Rick Homan
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Con Man's Son
    • Dark Mural
    • Dark Exhibit
    • Dark Picasso
    • Dark Portrait
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Books
    • The Con Man's Son
    • Dark Mural
    • Dark Exhibit
    • Dark Picasso
    • Dark Portrait
  • Blog
  • Bio
  • Contact

This Old Guitar, 94115

5/1/2015

5 Comments

 
Picture
I have some history with this little guitar. Back in 2010, my friend Liz sent me a link with a message: "Have you seen this cool old guitar on eBay?" I wrote back, "Yeah, I just bought it." 


It wasn't in great shape when it arrived:
Picture
Along with the back coming off and the finish damaged, there were pieces rattling around inside it and other parts were missing.


With the help of the legendary Frank Ford and the fine folks at his repair forum I learned that this instrument was made in the 1920's, and that this meant it was put together with hide glue and finished with shellac. Hide glue holds wood together very well and releases with heat and moisture. So, it was easy to take it apart and glue it back together: 
Picture
Shellac protects wood really well and dissolves in alcohol, so it is easy to repair a shellac finish by wiping some new shellac over it:
Picture
So, after some glue, some shellac, and replacing a few missing parts, I had a nice playable guitar -- so nice that my friend Liz offered to buy it from me, and I sold it to her. She has enjoyed it and been a faithful custodian for the past five years. 


Lately, she has become a fan of the ukulele and pony banjo, which made me suspect that this old guitar was not getting much playing time. So, I offered to buy it back from her. This week, we sealed the deal when I handed her a check and we sat down and played and sang "Milwaukee Blues" and "Blue Mountain Lake," she with her little, nylon-string banjo, and I with my guitar.  
5 Comments

    Dark Stories

    by
    ​Rick Homan

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Art
    Books On Writing
    Movies
    Movies & TV Index
    Nicole's World
    Noir
    Novels
    Novels Index
    Presidio
    Publishing
    San Francisco
    San Francisco Index
    Writing

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    January 2018
    October 2017
    July 2017
    March 2017
    December 2016
    September 2016
    July 2016
    April 2016
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    July 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014

Proudly powered by Weebly