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Author Topic: New parlor guitar  (Read 4331 times)

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Offline ozrkreb

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  • Posts: 51
New parlor guitar
« on: June 09, 2008, 05:41:07 PM »
I figured you guys would appreciate this story.

My brother and I went to downtown Springfield, MO this past Friday to do some busking. He plays the washboard and I play the National.....we always have a great time. We had a little time to kill before people started coming out so we decided to go hit some flea markets and antique stores. We stopped by a little shop on Boonville street and started looking around. They didn't have anything we were interested in so we were going to leave quickly, but I decided to ask the guy if he had any old guitars laying around. He said he had purchased an old "crappy" guitar at the auction of Boxcar Willie's collection in 1999 just after Boxcar had died. He pulled out an old Toledo parlor guitar. The thing is fantastic.....it has an old ornate hand-carved bridge with hand-carved pegs. I asked him how much he wanted for it.....he said $50, I offered $40, he countered with $45, and I slapped the money on the table. He told me that most of the stuff at the auction had gone for a lot, but nobody seemed to want that old parlor so he got it cheap.

I've been admiring it over the past couple of days. It had a few things rattling around in it so I turned it over and was shaking it around. After a couple of minutes of shaking I noticed something way down in there stuck to the wood. I fished it out and it turned out to be a hand-written note that said, "Boxcar's First Guitar."

Az
My hook's on bottom, but my cork's on top

Offline Mr.OMuck

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    • MuckOVision
Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #1 on: June 09, 2008, 09:10:54 PM »
Hows about a picture of this here Boxcar Willie artifact?
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MuckOVision

Offline Parlor Picker

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  • Aloha
Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #2 on: June 10, 2008, 01:30:20 AM »
Given the location, I'm surprised Homer Simpson didn't get there first - but he probably thought Boxcar Willie was a nasty disease.

But seriously folks, what a great story and please post pictures.
"I ain't good looking, teeth don't shine like pearls,
So glad good looks don't take you through this world."
Barbecue Bob

Offline ozrkreb

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  • Posts: 51
Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #3 on: June 10, 2008, 07:30:00 AM »
I took a picture.....haven't added pictures to a post yet, so this may not work.
My hook's on bottom, but my cork's on top

Offline Slack

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Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2008, 07:53:30 AM »
It looks like it has been stored for decades in a barrel of manure!   :D

Congrats, do you plan to restore?


Offline Mr.OMuck

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Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2008, 02:35:25 PM »
Beauty! The manure comment reminds me of Robertson Davies' Lyre of Orpheus. If you haven't read it you'll enjoy the instrument restoration technique described therein.
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MuckOVision

Offline uncle bud

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Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #6 on: June 10, 2008, 07:11:16 PM »
First mention of Robertson Davies on WeenieCampbell deserves a tag.  :P If only to confuse people.

Davies, Homer Simpson and Boxcar Willie in the same thread. An Internet first, I'd guess.

Congrats on the acquisition, ozrkreb!
« Last Edit: June 10, 2008, 07:13:04 PM by andrew »

Offline Mike Brosnan

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  • Posts: 376
Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #7 on: June 11, 2008, 01:49:15 PM »
You lucky dog!  Congratulations! 

Hug the ozarks for me, wouldjya?  I do miss them so...  (I lived near Gainesville for four years). 

Mike

Offline Dave in Tejas

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    • David Newton Guitars
Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #8 on: June 12, 2008, 12:50:14 PM »
Yeah, a barrel of manure inside a boxcar.
And please don't clean it, you won't have anything left!
Anything you can to to get it playable and new strings, but don't clean the crud off...

Offline ozrkreb

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Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #9 on: June 13, 2008, 09:55:55 AM »
I don't plan on cleaning it up. I might have if there was no Boxcar association, but I'm going to leave it alone.

If you think it looks bad in the picture, you ought to see it in person......it's fantastically filthy. In the process of shaking it, something like a giant hair/lint ball fell out.....I put it back in.

I actually found another old parlor at Third Eye Guitars that day.....I may have that one fixed up a little. I've kept my eyes open for parlor guitars for years and only found a few....in one day, I found two.

Az

Here's a closeup of the bridge and more filth.
My hook's on bottom, but my cork's on top

Offline Dave in Tejas

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    • David Newton Guitars
Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #10 on: June 13, 2008, 10:10:29 AM »
Oh my gosh, look at that! Baling wire. I wonder if that bridge is original? Maybe Willie whittled that, you think?
Az, hair-balls don't count for originality, you can maybe can that.

Offline Mr.OMuck

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Re: New parlor guitar
« Reply #11 on: June 13, 2008, 02:33:42 PM »
Why isn't anyone making bridges that beautiful nowadays?
My loathings are simple: stupidity, oppression, crime, cruelty, soft music.
Vladimir Nabokov (1899 - 1977)

http://www.youtube.com/user/MuckOVision

 


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