Forum - Banjo Ben Clark

Found on the market

Got the PM, responded to PM and sent an email. I think we have all the bases covered. If not, tomorrow I’ll send some smoke signals :laughing:

Strings arrived today all safe and bundled with care! Thanks again. By the way, to anyone else reading this thread, I highly recommend trying the Lifespan 7200’s. My guitars love them, both the rosewoods and the hogs.

Here’s a neat guitar. I played a similar model over the weekend and was blown away for the price. If it had a fancier name stamped on it, I bet it would get rave reviews at 3 times the price. It would make a great fingerstyle guitar.
theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y … 5732JRdVBk

Someone please buy this so I can come play it :laughing: It’s a 1920’s Gibson mando-bass. Looking at the pictures of the instrument by itself gives no appreciation for the size… you have to scroll all the way down to see the picture of the lady playing it to get a sense for how huge it is.
ebay.com/itm/261501406283

Wow, that thing is huge. I wonder how it sounds.

A sunburst D18A at the best price I’ve ever seen ($3500 - Martin re-topped on warranty work):
theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y … 8VrDZRdVBl

I was going to buy the CS-D18-12 in the same listing, but he emailed me that someone closed the deal this morning and beat me to the punch. The 18A is tempting, but I am attached to my GE and they fill kind of the same niche.

Ahh, hate to hear that Mike. That stings a little when you finally decide to buy and then get shot out of the saddle.

If the '37 A wasn’t a burst, I’d have a hard time not going after it just because of the deal. You could easily break even on that if it wasn’t your cup of tea. I wonder if Martin keeps a record of re-topping that guitar and if it somehow hurts the value. I could understand the decrease in value on a vintage instrument but I don’t see how it would hurt resale on this one.

No worries on the missed CS D18… if I didn’t have a guitar, it might bother me. Of course if that was the case, I probably would not have resolved to sleep on it and call him in the morning :smiley:

I would think that a re-topping might hurt the value for some as far as sales go, but it wouldn’t bother me as long as it sounded like it should (which I think it highly likely). Like I say, if it weren’t for my GE, I’d be getting that 18A, but the GE still makes me smile every time I play it. I’m not saying the 18A isn’t probably a “better” guitar, but the GE fits me well. I think that one will be with me until I can’t play anymore.

In case anyone is interested, Elderly Instruments has a Martin Guitar hat online for $8.00. I ordered one when I bought some strings last week. Being somewhat of a baseball cap connoisseur, I have to say this is a very nice looking and good quality hat. Not sure why the price is so cheap.

$8 for a good hat seems like a bargain.
Also, next time I order from Elderly, I’ll probably try a bag of the Dunlop Primetone Sculpted picks. They look interesting for a pick between cheapies and expensive ones.

Great thread,!
Thank you, Mike!!

Does anyone know who carries McPherson guitars?
I know Banjo Ben has one. I’d love to check one out. They sound amazing.
Would like to spend some quality time with one.

I’m in Portland, Oregon.

I’d give McPherson a call or email to see if they have any suggestions in your area. I have played them at Gruhn’s in Nashville, but that isn’t going to help much where you are located. They are stellar instruments. They use gorgeous materials and the workmanship is top notch. To my ear they have a more modern tone with scooped mids being noticeable in the 3 or 4 I have played.
mcphersonguitars.com/

That’s cool, Mike!!!

Thank you…

Update: It is sold.

I can’t believe this 1998 D1 is still available for $545. Anyone looking for a good guitar for picking circles, take a look at this one (no affiliation):
theunofficialmartinguitarforum.y … zjOrdQrJiw

Yeah Mike I’m also surprised it stayed for sale as long as it did. Could be the center seam repair and what few dents and dings it had scared some potential buyers away but he had it priced well below Blue Book value and gave a great description of it in his ad. I would have advised anyone looking for a lower end Martin to jump on that deal. I pondered on buying it but was able to resist. The stable is already full!

I’ve been trolling the extreme opposite of the guitar market. One reason the amount of green I want to shell out. My 2 guitars with any intrinsic value are long gone.
I played a Martin D-35 for years. Looked like it had been played with a chain saw. Tone was amazing… intonation was a challenge. A couple hundred thrown in that direction had no significant improvement. We were recording in a small studio… analog 8 track… I had put together. Happened upon a Taylor cutaway that sounded pretty good… had amazing action… perfect intonation… and sounded good plugged in. Traded in the Martin…
Started the album from scratch.

Recently, I’ve been teaching guitar class. About 13 grade school kids. (Tomorrow is our last class this year)

I showed them how to play one chord… told them to play along when the song got to them… they were playing music after the first 20 minutes of the first class.
Amazing enthusiasm!! Lots of fun. A couple kids played up front in church after 7 classes.

Back to guitar stuff… I’ve been buying inexpensive guitars and repairing them. My skills are improving, and I’m coming out with some decent results. I glued up a broken neck… turned out awesome!!!
Just got a 12 string… someone had stripped out the nut on the truss rod… I had $100 into the guitar… decided to be unorthodox. What a surprise… instead of taking the neck apart, I sanded down the bridge… lowered the saddle and came out with a very playable guitar. Action is slightly better with a capo… considering dressing the nut slightly. Plan to add a pickup and plastic feedback suppressor .

My next project is on the workbench. An acoustic 6. The bridge has a split right along the pin holes.
Ordered a new bridge. Plan to replace the broken one.

Have been able to adjust students guitars… great results. I’m finding out it’s not ot as difficult as I anticipated.

 Have a great day,

Harv