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 ARCHIVED TOPIC: has anyone not related to you ever given you an instrument?


Please note this is an archived topic, so it is locked and unable to be replied to. You may, however, start a new topic and refer to this topic with a link: http://www.banjohangout.org/archive/378786

ilinoyer - Posted - 10/31/2021:  18:13:25


I had an advantage, I was young and poor when I started playing bluegrass. There have been some very kind folks in my life who have given me some instruments.

I remember getting three mandolins, two fiddles, and a guitar from different friends. I still have everything except the mandolins. One of the mandolins was a Ratliff, and unfortunately the neck broke along a glue line, and when I got it back it never felt the same, because he replaced it with a different neck. The guitar is actually a Gibson made Epiphone solid spruce top mahogany guitar. I really like this guitar a lot. The fiddles are good too, I just can't play fiddle very well.

I'm deciding what I'd like to give to someone sometime. It will probably be a sunburst Washburn guitar. I need to put better tuner machines on it first though.

rcc56 - Posted - 10/31/2021:  18:31:12


Yes. A good friend gave me a Regal Octofone [a circa 1930 octave mandolin].



Later, I returned the favor, and gave him a tenor banjo, which was something he didn't have.



Then five years later, I fixed up a Stewart 5 string and gave it to him for his 75th birthday. The store I got it from had known him for 50 years, so they gave me a nice discount on the instrument. He hadn't played a 5 string in decades, so it hung on the wall for a year or two. Then one day, he started playing it, and since then he's acquired a couple of other banjos. I told him that I suppose his wife has legitimate grounds to blame his banjo habit on me.



Some of the early Kalamazoo built Epiphones where darn good instruments.


Edited by - rcc56 on 10/31/2021 18:34:57

Good Buddy - Posted - 10/31/2021:  18:41:59


I was given a chromatic harmonica, a Jawharp and assorted traditional South American whistle instruments.

I gave away, all to non-relatives, three 6-string guitars, a 12-string guitar, an electric guitar with a pignose amp, a bottlecap banjo, and that's all I can remember.


Edited by - Good Buddy on 10/31/2021 18:46:32

cobra1 - Posted - 10/31/2021:  19:07:09


yes, in 2016 when I retired a son of the business owner gave me my first banjo. A Gretsch broadcaster special as a retirement gift. I never played music and it was very unexpected. As he put it you are retired learn to play. I have learned and I'm not that good yet . I have meet so many people in jams and sings . What he gave me was more than a banjo, he gave a retiree a new purpose.

blazo - Posted - 10/31/2021:  19:30:08


My neighbor recently inherited a banjo from her father. She knows I play banjo so she asked if I would take a look at it after she picked it up and brought it home. I was hoping for something nice because she told me her dad played a lot. It turned out to be a 60's Harmony tenor with a bakelite pot, definitely nothing to write home about, but it had a Grover Presto 4 string tailpiece on it. I told her the tailpiece alone was worth more than the rest of the banjo was worth. A couple days later, she gave me the banjo. I have the banjo still, will probably never play it, but at least the tailpiece has a good home now -- on a Vega Tubaphone.

mike gregory - Posted - 10/31/2021:  19:57:06


I have been given a banjo, and a baritone uke, and an Ovation guitar, all of which needed some repair.
Did OK on the uke and banjo, but the Ovation got knocked off a support, and damaged beyond repair.

Come to think of it, if any of you want to tackle fixing the Ovation, PM me.
I'll send you pics, and if you'll pay shipping from ZIP code 53024, I'll send it to you.

Timothy Lindblom - Posted - 10/31/2021:  21:23:01


Last year a client gave me a Martin backpacker guitar and last month at a jam a few hours away, someone gave me a Washburn banjo.

Jim Yates - Posted - 10/31/2021:  21:33:29


At a festival in the nineties, we had just come off stage and a fellow asked me if I had any interest in Autoharps. When I told him that I did, he gave me an Appalachian from the mid-sixties that was in pieces. It is now my favourite Autoharp.
The late Don Skuce, the owner of Ed's Music Workshop once gave me a bottle cap banjo that played just fine. I gave it to my brother.
My friend, Jimmy Bowskill, visits pawn shops and flea markets regularly and has gifted me several ukuleles and banjoleles.

OM45GE - Posted - 11/01/2021:  03:05:16


One of my two best friends and playing partner was killed in a small plane crash several years ago. My other friend and I played at his memorial service with his ‘63 Gibson Hummingbird between us. When I was helping his family clean out his house so it could be sold, they told me they wanted me to have the guitar. I’m not much of a dreadnaught fan, but the Gibby has a permanent home in my guitar cabinet.



 

carlb - Posted - 11/01/2021:  06:05:21


Yes and also given away. I got an old banjo-guitar from a friend whose father had found it in an attic. Sometime later, I gave that same person a light weight accordion as they had some back pains when playing their full sized one. I also found a light weight accordion in a yard sale, that I eventually gave away to someone interested in playing it. I gave one of my penny whistles to the young son of a friend.

Timothy Lindblom - Posted - 11/01/2021:  06:28:54


Several years ago when we were just getting into bluegrass, a friend at a nursing home we had been playing at every month for over 10 years gave our family a 68 D28. At the time we didn’t even know what it was

LukeL - Posted - 11/01/2021:  06:32:08


A local builder recently built me a Dobro. In exchange for some dobro lessons, but I would still consider it having been given to me :-)

RB3 - Posted - 11/01/2021:  06:52:26


No, but a very dear friend sold me an instrument for a price, that at the time, was equal to about half the market value of the instrument. He did so as a gesture of friendship, because he wanted me to have the instrument.

Over the ensuing 25 years, the market value of that instrument has increased by a factor of about five or six, but the value of the enjoyment I've gotten as a result of owning it is inestimable. Sometimes, a deal is better than a gift.

Paul R - Posted - 11/01/2021:  10:04:37


A fellow teacher gave me a Gretsch tenor banjo.

In Sept. '73 I was playing at a wedding mass with a prof from the U of Toronto. He broke a string and, after the reception, we went to the Toronto Folklore Centre. I spotted a L'Arrivee dreadnought on the wall. He said I should buy it. Joking, I said, "I don't have any money, John, but if you want to pay for it, I'll buy it." He went to his VW microbus and brought back his chequebook. It took me several months to pay him back. It was $550 then. It's the best acoustic I've ever played.

I gave him the hardshell case from my Yamaha, and gave the Yamaha to a teaching colleague. Some years after that a friend wondered if I could lend him a guitar to learn on. I gave him my Giannini dreadnought. A few years ago his widow asked if I wanted it back. I said I'd given it to him. Since then I've thought about offering to buy it from her.

Eric A - Posted - 11/01/2021:  10:14:16


A lady who lived down the hall from me in college gave me a balalaika. I wanted more, but I had young hormones running hot.

KevinV - Posted - 11/01/2021:  10:32:54


At 16 an older girlfriend gave me a Univox Les Paul that was her brother's, a few years later a buddy gave me a Charvel Strat style guitar, in my mid 20's a girlfriend gave me a Martin D-28, and just a couple weeks ago a friend gave me a 70's Alvarez bowtie 5-string that was his primary instrument until he broke his wrist a few years ago.

Over the years I've given away at least 2 acoustic guitars and 1 electric, a keyboard, an ukulele, and a mandolin.

DC5 - Posted - 11/01/2021:  12:58:48


quote:

Originally posted by mike gregory

I have been given a banjo, and a baritone uke, and an Ovation guitar, all of which needed some repair.

Did OK on the uke and banjo, but the Ovation got knocked off a support, and damaged beyond repair.



Come to think of it, if any of you want to tackle fixing the Ovation, PM me.

I'll send you pics, and if you'll pay shipping from ZIP code 53024, I'll send it to you.






If it's beyond repair for you, it is definitely beyond repair for me.

DC5 - Posted - 11/01/2021:  13:04:59


I've gotten a couple of folk flutes, bamboo and wood, and I've given away a couple of banjos. Now that I think of it, I was given a banjo that needed some work, I worked on it, and then gave it away to a music teacher who wanted to learn to play.

WVDreamin - Posted - 11/01/2021:  16:23:57


When I was learning fiddle (already playing mando), I met an old guy (now I'm the old guy), farmer, who was an amateur luthier and bluegrass fan. The people I played with were friends of his and so I was accepted as his friend. He kid get out a fiddle for me to play (poorly) on occasion. Once he handed me a fiddle, "I found this at an estate sale, in pieces inside a double case - $75." I scratched away on it and he continued, "It's over 300 years old and has been appraised at over $300,000." I quickly handed it back as he explained the other fiddle in the case, also in pieces, was well over 200 years old and appraised at around $100,000. A little while later he came out with a beautifully figured violin that had several cosmetic issues due to a poor repair. He said he couldn't sell it because no one wanted one that looked so obviously repaired. I played it all evening and at the end of the night, he sent it home with me. Turned out to be a very high end Lyons and Healy from the turn of the century and was more fiddle than I could handle for years. It is a lovely instrument with a stripe of dark wood filler running down the front and the back. That was back in the late 90s and my old friend is no longer with us but I think of him EVERY time I play that fiddle.

rcoolz - Posted - 11/01/2021:  16:47:43


My best friend passed away last month...i played mando and he played. Guitar in our bluegrass band.....his wife called me and said she had something for me
Went to their house. And she handed me a mando case
In it was a 1984 Gibson f 5 l
She said in the case was a note that said this was to go to me
I WAS FLOORED..i politely told her I couldn't take it. worth too much money... An I don't play much mando now
He was a collector. And had. LOTS of instruments...she said then pick something else.....i left with a 2008. Martin hd 16 lsh( large soundhole)...
Every time I play it I think of him

bubbalouie - Posted - 11/01/2021:  17:37:38


A girl I used to chase gave me a high end Yamaha Classical guitar. I dragged around with me but never played it because of that big flat fret board.



I was jamming with some guys & there was this amazing guitar player. I asked some of the guys about him & they said he was going to University to study music & played classical guitar but just had his guitar ripped off.



The next jam he was there & I payed it forward. I saw the lady that gave me the guitar about 20 years later & she asked me how the guitar was doing. I said GREAT!



A friend of mine fixed up a yard sale mandolin & left it on a chair at my house. One of my buddies sat on it & it was toast. I got a really good deal on a nice Fender mandolin & gave it to him. Years later he gave it back to me. I should pay that forward too!



My brother & I used to say whoever croaked last got the the other guys instruments. Now that that is looming closer We both figure we have too many already that aren't getting played & our wives would be better off selling them to help defray the cost of our cremations!



 



 



 

BeeEnvironment - Posted - 11/01/2021:  17:44:43


Well, I got a LOT of very good help and materials and books from the kind folks here when I was building (and still am), my long-neck banjo from complete scratch! Without them folks, it would not have even come to be!

Russ A.

Heady - Posted - 11/01/2021:  19:57:02


At the end of 8th grade I got it in my head that I wanted to take Band in 9th grade. I was a good viola player in a school full of terrible viola and oboe players so the band teacher said "maybe you don't stink at the oboe either" and I gave it a try and wound up with a bloody nose. Next my best friend who was upgrading to a wooden clarinet said I could borrow her plastic clarinet. No blood, but no music either, and I did faint. Twice. Then the orchestra teacher said "I have an old flute and if you can get a note out of it you can have it." and he handed it to me and we were all pretty sure nothing was going to happen and I was going to be taking art as my elective opposite orchestra and voila - I got a B out on the first try and that's how I got my first flute. All those ADHD related catharses blowing into Yoohoo bottles in the cafeteria paid off. Then he gave me lessons all summer so I was ready at the start of 9th grade :) I'm facebook friends with him now 35 years later.

Texasbanjo - Posted - 11/02/2021:  08:08:21


My husband's barber's gave us an entry level banjo. He'd got upset with it and threw it against the wall. Needless to say, it was a piece of junk, but we fixed it up where it was playable for an entry level one. It sits around and never gets played.

banjo_brad - Posted - 11/02/2021:  11:27:57


An ex-roommate gave me his Goya G-10 classical guitar in 1964 in lieu of his portion of the rent when he moved back home.

Been my constant companion ever since.

Tim Ogden - Posted - 11/02/2021:  16:39:47


40 plus years ago, as teenagers, my brothers and I were asked to help clean out a house next door of an elderly couple who had passed away. They had no kids. Relatives were having us haul stuff to the Salvation Army and we found this dusty guitar case and we asked if we could have the guitar and they said sure. We opened it and inside was a Gibson small body guitar. It had been stored in a vacant house for years and probably had not been played in years. All we had at home were Silvertone guitars and we were happy to get the Gibson. Not knowing any better, we immediately took it home and put fresh strings on it and tuned it up to standard tuning. We took turns playing it and it was a lot nicer than the Silvertones. One night we heard an awful sound from the living room and went in there and the bridge had completely come off and was hanging from the neck by the strings.

We got it fixed in the 1970s but the guy that did it said never tune it up to full pitch again, and it was never fun to play. A few years ago my younger brother gave it to me. I sent it to Gibson and got it fixed correctly. They made a new bridge and it is playable again. They did a good job and I probably spent more than the guitar is worth but its got a good story to tell. One of my daughter plays guitar and I know she will take good care of it. It was never a high dollar guitar in its day. The luthier told me it was the model Elvis was pictured with in his movies and they marketed it to people who wanted to learn how to play after seeing it.

Jim Yates - Posted - 11/03/2021:  04:53:27


Tim Ogden,

Your guitar is likely an LG1.  Elvis is often pictured playing an LG1 circa 1964.  He gifted this guitar to one of his girlfriends that he called Little.  Instead of a card, he put mailbox letters on the front of the guitar.



I own a 1950 LG1 that I play as often as my Martin D-21.  They were designed as entry level guitars with ladder bracing, but they're way better than any entry level guitar being sold today.  They are selling for $3,000 to $4,000 these days.


Edited by - Jim Yates on 11/03/2021 05:00:32


steveh_2o - Posted - 11/03/2021:  05:37:52


I was filling in as the bass player at a small show at a coffee house a few years ago. There was a covered patio/porch with a small stage in the corner. There was an old banjo hanging on the wall as a decoration. Missing some hooks, busted head, fretboard mostly gone, etc. After the show I had my ear against the wall shining my phone light on it. The owner asked if I liked his banjo. I said "yes, you need to take it down and put it back in service". He laughed and ask me if I thought it was possible. I said "maybe" and he got a screwdriver, took it down and gave it to me. I was grinning like I just swallowed a chocolate cake. I think the guy thought I was a bit weird.



That's where I got my Supertone.  It's a little wonky, but it plays ok now.  







 

Lew H - Posted - 11/03/2021:  06:13:37


A lady I've known for many decades had a Saga kit banjo--openback with a mastertone style tone ring-- as recommended by her teacher. She said it was so heavy that it made bruises on her legs from playing it in her lap. She gave it to me, and wouldn't take payment for it despite my offer. It's a nice banjo and has the more grassy tone that I like. It is currently on indefinite loan to a friend.

Another friend lost his banjo and other instruments when his apartment in an old house burned down. I gave him my openback Stew-Mac kit banjo that I bought in the seventies, and only played occasionally. He has used it in gigs and made money with it which is more than I would have done.

banjopaolo - Posted - 11/05/2021:  05:16:26


When I was a boy and started ti play violin an old Aunt on mine gave me her violin, she told me that she played it when she was young... I didn’t know she had ever played an instrument!
It was an old violin from 1927 the luthier is not known, it is not a top quality instrument but it has a nove sound and look good!
Then I had different better instruments to play but I always keep that old violin and now I use it every Day with my students st school...
Here you can hear it


J.Albert - Posted - 11/06/2021:  11:44:12


No one ever gave me an instrument.



But seeing the topic title, a couple of other guys came to mind.



There's David McLaughlin of the Johnson Mountain Boys, who was given a Gibson F-5 Loar by Mike Seeger.



And Chris Hillman, who was given the F-5 Loar that he owns by Steven Stills...

overhere - Posted - 11/09/2021:  03:24:53


Back when I was around 10 or 11 I was at a friend’s house waiting in the living room for my friend to get dressed so we could go play. They had this old Bruno guitar that would just stand in the corner with its strings loosened. I had been learning things from my father when he would get a hold of a borrowed guitar. Anyway....while waiting one day I decided to pick up that old guitar....I knew how to tune it so you could play some chords. I started noodling things like Waiting for a Train.... Wild Wood Flower and misc. stuff. Well I had not known my friend’s father was standing by the door to the living room listening to me. He said it was good to hear someone playing that old guitar no one touched.....long story short.....about a week later my friend knocked on my door....handed me the guitar and said....”my dad wants you to have this” I was shocked , surprised, and abundantly over joyed. My first real guitar..... 70 years ago and I aint put down an instrument since.... I still today think about that kindly gesture...... and the man who gave me that guitar. When I could afford another guitar....I did the same and passed it on to a neighbor’s kid who was learning how to play also....makes you feel good inside

steve davis - Posted - 11/13/2021:  06:31:03


I was given a Ukelin.I don't play it and nobody else ever wanted it.Now it's a nice conversation piece.

heavy5 - Posted - 11/15/2021:  07:28:48


Back in the early 60's I was given a 00 17 mahogany Martin guitar & traded it in on a new D28 that I wish I still had .

m06 - Posted - 11/19/2021:  06:39:48


I gave a guitar to a friend.



Another friend fixed up a beat-up old uke that was my dad’s and got it back in playing condition for me.


Edited by - m06 on 11/19/2021 06:40:38

steve davis - Posted - 11/19/2021:  13:10:01


I was given a uke when I bought one of my Silver Creek Dreadnaughts as a free gift.
That little uke went on to be played by a 4 year old who loved it.He just turned 9 and got his first guitar.

techno-wizard - Posted - 11/25/2021:  11:32:30


A friend of mine visited China a couple of years ago and brought me back a Hulusi Gourd Cucurbit Flute. Haven't had a chance to play it yet. Plus the instructions are in Chinese.

wrench13 - Posted - 11/30/2021:  09:38:31


Years ago I was given Stradolin mandolin by my ex FIL's neighbor. A plywood top and stenciled on name, but playable. I gave that to my youngest son as his first mando. He plays a custom made Big Muddy mandola now, in our band. I've given fiddles away to guys who wanted to learn, and even some bows, and not cheap ones at that. I gave away the ex's accordion (man that felt good to do), and a french horn I aquired years ago is going to my guitar players wife. I feel that if the instrument is not being played at all, pass it on to someone who will. You get good karma from doing that, and we can all use some good karma !!

1935tb-11 - Posted - 12/17/2021:  03:55:36


my step mom gave me my dads old guitars ,,but thats the only ones i was ever gave.


Edited by - 1935tb-11 on 12/17/2021 03:56:06

jason999 - Posted - 12/17/2021:  05:36:59


We had an older eccentric neighbor named Rex Fredrick, from Nebraska. He was highly educated (maybe he had nuclear engineering degree?), but lived in a tiny dilapidated house with maybe 2 rooms.



He slept on a wooden door laying horizontal, sitting off the floor on a few cinderblocks.



He might open a can of corn and eat it cold for dinner. He never drove. He had been fairly successful and happy in life but at some point,  he just gave up. I gathered that from hearing my father talk.  They were friends.



He played an old Epiphone guitar. He said it was made in USA. He would play it and sing when I was a kid. He taught me some too.



His mom had played piano and he had perfect pitch. I saw him in the old neighborhood, after I had moved away, one day. I proudly got out my new banjo to show him. I could barely play anything. He told me that he used to play but hadn't touched one in 25 years.



After I insisted, he reluctantly picked it up, tuned it and played an awesome clawhammer song, while singing. I was floored by his ability! Why I didn't have him teach me some, I don't know.  It's strange how busy I seemed to be when I was young. 



A few years later, he got my number from someone in the neighborhood and called. He asked me to come see him in the hospital.



He told me that he had lung cancer and was bring transfered to a VA hospital. He didn't seem that bad, at least to a 25 year old kid, but he told me he would be dead very soon.



Then, he told me to go to his house and get an old banjo kit that he had never put together. He said, "I know you'll play guitar eventually, so get my old Epiphone. I want you to have it."



I was young and hadn't lost many people. Only my father had died and I didn't do well with that, but I had seen a tremendous amount of death and suffering as a police officer.



I was very confused by death at that time and couldn't rectify my vast experiences with my "real" life and people that I knew dying. I had developed a detachment from the death at work but at other times I felt very emotionally connected to death. I had no control of my feelings on it. I was like a spectator to myself at times.



I hated the idea of going to get Rex's belongings while he was lying in the hospital. I didn't want "things". I had known this guy for years. He was perfectly comfortable with his impending death, but I wasn't.



To me, death was violent and often humiliating. I remember thinking that I knew more about what was coming than he did.



There was no way that I was going to get his things, while he was in the hospital. I had less than zero interest in benefiting from his suffering.



He must have told me to go get his stuff, 20 times and explained that he had called me because he wanted me to have his old guitar.



I never saw him after that day, but I have thought about that guitar and our conversation a million times. I feel guilty for not listening to and accepting what he said. I feel stupid about it.



I can't even explain how much I would love to pick up that guitar and sing one of his old songs with it.



He had no family. I'm sure the land lord got the guitar.



It's strange, because I really felt that I was being a good person at the time (or at least not being a bad person), but now I feel terrible about not getting it. I feel foolish.



I've looked at old Epiphones many times. If I knew exactly what he had, I would buy one like it. 



I really wish I could make it right with the guy and I would love to play that guitar in honor of him. 


Edited by - jason999 on 12/17/2021 05:51:40

steve davis - Posted - 12/18/2021:  06:43:33


quote:

Originally posted by techno-wizard

A friend of mine visited China a couple of years ago and brought me back a Hulusi Gourd Cucurbit Flute. Haven't had a chance to play it yet. Plus the instructions are in Chinese.






I wouldn't have  gotten more into guitar playing if it weren't for these cheap chinese Martin knock-offs.You can get good flute instructions from english speaking people.

steve davis - Posted - 12/18/2021:  12:41:21


What difference does it make whether the bestower is related?

Brian J - Posted - 02/23/2022:  14:33:04


A few years back an old friend of mine gave me a 1954 TB250 Masterone that his dad had played up the shore for many years at hunt camp. It had a lot of miles on it, and the head stock was fractured, but the bones were in good shape. I had a good 5 string neck built for it and have played it ever since. Great instrument with tons of mojo.

I was also fortunate enough to have been given a fiddle by an old landlord many years ago. I'd always wanted to learn to play the fiddle and I scratched away on this one for a few years before purchasing a better instrument - which made a surprising difference in the tone I could produce. I still have the original and pull it out once in a while. Can't get any better sound out of it now than I did way back then, but I always think fondly of the old gentleman that gave it to me. He had played it in a dance band during the war.

Paul R - Posted - 02/23/2022:  18:58:39


In the mid-Eighties Pearl, the teacher in the classroom next to mine, gave me an old Gretsch tenor banjo, which I still have. It needed some hooks and brackets, which I've installed. I've thought about converting it to a banjeaurine, but have yet to make an effort. Every so often I pick it up and attempt to play it.



I have given away guitars - my first steel-string, a Yamaha, to a teaching colleague whose guitar developed a crack, and a Giannini dreadnought to a good friend, Terry, who was later best man at my wedding. He said he wanted to learn, so I gave it to him. Years later his widow asked if I wanted it back and I figured their sons might want to learn on it, so I refused.



We think we're the owners of these instruments. We're merely the caretakers. They should be passed on in as good shape as we can manage.


Edited by - Paul R on 02/23/2022 19:03:46



 

lazlototh - Posted - 02/24/2022:  03:34:20


I do a radio program and people know I am a banjo nut. They show up every so often to show me their million dollar instruments. Most are starter instruments that have sentimental value, usually being from a close relative who had passed on.
One day a starter banjo showed up and the guy gave it to me. I did not have a use for it but our local library has a musical instrument lending plan.
It needed a little love, which I gave it and brought it to the library along with the name and address of the person who gave it to me.
Asked them to send him a tax credit form and to let me know if it ever needs any attention.
Feels good and I get to bring back something that has been ignored.

steve davis - Posted - 02/25/2022:  15:17:16


I have a Stradolin mandolin that means the world to me.
It was given to us by "Nealy" Morse who used to own the Port Clyde General Store and lived next door to us in the Seaside Inn.
It was painted "housepaint" brown which I scraped off with a razor blade when I was14.Used to have to tune it with a pair of pliers as most of the keys were broken off.I put on a set of StewMac machines 20 years ago.

A few years ago it was being played by a friend and there was an accident where the neck got broken.Without asking that person took it to a shop where it was completely repaired and had a truss rod added.One of the few base Stradolins with a truss rod.

sdfarris - Posted - 03/05/2022:  14:05:52


My elderly next door neighbor, who was a woodworker, passed away about 5 years ago. Two months ago, his widow also passed. They were both dear friends and the best neighbors you could ask for. A few weeks ago, their adult son knocked on my door to give me a walnut mountain dulcimer his father had built from a kit. He wanted me to have it as a keepsake from his late parents. It's a beautiful instrument and sounds great. I never had much use for mountain dulcimers before, but I'll keep this one forever.

Sam

DWFII - Posted - 03/05/2022:  14:18:28


A friend/acquaintance of mine gave me a Deering John Hartford around Christmas of this year. We'd never even had a wee dram together.

But I felt uneasy about it. So I pressed him about the nature of his gift. He said that I could play it as long as I was alive. After that it would have to go back to his family.

Time will tell but I think it 'hooked' me, even though I have zero talent or experience with string instruments. So, I sold a bunch of my own 'treasures' and scraped together several years of 'birthday money' and bought a Pisgah possum. The Harford is going back home.

paco0909 - Posted - 03/05/2022:  14:20:05


Congrats. Nice banjo.

Ira Gitlin - Posted - 03/08/2022:  19:05:30


An old family friend gave me his late grandfather's mandolin a few years ago, figuring it should be in the possession of someone who actually could play it.

youtube.com/watch?v=gqQ0kf6vIp0

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