Ogd & oud

Just had an Old Guitar Day and an Old Ukulele Day, being the winning auction bidder on a Harmony H950T and a Giannini Baritone Ukulele. The Harmony is a Monterey Leader tenor guitar and the finish is a 9 on a 10 scale. It came with a DeArmond Archtop Guitar Mike Pickup, known as a "Jazzbox Monkey on a Stick."

The pickup has a date of 1953, and I suspect the guitar is from the same period, as it has no ferrules on the tuners. The pickup connection is the old Hi-Z mike connector. It's really a pretty guitar. I anticipate placing the guitar and the pickup on CL in a couple-few weeks, after I play with it awhile, lol. The sustain from the solid birch body is absolutely incredible, and it's plain to see why the values on these old Harmony guitars remain strong.

The Giannini is almost pristine, with a one-piece top. It has a good neck, and I think I can lower the action to make it even a better player than it already is. My only problem is that the strings are closer together than on my other baritone, and my fat fingers keep fighting with each other to fit on the frets. The Giannini is from 1977; so it's 38 years old, but it looks like it just came from the factory.

It's a good thing I was around to save these beauties for posterity

You tricked me here. I saw "Ogd & oud" and I thought the thread would be about o'uds (ancestral lutes) and some weird Arab variant called an og'd. Hah.

The only old 'uke I have is a 1920's Varsity (Gretsch) banjo-'uke with a 13.5-inch violin-size neck. I guess that qualifies for OUD. My oldest guitar is much younger and thus unfit for OGD. How about OMD (my 1919 Gretsch banjo-mandolin fits) or OTD (for my 1920's Martin? tiple). For OCD I'd nominate my 1950's Scholer concertina. For OHD I have a couple of ancient harmonicas, 1930's at least. I barely dare to touch those to my lips. For OWD I have a REALLY ancient Mayan bird whistle. At least the guy who sold it swore it was pre-Columbian. Right. And for OVD I bought a beater fiddle last week for US$20 that is marked inside ANTONIUS STRADIUARIUS CREMONEUS ANNO 1737. D'ya think that one is a keeper?

Anyway, this could lead to an interesting thread: WHAT IS YOUR OLDEST INSTRUMENT?

I think you have me beat for OI's (Old Instruments). My oldest is the Stromberg-Voisinet guitar shown in another thread, made sometime in the 20's. It's fun making music with instrument voices that are 50 to 100 years old.

Farp said:

I think you have me beat for OI's (Old Instruments). My oldest is the Stromberg-Voisinet guitar shown in another thread, made sometime in the 20's. It's fun making music with instrument voices that are 50 to 100 years old.

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Yes it is. My tiple is a trip! The old banjo-'uke and -mando are encrusted with age. They'll all hit the century mark in a few years. Old harmonicas aren't so great. But my Clarke tinwhistle, even though only a couple decades old, is essentially the same as one that rolled out of the crafter's back in 1830. Sheet steel doesn't age like wood.

So another question might be: Which of your instruments has the oldest sound? Dang, I should have kept that conch shell.