Great tune. Those guitars sounded awesome. The big acoustic, was that the J50? Beautiful tone.

I took my Martin in to see if I could put strings on it. It had been about 20 years or so the last time I had strings on it. Gave it a shot and tuned it up slowly. It was a made in NY model so that puts it between 1850 and 1898 according to a Luthier I talked with today.

Well, the bridge started to seperate from the body so I stopped short of pitch but tuned it anyway and strumed some chords just to see what it sounded like. I was stunned!!!! Just incredible. I wanted to mic it but I left my cord at practice!!!! Had to tune it back down and will get the bridge repaired in late January. A nice B-Day present to myself. :) So perhaps in the next few months I'll get a little recording of it.

Hope you have a great Holiday! :)

Jim

WHAT!??? JIM!!!!!!!! I AM ON THE FLOOR HOLDING MY HEAD IN TEARS!!!!!!


Where do you live??? ;-)

Sorry, on the other side of the continent... Here are some pictures for hopefully your enjoyment as opposed to deep depression... ;)

martin

It's been in the family for at least four generations. My Grandmother, 97, knows a bit more about the history. I'm going to sit with her this Christmas and document what she knows. I had not really had the opportunity in the past. Last Thanksgiving she said something about it having belonged to a friend of the family who played in an orchstra. I need more details and hope to learn more this week...

Happy Holidays!

Jim

That's amazing...I can't help but drool...I'm shocked...Nice guitar!!!!

The depression comes from you saying you haven't had strings on her for 20 years, and the bridge coming off!!! Eeek! Here come the tears again.... :*(


Sit down with her and pick her brain!! Then tell me everything, heh heh!


NICE guitar, take care of her...


Happy Holidays to you too! Have a blessed Christmas...


Joshua


Ps- Hey, where talking about a 100-150 year old Martin parlor guitar here...Continents don't mean a thang bro... :-)

I just uploaded a couple of full shots that I seemed to forget to put in the folder. I sent them to Martin yesterday to see if I could narrow the age window somewhat. The Luthier said that sometimes they can tell by the woods used or other construction clues to get a better idea about the date. There are no serial numbers on the guitar to go by and it may have been a custom made as well that further complicates dating it.

I'll report what I know later in the week but I think I'm probably going to have to do a bit more research after talking to my Grandmother. I want as much details about the history to preserve that as well as the guitar for future generations.

Jim

I gonna do a synonym search for synonyms for beautiful....This tune deserves it!


Ok, Beautiful is the only word, absolutely beautiful, Kirk!!!


Merry Christmas to you and yours! Happy Holidays, Kirk!!


Joshua

Nice track, kirk. Very well played as usual. Merry Christmas.

Bernardo