning such a fine instrument, I now pronounce you lamb and knife. You may kiss the bridge. Martin list is $3249. Martin MAP is $2439.95.
48-3435 C F Martin (used, 1998) Model 5-28 (little) guitar, #631764, in excellent plus condition with original black hard shell case.
This guitar is labeled as "Custom" and not “5-28,” but a 5-28 is what it is. Size 5 means that it measures only 11 ¼” wide, 33 1/3” in total length. The nut width is 1 5/8" and the scale length is 21.4”. -28 refers to the East Indian rosewood sides and back and the white Bolteron body border, the diamond dart behind the headstock, and the high quality woods and workmanship. Actually this might better be stated as H5-28 since it does have herringbone top trim, -28 style soundhole rosette, rounded headstock with rounded slots, old style C F Martin decal, six C F Martin closed-back, nickel-plated tuners with ebony buttons, black pickguard over the surface (the pickguard itself has straight sides), and an ebony bridge with crème bridge pins, each inlaid with a black dot. Its ebony fretboard is unbound with etched abalone markers in 5 fret positions. The back and end-piece are white-black bordered, the back stripe is alternating black-white checkerboard style, and the heel cap is white Bolteron. The guitar plays easily and sounds fine; it shows almost no sign of having been played. This guitar is priced at $2263 or, at our cash discount price, $2195
48-3493 C F Martin (used, 1990) HD-28V Custom Shop in Brazilian and Sitka, #502691, excellent condition with original hard shell case.
If a guitar like this were made today your cost would likely be just under ten grand. Yeesh. But back then (only 5 years ago, it feels like yesterday) we ordered these routinely and they sold for right around what we’re selling it for now. You reap the benefits. It has many of the prewar features including the Brazilian, advanced X forward shifted braces scallopini, aging toner top, etched diamond and square pearl fingerboard inlays, a long bridge saddle, the pickguard is light tortoise color reminiscent of the late ‘30s and ‘40s, the pickguard is under the finish (the moon is still over her shoulder . . . .), modified V-shape neck, and a high-gloss finish neck with a diamond dart. Divergencies from prewar are: original small-button Schaller tuners, that it has an adjustable truss rod, and the black thermoplastic hard carrying case. It is the kind of guitar, with the kind of sound and easy playability upon which careers are based. $6387 or, at our cash discount price, $6195.
48-3506
Collings D-3A East Indian and Adirondack . . . 4408 or, at our cash discount price, $4275. Even though this is sold email or phone us - we may have gotten more of these in!
48-3726 David Flammang (new) EL-65, #113, an exquisitely designed, and absolutely wonderful sounding small-bodied (concert size) guitar in Brazilian rosewood with Adirondack Red Spruce sunburst finish top.
It has ivoroid body, fingerboard and headstock bindings, rope purfling around its top edge and soundhole rosette. Other features include an ebony bridge, fingerboard and ebony veneers on front & back of headstock, gold-plated mother-of-pearl "Majestic" on fingerboard, gold mother-of-pearl headstock logo taking the form of a stylized "f," a bone nut, saddle and 6 bridge pins with black dots, gold-plated (expensive) Waverly tuners with ivoroid buttons, and a taupe tweed Cedar Creek hard shell plush lined case. David Flammang is one of the finest guitar builders in the country, and his workmanship and attention to detail is legendary. The sound can be compared to that of prewar guitars of the same types of woods, but the color, appointments and fancy trim would virtually never been seen on a prewar instrument. $7,423 or, at our cash discount price, $7,200.
48-3790 C F Martin (used, 2001) Model 000-28EC, #811593, Individual Number 5241, in near mint condition with original hard shell case.
. This guitar, a numbered edition, has turned out to be one of the most successful of all Martin Auditorium sized instruments. Similar to Eric Clapton’s own 1936 000-28 guitar, this has the short scale (24.9” nut to saddle) and the 1 ¾” nut width of the prewar version, and cosmetically it has the appointments of the prewar with only two or three changes, including that it is made with East Indian rosewood sides & back instead of Brazilian, and an Sitka spruce top instead of Adirondack. It has an adjustable truss rod (applause!) instead of a square non-adjustable rod, and lastly, it has herringbone surrounding the soundhole which the prewar didn’t have – it had just the herringbone on the top. Nevertheless, even though it isn’t an actual prewar 1936 000-28 herringbone it is still an extremely fine, easy-to-play, easy-to-hold and great sounding smaller-than-dreadnought instrument that sounds as big as many dreadnoughts. This one is used, and so it’s extremely affordable, at only $2366 or, at our cash discount price, $2295.
48-3816 Gibson (used, November 2003) J-45, vintage sunburst, near mint condition, 03113031, with factory pickup and original hard shell case.
The Gibson J-45 is simplicity personified – it is that to which every Jorma fan on the planet aspires. This, the standard description Gibson slope-shouldered mahogany and spruce jumbo, has the original appointments of gold decal block letter postwar script logo on a glossy black headplate, 6 Kluson replica tuners with stripes on their rectangular backs and small button plastic oval buttons, East Indian rosewood unbound fretboard with 8 pearl dots in 7 positions, white-black-white bound top and soundhole, with just plain white around the back and the stark contrast of a deep and delicious, house-blend shade of rich orange to brown sunburst contrasted by plain brown sides, back and neck -- all polished up to a mirror-like texture and feel The sound is everything you would want in a J-45 and the action is nearly non-existent. This one is the super bargain; you get a great guitar that comes with a factory-provided internal-only Fishman Matrix pickup for an unbelievably low price. $1495 or at our cash discount price $1450.
48-3879
Colllings D-3 East Indian and Sitka . . . . $3712 or, at our cash discount price, $3600. Even though this example is sold please phone or email us - we may have already gotten more of them in.
48-3885 C F Martin (new) Stephen Stills Signature Edition, Individual number 62 of 91 made, Serial Number 1074730, whose interior label is signed by Stephen Stills and C F Martin IV, with Geib Style hard shell case.
In the olden days, C F Martin Company made 142 000-45 guitars between the first serialized one in 1906 and 1933, generally considered the last year before this model went to fourteen frets. Nevertheless, Stephen Stills’ connection with the larger model, the D-45 prewar, is so strong that he requested that the same number of this 12-fret slothead 000-45 be made, in this special project, as were made prewar in D-45 guitars (both 12-fret and 14-fret), that fateful number being 91. You may remember that Stephen’s first solo album cover shows him, youthful looking, with long sideburns, sitting in a field, or maybe it’s a suburban back yard, on a wooden hand-hewn bench, in shirt-sleeves, in the snow, playing the guitar (making a chord that none of us wanna-bees could ever hope to find on our own) singing to a rather large polka-dotted giraffe. That image (and those wonderful songs and arrangements) is burned into our collective psyches deeper even than our ability to visually conceptualize grandma. The sound of a 12-fret slothead is nothing at all like the sound of a fourteen fret of the same body size. The body joins the neck two frets higher, and we calculate that this adds approximately (give or take) 46.3125 square inches of acoustic chamber to this modest, 15” wide lower bout instrument. The result is tympanic ebullience. If you have always wanted to play and sing “Black Queen” (off of that album) like the master musician who, throughout all of his endeavors, has captivated us like few other acoustic guitarists have, if you bought the polka-dot giraffe years ago thinking that, at some point, that singular moment in time (including that fingering in that elusive fret position) would be yours to savor in its perfect recreation, then owning this guitar would have to, by definition, be part of that life-affirming experience. The Martin List Price is $12,999 and, just like the OM-45 Marquis, the Martin MAP would happen to be $10,399.
48-3887 C F Martin (used, 2001) OM-21, #831450, excellent condition with original molded hard shell case.
This is a very well-kept example of Martin’s least expensive dovetail-joint, Standard Series, fingerstyle instrument. It’s amazing, really, that the list price on a 000-18 mahogany is $2549, while the list on the rosewood 000-28 is $2949 but the list on a new Martin OM-21 remains a superb bargain at only $2499. Shhhhhhh ... don’t tell them. In addition, you get a 1-3/4” nut width, which you don’t get on the 000-18 or -28, but that’s not all, you also get ... scalloped bracing, small pearl dot inlays -- go ahead, touch them, they’re glued into the wood and will not bite, there’s 8 of them in 6 positions, which is more positions then most of us really need. The tuners are “C F Martin” logo sealed-backs; the bridge and fingerboard are East Indian rosewood and said bridge is fitted with a rolled and compensated saddle and six ebony bridge pins with those little bitty abalone eyes. La pickguard is abbreviated and made of variegated faux tortoise; the headstock hosts an East Indian head plate with a puffy gold logo that can be seen from yards, even meters, away. Too good to be forsaken. $1442 or, at our cash discount price, $1399.
48-3894 Goodall (new) Brazilian/Adirondack Concert Jumbo Cutaway, BRCJC4298, with a 1 ¾”
bone nut (BRCJC) and with a Master Adirondack spruce top, with abalone rosette, curly maple bindings all over, and diamond inlaid fretboard. It is factory strung with Elixir Nanoweb light gauge strings wrapped around Gotoh 510 mini tuners with ebony buttons that flow over an ebony fretboard and lunch over a bone saddle with ebony end pins. The body has curly maple binding; the Mahogany neck is dressy in a satin finish; the cash is a TKL American Vintage Series made for this size guitar. Discount price: $6299 or, at our cash discount price, $6110.
48-3895 Huss & Dalton (new) 00-SP, #1589, twelve-fret slothead grand concert, non-cutaway, with hard shell, plush-lined tweed case with an H&D logo.
I must tell you, dahlings, that the 00-SP, which is like saying “00-21,” just delivered to us and presently reclining before us in the wicker throne, is one of the finest sounding and easiest to play of all of the slothead grand concerts we have had the pleasure of playing. It thrills us to the corn(s). It fulfills us. When playing it we don’t even have to forgive it for not having the other two frets, as we do the others. Speaking for myself, I am desperately in love with it, already, and it just arrived here. [“You look just like your mother; she was a wonderful 12-fret slothead. Her whole family was wonderful.”] I really shouldn’t be left here alone with it after closing. The pressure is building. Help me. I’ve been going to Guitar Acquisition Group, but it isn’t helping. Wait -- I am compelled to now recite the specifications to you just so that I can stop thinking about the sound and playability for a short while. (Sigh.) It has East Indian rosewood back and sides, an ebony bridge and fingerboard, ebony bridge pins and end pin, scalloped red spruce bracing, 25-foot radius top (that’s a lot of radius), bone nut and compensated saddle. It has a bolt-on neck, though you’d never know it from the profoundly rich outpouring of endlessly sustaining sound which emits from its pores. It has a curved headstock shape, rounded slots that are, like the entire instrument, flawlessly finished in gloss nitro-cellulose lacquer, including the back of the neck. It sports a bone nut and compensated saddle; the body dimensions are (are you taking notes?) length 19-3/8”, width 14-1/8”, depth at bottom side – 4”, 24.9” scale; it has 12 frets to the body joint, a 3-7/8” sound hole, just the right size, not too big, in the -21 tradition with a herringbone and multi-ringed rosette, a 1-7/8” width at nut which you hardly feel – the frets fly by like bats at a ripe banana, nectar, pollen and insect fair. It has 2-9/32” spacing at saddle, an Engelmann spruce top, a Spanish cedar neck, six nickel-fated Waverly tuners with ivoroid knobs, black-white-black maple purflings, Indian rosewood body bindings with ebony butt wedgie, actual ebony fingerboard binding, an ebony rectangular bridge, mother-of-pearl slotted square fingerboard inlays, a Brazilian rosewood peghead veneer, a herringbone back strip and, you should also know that this guitar is lightly braced for light gauge strings only, so we don’t want to be hearin’ about stringin’ it up with six low-E strings in order to play the tuba parts, or anything as silly as that. I don’t have to tell you that when it comes to this superb small factory luthier we will want to fill the Build-Slotnicks (a hyphenated last name) that we are offered, as they come around to be filled. This guitar defies all preconceptions. If they keep making guitars like this (and who’s to say they won’t) both Huss and Dalton will occupy a position (sorry, there’s only one chair) that is Fred Mertz in the hearts of my country, man. Come on over and experience a lidda-bitta heaven, on 12-grain toast. $3336 or, at our cash discount price, $3236.
48-3900 C F Martin (new) Custom Shop D-41, specially made with an Adirondack spruce top and many other custom features, #1087437, with Geib style hard shell case.
Not satisfied to offer its customers only those models that Martin conventionally makes, Mandolin Brothers continues in the tradition it established in having initiated the C F Martin Custom Shop back in 1977, by having Martin build special D-41 guitars that exceed the sound specifications for the standard model in every way possible. It is the combination of having advanced X – forward shifted Adirondack scalloped bracing that allows the top to vibrate faster than your Aunt Millie did when Uncle Fred came home with crabs. For dinner that is. They both liked crabs. It has lighter, more resonant one-quarter (1/4”) bracing and not the more commonplace 5/16th” kind. It has bone nut and saddle, a Geib style case (D-41 guitars usually get a thermoplastic case) and more sound quality and quantity than you ever thought you would, in your lifetime, hear. It is a pleasure to own and a joy to play. Tunes that ordinarily bore the fertilizer out of you will come alive with new meaning and even portent. The Martin List is $5752.55 (don’t forget that fifty five cents) and Martin says that there is no MAP for Custom Shop, so you know what to do with that personal communication device. EVEN THOUGH THIS ONE'S SOLD WE NOW HAVE MORE IN STOCK -- JUST PHONE OR EMAIL FOR FULL DETAILS!
48-3955 C F Martin (used, 2004) 000-15, 986508, in excellent condition with an added Fishman internal pickup, with original hard shell case.
The Martin 000-15 is quite modest, but highly utilitarian. It has an all-mahogany body, a herringbone decal soundhole rosette, a puffy modern Martin logo on the East Indian rosewood headplate, six Martin logo sealed-back tuners, an actual rosewood fingerboard with 8 mother-of-pearl dotmarkers of decreasing size, a teardrop shaped tortoise shell plastic pickguard, a rosewood bridge with six crème pins each espousing a black dot, and a Micarta saddle that is "rolled" to correctly intonate the second string. Because this guitar was used professionally by Maggie Roche of The Roches folk group (and soloist as well) it has an added Fishman Matrix pickup inside of it, with a 9v battery to power its preamp, a strap pin/jack pin at bottom, and a strap pin in the correct place on the treble side of the heel. The guitar shows nearly no sign of use or wear, it has a wonderfully low, comfortable action, and it plays effortlessly. New ones list for $1099 (just like our income tax returns) and you can get this one, with $225 worth of pickup, with hard case, and with a little note from Maggie Roche that reads "Hi, I'm Maggie Roche, and this has been my guitar since I purchased it. I have used this guitar in many performances. Signed, Maggie Roche -- P.S. Remembered fondly as 'The Slater.'" It's a joy to hear and play and it can be yours for $923 or at our cash discount price $895.
48-3958 Gibson (used, 9/11/03) J-45, dark sunburst, in “as new” condition, meaning that it shows virtually no sign of having been played and it has original warranty tags intact, with original hard shell case.
This guitar is as perfect as can be, complete with deliciously dark and light chocolate rosewood fretboard with the 8 pearl dot markers in 7 positions, black headplate with gold Gibson postwar script decal, six striped back Kluson-style white button tuners, three-ply top binding and single-ply white back binding, “belly up” rosewood bridge with compensated saddle, six crème bridge pins and two pearl dots. It has the traditional Gibson “Jumbo” slope-shouldered body, 16” wide, 4-9/16” deep and with a 1-11/16” nut width. Of course it has a bone nut and saddle, and the spruce top is parallel and moderately wide-grained, which is, as many know, in Sitka a good omen, often producing sound that is notably dense and rich with tonality. This guitar just received a Mandolin Brothers set-up and is now ready for a position of honor in your living room, to have and to hold. $1644 or, at our cash discount price, $1595.
48-3975 Santa Cruz Custom Style F – a NAMM Special Guitar, Serial #878, made from absolutely incredible leopard-dot Sycamore back & sides, one-piece neck, with hard shell case.
It is a Santa Cruz Special Instrument having a graceful, curved cranium FS-Style peghead, spaulted (practically desiccated) maple headstock overlay that looks like an impressionistic painting of the sylvan lake of eternal relaxation, and spaulted soundhole rosette, German spruce (highest grade) top, so bright and tight and perfectly parallel you can practically dine on it. This is not your residential Staten Island Sycamore – it is Northern California Sycamore – some of this wood came from within miles of the Santa Cruz guitar factory. It features black binding on the fingerboard, Sycamore back, sides and backstrip with black purfling on each side of it, also7 plies of maple binding with black purfling around the top and three-ply on sides & back, sycamore tail graft and backstrip, jet black no-marker fingerboard with the “Scgc” logo on frets 12 and 13 like a Tony Rice, ebony bridge and tailpin with abalone dots, and a full, even, radiant tone that will make you think of nothing but this guitar while you’re at work. Your cost is $6263 or, at our cash discount price, $6075. Even though this one's sold - WE HAVE ANOTHER ONE OF THESE ON BACK ORDER WITH SANTA CRUZ - CALL OR EMAIL to put a $100 "right of first refusal deposit on it, okay?
48-3979 C F Martin (used, 1954) D-28, #135037, in very good plus condition with newer Martin hard shell case.
We have what may be considered by many to be the Secular Grail. Okay, it’s not holy because it doesn’t have the herringbone trim around the top, but then neither does a Martin D-28 made in, say, February 1947, one month after Martin stopped supplying its customers with herringbone -- and this 1954 doesn’t differ in any meaningful way from a 1947. No, it is not scalloped braced but it doesn’t need to be because the sound is exquisite – heavenly – big, full, round, sweet and bright. It has excellently repaired top cracks below the bridge, and it is oversprayed but not distractingly so. It shows only a few small dings here and there, some surface-only belt buckle marks on the back. The frets are in very good condition and show little wear. The saddle is low but the action is just perfect. The Brazilian rosewood is killer - straight grained to the max. If you could even get wood like this today it could easily add $5000 to the price of the new custom guitar you could have built for you. It plays effortlessly. Yea, this stalwart dreadnaught’s sound is thunderous, opulent, tuneful, delectable and delightful. One of the finest we’ve heard from the mid-‘50s, and a guitar that will shock you into remembering how good life can be. $8653 or, at our cash discount price, $8500.
48-3987
Collings D-3 Brazilian and Adirondack . . . $6263 or, at our cash discount price, $6075. Although this one guitar's sold we have two (2) Collings Brazilian-Adirondack dreadnoughts in stock at this time - please call or email for details, photos.
48-3999 Gibson (used, c. 1934) L-00 acoustic, ISI-1534, dark sunburst spruce top, uniform brown mahogany sides and back, in very good condition with newer Guild hard shell case.
The Gibson prewar L-00 is rapidly becoming the guitar of choice for the modern finger stylist who wishes to follow in the footsteps of, say, Howard Emerson, who used an L-00, among other guitars, on his Crossing Crystal Lake album. Its strong midrange resonance, its articulate highs and woody, crispy lows make it the best sounding six-string one can envision in a small package. Measuring only 14 3/4" at the lower bout, 8 ½" waist and 10 ¼ at the upper, 4 ¼" in depth at the lower bout, this proud pensioner (a dozen years into Social Security) produces more total sound and a wider frequency range than portly dreadnoughts twice its size and half its age. The string spacing at the bridge is 2 3/8" making for comfort and expanded capability without cramping. The top is bordered in ivoroid while the back is unbound; the black headstock overlay is decorated with the prewar white script Gibson cursive logo and six original open back tuners on rectangular plates with ivoroid button tuners. The rosewood unbound fretboard is inlaid with 7 mother-of-pearl dotmarkers in 6 positions. The bridge is rectangular with a "through" bone saddle. Under that bridge is a new maple bridge plate of correct size. This must have been owned by a child or adolescent at one time since somebody lightly scratched their name into the finish on the bass side of the soundhole and then, just as capriciously, scratched it out. This is not terribly noticeable, however, since the piece does show normal playing wear overall. This is the guitar players, especially blues and fingerstyle players, dream of finding their entire lives. It can become part of your “permanent estate.” $4222 or, at our cash discount price, $4095
48-4000 Lowden (used, c. 1995) Model 0-32 Jumbo non-cutaway, in excellent plus original condition with original Hiscox hard shell thermoplastic case.
This guitar, as Tony Rice says when he sings Gordon Lightfoot, “is as fine as fine can be.” To see and play it one might think it new, but it has the maturity of tone that only time can provide an acoustic instrument. It also has a matte finish, four ply wooden top binding, abalone soundhole rosette, a neo-classical fingerboard, 8 mother ‘o’ pearl dotmarkers on the side of the ebony bound ebony board, a rosewood carved bridge with a two piece saddle for better intonation, six gold-plated sealed back tuners with amber buttons, the script Lowden underlined peghead logo in East Indian rosewood, twin maple v-shape border at the butt splice with the Lowden oversized tail pin. Neck is five-piece, back is two piece without a stripe, top is closely, parallel grained with considerable cross grain. The action is low and fast – this is the kind of instrument that makes you want to play it. The owner of this guitar owes his bookie $2,500 and if we can sell this guitar for $2,500 he will get to see his grandmother again. However we have decided to ask a lower price and it’s “goodbye, Grammy!” $2423 or at our cash discount price $2350.
48-4112 C F Martin/Schoenberg/T J Thompson 1991 Soloist OM-45 Deluxe, #511636,
Individual number 4 of 14 made in the series, extremely high-quality straight-grain, quartersawn, Brazilian rosewood, in excellent minus condition. It came in with an oversized, heavily worn, incorrect hard shell case and so we will substitute a newer Geib style case. This guitar is a highly deluxe instrument having abalone around top, soundhole, bottom border of fingerboard, sides, back, end graft and both sides of the heel, it has diamond and snowflake abalone fingerboard inlays, an abalone torch inlaid in the triple bound Brazilian rosewood headplate, and gold-plated Waverly tuners. The pickguard is, itself, inlaid with a wonderful old-fashioned abalone 4-petal flower with leaves and vines. The headstock is inlaid with the pearl and abalone Martin fancy “early” torch, the fingerboard with the full diamond and snowflake treatment. There is abalone hand-inlaid into every border including face, fingerboard end, soundhole, neck heel, end-graft, pearl snowflakes on either side of the through-saddle bridge, and a modified V-shape neck. The original banjo style tuners were replaced with gold-plated Waverly open backs, it has a colored wood marquetry backstripe, and the instrument differs from prewar in that it was ordered to be built with a truss rod. It shows finish checking and a few signs of use in the form of normal light scratches or dings; there is a repaired top center seam opening which, along with the finish over the spruce top adheres closely to the grain, suggests that it was, in the past, stored n a dry environment. Our workshop has just performed their professional fret-dress (leveling), they have radiused the bridge and it now plays marvelously, sounds in many ways like the prewar OM-45 Deluxe that C F Martin made only 14 of originally, and only in the year 1930. We presume that’s why only 14 of them were made in 1990. $20,615 or, at our cash discount price, $19,995.
48-4114 Santa Cruz (new) Bob Brozman D - Baritone acoustic guitar, #4954, with hard shell case.
The Santa Cruz Brozman Baritone is, in our opinion and that of actual magazine writers, the leader, the prince of melodious yet stentorian presence and radio-announcer profundity. It has the 28” scale and the wide neck suitable for baritone playing. It is replete with the herringbone top-pography, border and soundhole, zipper back striped, and has the tasteful position markers of four etched mother of pearl diamonds. The top is made from select Sitka so close-grained that it is almost impossible to see the vertical lines. Evident, however, are a small amount of bear claw and a great deal of cross-silking. Tuners are gold-plated and side-mounted on the squared-slot open peghead, bridge pins are inlaid and countersunk and once you have felt that under your palm you may never want to go back to the silent cylindrical sentinels that others call ball-stoppers. You can play at any volume and sound like a cello, or a growling lion, whichever metaphor scratches you under the chin (and behind the ears). The Brozperson-Barry-Tone sounds like no other six-string you have ever heard or will hear, and owning it will set you apart from the masses. $3990 or, at our cash discount price, $3870. Although this Bob Brozman Model is sold we re-order them and try to have one on back order at all times - please phone or email to reserve the next one we obtain.
48-4133 Gibson (used, 2000) J-45, sunburst top, #01360014, very good plus condition,
showing normal signs of playing wear but happy and healthy nonetheless, with original hard shell case. The Gibson J-45 is the workhorse instrument with the factory Fishman Matrix pickup, the semi-teardrop tortoise type pickguard, belly-up rosewood with a compensated B-string, a nicely colored two-tone rosewood fretboard with 8 dotmarker fingerboard inlays in 7 fret positions, six individual unsigned Kluson replica tuners with plastic buttons, white-black top purfling with white outermost, with matching soundhole rosette. A strap pin has been added to the center of the heel. The guitar plays extremely easily and has become mature enough (not like us) to sound rich, loud, clear and resonant. $1232 or at our cash discount price $1195
48-4152 C F Martin 00-21GE (new Custom Shop guitar made for Mandolin Brothers), #1100692, with Geib style hard shell case.
I have seen Heaven and it is this guitar. Little did we know when we ordered just two of these absolutely superb grand concert, slotted headstock, Adirondack spruce top shining jewels of a six-string experience, that they would come out this good! We are planning to order some more for future delivery – so if this is something you’d like to see occupying your personal space just phone us and reserve one for the future. Only 14” wide, 4 1/8” deep, and with a 24.9” short scale, 2 5/16” bridge spacing and a 1 13/16th” nut width but this child knows how to rumba! Its top braces are, as well, Adirondack, scalloped, and just ¼” wide. Body bindings are tortoise color, and the top has black-white-black-white purfling adjacent. The neck shape is Modified V while the headplate is genuine Brazilian rosewood (you can take it to the bank). The headplate decal is small C F Martin script in the old style, tuners are Waverly #4063 with 16SP nickel side-mounted butterbean buttons, back and sides are solid East Indian rosewood; soundhole and back stripe anoint us with their herringbone marquetry. The special-shape teardrop pickguard is beveled and polished; the fingerboard is ebony, of course, with four etched abalone squares; body finish is gloss, neck is satin. The saddle is a 16” radius long bone sliver. It is equipped with light gauge (.012) strings but in keeping with the Golden Era tradition it does not bear a “Caution” stamp inside which means that you can, with this guitar, go completely crazy. The List Price of this incredible, shimmering white long-stemmed rose of a finger flickers happiest fantasy, is $4,441.36 (don’t forget the thirty six cents) and if it had a Martin MAP we suppose that would be something equally appealing, like $3219.98. GUESS WHAT?! ANOTHER ONE OF THESE JUST ARRIVED! Call or email for photos, details.
48-4237 Santa Cruz (new) OMS which is an Orchestra Model Short Scale, #3052, 1 ¾” nut width, East Indian rosewood and Sitka spruce, with hard shell case.
The most exciting new Santa Cruz guitar in some time has arrived at our shores – it is a special request 24.9” scale version of what would otherwise be a longer scale OM, and if you interpret that the way we do it ends up being what the other company calls a 000-28 made to, say, 1939 specifications with just a couple of changes. a) it has herringbone around the soundhole as well as the border of the top and the prewar would have had it only around the top, b) it says “Scgc” in the headstock with a long tail on the stylized “g” which “g” stands for “greater value for the money.” The first “c” by the way, stands for “covet” as in “everybody who sees your guitar will covet it.” The last “c” stands for “compulsion” and it means that, owning this instrument, your compulsion to buy more and more high-end guitars will be, at least for now, suppressed. The initial “S” at the beginning of the logo stands for “sublime contentment.” c) Each of the six nickel-plated Santa Cruz logo open back butter-bean tuners stand, of course, for purity; the wood marquetry “zipper” back stripe represents “closure” in your quest for perfection in a fretted instrument. d) The nearly invisibly small 9 mother-of-pearl fingerboard inlays in 8 positions represent the distance between us and an unnamed star that’s located 65,000 light years west of the red super giant Betelgeuse (Alpha Orionis). The pickguard is small, dark tortoise shell celluloid and beveled edge, the ebony bridge is carved and host to 6 countersunk ebony bridge pins with pearl dots, and the tailpin at bottom, bisecting a continuation of the zipper back stripe, is the same. The headstock, neck and both top and back are bound in grained ivoroid, the nut and saddle are bone, of course, and internal bracing is scalloped. This guitar sounds like the mating call of the hairy mammoth (as perceived by other mammoths, that is, in a good way) – sonorous, long-sustaining and heart-wrenchingly sincere. It redefines what sort of physical pleasure is possible when embracing a hollow wooden structure with a 24” neck that responds to your demonstrative affection by merely vibrating. It is one of the finest sounding new guitars of any brand I have played in months. $3294 or, at our cash discount price, $3195.
83-3034 C F Martin (new) Cowboy III, 872111, with special brown fabric hard shell case.
I was recently asked (by email) whether the Cowboy Series were considered entry level. I replied: I can't say that either the III or the II are entry level. The III lists for $100 more than the two, but both are in line with the numerical progression suggested by the less expensive Martin models that, respectively, list for $619, $669, $769, $949 and $979. Interestingly, the Cowboy series comes in a special hard shell case, and the Martins that list for the first four of the prices above stated do not come with any case, so the Cowboy seems an even better deal. As fine a model as the all mahogany body 000-15 lists, at $979, for less than these art-based Limited Edition instruments. The Cowboy models are made from HPL (high pressure laminate), which is comprised of wood fiber (helps lower cholesterol) and resin-based materials. The Cowboys sound quite good and are both conversation pieces, because of their nifty artwork by Robert Armstrong, and possibly future collectibles because they have been made in a limited number. We are, as I write this, down to our last two Cowboy II guitars. (This mathematical oddity is of course subject to change without notice.) What tends to happen is that, as each model sells out, everybody who calls us wants that one. So if a II is on your mind and you have even the remotest thought of eventually owning all three, it might be a thought toget the II from us while you can, and you might as well pick up a III while it's on sale at the same time (no?). For those who are still unaware - until our sale ends, on the first day of Spring 2003, we’re offering a $75 further discount on the Cowboy II, the Cowboy III and the Martin “Alternative X”-- the remarkable sounding electric-acoustic cutaway guitar with the aluminum top. Martin list is $1099. Martin MAP is $824.95. PLEASE CALL OR EMAIL to ask if we any more of these in stock. We might.
83-3290, C F Martin (new) Cowboy III.
The Cowboy Scene, the will of the west. We have #150 of 500 made, and other individual numbers way too desirable to mention. Martin list is $1099. Martin MAP is $824.95.
83-6099 Tippin (new) OMT, 0300132, Indian rosewood and AAA Alpine spruce top, nickel Waverly tuners, H.
As well as greatly respecting his instruments we admire the fact that Tippin uses no dashes in his instrument titles. Here is your essential Orchestra Model as interpreted by the Master of Marblehead. It bears the same lovely nestled abalone and pearl fretboard inlays as the 00012T, the same blood wood rosette, the same 25.4" scale, the same 1 3/4" nut width, but in this hard shell case you get a fourteen fret neck which extends your hand away from your torso in much the same way as the pioneer guides showed the Mississippi River to the earliest settlers. "Behold" they said. We are enthralled by the A-. Algernon-Aardvark Alpine top, whose purity is surpassed only by our own, as well as by the light golden to toasted-brown sun bursting of the mahogany neck, and by the preternaturally straight-grained East Indian back and sides offset by white maple purflings and grained ivoroid bindings. A high polished (presumably bone) saddle stands straight up and is compensated on the B string. Tippin says "Our OMT does not lose strength in tone value or volume when used with a capo and captures precise definition in balance from not to note with an impressive sustain." All Tippin instruments in stock are on sale at greatly reduced prices. Please call for availability and pricing.
88-1585 Gibson SJ-200 (used, 1997) Custom Shop, 92027052, in fancy Brazilian rosewood back and sides, Paua abalone fingerboard and bridge inlays and Gibson logo and crown with original hard shell case.
It has Grover Imperial large-back gold plated tuners, multiple bindings – wider and bigger than standard J-200s have. The Brazilian is mostly straight-grained except at the outer edges where it is swirly. There is a gold-plated strap pin in the center of the top the neck heel. It has a matching sunburst finish flame maple 3-piece neck. The guitar, other than pickguard and a few nicks at the bottom back binding – possibly from a music stand -- shows little sign of playing time. Its fingerboard and moustache bridge are nicely figured rosewood, while the crème bridge pins have abalone dots. It has geometric crème and black blocks to make up its backstripe, similar to the “D-28” word. The inside of the soundhole is bound in white-black-white with numerous crème and black rings. Interestingly, on the interior neck block, you’ll find the stamped serial number and the script legend: “Gibson Custom Shop.” That’s an elegant touch and we wish they still did that. This guitar sounds incredible – full and rich and strikingly powerful with acoustic drive and musical momentum. It is, on the whole, one of the finest sounding J-200 guitars we’ve offered for sale. $8449 or at our cash discount price, $8195.
88-2100 CF Martin (new) OMC-28LJ - The Laurence Juber Limited Edition in Indian Rosewood, Individual Number #46 of 133, bearing the Martin serial number #995545, with hard shell case
The List is $4999, the Martin MAP is $3999.
88-2786 Martin (new) OM-18V Acoustic Guitar, #1031626, a mahogany Orchestra-in-a-jar
Model with the tiny four-ply top purfling lines, black ebony fingerboard with 6 mother of pearl dots, square-ish headstock design with old style decal (deck-el) and six nickel plated butterbean button open-back tuners, each bearing a tiny script “C F Martin” logo, East Indian rosewood headplate, tortoise shell revisited binding, top and back, abbreviated pickguard, and end splice, ebony heel cap and Advanced X Forward Shifted scalloped bracing. Looks good. Sounds good. CF Martin List is $$3099, C F Martin MAP is $2199.
88-2820 Taylor (used, March 1995) Model 510, #950314101, excellent condition with original hard shell case.
WAS $1335. NOW ON SALE for $1237 or at our cash discount price, $1200.
88-2895 James Goodall (new) Grand Concert Cutaway, #BRGCC3983,
made with Brazilian Rosewood back and sides, Adirondack top and comes with deluxe hard shell case. Your cost is $6203 or, at our cash discount price, $6017
ARCHTOP GUITARS
43-0163 John D’Angelico 1952 (used) Excel acoustic archtop, blonde, #1881, vg condition, wholly and professionally refinished, with original hard shell brown alligator case.
This is a rare and fine sounding instrument, a "player's D’Angelico" with notable tone. Mark D. Simon, our former head of repair, expertly restored it including refinishing. We don’t want you to think that any of the following is unattractive – the work was done so well you hardly notice: There are spliced cracks on the top and back. Many of these adhesions were glued or spliced in the distant yet same exact past in which the instrument was refretted, the pearl was re-engraved, a replacement pickguard and bridge were made for it, and a set of Grover Imperial tuners re-installed. It has an original stair-step gold-plated tailpiece, the large peghead with pediment and pineapple, and is, overall, not only a very classy instrument but, we must say, one of the better sounding Excels we have recently heard. This may not be as entirely original as some – but completely original would be way more expensive (like twice as much as this). Nevertheless, this guitar definitely has the sound that every jazz player desires. THIS WAS $15,465, BUT then it was On Sale for $14,949. We have wonderful news, sire, and that’s that the instrument’s owner has directed us to lower the selling price considerably. Now you can finally own a John D’Angelico Excel blonde archtop for $13,398 or at our cash discount price $12,995.
48-3232 Gibson (used, 1954) ES-140 ¾ jazz guitar, an electric archtop that’s 37” long with a 22 ¾” scale length, 1 9/16” nut width, in exc- condition with original brown hard shell case.
This remarkable jazz electric guitar for Lilliputians is only 13” wide but with that screaming single P-90 black pickup in the neck position it keeps up with the Band of Banshees that practices nightly down at the Bottomless Hole Tavern. Burnin’ hot in so many ways, this guitar shows plenty of normal finish checking, has 7 dotmarker pearl inlays in six positions of its unbound rosewood fretboard, a two-piece rosewood adjustable bridge, a smaller than normal trapeze tailpiece, unbound tortoise shell celluloid pickguard and two gold cylinder knobs with little metal chicken beaks as indicators. Tuners are replacement Kluson style, and whoever replaced them tore up the ebony on the headplate pretty good in removing the old grommets. The last owner cleverly utilized a round ivoroid Gibson switch surround to support the area around the phono jack on the treble side. A strap pin depends from the center of the back of the heel. Not withstanding the ravages of casual playing and bad judgment, the condition is quite favorable. Our band of luthiers has replaced the volume pot and set the guitar up to its most playable, functional capability. We like it, you’ll like it, they like it. This was $2263, but is NOW ON SALE for $2056 or at our cash discount price, $1995
48-3256 Eastman (new) 16” AR-805CE, Serial number 345, in deep, rich, Cremona brown sunburst, with hard shell case. Uptown Professional — 16" F-Hole Archtop
This compact 16" fully hand-carved 6-string archtop guitar is crafted with solid flamed maple back and sides, an aged spruce top, a three-piece maple neck with an ebony fingerboard, and an ebony-fronted headstock. Heavy-duty, classically designed tailpiece and tuners all come standard. Whether you play be-bop or big-band this guitar delivers! List is $2395 and the Eastman MAP is $2,004.
48-4124 Gretsch (used, 1990) White Falcon Model 7594, double-cutaway, #905594-21, excellent condition with worn black original hard shell case.
Strikingly beautiful and formal in white with gold sparkle binding on top, back, f-holes, neck and headstock, offset by the twin gold-plated Filter’Tron style humbucking pickups, gold tune-o-matic type of floating bridge with ebony base, equipped with a Gretsch Bigsby tailpiece, and six gold-plated D-shaped button “G with Arrow” closed back tuners, this festive icon of the flamboyant 1960s (The White Falcon was double cutaway from 1962 to the early 1970s). The entirely black triple-bound fingerboard is inlaid with pearloid blocks in 8 fret positions starting at first fret. This guitar has a regular nut that measures 1 21/32nds at first fret, a scale length of 25 ¾”, and a body depth at bottom of 1 7/8ths”. The gold-plated knobs (all five of them including master volume in the upper treble bout) bear the “G and arrow” motif. It plays easily with a low comfortable action, and it sounds like the sparkling white gem that it is and has always been. $2157 or, at our cash discount price, $2095.
48-4134 Gibson (used, 1997) L-4CES, vintage sunburst, electric archtop, near mint condition with original brown hard shell case with pink lining and satin cover.
Gibson has traditionally made a 16” wide, sharp Florentine cutaway electric jazz guitar with twin gold-plated cover humbucking pickups. The top is solid, carved, spruce with twin open f-holes. In the past, the back and sides were maple – in this instance the back is one-piece of curly, figured maple and the sides are mildly figured. Nowadays the same model is made with mahogany sides and back, but most players who dream of owning an L-4CES envision the maple version, since it was made for decades that way -- and here one is – previously owned but you’d never know it to look at its superlative condition. It has a four-ply bound tortoise shell color pickguard with gold-plated side clamp, which binding on top, back, and fingerboard, four gold high hat knobs and one three way toggle for pickup selection, an ebony base tune-o-matic top bridge with a fleur-de-lis inlaid on each side of the base, and a gold plated, classy trapeze tailpiece etched with simple art deco filigree including a starburst. The phone jack is mounted in the treble side, tuners are Gibson Deluxe gold-plated squarebacks with pearloid tulip buttons. This guitar is in exceptionally clean condition and set-up to the max. $2,784 or, at our cash discount price, $2,700.
88-2701 Gretsch Brian Setzer Model 6120-SSLVO, vintage orange lacquer finish, with TV Jones pickups, with hard case.
The Gretsch List Price is $4,125.
ELECTRIC GUITARS
48-4365 Gibson (used, c. 2000) SG Reissue, #004152, Custom Shop Tag in case, with Maestro tremolo, in excellent plus condition with hard shell original case and some tags.
We are always impressed by the beauty and the good taste of the early ‘60s style SG Standard, with its pearloid trapezoidal inlays in 9 fret positions in a rosewood , crème bound board, the twin sharp cutaways, the nickel plated cover twin humbucking pickups, the three way toggle with black Rhythm/Treble control plate, the four black witch-hat knobs, the script “Les Paul” logo on the white bordered black bell-shaped truss rod cover, the Gibson logo in postwar script pearl, yellowed by design with the Gibson flower there under, the single ring Kluson-Kopy “Gibson Deluxe” tuners with the tulip-shaped buttons, the three-ply bordered pointy black pickguard and most of all by the nickel-plated Maestro tremolo with leaf and lyre design etched there on along with the Gibson logo in squiggle filigree. Don’t you igree? Yes, this guitar (sans any kind of manufacturer’s warranty) has all of that and more. Although it is not stamped “Custom Shop” on the back of the neck, and although it has a pressure stamped serial number in six digits which it wouldn’t have had in the early ‘60s but might have had in the year 1967, it has a ‘50s style Gibson orange and black booklet in the case that does say “Custom/Art/Historic.” This is clearly a guitar meant to elicit the same delirious response to its design, its feel, its heft, its extreme level of playability and versatility, and of course its superlative sound as one might feel if they beheld an original ’61 or ’62 such creature. This is the guitar for which your ancestors howled, and if they didn’t howl for it then they should have. Now it’s your turn to ring their bell and howl. $2056 or at our cash discount price, $1995.
48-4175 Fender (used, September 1951) Telecaster, not wholly original, refinished in black, somewhat altered, #1909, with a newer far east import hard shell case for an auditorium-flattop sized guitar.
This guitar started life as an original Fender Telecaster, probably in the blonde finish. It bears a neck date of T.G. for Tadeo Gomez, and then 9/5/51. In spite of the changes it has suffered this is one of the earliest known Fender Telecasters. The neck is still that of a clean 1954 Telecaster having the Fender spaghetti logo in silver and black and “TELECASTER” in black with small quotation marks on either side. The neck, just like a modern Fender Relic, shows finger wear mainly on the treble side up to the 11th fret, and also fret wear. The good part is the description of the body: The original owner was a tinkerer/inventor who like many creative people thought he could improve it. He refinished the body in black (but thankfully left the neck alone). He provided and installed a DeArmond Guitar Mic in between the two original pickups and put a second jack on the side of the treble horn with a master volume control. Below this addition is a Rube Goldberg design that resembles a taken-apart Bird-of-Paradise™ brand capo wherein an ebony palm rest connects to a wooden bird-beak on a brass hinge that can change the three-way switch (with newer cap). One could, starting in the neck position, change to the middle and lead position but going in reverse it will only allow it to go back to the middle position. The whole tailpiece area has been routed and replaced with a machine-shop created brass de-tuner which, although stiff, enables a player to create pedal steel effects – it raises the D string and A string and lowers the low E string. Then there is a long brass arm that is a de-tuner for the sixth string that, in two positions, lowers it even further. In the case pocket is a broken clear knob that apparently went on the de-tuner below the tailpiece cover, which is still with the guitar. Under the original ashtray, which, by way, has a piece of black bakelite or plastic screwed onto it (possibly decorative) the original owner has created and installed 6 new brass saddles and additionally he cut the back plate larger to allow the rear pickup to align straight across and perpendicular to the strings, and then added a piece of metal work to hold it in position. Two added plastic rotary devices hold the ashtray in place. The ashtray has been cut open on the two sides to accommodate the strings that travel back into the tailpiece. Additionally, he has added two contiguous pick guards, each in stained, antiqued plastic, one of which covers the area that the arm rests on. He played the guitar so frequently that there are two black finger marks eroded through the plastic. This guitar has to be seen to be believed. Under it all it’s still a 1951 Fender Telecaster which, if it had only been left alone and original would have been a small fortune today.
48-4171 Fender 1961 Esquire, excellent original condition, blonde, #64274, original hard shell case.
How often, nowadays, can one find a completely original 44-year-old Fender electric solid body high-end guitar that is in factory condition except showing the lightest signs of normal playing time? This Esquire (an Esquire is a Telecaster with a bridge pickup and no neck pickup) has the requisite slab rosewood fingerboard, the single- ply white pickguard held in place by 8 screws, the potentiometer codes are 304-6114 which means that they are Stackpole components made in the 14th week of 1961, the body dates are: body cavity 9/61, neck date 6/61. It has single-line Kluson Deluxe tuners, a spaghetti Fender black bordered silver decal logo with “ESQUIRE” in block letters just northeast. It has 10 clay dot fingerboard inlays in 9 positions, a three position switch, a three-part saddle (two strings reside on each dual adjustable cross-piece), one string tree and two nickel strap pins. The exposed Fender bridge/tailpiece plate is stamped “Fender Pat. Pend.” As you know the body on Esquires and Telecasters are, since 1950, congruent – and the original route for the neck position that isn’t used on this model is found under the pickguard. Yes, it shows a few light chips and scratches, some edge wear, but overall it shows less wear than a Fender Custom Shop “Relic.” It is a true “closet classic.” The original hard shell brown tolex case with gold interior is also in excellent condition. Pieces like this don’t come along every day and the person that gets to own it is a lucky man or woman indeed.
48-4199 Gibson (used, 1979) Les Paul Custom, #70269502, in a kind of pale yellow finish (or else it’s very faded arctic white but we think it’s yellow) with some “see-through” of the grain in the maple cap, in excellent minus condition with a period hard shell case that has two broken latches.
We say excellent minus because the bridge pickup was replaced with a zebra, un-covered pickup that could be a DiMarzio. Other than that the condition is just wonderful clean. From the four ply bound headstock with the fat postwar script Gibson inlaid logo and five piece diamond and rectangle headstock inlay. There under is a white bordered truss rod cover, a bound ebony fingerboard bearing 10 mother of pearl block inlays, and under that are two humbucking pickups – the first of which has the gold plated cover, a three position toggle and four clear cylinder knobs for volume and tone, a tune-o-matic bridge and a gold-plated stop tailpiece. Top is bound in 5-ply, back in 4-ply, there’s a respectably husky volute behind the nut and, above that, six gold-plated tulip button Gibson sealed-back tuners. A great player, a great look, and enough power to provide electricity to an entire colony of flattened segmented worms with a sucker on both tail and mouth. $1,850 or, at our cash discount price, $1,795.
48-4144 Fender (used, November 1955) Stratocaster, refinished in white with added Wilkinson tremolo system, housed in a newer tweed hardshell case.
This poor baby, which has been dramatically modified from original specification, turned out to be pretty nice looking (except maybe for those incorrect Sperzel brand locking tuners and that bridge/tailpiece) and sounds wonderful. The neck date is “11/55.” The bridge (now missing/replaced) was undoubtedly a Fender vibrato since the decal on the headstock is original it states "with synchronized tremolo," however large routs and refinishing have deteriorated the value. Does the expression: “a large deep hole with bolt-on back for Wilkinson Vibrato Arm” have any unpleasant resonances? Ah, we thought so. Said arm is enclosed in the case. The refinish is in Olympic White, however it is nitrocellulose, yet a hint of grain can be seen and appears to be covering an ash body. The body contour appears to be consistent with a 1955, however the sanding has caused a little bit of softening of detail at the edges. The pickups appear to be “right” for 1955, the pot code on the one pot we can read is 134 343 which suggests that the component was made in March of 1954, on another pot we can read 304-47XX which means the 47th week of whatever year. The volume pot and knob are replaced but the two tone pots and knobs appear to be original. The wiring to the pickups is right, the paper capacitor is right. It has a 5-way switch, shows some light signs of wear including some finish checking.
48-4170 Fender (used, 2003) Eric Clapton Stratocaster, #S23040784, black finish with a white pickguard, near mint condition “with tags.”
$1129 or, at our cash discount price, $1095.
48-4119 Gibson (used, late 2001) Les Paul Standard Plus, #02801503, vintage sunburst, near mint with original hard shell case.
Owned by a self-confessed obsessive-compulsive this guitar looks virtually unplayed. It is a Les Paul Standard with beautiful tiger-stripe grain pattern in the book-matched top. It has the crème top and neck binding, the crème pickup surrounds, twin shiny humbucking pickups, with matching plated tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece. It has six Grover Rotomatic matching tuners, a rosewood fretboard with 9 trapezoidal inlays, four gold knobs and a three-position Rhythm/Treble selector. The back is uniform brown and the neck and sides are sunburst. This guitar provides its owner both beauty, grace, and enough sound power to blow down partitions and chip plaster walls and ceilings. $1850 or at our cash discount price $1795.
48-3495 Gibson (used, 1982) Les Paul Custom in Cherry Sunburst, excellent plus condition, original hard shell case.
This is an extremely classy guitar – it has all of the deluxe features for which the Custom is famous. It has the five piece diamond and rectangle headstock inlay under the pearl inlaid script Gibson logo on a headplate that’s 4-ply bound; the truss rod cover is etched “Les Paul Custom,” the white-bound ebony fingerboard is inlaid with large mother of pearl blocks in 10 fret positions, the Gibson sealed-back tuners, twin humbucking pickups, tune-o-matic bridge and stop tailpiece are gold-plated. It has a three-piece maple cap that is sunbursted with a gentle orange to cherry shading, four clear/black cylinder knobs and a three-way toggle for Rhythm/Treble. The owner has added diamond shaped gold-plated strap-locks for extra security when playing on stage. When new, this type of guitar commands a list price that’s three times this one’s cost. This is on sale. It was $1954, but is NOW ON SALE for $1850 or, at our cash discount price, $1795.
48-4150 Fender (used, 1991-’92) American Standard Stratocaster in Purple finish,
excellent with rosewood board, dot inlays, white-black-white bound white pickguard, 5 position switch, twin headstock string trees. A Fender Strat in an unusual and striking color, in top condition, for a reasonable price. $819 or, at our cash discount price, $795.
48-4151 Fender (used, 1987) Telecaster American Standard in Gun Metal Blue,
which is a kind of iridescent green/blue, solidly excellent condition, E328538, with a black molded hard shell case in just fair condition -- at least one of its hinges is broken. It has a three-position switch, white-black-white bound white pickguard, dotmarker inlays, 6 saddles, a single string tree on headstock, rosewood fingerboard. Its owner told us that he thinks that this was made in the first year for the American Standard Tele out of California. We haven’t seen this color before – have you? $819 or, at our cash discount price, $795.
48-4130 Paul Reed Smith (used, 1996) Custom 22, with tremolo, in the translucent root beer finish, with 5 position rotary switch, #6 27750, in near mint condition with original black rectangular hard shell case.
This guitar has the options of abalone bird fingerboard inlays and 10-top flame maple. This absolutely beautiful guitar has the carved, flame maple tip with thick tiger-stripe figure, the abalone (very fancy) birds on frets 3,5,7,9,12,15,17,19,21. It has uncovered, double-black HFS humbucking pickups, and uncovered individual saddles. The owner wonders if it may have been special ordered without pickup covers. It still has the plastic on the truss rod cover, and the small "Paul Reed Smith" signature logo on peghead. The tuners are locking type PRS logo, Made-in-Germany with nickel plated buttons. The outer edge of the top is finished in amber so that it appears to have maple top binding, but in fact that’s the edge of the maple cap. As old as this guitar it, it appears nearly unplayed and sounds big and open. $2150 or at our cash discount price, $2095.
48-4062 Paul Reed Smith (used, 2002) Custom 22 hardtail, whale blue with abalone birds and 10-top, #2 71562, with rectangular hard shell case.
This is one of Paul Reed Smith's most widely recognized models, the traditional electric solid body two-point guitar with the wonderfully figured maple top and the abalone birds inlaid into the East Indian rosewood fretboard. The 2 pickups are each Dragon II humbuckers within twin crème frames; the bridge/tailpiece is one piece and mounted to the top with twin adjustable large screws. Three black knobs reside in the lower treble bout and the bottom most one is a five position switch to allow all combinations of the two pickups. Mr. Smith leaves the edge of the maple top unstained and so that edge looks like a flame maple top border but in fact, it’s not, it’s actually the top itself with an unstained edge. Tuners are sealed-back, nickel-plated, and bear the PRS emblem. This guitar is in outstanding condition – the owner took extremely good care of it. He did add strap locks to the bass horn and bottom and the strap is included in the case with the other section of strap lock attached to each side. $2159 or at our cash discount price, $2095.
48-4031 Gibson (used, 2003) Les Paul Classic, #9 1530, in excellent plus condition with original brown Gibson hard shell case.
The Les Paul Classic is one step above the regular Les Paul terms of resembling an actual 1960 Les Paul Standard. It has no metal pickup covers, leaving the double black coils nekkid, though surrounded by creme plastic frames. This one has a creme pickguard bearing the gold, etched legend "1960," and it has the slim, extremely comfortable neck to match. Said rosewood neck is bound in ivoroid on each side, and inlaid with pearloid trapezoids in 9 positions. The three-way toggle in the upper bass bout, with the crème round surround reading “Rhythm” and “Treble” is properly aged and yellowed. The Tune-o-Matic bridge and stop tailpiece are nickel plated and appropriate and the Heritage Cherry Sunburst finish on the crème-bound face is absolutely and utterly gorgeous in its yellow/orange to red splendor. Headstock is black overlaid, “Gibson” mother of pearl brightly inlaid with the Les Paul Classic decal below, and the white bordered bell-shaped truss rod cover reads “Classic” as well. Tuners are Gibson Deluxe Kluson copies with pearloid tulip buttons, and the back and neck are uniform cherry finish. If you look very carefully you may fine one ding on the back and one small scuff – about as much as you would expect to find on a guitar that was exquisitely well cared for and played maybe half a dozen times.
48-3366 Rickenbacker (used, 1935-’37) Electro Spanish Guitar – an actual Model B electric six-string guitar, #F21, original hard shell case.
This is one of the world’s earliest electric guitars. It amazes all who see it. It looks, from the front, pretty much exactly like the famous Rickenbacker Electro Lap Steel, having the black bakelite body with 5 convex nickel-plated covers, the upper treble bout cover shows a small bit of finger wear down to the underlying brass; the frets, that are built into the bakelite fretboard show some wear as well. Tuners are original three-on-a-plate with oval metal buttons. This was the first model chambered electric with the black 8-sided knob in the lower treble position, whose strings load from the back to the front like a certain flat electric modern guitar does. This rare, earliest of electric guitars is adorably cute, concise, easy to hold and play, and, with its early, heavy horseshoe magnet, covered by a two-part, nickel-plated hand-rest, removable by two corrugated thumbscrews, screams like the devil himself when he puts too much wasabi on his yellowtail. $3087 or, at our cash discount price, $2995.
48-3513 Paul Reed Smith (used, c. 2001) McCarty 22 Soapbar in cherry finish, #8 36499, in excellent plus condition with original black rectangular hard shell case.
This is a very fine instrument having what appears to be an ebony nut, an East Indian rosewood fretboard with “moon” position markers, twin crème Soapbar pickups, which, because they are single coils, may occasionally scare the player, but only in a good way. It has slightly larger disk strap locks on its bass horn and bottom end, and a stop tailpiece. Although it has only two black cylinder knobs and a three-position toggle, there are enough variations possible to keep you busy late into the night. Exceptional in every way. $1541 or, at our cash discount price, $1495.
48-3908 Fender (used, but you’d never know it) American Standard Stratocaster, Z5143185, three-tone sunburst, in “like new” condition with original rectangular black hard shell case.
What is more alluring than a standard American Standard? Where is the food in good pie? It has everything that a bad lad or sassy lass needs, including twin nickel-plated strap pins, a rosewood fingerboard inlaid with 10 white markers in 9 positions; the headstock is maple to match the back of the low profile neck, the pickguard is off-white and held in place by the mystical 11 screws that represent the 11 crones that chaperone the 6 trolls (3 males, 2 females and a hermaphrodite) that cater the Feast of Eden. (“Sorry, no free refills on the Midori and Moose Juice punch”), three single coil white pickups with pole pieces of deliberately uneven height, six individual brushed aluminum saddles, three white knobs and a white-capped five-way toggle. This guitar, to see it, shows no sign of ever having been played, and to hear it this instrument fills us with the remembered sense of unfulfilled yearning that we last felt when we envisioned ourselves as rock stars, wearing flashy suits as did Elvis and, briefly, Phil Ochs, encrusted with little metallic reflective tags that allow us to be invisible to radar when we sky dive while air-guitaring the lead lines to Purple Haze. The key, the trem arm and the truss rod wrench inhabit the case pocket. This instrument does everything that Stratocasters do and it needs only you in back of it to complete the circuit. $876 or, at our cash discount price, $850.
88-1096 Gibson (used, 2002) Les Paul Standard Plus, #00382666, excellent plus with original hard shell case.
The “Plus” on the door means a Big ‘n’ Low on the floor, Big ‘n’ Low in this instance means that there is an observable amount of curl in the curly maple two-piece top; when you hold it a certain way – so that you and the planet on which you reside form a conjunction or even an alignment with the twelve inhabitable houses – you are greeted by considerable horizontal gladsomeness. The Gibson pearl postwar script logo stands brightly shining like a lighthouse on a crisp December dawn. There under a subdued but proper looking “Les Paul” in script and “Model” in block decal redefines subtlety and, under that, a white-bordered, bell-shaped truss rod cover depends from two screws. The crème-bound fingerboard is most definitely East Indian rosewood but it has some of the look of the prior wood from the Brazilian era. It has the twin nickel-plated humbuckers with the crème surrounds, the tune-o-matic bridge, the nickeled stop tailpiece, the 9 trapezoidal pearloid fingerboard inlays, the crème ivoroid top binding, the gorgeous profile of a Les Paul Standard and the sound that can only derive from same. This guitar, which shows only one or two signs of having been played and is in remarkable condition by any measure, is priced at only $2213 or, at our cash discount price, $2050.
48-3495 Gibson (used, 1982) Les Paul Custom in Heritage Cherry sunburst, near mint + condition, 3-piece plain maple top and original hard shell case.
WAS $1954, NOW ON SALE for $1850 or, at our cash discount price, $1795.
48-3944 Gibson (used, c. 2000) Les Paul 1959 Reissue, in near mint condition, in faded Cherry Sunburst, having extremely nice flame, character and depth.
It is housed in its original Gibson black hard shell case. The guitar shows no marks at all but just a hint (only a flicker) of tarnish on its nickel-plated pickup covers. The flame top is so highly figured it almost has some quilt appearance to it. Yes, friends, this guitar appears flawless. That original hard shell case is black (did we say it was black?) with gold Gibson logos and a lovely maroon interior. $3815 or, at our cash discount price, $3700.
88-1454 Fender (new) Stratocaster Custom Shop 1965 NOS Reissue, #R16308, in Candy Apple Red finish with hardshell case.
The maple neck features a bound, rosewood fingerboard, and the white pickguard shimmers over the bold body. In a color that defines temptation, combined with a super smooth action that yields a tone that makes us shake our heads in wonder, and all we can say is “where’s my wallet?” The List Price is $3450 and we say unto you: “Call or e-mail us for that discount and cash discount price!”
48-3340 Fender (new) Custom Shop NoCaster ’51 Relic Reissue -- #R5306,
honey blonde with 2 hard shell cases. Fender List is $3579.99. Fender MAP is $2506.99. You know what to do with that telephone (why, you’d use it to order this guitar, of course).
88-2998 Fender (new) Custom Shop Telecaster '63 Reissue NOS, #R23223 in white blonde finish
with hard shell case. The Fender List Price is $3426
83-3383 Fender (new) Nocaster ’51 Relic, the ultimate electric solid body, serial number R2865, with hard shell standard case and a tweed replica case that Fender doesn’t recommend it be shipped in.
This is a brand new guitar that looks like it was dragged, for a minute or so, behind a VW Beetle through a lightly graveled parking lot. The overall effect is exactly that of owning an instrument purchased fifty one years ago and played hard blues on it every single day of the week, except the Sabbath, in a noisy, smoky bar. The Manufacturer’s List Price is $3329.99 and if you would be so kind as to phone, email or hook into our Vulcan mind-meld (at 1661.03336 Hz on the vernier dial) and we will share with you a measure of fiscal probity of which even your own spouse would approve. This one's sold but we've ordered more -- please call or email for availability and discount pricing.
83-3038 “Renaissance” by Rick Turner, (new) Model RS6B Steel String Baritone Guitar, 021692, with gigbag.
Constructed of the finest walnut on its back and sides this instrument is blessed with a golden yellow to brown sunburst finished cedar top. What is a Baritone guitar? A Baritone guitar is a long scale, 27” nut to saddle, instrument that can be tuned down to C or B and whose strings resonate with such strength, punch and vitality that it sounds like a swarm of snarling simpletons sneaking up on a drifting ship of snoozing slackers. Beyond its swollen string length the instrument has, deep inside its chambered torso, one of the most sophisticated pickup and preamp ever to made available to personnel lacking security clearance for high-end musical weaponry. The tonal range it produces, when amplified, sounds like a 700-watt subwoofer in the trunk of a 1971 GTO on Saturday night. Holy bass person, what a sound! Get a gig. Go on tour: Swing low, greet Marriotts. This one's sold but we've ordered more -- please call or email for availability and discount pricing.
83-7342 Fender (new) '56 Reissue Stratocaster, NOS, R10177, H.
We are proud to be authorized dealers of Fender Custom Shop guitars. These instruments, made by hand in a smaller Fender facility, are as close a replication of the original issue guitar as we, or any of customers, have seen. This one, for example, duplicates the way a 1956 Stratocaster in two-tone traditional sunburst, would have looked when it was brand new. This includes the maple neck (one piece with a brown-wood “skunk stripe” on the back) whose medium sized frets are inlaid directly into the polished maple. There is significant flame grain in the back of the neck and nice figuring on the fingerboard and headstock. It also includes a single ply white pick guard held in place by 8 screws, 3 staggered pole single coil white pickups, and a place for the vibrato arm, which resides in the case. It also has a three-way switch, as had the 1956 original. The body is made of ash, which, here, is a fairly light in weight and you’ve probably heard the old saying that if a solid body electric is light in weight it will have good acoustic sound (so much so that you could play it unplugged and use it as practice guitar) but will also have wonderful amplified sound. The neck feels like the “C” shape with the suggestion of a V in the back. Tuners are unsigned individual Kluson replicas with stripes on the back and an oil hole, with round metal buttons. The peg head bears a gold spaghetti logo, a small “Stratocaster”, under that “with Synchronized Tremolo” and at the peninsula “Original Contour Body.” It is, in every way, a solid body six-string on which you can base a career. This one's sold but we've ordered more -- please call or email for availability and discount pricing.
83-3302 Gibson (used, 1995) Les Paul Florentine, in Eye-Opening Blue, #5 9203, in near mint condition with hard shell case.
From ye Olde Custom Shoppe, this very cool hollow Les Paul is robin’s egg, or maybe a perfect-sky blue all over including the back of the neck, headstock and body. It has sun touched gold Grover tuners, white binding (with black-white-black purfling) on the top and back, as well as on the neck and headstock. The f-holes are unbound with their edges finished in black. The neck has square and rectangle mother-of-pearl inlays on the fretboard that start at the first fret. Black pickup-surrounds are home to gold-covered humbuckers, and the stop-tail piece is gold as well. The black knobs control tone, and even unplugged, tone on this guitar is amazing, from highs that can place a shiver down your spine to lows that can make you shimmy to your toes. It is spectacular condition but the extremely picky may see very slight indications that it was once played, with a hint of slight (minor) discoloration on one small section on the back of the neck. This WAS $3500 but is NOW ON SALE for $3145 or, at our cash discount price, $3050.
48-4249 Gibson (used, 2003) SG-Special, 01023340, excellent plus condition with tags, with hard shell case.
This is a wine red glossy finish Gibson SG with twin uncovered humbucking pickups, a three-way toggle, four black high-hat knobs, six Kluson replica tuners with pearloid tulip buttons, an unbound East Indian rosewood fingerboard with 10 pearloid dotmarker inlays in 9 positions, a three-ply pointy pickguard covering body sides of the pickups and residing in a black Gibson hard shell case with a cover over the guitar. Only $613 o, at our cash discount price, $595.
88-1997 Mosrite Ventures Model, #3340, tri-color sunburst, #3340, in solidly excellent condition with apparently original hard shell case.
This desirable remnant of the past shows chips and signs of normal wear overall, with some black finish touch up on the back in the bass side back of treble bout. It works fine electronically. Has very small double dots, a zero fret, its serial number is stamped the last fret on the fingerboard, it shows signs of having been in a guitar stand (nicks and dents and scrapes at headstock area, has the two black Mosrite pickups and the two domed flying saucer silver rotary knobs; it has the Mosrite Tremolo, a three way switch, white pickguard bordered in white-black-white, a four bolt neck with a swimming pool shaped metal plate, and the tuners are 6 individual double-lined Kluson Deluxe. Condition overall is solidly excellent. Hard shell case appears to be the original – red lined, hard shell rectangular with faux-alligator covering. $3087 or, at our cash discount price, $2995.
CLASSICAL GUITARS
48-3270 M. G. Contreras (used, 1972) classical guitar, ISI #1404, in very good plus condition with original, but worn condition, hard case that’s missing its handle.
This is an extremely fine sounding one-third of a century old cedar top, East Indian rosewood sides & back, all-solid wood instrument, quite high in quality, quite remarkable sounding in tone. It shows normal light signs of playing but nothing specific one can say about that wear except for the lightly buffed through finish on back of neck from 1st thru 3rd fret on the treble side only (could be a ring pattern). The headplate is Brazilian rosewood, the side spruce, the end splice and back bindings are mitered. The tuner buttons are highly iridescent and drilled with a screw on the end, and could be actual mother of pearl. It sounds like the recorded sound of the classical guitar albums we play late at night when we need to relax. WAS $3087 but now ON SALE for $2469 or, at our cash discount price, $2395.
88-1475 Del Pilar (used, July 13, 1957) Classical Nylon String Guitar, ISI1307, with Newer Hard Shell Case.
Made from stately Brazilian rosewood back and sides and cedar top, this guitar is slightly smaller than a regular classical, in the Hauser style. The scale length is 25.5”which is nominally 663mm, this being the longer scale. The scale length is 25.5”, which is nominally 663mm, and the instrument measures 14” at the widest part, lower bout. The instrument has a lovely, classical warm tone. Like many of us, it has definitely seen quite a bit of life – it has a repaired center seam from the bottom center of the soundhole down to bottom edge, as well as a slight crack in the back seem (also repaired) and two light side cracks (again, repaired) on either side. The headstock has replaced tuners with “crab” buttons, while the hardware appears to be brass. There is also a crack on the bass side of the slot head tuners, which has been filled, glued, and we believe to be stable. Also, at one time an owner had a “wrapped cord” or “braided cord” strap (or it could have been a “frayed knot”) that rested behind the nut, leaving its material print lightly engraved into the finish. Having said all of that, this guitar also has an attractive quilt style soundhole rosette, and a nine-ply top binding that includes walnut and red colors. The ebony fingerboard has no inlays, although someone did use "WiteOut" or something to put two position markers on the side – one for the fifth position, another for the seventh. For the nylon finger-stylist, this guitar is choice. Its tone is clear and bright, the low end has an almost subconscious rumble, the high end sustains across the reach, and the action is comfortable enough to let us find all of this out. In both tone and looks, it is simply lovely, and available for $3500 or, our cash discount price, $3395
NATIONAL, DOBRO®, WEISSENBORN & HAWAIIAN GUITARS
48-3219 Oahu (used, 1930s) possibly Model 65M Hawaiian guitar, #ISI 1399, in good condition, being offered "as is," with newer chipboard case.
This guitar plays just fine, although it has a few nominal aberrations that could use attention if one were compulsive enough to want to have the work done (although it is quite playable as it is). By offering it "as is" we're saying that the price is low and we will not, ourselves, be repairing it. That's up to the owner. Let us consider this artifact of the Great Depression. It is modestly sized morsel with a 15.5" body width having a long scale of 25.5", a generous nut width of 1 13/16th" a square neck whose rosewood board bears 4 mother of pearl dots, a rosewood bridge with two pearl dots that cover bolts which is the reason that, even though there's a small amount of air on each side of the bridge bottom this seems to matter not since it has those twin robust fasteners. There are some really nifty things about this instrument: notably -- a) the sound, which is loud yet mellow, strong yet smooth, the continuous checkerboard binding that surrounds the top, the soundhole and the back, the three-on-a-plate rectangular plate tuners with the oddly shaped metal buttons, the likes of which we haven't seen before, and the interior stamp on the bass back that reads "Oahu Publishing Co. Inc.,2108 Payne Avenue, Cleveland, Ohio." in an oval. The condition, except for the hairline side crack, bass side near the waist, the small, nearly imperceptible, possibly-not-even-through hairline top signal at the treble waist, the split in the bridge resulting in the saddle leaning forward, and that small air space under the bridge on each side. A nut extender covers the bone nut which was, at some point in the past, filed down to allow fretted playing, but that probably didn't work out very well. This is a _really_ nice guitar, suitable for the kind of acoustic Hawaiian playing that one would otherwise have to use a Weissenborn for, at a cost of at least $3,500. But this is no boating accident, and this is no $3500 Weissenborn either. $510 or, at our cash discount price, $495
48-3032 National (used, November 1999) Delphi, copper powder-coat finish,
#699, in near mint condition with original hard shell case. The copper color Delphi single cone reso-phonic is basically a golden brown color with tiny gold flecks. It is always, every time, new or used, a very fine sounding, easy playing instrument, one that would be a welcome addition to any blues-person's arsenal. The condition cannot be faulted, and the sound is everything that you would crave in a single-large-cone National steel body roundneck of recent manufacture. More fun than a body can stand. WAS $1438 or, at our cash discount price, $1395 but NOW ON SALE for $1335 with a cash discount price of $1295.
48-3663 Dobro® (used, 1981) fancy square neck made by the old O.M.I. company of Huntington Beach, California in the pre-Gibson era, in excellent condition with the original hard shell case.
This is the traditional bluegrass square neck with the tuners aimed up to the heavens, having an engraved cone cover with two etched opposing lyres, a fan design with two engraved dotted lines on each spoke of the fan, and at the bottom, double engraved wavy lines around the outer edge of cone. In addition there are inlaid five large winged lyres in the fingerboard, one that’s non-winged and then a single set of just-the-wings. The body is finished in a dignified dark mahogany color with double screen holes. It sounds the way a fine Dobro should sound! $1851 or, at our cash discount price, $1795.
48-3864 Beltona (used, circa 1995) Style 1 ½ Tricone, #T015, in excellent condition with original Hiscox LiteFlight hard shell case.
This talented manufacturer – once of England and now from Whangerei, New Zealand, makes resonator instruments that are both pleasing to look at and delightful to play. Here’s a listing of just a few people, that you may have heard of, who own or have owned Beltona instruments: Eric Clapton, the late Tiny Tim, Gary Moore, Keb Mo, Sonny Landreth, Kristina Olsen, Martin Simpson, Mark Knopfler and Richard Bennett. Steve Evans’ (company owner) detailed touches abound, including twin etched stripes around the perimeter of the body and a pearloid headstock overlay and heel cap. That black-bordered pearloid veneer is, itself, hypnotically variegated and bears, at the top center, the globe that we call earth with golden sunbursts emanating all around it, against a black circular border outlined in red and overlaid with the Beltona Banner on the diagonal. Who put 7 pearl dot markers in that crème-bound ebony board? The top and back are bordered in the smallest, most delicate filigree you’ve ever seen, with a single line on each side, and every inch and a half this pattern is interrupted for a plain shiny area with an etched diamond in the center. Is this classy beyond all words, or what? The sides, on the other hand, merely have a pair of parallel lines near the top edge and near the back edge. This guitar has been professionally refretted and so it plays liked a recently greased Breitling (chronograph) and playing it just makes time fly by. This guitar shows almost no sign of having been played. It is our understanding that many of the original American made metal body resonator instruments no longer exist in England because they were donated to scrap metal drives during WWII to help our friends Over There, and yet you can pretend that all this never happened by immersing yourself in the mellifluous tones of this resonator-equipped, tri-cone, shiny as all get-out, reality destabilizer. $3809 or, at our cash discount price, $3695.
48-3925 Dobro (used, circa 1930) Style 55 roundneck, excellent, with original chipboard case.
. Not the ol’ ’55 to which Tom Waits refers, this is one of the less common of the original prewar models, which we have found for you in remarkable condition with a finish so clean you might think it redone, but it’s not, with a decal so gold black and red that it seems a repro but it bears no ® registration mark and is, in fact, a proof of being prewar. The cover plate is shiny and clean and, but for a few minor scuffs and a scratch of the most minor type here and there, it is an incredibly clean and original instrument. It has the much-loved ivoroid-bound “red bean” fingerboard, a nickel-plated, “Pat. Pending’-stamped 12-screw cover plate in the fan design, with the top screw at 12 on the clock, and double screen holes with three sound ports under the bottom of the 19 fret fingerboard. The action is definitely “bottleneck” even though it’s a roundneck with a standard height nut. It is challenging to fret in the normal fashion even in the lowest fret positions – but that’s not its purpose. Its true purpose is to be played with a metal slide, like a Stevens Bar or a Shubb-Pearse slide, and to resonate hard and long, deep into the Magritte blue-hued evening sky. If you are seeking a little bit of purple in your sunset metaphor, the ororiginal chipboard case is purple-lined. $2469 or at our cash discount price $2395.
88-2911 National (new) Style O, #OF2360, brass body, nickel plating,
festooned with scenes of Hawaii, with hard shell case. $2062 or, at our cash discount price, $2000
88-2892 Fender (new) Limited Edition Custom Shop (team-built) Robin Trower Tribute Stratocaster, “The Bridge of Sighs,” NOS, #R24010,
one of only 100 made, in Artic White. It comes with 2 Robin Trower CDs and a Fender DVD, a Certificate of Authenticity, a photograph of Mr. Trower, a foot pedal, the usual strap, cable and cloth and hard shell case. The Fender List Price is $3799.99 and the Fender MAP is $2660.
48-4163 Gibson (used, c. 1997) Custom Shop ES-335 in antique natural, with a figured top, #A-97090, in near mint condition with original hard shell case.
This guitar is unusual in that it has a Custom Shop decal on back of headstock, and utilizes striking and beautiful flamed/figured maple on top, sides and back. At this time, its manufacturer does not offer a Custom Shop flame ES-335TD Reissue, they offer only a “Plain Maple” version, but back in 1997 you could get an extremely fancy, classy instrument. This example has a small pink discoloration on the upper bass cutaway, possibly from the pink material that lines the hard shell case, or maybe it’s just blushing from its oh-so-reasonable price: $2675 or our cash discount price $2595.
88-1678 National (new) Style “Etched N” resophonic roundneck nickel plated brass finish, #EN071, with hard shell case.
This is the model with the sand-etched areas in reverse of the famous Style O. It will appear to you as largely matte finish with some shiny sections around the borders. Striking, and sounding like 1929 revisited. Let not the List of $2750 etch into your brain, because this is available to you for the discount price of $2268 or, at our cash discount price, $2200
48-3437 Dobro® (used, 1984) Model 75 Metal Body Squareneck, #8 1126 4B,
in excellent plus condition with original hard shell case. This is a loud, full-tonal-range bell-brass-bodied Dobro with nickel plating, having the fancy “Lily of the Valley” hand-etched design on front and back. It is equipped with an under-cone pickup with the input jack mounted to the cover plate. The square neck is maple and the tuners are aimed up towards the heavens. Seven inlays decorate the fingerboard – 5 (count ‘em) winged lyres, one wingless lyre that doesn’t have wings, and a small scroll at the 17th. There are, as well, two pearl dots at fret marker 17. Since you asked, the original hard shell case is black with a blue lining. Inside that case is a Dunlop #902 steel slide and a warranty tag. WAS $1747. NOW ON SALE for $1541 or, at our cash discount price, $1495
48-3022 National (new) ResoLectric Jr. electric resophonic, single P-90 type pickup, solid body guitar RJR149BK,
in black with hard shell case. $1072 or, at our cash discount price, $1040
BASS GUITARS
83-3573 Jimmy D’Aquisto’s own Mosrite c. 1963 Ventures Model Bass, #5085 in reddish sunburst, with no case, in good condition.
Once upon a time, in a land not too far away, at least, not in our collective imaginations, lived a man, gifted with vision and practical skill. On the one hand, Jimmy built guitars (and boy did he!) and on the other, he played, every Saturday night when it feels alright, and this is the bass he played upon, every one of those alright Saturdays of every week for near about 20 years. This is a very small, easily-played bass neck, with a metal tube nut and a ‘zero fret’. There’s an angled black single coil pickup at the end of the angle-cut-bound-on-two-sides rosewood fingerboard, with tiny dot marker inlays, which may or may not have been white in another life. The beveled body is colored in a blood-to-black ‘burst and there’s a great deal of finish checking and wear, especially on the edges and including some belt buckle on the back. This workhorse has chips in the paint overall, especially on back of the neck and headstock, which itself is cut a bit like a crown (appropriate for the reigning luthier of our time), with “Mosrite” and “The Ventures” decals on it. Pickguard has yellowed over time as it should have and the crème color shows off the deep red at the center. The bridge has a cover with what appears to be some cushion foam within it (maybe the strings rest their weary heads?) and there are two metal rotary knobs. Included with the bass is a letter from the former owners’ former wife, Phylis D'Aquisto, and a picture of Jimmy (at about 27 years old) playing this very selfsame low-end thunderer. Unplugged, while it does not have a tremendous volume, there’s a tuneful resonance. Electrified, and you’ve got heart-thumping, pumping lows, while highs cut through without losing the low-end punch. The two knobs give you the options of bass and more (mo’s right!!!) bass and, we “venture” to say, that’s the point. Make Jimmy’s thunder yours for WAIT, WAIT - IT WAS $5155 BUT IT IS NOW ON SALE FOR the unbelievable price of $3191 or, at our cash discount price, $3095.
LAP, TABLE & PEDAL STEEL GUITARS
48-3760 MSA (used) Semi-Classic Pedal Steel guitar, serial #1S3641, 10 Strings, 4 knees levers and 3 pedals with room for one more pedal, near mint with original hardshell case.
$979 or at our cash discount price, $950
TENOR & PLECTRUM BANJOS
88-2577 Vega (used, 1930) Little Wonder tenor banjo, #91196, in very good plus condition with original hard shell case.
The Vega Little Wonder was around the third banjo in the Vega line. Although it does not have a heavy brass tone ring, it does have a rolled bead of metal on which the skin rests. The maple dowel that runs through the center of the banjo is as clean and fresh as the day it was made, every word is deeply pressed and readable and the serial number on the dowel matches the serial number in the rim. It has the old 28-bracket, four-part metal flange with the triangular cutouts. What is unusual about this Little Wonder is that it comes with the maple resonator, held by a center screw removable by a common di-yem, divided in two and not 6 pie-slices, with a black diamond taking the form of a wagon wheel at the center of the back, having ivoroid binding on top and bottom sides. The back of the 3-piece neck is finished in dark sunburst, except for the worn areas from palm contact; the back of the maple rim is capped in black wood, possibly ebony or pearwood. The ivoroid-bound fingerboard appears to be ebony and bears 5 mother-of-pearl dotmarkers. The black headplate is inlaid with a large “Vega” in a star with 9 diamond flares complementing, and the tuners are geared original “Grover Pat.” with grained ivoroid buttons. Set up with a frosted plastic head that shows normal finger contact, this is a 19-fret, full-scale, high-quality tenor banjo made for semi-professional use by a talented amateur player. $716 or, at our cash discount price, $695.
48-3753 Paramount (used, c. 1929) Leader tenor banjo, #6053, in good condition with a newer but worn Lifton hard shell case.
A fairly fancy tenor, positioned near the middle of the Paramount line. The neck and resonator have been refinished in a high-gloss, however there is finish chipping around the edge of the back of the resonator and there is a three-inch section of wood binding missing at lower back of resonator. Tuners are replacement geared with ivoroid buttons. Its nineteen-fret rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with 7 mother-of-pearl inlays, all of which resemble light fixtures. Each side of the fretboard is complemented with diagonal checkerboard purfling, featuring alternating crème-and-black trapezoids. Headstock is refinished and inlaid with the three banners for "Paramount," "Leader" and "William L. Lange," along with many etched and blackened floral delicate designs. Metal parts are oxidized; it has a Weather King Mylar head, an original "Paramount Improved Pat. P'n'd'g" snap-open tailpiece with a small original armrest. It is a fine player and exuberant sounding and redundantly classy in many important ways. $1335 or, at our cash discount price, $1295
48-3973 Gibson (used, ostensibly 1929) Florentine Plectrum Banjo, #9138-1 inside the rim, also stamped on base of neck), white holly finish, with newer tweed hard shell case.
This banjo tells an interesting story. The serial number appears on the widely-accepted Gibson date/model lists as being in-between another Florentine and All American. Although the rim date would be from 1929, during the Depression Gibson utilized parts from various banjos in order to meet new orders. Consequently the fact that there are other serial numbers found inside the back of the resonator may not be a surprise. One number, inked by hand, is 9138-1, another 9138 is written in red, but on that one we can't read the last digit, and the third number, pressure stamped into the edge of the back of the resonator is 8553-5. The story as we know it is that this banjo was a prewar flathead that sent to Gibson in or around 1980 to have a new full-depth, high profile, heavy flathead 20-hole tone ring installed. This newer tone ring has the etched legend "GBB" which stands for Gibson Bell Bronze, something Gibson did in the late '70s, early '80s. This installation did not require the cutting of the rim or the label - whose gold and black oval is correct; however it is chipped slightly on the lower left side. According to the owner, Greg Rich, then of Gibson, recalls engraving the outer portion of the tone ring in a prewar Florentine floral etching. The rest of the hardware, excepting the nuts and brackets which appear to be mid-'60s RB-800 style, seems original including the two-piece flange, the engraved mute-style armrest (the mute parts are included in a baggie in the pocket of the case), the clamshell tailpiece which is engraved "Florentine", the large mother of pearl button gold, engraved Grover-two-band tuners. The headstock retains all of its rhinestones including the six-dip ice cream cone at center, a black plain truss rod cover that looks old, four thumbscrews and tailpiece thumbscrew are original (however the attaching nut from the tailpiece bracket is newer and nickel-plated). One odd feature is that the rosewood fingerboard is inlaid with the full hearts-and-flower pearl pattern starting from the first fret, with a Mastertone block on fret 21, and not inlaid with either scenes of Italy or the Florentine fancier pearl inlay pattern. It is known from old catalogs that one could order a Florentine, Bella Voce or All American with special features and colors, and it is known if the original owner of this plectrum ordered this board patter or if the pattern and board was added later by the factory. The inlay work is, as expected, deficient enough to be considered correct for the Gibson prewar factory which is why many people feel that the Gibson prewar banner should have read "That's How You Know It's a Gibson." The frets appear to be pre-war style although they were probably replaced at some point, and there is a slight discoloration on both sides of the neck in the binding between frets 3 and 7. The back of the finger-worn neck, including the side of the headstock, is oversprayed and yet these areas still show considerable checking. The back and sides of the resonator are suitably worn to suggest that this banjo was made prewar and played with some frequency. It has the full Italian family crest carved & painted on back surrounded by a red banner, while the side is deeply carved and painted with a continuous ribbon in reds, green, crème and gold. The heel of the neck and back of headstock are floral carved and painted and the neck is bordered on each side with multi-colored marquetry, while the headstock is underlaid in red and black. All metal parts are gold plated and engraved. This four-string long neck banjo would make a superb 5-string conversion. Steve Martin, are you reading this? Steve, you need a plectrum to match that Florentine 5-string. $15,980 or, at our cash discount price, $15,500.
48-3957 Gibson (used, 1933) TB-3 tenor banjo, soon to be converted to RB-3 five-string, #9478-67, whose original metal parts are gold-plated, two-piece flange, very good condition, newer hard case.
It is not known whether this banjo was special-ordered from Gibson back in 1933 as a gold-plated TB-3 or whether a prior owner had the original metal parts gold-plated. It is your grandfather’s era’s famous 40-hole archtop with the tube-and-plate flange whose rim appears to be mahogany while the original resonator (it has the matching serial number enameled in the usual place near the neck opening) is maple. The banjo shows normal signs of wear, came in with a replaced horrid wooden armrest and a replacement four-finger tailpiece. We have just gotten this back from our neck maker with a perfect curly maple hearts-and-flowers (starting at fifth fret) 5-string neck, a high grade East Indian fretboard, a striped ebony headplate inlaid with flowers, f-holes and epaulets. Said maker also installed a gold-plated traditional armrest and standard gold-plated flip-open tailpiece. He also substituted gold-plated coordinator rods, inside the banjo, but the original coordinator rods are in the pocket of the Stelling (high quality) plush-lined hard shell case. The back and sides of the resonator appear to be refinished – but it was done so long ago that there is normal finish checking and the binding has faded to a lovely Jaundice Yellow. Interestingly, there are two small areas on the inside of the resonator that are, for some reason, carved out – perhaps to allow electric wiring to power alternating red and white electric lights that tenor players used to have inside their skin-head banjos in the 1920s and ‘30s to keep the skin head taut and to call attention to themselves in grand style. It has its four original thumbscrews, gold-worn stretcher band and gold-worn tube from the tube-and-plate flange. We’re not quite as certain about the originality of the flat portion of the flange, but it could be. What you have here is an absolutely gorgeous, extremely loud, prewar Mastertone conversion-from-tenor 40-hole archtop five-string with remarkable tonal response, clarity, sonic density and level of projection which would, in your very capable hands, make heads turn around (like Regan in The Exorcist) from Bah Hah-bah to San Diego. $7,211 or, at our cash discount price, $6,995.
5-STRING RESONATOR BANJOS
48-3364 Gibson (used, 1926) Mastertone RB-3, #9478-67, whose original metal parts (and newer supplemental parts) are gold-plated, with two-piece flange, in very good condition, with a newer hard case.
This instrument began its life as a tenor banjo, with a four-string shorter neck. As it reached maturity it had a change-of-life moment and was converted to five-string by having a reproduction five-string neck made for the original pot. This neck, made from highly figured maple, has the fiddle cut headstock, and the original TB-3 inlay pattern of what we eloquently call "diamonds touching each other, platonically” some etched into what we call "etched diamonds" and some diamonds just plain mother-of-pearl. At the 21st fret is the traditional large block of pearl engraved "Mastertone" in capital letters. Three railroad nails reside in that fingerboard, at frets 7, 9 and 10. The bridge is a highly commendable Snuffy Smith and the tone ring is now an equally renowned Huber flathead. The original hexagonal thumbscrews that hold resonator to rim are gone, replaced by cylindrical corrugated head thumbscrews that do the job they’re being paid to do. The fingerboard is black with brown streaks, inlaid with jumbo-esque frets, bound in grained ivoroid, and the head plate is jet black, and polished, with the Style 3 flower and twin mirror image f-holes, and displaying a small peak at the top. For some reason, there is no enameled serial number painted into the inside back of resonator, neither is there a chalked serial number but we’re sure the resonator is real. The back and sides of the maple resonator appear to have been oversprayed but the component shows sufficient normal signs of use as to not be obvious about it. The nickel-plated, brass, Gibson armrest shows normal plating wear, and it, at least, has the original hexagonal small bolt to hold it to brackets. All 12 brackets appear original and inset into the single open trough that ball-bearing stretcher bands sport. The four headstock tuners are modern Planetary with a Kroll geared fifth on the side. This is a very fine conversion instrument, made suitable for the modern 5-string player, with the tone ring (and the tone) of lust.
48-4095 Deering (used, April 1989 Calico, blonde, 0917489-0846, excellent condition with original hard shell case.
The Deering Calico is a fancy banjo, having lovely floral inlaid ebony fingerboard starting at first fret, a crème bound fingerboard and resonator, and both those areas has multi-color purfling on each side. The headstock is inlaid with Deering in a banner and floral pearl work. The resonator, which has no inner purfling rings on the back, is moderately flamed maple but the neck is considerably flamed. The tuners are large pearloid button and geared, the head is a clear Deering Mylar. For the professional five-string banjoist, something different, something gorgeous and something exceptional sounding. $2159 or, at our cash discount price, $2095
88-2793 Stelling (used, 1980) Whitestar, #1543, with worn hard shell case.
The banjo is in very good plus condition, however -- an early example from the era of the Ebanol synthetic fingerboard -- it looks like ebony but it ain't - and it has 10 inlaid etched diamond inlays and a banner that reads "Whitestar" at the 17th fret. All metal parts show some oxidation, even though we've polished them (perhaps it was stored in a boat off the US Virgin Islands). The headstock bears the flying birdie, with the Stelling logo in Goth pearl script with a fearsome looking blade-cross (Transylvanian style). The headstock shape itself echoes the Gothic motif with its deep double cut and thin waist (you look lovely tonight, my dearest) with the scarily close half-round semi-circles and the sharp angles (blood grooves). The three piece neck and the one piece back resonator are delightful blonde maple, showing some small figure on back but the sides and neck are plainer. The heel cap is black (actual ebony, or more Ebanol?) and there's a Gibson style armrest. The Oettinger tailpiece, like us, has five adjustable fingers; the bridge is an unusual crescent shaped construction with five pretty good-sized holes - to resemble a Roman aqueduct. The Whitestar, although no longer made, set a new standard for how good a professional banjo could be. This one has been cleaned, up, set up, had a new head placed on its shoulders, and is ready for another quarter century of Scruggs-inspired use in the hands of a capable bluegrass practitioner with a good back. $2263 or, at our cash discount price, $2195.
5-STRING OPEN BACK BANJOS
83-7007 Bart Reiter (new) Regent, 1952, H.
We do not know why Mr. Reiter, of Lansing, Michigan, has discontinued the production of his Whyte Laydie and Tu-Ba-Phone models of open back five-string. One look inside the rim of this wonderful, hand-crafted traditional instrument reveals that it, indeed, has the elusive scalloped Whyte Laydie tone ring (even though prewar Vega Regent banjos did not). This is good. Every aspect is completed to perfection - the satin finished solid maple neck is bordered by highly figured grained ivoroid (we’ve never seen ivoroid as wavy) and laminated for strength by a thin ebony backstrip. The black ebony fingerboard is inlaid with one huge star and 9 pearl dots. The heel is bordered in ebony and maple and capped with East Indian rosewood. Matching rosewood covers the back edge of the maple rim, with tortoise shell cap on the interior wall. The square wooden dowel that runs through the rim as properly as it did the period 1875 to 1950 bears the makers name and location on a metal plate affixed by two flathead screws, in the A. C. Fairbanks tradition. All tuners are geared, and metal parts gleam with the manic grin of rictus. The sound of the W. L. tone ring is bright and brassy, with great projection and uncommon clarity.
48-3310 Bacon Professional No. 2, open back old time banjo, #5785, in very good plus condition with a period but oversized corduroy interior hard shell prewar case.
This banjo is the dream of most old time players – it is set up perfectly for old time including having had its last three or four frets scooped (the banjo equivalent of a circumcision) having the script Bacon with the pearl underline headstock logo, the floral/fern pearl headstock inlay, the bone nut, the 8 mother of pearl flourishes (flowers, crests and mutant bats) in 7 fret positions plus one in the scoop, ivoroid bound rosewood fretboard having black-white-black purfling on the side, with the fries, black-white-black both beneath the peghead black overlay and also on the back of the headplate, leading down to a three-layer backstrap which, in turn, leads to a three ply center neck laminate. Gosh, this was fancy for its time! That’s probably way it is called a Professional 2 and not just the Bacon Professional which was simpler. It has 24 brackets, an untitled Waverly type nickel plated adjustable tailpiece, a modern maple and ebony bridge, a Waverly Fiberskyn® 2 (gee, another 2) skin-like Mylar head, worn slightly and discolored the way your great grandfather would have wanted it to look, including the small amount of drizzled orange goo at the four-o-clock position on the skinface. The back of the maple rim has a rosewood (or something)
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