I gave the Texan to a friend, a musician who's accompanied me for years. He was over the moon about it, and I wasn't using it much. No plans to visit the mainland, though a trip to the UK is in the works.
There’s nothing I love more than hearing a fellow musician wax poetic about an instrument. There are good guitars, and great guitars, and then there are the great guitars that just fit YOU.
Thank you. I loved reading this post, transported into the magical world of rare, adored vintage Martin guitars. The stories they could tell, the people who loved them, almost more than their first-born! The patina of wear that makes them more special (in my eyes). Truly gorgeous objects of desire.
Richard, thanks for the fascinating story about your beloved Martin. Just curious, how many guitars and other stringed instruments do you own (if you don't mind saying)? I'm just an amateur, but between my wife and myself, we have six guitars. The Martin is the best. Also, which guitar is the subject of your song "This Guitar"?
The guitar in "Your Guitar" was a 1931 Larson Brothers Prairie State. It was (is, somewhere) a spectacular guitar. But it didn't last long in my collection.
I think we've all had guitars that meant something to parts of our lives. For me there are so many of those stories; the Washburn dreadnaught I named after an ex girlfriend and later gifted to my brother, the a/e cutaway (also Washburn) that my artist roommate painted with a Welsh dragon, the 1971 Aria classical with half the pegs broken that I rescued from a consignment shop and had fixed up (still one of the best sounding instruments I've ever played). They all have their place in our lives and our art. Of course nobody but me particularly cares what guitars I wrote my songs on, but it's still a cool thing to have in common with the artists such as yourself whose work I admire.
OH....My favorite post yet, Richard. There's nothing better than a story about an old guitar, especially when it got away. The aching romance of it. Mine was an early 60's Guild Aristocrat I stupidly traded for a recent Martin D-41 A rarity for a commodity. What a dope. I once left a lucrative IT sales job after 12 years of unrelenting pressure to apply at a newly opened guitar shop that specialized in vintage. After my first walkabout in there one day at lunch I was hooked. I walked. I just stood up from my desk and bolted quietly. I was really touched by the sincerity of management in the next couple of weeks trying to sell me my job back but I was over it. My boss sent an email to my future boss telling him he's crazy not to hire me. My future boss read my resume and drily said, "Aren't you a little overqualified for this?" In the next five years of corporate withdrawal and healing l changed. I slept better, enjoyed mornings, made amazing new friends, learned new important guitar related skills. Met and befriended technicians. I told my new boss that this place was like the record store in the movie High Fidelity, with slightly damaged sales people that thrived in their environment and an owner that seemed totally shorn of any emotional attachment to any instrument that came through the door. That's why he needed me...My strong point was the ability to help someone find the guitar they were looking for, in exactly the same way you were led to your Martin: I could connect. From your description I can see that guitar, feel the V neck, smell its funk, hear the dry sweet tone and how it reacted to different pressure and techniques. I loved that job. I loved the people: the regulars , the lingerers, the pros, the students, the parents buying the kids their first guitar. Most had A Story. A yard sale triumph, a tragic accident, a dastardly theft, an angry girlfriend /boyfriend/wife/husband /mother/father that murdered an instrument in vicious retaliation (retribution?)...Life brings us so many ways to lose a valuable piece of yourself, made that much harder because that piece didn't come into your life casually or mindlessly...I always thought we should have a big, leather bound journal on the counter. A place to record the different stories. There are so many...and there's nothing better than those stories.
Once again, Richard, this sub stack is worth its price of admission. Every Sunday there's a treat, a gem, a treasure, a revelation...your creative skills expand so far beyond your music, you have the ability and desire to share this life of yours and I cant thank you enough! Thank you for indulging me today! What great memories.
Thanks Gary. You haven't mentioned the name of the shop, so I won't ask. But what a brave move! I think I'd be quite happy working in a vintage guitar shop. I once worked in a bookshop. Same general vicinity. Loved it.
When I visited TR Crandall in NYC in July, there was 50s Aristocrat hanging on the wall. I did not plug it in, but I was tempted. Those things were great. As it happens, the "one that got away" was the late 60s, cherry red, Guild Starfire I had in college. I sold it to buy a really tubby sounding, early 70s D-35. Rookie mistake.
The Guitar Gallery in Amherst, NH is no longer around. Dave Stearns is the great friend that owned it and sold it finally to move south and marry an Angel and hopefully live happily ever after.
Guild made some amazing instruments, a few I've been lucky enough to find, none I was smart enough to keep.
Both Stan and Larry were characters. That entirely overcrowded little shop on the island where I made a purchase or two myself in 87, was a place where all sense of time was easily lost. I can also relate to letting a guitar get away. Painful
What a great story about an instrument that played such a pivotal role in your musical journey. We all travel through life acquiring and disposing of items of value, and occasionally we second guess a decision made years (or decades) ago. It might have been a musical instrument, a car, a camera, or some piece of electronics (I'm a geek and regret getting rid of some old PC's). Sometimes we dispose of something for financial reasons, other time logistical reasons storage space). And, at some point most of us must deal with the "stuff" accumulated by our parents, often accompanied by stories about when and how they obtained the "stuff" and why they chose to save that "stuff" versus other "stuff".
But then there are those of us who just wind up collecting "stuff" (what George Carlin called...well, never mind) - books, LPs, CDs, videos, several guitars (not "many", alas)...the information density of my home isn't quite at black hole value, but it's pretty darned large. Some of it turns out to be valuable; I have some original LPs worth many $hundreds these days, but they're not for sale. Of course, once my kids inherit, that can do whatever they want. But our daughter has said she has dibs (yes, I'm from New England) on all my LPs, and I suspect she'll just keep them. Happily, both of our kids have the same eclectic musical tastes that I and my wife have, and both play a variety of musical instruments. I feel like I've done good.
When I suffered a catastrophic flood in my Brooklyn apartment (caused by a break in the standpipe connecting the buildings water tank which was sitting directly above us) the only time I cried was when I opened the case of my ‘32 0-18 and saw it swimming. At the time I had to focus on scrambling to save what belongings I could for my family and so I called my cousin Nancy, a jazz singer, who happened to live on Staten Island. She drove over immediately. I greeted her on the street thirty minutes later sobbing uncontrollably with the guitar in my hands. “Mandolin Brothers” was all I could say. Years later I’m still strumming away on my “player.” The 0 size is perfect for my 5’4 frame and it still sounds as warm and sweet as the day I got it (a wedding present from my soon to be husband) 25 years ago. I also still make the trip over the Varrazano to get my Martin and my ‘65 J45 serviced with Rocco, a former Mandolin Bros employee.
I put a picture of the old girl up for you on my insta @sadiebklyn she's got 14 frets. You'll see her top isn't too bad - the sides and back took the brunt of the water.
I'm not seeing it at instagram. But wow... a 14 fret 0-18 from 1932 is a very rare thing. Is it one of those lovely reddish amber tops? And I have to ask, is it the long scale (25.4") or short (24.9")? There have been rumors that the Martin made some with long-scale. But no one's ever seen one.
try again, I posted it to my other insta by accident. it is amber topped and short (24.9"). After reading your comment I googled 14 fret Martin and read that they didn't introduce the 14 Fret guitars until 1934 which gave me a scare because I just trusted that my guitar guy sold me what he said he sold me. But then I googled 1932 0-18 and found two dealers selling guitars that looked identical to mine. 14 frets. And I have to say, it's so nice that you've created this safe space here for us to geek out over our axes.
The first 14 fret D sized guitars appeared in 1934. Smaller models (0, OM) started in 1932 I believe. Also in 1934 the OM went from long scale to short. That's a really, really lovely guitar you have there.
What a wonderful post. You know what a warm spot I have for guitars, having purchased my Larrivee 00-09 because it’s the one you played, and how you used mine at that 1997 house concert so you could swap back and forth, yours in DADGAD and mine in Standard. Since I no longer perform, I’ve divested myself of my two gig guitars, my Taylors 714 and 814c. I still have my Martin HD-28 and Alvarez Yairi DY-62, both purchased from a friend in 1988 for — are you sitting down? — $400 each because she simply no longer wanted them. Those two — and the Larrivee — comprise my current inventory, but should I ever need to get down to one, it’s that 00-09 that will be my all-time keeper. Thanks for turning me onto it, and I hope yours is doing well.
A posting that gets to the heart of all guitarists. I had a moment similar to your Mandolin Brothers experience, at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, though with a new guitar rather than an old beauty. I used to go there at lunchtime to play everything, and fell in love with Santa Cruz OMs. My wife Emily decided to buy me one, but when we went to do that, there was an H model sitting between two OMs. I'd never seen a Santa Cruz H (a proprietary model). Similar facial profile to an OM, but a slightly wider fretboard, a deeper body, slightly curved back, 14 frets to the body, and this one has koa back and sides. As a result it has an even, sweet response across the entire sound spectrum, from the brilliance of the koa treble to the depth of the bass notes. And way more volume and sustain than an OM. As a side benefit, it's beautiful. I snatched it up, and it instantly made me a better guitarist than I'd ever been before. It's now 34 years old and sounding better every year. (I can only wish that I was, too...)
Some other time I may post something about a "player" of sorts, a funky old Yamaha owned by a friend that had gotten damaged so badly over the years by prior owners that it sounded absolutely fantastic.
BTW, we have a one-degree-of-separation connection with you - Lucy Kaplansky. We first met her when our friend Len Rothenberg, who used to manage the Back Room At The Idler in Harvard Square, brought her to our apartment for dinner. We stayed in touch with her for quite a while, even met both of her parents, but it's been years now. Next time you see her, please say Hello for us - hopefully, she'll still remember despite the years between.
I gave the Texan to a friend, a musician who's accompanied me for years. He was over the moon about it, and I wasn't using it much. No plans to visit the mainland, though a trip to the UK is in the works.
There’s nothing I love more than hearing a fellow musician wax poetic about an instrument. There are good guitars, and great guitars, and then there are the great guitars that just fit YOU.
Thank you. I loved reading this post, transported into the magical world of rare, adored vintage Martin guitars. The stories they could tell, the people who loved them, almost more than their first-born! The patina of wear that makes them more special (in my eyes). Truly gorgeous objects of desire.
Having to sell one to buy another...Shindie's Choice.
Rocked me as always. Every single word and line lives. Thank you! Henry
Richard, thanks for the fascinating story about your beloved Martin. Just curious, how many guitars and other stringed instruments do you own (if you don't mind saying)? I'm just an amateur, but between my wife and myself, we have six guitars. The Martin is the best. Also, which guitar is the subject of your song "This Guitar"?
“Your Guitar”
Yes. Thanks Lisa, that's the one I meant.
Love that song!
The guitar in "Your Guitar" was a 1931 Larson Brothers Prairie State. It was (is, somewhere) a spectacular guitar. But it didn't last long in my collection.
I own... a lot of guitars (acoustic and electric), one bass, one baritone electric, one mandola, and one mandolin.
I think we've all had guitars that meant something to parts of our lives. For me there are so many of those stories; the Washburn dreadnaught I named after an ex girlfriend and later gifted to my brother, the a/e cutaway (also Washburn) that my artist roommate painted with a Welsh dragon, the 1971 Aria classical with half the pegs broken that I rescued from a consignment shop and had fixed up (still one of the best sounding instruments I've ever played). They all have their place in our lives and our art. Of course nobody but me particularly cares what guitars I wrote my songs on, but it's still a cool thing to have in common with the artists such as yourself whose work I admire.
Your writing is pure joy to read. You've just given the guitar a story by denying knowledge of its history.
Thanks Georgette. I've said it before and I'll say it again. I'm very glad you're here. Hope to see you soon!
This is so lovely.
Thank you Cassandra.
OH....My favorite post yet, Richard. There's nothing better than a story about an old guitar, especially when it got away. The aching romance of it. Mine was an early 60's Guild Aristocrat I stupidly traded for a recent Martin D-41 A rarity for a commodity. What a dope. I once left a lucrative IT sales job after 12 years of unrelenting pressure to apply at a newly opened guitar shop that specialized in vintage. After my first walkabout in there one day at lunch I was hooked. I walked. I just stood up from my desk and bolted quietly. I was really touched by the sincerity of management in the next couple of weeks trying to sell me my job back but I was over it. My boss sent an email to my future boss telling him he's crazy not to hire me. My future boss read my resume and drily said, "Aren't you a little overqualified for this?" In the next five years of corporate withdrawal and healing l changed. I slept better, enjoyed mornings, made amazing new friends, learned new important guitar related skills. Met and befriended technicians. I told my new boss that this place was like the record store in the movie High Fidelity, with slightly damaged sales people that thrived in their environment and an owner that seemed totally shorn of any emotional attachment to any instrument that came through the door. That's why he needed me...My strong point was the ability to help someone find the guitar they were looking for, in exactly the same way you were led to your Martin: I could connect. From your description I can see that guitar, feel the V neck, smell its funk, hear the dry sweet tone and how it reacted to different pressure and techniques. I loved that job. I loved the people: the regulars , the lingerers, the pros, the students, the parents buying the kids their first guitar. Most had A Story. A yard sale triumph, a tragic accident, a dastardly theft, an angry girlfriend /boyfriend/wife/husband /mother/father that murdered an instrument in vicious retaliation (retribution?)...Life brings us so many ways to lose a valuable piece of yourself, made that much harder because that piece didn't come into your life casually or mindlessly...I always thought we should have a big, leather bound journal on the counter. A place to record the different stories. There are so many...and there's nothing better than those stories.
Once again, Richard, this sub stack is worth its price of admission. Every Sunday there's a treat, a gem, a treasure, a revelation...your creative skills expand so far beyond your music, you have the ability and desire to share this life of yours and I cant thank you enough! Thank you for indulging me today! What great memories.
Peace!
Thanks Gary. You haven't mentioned the name of the shop, so I won't ask. But what a brave move! I think I'd be quite happy working in a vintage guitar shop. I once worked in a bookshop. Same general vicinity. Loved it.
When I visited TR Crandall in NYC in July, there was 50s Aristocrat hanging on the wall. I did not plug it in, but I was tempted. Those things were great. As it happens, the "one that got away" was the late 60s, cherry red, Guild Starfire I had in college. I sold it to buy a really tubby sounding, early 70s D-35. Rookie mistake.
The Guitar Gallery in Amherst, NH is no longer around. Dave Stearns is the great friend that owned it and sold it finally to move south and marry an Angel and hopefully live happily ever after.
Guild made some amazing instruments, a few I've been lucky enough to find, none I was smart enough to keep.
How could I not love this story!
Both Stan and Larry were characters. That entirely overcrowded little shop on the island where I made a purchase or two myself in 87, was a place where all sense of time was easily lost. I can also relate to letting a guitar get away. Painful
What a great story about an instrument that played such a pivotal role in your musical journey. We all travel through life acquiring and disposing of items of value, and occasionally we second guess a decision made years (or decades) ago. It might have been a musical instrument, a car, a camera, or some piece of electronics (I'm a geek and regret getting rid of some old PC's). Sometimes we dispose of something for financial reasons, other time logistical reasons storage space). And, at some point most of us must deal with the "stuff" accumulated by our parents, often accompanied by stories about when and how they obtained the "stuff" and why they chose to save that "stuff" versus other "stuff".
But then there are those of us who just wind up collecting "stuff" (what George Carlin called...well, never mind) - books, LPs, CDs, videos, several guitars (not "many", alas)...the information density of my home isn't quite at black hole value, but it's pretty darned large. Some of it turns out to be valuable; I have some original LPs worth many $hundreds these days, but they're not for sale. Of course, once my kids inherit, that can do whatever they want. But our daughter has said she has dibs (yes, I'm from New England) on all my LPs, and I suspect she'll just keep them. Happily, both of our kids have the same eclectic musical tastes that I and my wife have, and both play a variety of musical instruments. I feel like I've done good.
When I suffered a catastrophic flood in my Brooklyn apartment (caused by a break in the standpipe connecting the buildings water tank which was sitting directly above us) the only time I cried was when I opened the case of my ‘32 0-18 and saw it swimming. At the time I had to focus on scrambling to save what belongings I could for my family and so I called my cousin Nancy, a jazz singer, who happened to live on Staten Island. She drove over immediately. I greeted her on the street thirty minutes later sobbing uncontrollably with the guitar in my hands. “Mandolin Brothers” was all I could say. Years later I’m still strumming away on my “player.” The 0 size is perfect for my 5’4 frame and it still sounds as warm and sweet as the day I got it (a wedding present from my soon to be husband) 25 years ago. I also still make the trip over the Varrazano to get my Martin and my ‘65 J45 serviced with Rocco, a former Mandolin Bros employee.
Oh boy. Swimming? That's not a word I want to see anywhere near "32 0-18". I'm so glad it could be salvaged. I'm curious... 14 fret or 12?
I put a picture of the old girl up for you on my insta @sadiebklyn she's got 14 frets. You'll see her top isn't too bad - the sides and back took the brunt of the water.
I'm not seeing it at instagram. But wow... a 14 fret 0-18 from 1932 is a very rare thing. Is it one of those lovely reddish amber tops? And I have to ask, is it the long scale (25.4") or short (24.9")? There have been rumors that the Martin made some with long-scale. But no one's ever seen one.
try again, I posted it to my other insta by accident. it is amber topped and short (24.9"). After reading your comment I googled 14 fret Martin and read that they didn't introduce the 14 Fret guitars until 1934 which gave me a scare because I just trusted that my guitar guy sold me what he said he sold me. But then I googled 1932 0-18 and found two dealers selling guitars that looked identical to mine. 14 frets. And I have to say, it's so nice that you've created this safe space here for us to geek out over our axes.
The first 14 fret D sized guitars appeared in 1934. Smaller models (0, OM) started in 1932 I believe. Also in 1934 the OM went from long scale to short. That's a really, really lovely guitar you have there.
What a wonderful post. You know what a warm spot I have for guitars, having purchased my Larrivee 00-09 because it’s the one you played, and how you used mine at that 1997 house concert so you could swap back and forth, yours in DADGAD and mine in Standard. Since I no longer perform, I’ve divested myself of my two gig guitars, my Taylors 714 and 814c. I still have my Martin HD-28 and Alvarez Yairi DY-62, both purchased from a friend in 1988 for — are you sitting down? — $400 each because she simply no longer wanted them. Those two — and the Larrivee — comprise my current inventory, but should I ever need to get down to one, it’s that 00-09 that will be my all-time keeper. Thanks for turning me onto it, and I hope yours is doing well.
Mine needs a little work, so it doesn't get played. Nothing serious, just a good setup.
A posting that gets to the heart of all guitarists. I had a moment similar to your Mandolin Brothers experience, at Gryphon Stringed Instruments in Palo Alto, though with a new guitar rather than an old beauty. I used to go there at lunchtime to play everything, and fell in love with Santa Cruz OMs. My wife Emily decided to buy me one, but when we went to do that, there was an H model sitting between two OMs. I'd never seen a Santa Cruz H (a proprietary model). Similar facial profile to an OM, but a slightly wider fretboard, a deeper body, slightly curved back, 14 frets to the body, and this one has koa back and sides. As a result it has an even, sweet response across the entire sound spectrum, from the brilliance of the koa treble to the depth of the bass notes. And way more volume and sustain than an OM. As a side benefit, it's beautiful. I snatched it up, and it instantly made me a better guitarist than I'd ever been before. It's now 34 years old and sounding better every year. (I can only wish that I was, too...)
Some other time I may post something about a "player" of sorts, a funky old Yamaha owned by a friend that had gotten damaged so badly over the years by prior owners that it sounded absolutely fantastic.
BTW, we have a one-degree-of-separation connection with you - Lucy Kaplansky. We first met her when our friend Len Rothenberg, who used to manage the Back Room At The Idler in Harvard Square, brought her to our apartment for dinner. We stayed in touch with her for quite a while, even met both of her parents, but it's been years now. Next time you see her, please say Hello for us - hopefully, she'll still remember despite the years between.