Should I dump it in the trash?

[floatingpickup]

I once met a guy who found a vintage D’Angelico New Yorker in a dumpster. No kidding. He showed it to me and let me play it. It was a beauty.
Keith

[AlsoRan]

A man left his banjo in the back seat of his car. When he got back he found the window smashed and there were 2 banjos in there.

Now that we got the obligatory banjo joke out of the way, someone will take it for free.
Everyone loves free. Or just donate it, I'd have a hard time just trashing it.

God that was funny!

[floatingpickup]

Two banjo players got a New Years Eve gig in a bar. At the end of the night, the bar owner asked them if they would be interested in doing it again next New Years Eve. They said…
We’d love to…is ok if we leave our gear set up?
Keith

[wintermoon]

Two banjo players got a New Years Eve gig in a bar. At the end of the night, the bar owner asked them if they would be interested in doing it again next New Years Eve. They said…
We’d love to…is ok if we leave our gear set up?
Keith

last time I heard that one it was trombone players

[wintermoon]

I once met a guy who found a vintage D’Angelico New Yorker in a dumpster. No kidding. He showed it to me and let me play it. It was a beauty.
Keith

maybe this is the same one I saw @ a guitar show except the guy told me the owners had been using it as a wall ornament before dumping it in the trash

[floatingpickup]

last time I heard that one it was trombone players

I think it was originally an accordion joke. It works for accordions, trombones and banjos though!
Keith

[floatingpickup]

maybe this is the same one I saw @ a guitar show except the guy told me the owners had been using it as a wall ornament before dumping it in the trash

I know of another one that was hanging on the wall in a restaurant with all the hardware gone. It was a cutaway Excel. A friend of mine bought it but he would not share any info about what he had to pay for it, so I expect it wasn’t a lot. He was extremely secretive, so I don’t think it was ever at a guitar show. I saw the dumpster D’A at a guitar show (Arlington, I think?) but the guy didn’t know anything about where it came from or how it ended up in a dumpster. He said that a bystander told him there were two guitar cases in the dumpster and someone had just taken the other one moments before.
Keith

[wintermoon]

that sounds about right, maybe I got those 2 stories mixed up

[sgosnell]

Damn, Bela Fleck is looking a lot older than he did the last time I checked on him. About 30 years or so ago.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

maybe this is the same one I saw @ a guitar show except the guy told me the owners had been using it as a wall ornament before dumping it in the trash

I don't know what you guys saw, but I do have a true and verifiable D'A story that's absolutely heartwarming.

An old friend who's played guitar and harmonica for some world class blues artists over the years is a house painter by day. Years ago while painting a house, he spotted a D'A on a stand in one of the bedrooms of the house he was painting that belonged to an elderly woman. He complimented her on the beautiful guitar and she told him it was her husband's pride and joy until he died a few years before. She asked if he'd like to play it, which of course he did - and it was a wonderful guitar. She told him she was saving it for someone who would appeciate it like her husband did, and she asked if he'd like to buy it. He told her he couldn't afford it, and she countered with how much she wanted him to have it. As I recall, she said something like "Can you afford $300?"

Rich is a truly fine and honorable guy. So he told her it was worth a lot more - and she said that she didn't care. She wanted him to have it and was firm on her $300 price (which may have been $200 or $400 - I don't remember the exact number). Yes, he bought it.

[wintermoon]

Close Dave, you're talking about my very close friend RY (let's keep his full name on the down low)
He was painting the house w a co worker who alerted him to the NYer in the house.
He offered 3500 and said it it would be worth more if it had the case and pickguard, so she knocked it down to 3K
The late great John Zeidler (another very close friend) restored it. I was there when he took delivery of the restored guitar but sadly RY had to sell it down the road.

[blille]

I prefer the $300 story.

[wintermoon]

I prefer the $300 story.

Not me, even though he still got an unbelievable deal, at least the old woman got a semi decent deal for a guitar collecting dust, win-win imo.
Many w no conscience would try to steal it for as low a price as possible. I've been in that situation many times and couldn't rip the owner off.

[Robertito]

I would buy it, but I'm not near you at all. I like the suggestion of taking it to a music store; they would probably be able to match it with someone who can use it.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Close Dave, you're talking about my very close friend RY (let's keep his full name on the down low)
He was painting the house w a co worker who alerted him to the NYer in the house.
He offered 3500 and said it it would be worth more if it had the case and pickguard, so she knocked it down to 3K
The late great John Zeidler (another very close friend) restored it. I was there when he took delivery of the restored guitar but sadly RY had to sell it down the road.

Yeah - I knew Rich sold it. But I was 99% sure that he told me that he got it for 3 figures. I ran into him at a Philly Guitar Show not that long after he got it - which was, of course, so long ago that I'm probably remembering it as I wanted it to have been. And I did not know that he had John restore it - I was under the impression it was in very fine shape.

Philly's rich with fine people who make and play fine guitars very well! I (and probably you) also know the guy who owns, loves, and plays (very well) Zeidler archtop #1. JD's another wonderful guy who loves fine guitars. And John Z was also a fine person as well as a wonderful artist. I was once browsing South Street Pawn more than 25 years ago when I spotted a Zeidler 12 string in the guitar rack at the back of the store. It was not in great shape and played very badly. But I knew it was rare and figured it was worth a call to John. He told me that he knew it well because it was one of the first of a very few 12s that he ever made. He told me not to buy it - I believe his exact words were "it's been so badly treated, cared for, and repaired over the years that I couldn't make it right for any amount of money".

[wintermoon]

Yeah - I knew Rich sold it. But I was 99% sure that he told me that he got it for 3 figures. I ran into him at a Philly Guitar Show not that long after he got it - which was, of course, so long ago that I'm probably remembering it as I wanted it to have been. And I did not know that he had John restore it - I was under the impression it was in very fine shape.

Philly's rich with fine people who make and play fine guitars very well! I (and probably you) also know the guy who owns, loves, and plays (very well) Zeidler archtop #1. JD's another wonderful guy who loves fine guitars. And John Z was also a fine person as well as a wonderful artist. I was once browsing South Street Pawn more than 25 years ago when I spotted a Zeidler 12 string in the guitar rack at the back of the store. It was not in great shape and played very badly. But I knew it was rare and figured it was worth a call to John. He told me that he knew it well because it was one of the first of a very few 12s that he ever made. He told me not to buy it - I believe his exact words were "it's been so badly treated, cared for, and repaired over the years that I couldn't make it right for any amount of money".

Yeah, it had been left out exposed for yrs and the center seam of the back had separated. John took the back off and reglued it. It also needed a neck reset. But out of all the restorations I ever saw John execute that was the best, probably even better than my NYer and that's saying something, you couldn't tell it had been touched. btw a friend in N Jersey found out about that 12 string and had me pick it up and deliver it to him. He knew about all the repairs including the badly cracked headstock but wanted it despite me warning him.

ps, I met John right after he finished #1 and ordered mine from a pic of it which ended up being #3. #2 was ordered by local guitarist "SG" who sold it after he brought it back to John for repair. John reamed him out for not taking care of it, so he decided to sell it and go back to his Koontz. It was offered to me through a well known and respected NY dealer friend but I already had a newer one by then. Pete Bernstein has had it for nearly 20 yrs now and you'd have to kill him to pry it out of his hands. It's his Brown Betty as he calls it. John wanted to make Pete a new one but got sick and couldn't do it so Pete wound up w #2.

A very nice fellow in the Far East recently purchased my old #3 and contacted me. He's a fine young player that's largely influenced by PB, so it's in good hands and cool for me to finally know where it ended up 30 yrs after I sold it.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

btw a friend in N Jersey found out about that 12 string and had me pick it up deliver it to him. He knew about all the repairs including the badly cracked headstock but wanted it despite me warning him.

.....which brings this thread back to the beginning: One man's trash is another's treasure, and so is that banjo bag!

[Spook410]

- I once went to a large bluegrass open acoustic jam. Players on stage were mic'd but there was a curved row of seats just out from the base of the stage. It was full of banjo players. Maybe 6 or 7. They sat out there and played along with what was going on on stage. Along with a few guitar and mando players you couldn't hear. The sound they collectively made was, I'm pretty sure, a precursor to The End of Western Music As We Now Know It (TEWMAWNK in the prepper community)

- Bag goes in the attic. Banjo will turn up. They always do.

- Bela Fleck.. one of my favorite musicians. Suggestions: 'Two' with Chick Corea, 'Tales from the Acoustic Planet'. The latter is probably not what you're expecting. Great album.

[Bobby Timmons]

I ordered an ET dvd for $4 because I remember a kind of profound 80s atmosphere from watching it as a kid. Put it on and after a minute or 2 of the protagonist waddling around and squealing, I threw that shit in the trash lol.

[Woody Sound]

maybe this is the same one I saw @ a guitar show except the guy told me the owners had been using it as a wall ornament before dumping it in the trash

True story: I bought an L5 for $100. The guy had drilled a 1/2" hole through the headstock to hang it on the wall. My tech guy fixed it up nicely. I then traded it in on a Loar L5 from Gruhn.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

True story: I bought an L5 for $100. The guy had drilled a 1/2" hole through the headstock to hang it on the wall.

……thus the origin of the old saying, “I need that like a hole in the headstock”!

[Woody Sound]

Even for free, no inquiries so far.

Free Banjo Gig Bag - musical instruments - by owner - sale

[Woody Sound]

last time I heard that one it was trombone players

Kinda funny, I've done two shows in a row now on jazz plectrum banjo, and in both productions they sat me and the trombone player right next to each other off to the side. I think it was for spacing logistics, the long banjo neck needs room to the left, and the trombone slide needs room in front, but it does make you wonder. (BTW, in both shows the bone players were both awesome women players.)

[stevo58]

You really need to put this up on the Banjo Hangout.


Steven

[DRS]

What's the difference between a dead snake on the road and a dead banjo player on the road?
The snake had a gig to go to.