Mike - Your pictures show up larger if you link to them directly from your host site. (You just paste the image code that begins with "[img..."

Like this:

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...6&d=1303695949

http://www.bikeforums.net/attachment...8&d=1303695973

...True they don't command the same price as a '39 'bone, but have you seen what pre-war ukes do command? :eek:

qualla - those are wonderful - the L-00 and the AD both.

PS - Have you noticed how well loved every pre-war L-00 seems to be? (There's a reason for that!)

Amen!

Made here in Kalamazoo.

Also made here in Kalamazoo.

Thank you, sir. You are too kind. (But we have been doin' it for quite a few years. That counts for something.)

I know little about L-00s but I do know a bit about the dreadnaughts. The pre-war guitars used Adirondack spruce for the top. It was essentially a local wood source for Martin. In 1945 (I think it was) NY state declared the Adirondack region a park with the designation "Forever wild". That made harvesting timber illegal. With little fanfare Martin looked around for some other wood and settled on Sitka spruce from Alaska. It makes a good guitar but it doesn't ring like Adirondack spruce. Another difference is that Brazillian rosewood is an endangered species. Indian rosewood is good but it sounds different. Limited stocks of both Brazilian and Adirondack wood can be found occasionally, for example from blown-down trees due to storms or hidden away in some storage house. However there is no large supply of either. So the sound of those old guitars is hard to re-create in great numbers.

All true Jim, but I would venture that some of the guitars being made today are the equivalent of any Pre-war issue. (Your Collings is one such example).
Since the late 80's, there has been a second Golden age of Lutherie - with a number of individuals and small shops producing some truly great product: Dana Bourgeois, Bill Collings, James Goodall, and Richard Hoover being among the most well known, but many others (including our own David Newton) are building guitars in the same tradition - and sometimes even with the same methods, as the pre-war greats. This has raised the bar for the big companies too - so Martin, Gibson et al, are turning out terrific new instruments too, which (if we are all around 60 or 70 years from now) we may find will surpass the tonal quality of their 1930's efforts.

Oh, I have GOT to take a picture of my crappy old Teisco Tulip! Are Teiscos the UO8 of vintage guitars? Or maybe they are the Huffy and Murrays?

'63 Strat http://s901.photobucket.com/albums/a...TMC_6298-1.jpg

Add to that list, Wayne Henderson. The D-18 looking guitar in my pic is my first one from him. I just got my second one couple weeks ago. Though it's a bit more personalized. It's made from wild cherry from my family's farm, has inlay from my family crest, peghead and heel carvings done by the guy who taught me guitar and some other random things. I've seen a lot of guitars coming from local luthiers that surpass anything i've heard out of a pre-war guitar.

Auchen, the National and F-4 are killer! Those are valuable pieces, man!

And, Lugnut, that cherry 330 is my style!

Here's a cell phone pic of the axes we used last time we recorded. I wish all of them were mine.

http://gallery.me.com/justinhughes/1...12858955070001

^^this guy....what a show off :lol:

I know I've said it before but I freakin love those Bigsby Tremolos

I'm going to correct you because I'm that guy. They're actually vibratos; not tremolos. ;) Here's an explanation. But, yeah I agree. Bigsbys rule.

Bigsbys are by far my favorite. I spent quite some time trying to get my hands on the perfect B-12 for the red guitar I built in the pic above. I've never had an issue with them going out of tune, they work incredibly well, look hot, so what's not to like?

I love the B-12 cutout. I installed a gold one from the 70s with a Chet Atkins arm on my Epi Sheraton II. I much prefer the models with stabilizer bars.

That blue Epi is hawt!

^ Thanks! I love it. I installed the Bigsby, TV Jones and SD pickups and all new guts. My wife bought it for me when she was just my girlfriend. If you want to snag a husband buy the guy guitars. She also bought me that sweet strap. She's a keeper for sure.

http://gallery.me.com/justinhughes/1...13037424220001

ColonelLloyd.....it's a beast & def my fave of all my guits!
Luv you Avatar, Anson is tops...
C&V is starting to look like The Gear Page!

Had to say that version of friend of steel was fantastic. I'm a guitar player who turned to the fiddle, if I get I chance to steal my gf's digital camera I'll post her, the fiddle that is.

That's a pretty nice hunk of Alder you have there, coz ! :love:
http://i901.photobucket.com/albums/a...TMC_6298-1.jpg

Beautiful Mando... I'm an avid mandolin player and guitarist in a bluegrass band... Here is my list of vintage instruments... Gibson F2 Mandolin 1918?, 1974 Ibanez mandolin project, National O style resenator guitar from 1930s (need restoration), 1960s Yamaha guitar FG-??? first guitar... still sound great. Not vintage... but my gig mandolin is a Eastman 815 with a k&k pickup.

Here are a few link to albums with pictures... of instruments I own or have recently sold.

National Resonator Guitar
http://s969.photobucket.com/albums/a...t=DSC04833.jpg


Orpheum Tenor Banjo, Gibson 12 string, Gibson Heritage Guitar
http://s969.photobucket.com/albums/a...Tenor%20Banjo/

S.S. Stewart American Princess Open Back Banjo
http://s969.photobucket.com/albums/a...ewart%20Banjo/

I hunt instrument like I hunt bikes... cool vintage instruments are harder for me to find than c&v bikes

Cool stuff. Would we recognize your band's name?

There is som impressive traditional iron in this thread!

Auchen, do you play that lovely F4 much?

Only if your from Northern Colorado... Band is Blue Grama Bluegrass... blue grama is the state grass of colorado. We have a few track from our first record from about 3 years ago... www.myspace.com/bluegramabluegrass

Our lineup has changed and we're a lot better now... working on recording another album in June... we're a solid local to regional bluegrass band but I'm not quitting my day job... although I'm the only one in the band with a full time job.

Here's my '53 Guild archtop.
Everything's Original as far as I know... it needs the bindings re-done, they're a mess.
http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=199323

^ I want an archtop from that era. Love that sound.

Its fairly quiet compared to anything with a big circular sound hole, but the tone is wonderful :thumb:

also dunno if you call it vibrato or tremelo, but that flying trapeze bridge is hinged and makes some cool sounds if you push on it a little


I'd really like a vintage Resonator...and a Dobro....and a Pedal Steel.

Go for a 30's Kalamazoo KG-31. They're Gibson made with out some of the nicer things in life like truss rods and the like. Their tone is awesome though, the deep V profile of the neck is one that people find strange at first but all fall in love with afterwards. Aside from that Gibson L-50's are nice guitars. They're carved and not pressed like the L-48. Otherwise, one can always spring for more expensive in the Gibson line up. The old Epiphone (pre-gibson) archtops are fantastic, but they're pricey.

I'll try to post a pic of my Kalamazoo tonight. It's been great other than I let it dry out in my first college apartment and ended up with a massive humidity crack. It's been repaired, but there's a loose brace from a previous owner's blunder that plagues the instrument. And by plagues I mean... Have you ever played guitar under a ceiling fan? That's what the loose brace sounds like. It's like a built in tremolo.

I long for pre-Gibson Epis, but you're right, they're pricey. One of these days I'm gonna get an Epi Electar Zephyr 8-string lap steel.

I've been warned by players way better than me about pedal steels, ZB. I've been convinced not to even attempt it. I ain't smart enough for that machine!