PrairieDog

Just last week I signed up for imgur. You upload your pictures from your device there, then there are links with a copy button along the side that you paste in your post in the forum. I usually have to try several before I hit the right one that shows the photo. Make sure down at the bottom of the imgur page the size is “original” rather than one of the thumbnail versions. If you go to the top of the general forum here, I think there is also a pinned post that talks about how to post pics.

Well, the gloriously green guitar is going to the 14 yo niece. We didn’t do it for Christmas because we would have violated “gift value parity” with her brother, but we showed a pic of it to her and her eyes did light up and she gave us a little half smile and nearly a head nod when we asked if she would like it. Which equates to a huge acknowledgement we might have finally scored some points with her. For years we have sat while she (and her brother) literally has thrown our presents over her shoulder after unwrapping them without even looking at us. Between them, in 17 years we have yet to receive an unparental-prompted “thank you” for anything we’ve given: xmas, birthdays, out of the blue surprises. Anyway, it looks like she might enjoy the guitar, so we will deliver it later this week. Maybe next year we will get a thank you for a Christmas gift. After yesterday, we’re still batting zero. And who knows, maybe I can trade for the beautiful lap harp/zither I had made for her years ago when she said she wanted to learn to music that just got pitched aside, nearly stepped on, and never played.

Happy New Year, y’all. It’s been fun spending part of this last one with you and looking to more good times ahead!

Well, the guitar is probably is wondering, “What the heck was that?” and is glad to be back home, chuckle. Seriously, I am currently in love with our unexpected used 2019 Taylor Ltd Sinker 714ce we weren’t looking for, but just fell into. I can’t believe the sound that comes out of it. I was not a Taylor fan until this year. They can make some incredible instruments. My DIF, who is used to being queen bee, is getting a bit miffed with all the attention directed at the new kid.

Didn’t he try to use a silicon based product on a nitro finish? I hope someone else who knows chimes in, but it seemed the consensus was plain old mineral spirits type was the way to go. I’m curious if anyone has a problem with the Gibson branded version? I know it’s a huge mark up over the pennies for a can at the hardware store but I got a bottle along with my first guitar from GC. I’ve been using it occasionally with no problems. But I notice no one ever mentions it.

I don’t have any checked guitars (yet, chuckle) but assuming they are like other old wood products with broken finishes (that I do know something about) the most important thing to remember is to put the cleaner/polish lightly ON THE CLOTH! Never spray right on your target where the wet can get down into the tiny cracks and lift them. Put up some pics, inquiring minds want to admire 🙂

Congratulations on the new guitar, sounds like a good one! And fwiw, I’m glad you asked. I’d like to know too for when the comes and I need to know. The search engine here is so difficult with the silly time limits on retrying if you don’t get your answer on the first hit, I don’t begrudge anyone asking questions that may have been answered before. I never can find anything.

Well, he’s a good lookin’ fellow. I gotta admit, being of that age, the first lick I’ve learned is the opening bars to Dueling Banjos. Lol. I need to get my rolls down to get the break mastered, but it had to be done. I have now gone back in correct order and am learning Cripple Creek just like every newbie is required to from what I can tell from all the online tutorials and “how to learn banjo” books. 😄

Okay to borrow another thread title: “you know you are getting old when” when reading “the jack hole was already drilled int the guitar from before I bought it 50 years ago” your first thought is, “why the heck would someone be drilling jack holes before there were electrified guitars?!” 😆 I know, I know….back for more coffee….

Ah, I thought you were having issues with how it sounded. If it sounds great, why mess with what you paid for? I understand tweaking electrics, that is an industry unto itself, but acoustics are so individual to woods and build used, it seems a shame to shake up the combo that you liked enough to buy.

I’d let it settle in before you start tweaking. It’s going to take some time to come into its full voice, to really open up. Folks keep saying it here, and I have experienced myself now, you can play 5 different guitars of the same model and they all sound different. I’m sure it all has a lot to do with chance of when you walk in, and how long since it’s been since any of them came off the truck. Also, humidity, how much it was played in the store, age of strings, etc. Depending on where you are, the mid and higher end guitars can languish at GC for months, this gives them more time to settle in when you try them out. The J45 I first played at GC had no tone at all, just dead. The guys here told me it sounded like it was wet and try others. Tried the same one again four months later, it was sweet and hard to put back on the rack. I suggest you just let it get adjusted to your place and see what happens before you start tweaking. This is the reason GC gives you that 45 day return. We picked up a gorgeous sounding 2019 NAMM Taylor Ltd that thrilled in the store but it sounded like a lead pipe in our house. We were so disappointed, figuring we had been swayed by acoustics in the special room our shop has for the better guitars. We set it aside, intending to take it back. Picked it up a few weeks later to get ready to return it, and honest to god, angels sang out of it. (Don’t tell my DIF, but now it’s my favorite sounding guitar. ) There was nothing wrong with it after all. It just needed to rearrange itself to fit in the new digs.

☺️ and a good razz it is. But seriously, for someone who loves making music, I have a near phobia about drawing attention to myself. Reason my early promising career never launched. I had folks interested, but when it got down to it, the stage fright had me quit entirely rather than take the risk. Of course, at 17, I really believed death from embarrassment was a thing. Decades older, I’m getting better. I even got up and sang a decent few songs at a trad song a capella meet up. As much as regaining my finger chops I’m working on quashing the bugaboos, and even looking forward to jamming with our friends this summer on the deck without hyperventilating 😄

Thanks Sparq! Yeah, I can’t believe this is, “My first banjo!” I can’t put it down. thanks for the encouragement about the situation, too. Being new here, I gotta ask, you seem hip to banjos, do you play? I was going to post over in the banjo area, but that room seems kinda quiet these days.

🤣 You hit the nail on my head! I’m so shy about playing out loud, note it’s the open back version, already quieter compared to the resos, and I can even stuff a towel in it to mute it more, if needed. Plus I’m playing with my fingerpads instead of picks. Practically can’t hear myself, much less anyone being offended outside the music room, even with the pass through hole in the wall 😆

Loved them, Very sad. I’ll confess, Tommy was the brother I felt closest too, being mostly a comical dweeb myself.

Well, there we go! Elderly came through, and their great rep is justified. Last night we heard back with a modest offer that we hadn’t been able to reply to yet. Before we could, on their own, they sent a new note, offering a more sizable adjustment (bringing it closer to the 2019 price) and a very kind acknowledgment there was a disconnect in the listing and apologizing for the confusion it caused. It is an excellent, much appreciated resolution, we are very happy and won’t worry about doing business with them again. Thanks everyone for the comments, both the reassuring and the “that’s a problem” ones, chuckle . Knowing we weren’t just being “those people”, but they would likely do right helped keep everything from rolling off the rails. Another reason why you all are a good group of people. I just realized I never paid the image tax. Here’s the Possum: Cherry rim and neck, persimmon tone ring and fretboard, raw brass hardware. With lovely simple purfling and binding details. Everything is sourced and made here, from the woods, down to the specialty machined hardware. Pisgah makes a point to partner with small local vendors for all their supplies and gear. A really great shop if you are ever looking for a banjo.

Score!!! Merry Christmas to you. I have the odd distinction of never having been to a drive-in. Not on purpose, there were plenty around when I was of the age, just never got it in my wheelhouse. Now I’m kinda bummed I can’t play “remember when?”

Yep, probably the reason I can be so sanguine about it all since Patrick pointed that bit out.

Well, it was such a spectacular, unexpected gift the shine polishes all blame off the sweet banjo itself (don’t punish the kids because the uncle is a cad). Plus it doesn’t reflect on Pisgah at all. Patrick has been really cool about helping and answering questions through the whole purchase and after. And again, there will always be lots of places to spend our money. And it wasn’t like it was supposed to be a “deal,” if you want one, you pay full price, they are so sought after. So we have to consider, the price paid was the price we were willing to pay. That is why an adjustment for the condition would be a nice gesture, but it’s not really mandatory. They shipped a warrantied instrument in the build paid for, it only had been hanging around a long time and was a bit shop worn. I’m telling myself if it was the prime rib I bought, they’d call it “dry aged” and charge a premium for it, chuckle.

We hear ya. At the moment we are there, if they come back today with good news, maybe we will get to remember them for correcting what might have been an honest mistake. Since they obviously had 2022 stock at some point based on the pic, they may have kept the listing at the current price list without checking which instrument was getting shipped. I can see that happening. Hope still springs eternal. However, the dubious voice reminds us they said, “they were going to check with Pisgah about the date.” Uhhh, don’t they have the stocking date for that SN in their inventory books?

Nod. Retail is a tough gig. I don’t envy what stores have to deal with, especially at Christmas. Like I said, we’re sorta hoping they will do a good turn to make it up, everybody says they are a great company to work with. Otherwise, in the grand scheme of things, life could certainly be much worse.

You summed it up exactly. We will see what they come back with.

Nod, I appreciate the comment. You touched on the thing that does irk. It was listed at the 2023 price, a markup from what they paid in 2019. We just got a nice but non-committal response from Elderly, they are going to check with Pisgah on the actual build date, along with a comment to just go ahead and buff the fingerprints out, like we wouldn’t think of or understand that fingerprints happen. They didn’t seem to grasp, and didn’t look at the photo, that it wasn’t that kind of normal, expected smudging. The acids had actually etched into the metal and 0000 steel wool and some work was required to spiff it back up, (at Pisgah’s direction it was okay to do, since it is raw brass). We heard Elderly was known for taking care to freshen up instruments, making sure they were right before shipping them out. This looked like they had just pulled it out of the garage and boxed it up. Anyway, as I mentioned above, I have it now. I hate to give it back. Patrick confirmed is the same build as a newer one, other than now he has a label with the model and SN inside the rim. I might ask if he could just send one along, since we don’t have any other official documentation for it. He also mentioned as one good thing, this one is settled in now, where a new one would take some time to come into its own, so that is a plus. I’m not sure at this point the iffy issues with Elderly would be worth the hassle of returning and the long wait to get a new one. If they come back with some kindness, they’ll have loyal customers. Otherwise, there are other places to shop. We just really wanted to love them like everyone else does.

Thanks Guys, So we thought to check with Patrick at Pisgah (super nice guy). He said he shipped that one to Elderly in 2019 and it hasn’t been registered yet in their books, so the warranty is ours. Talking it over with him, perhaps the short scale neck might be the reason it lingered. Short is absolutely fine with me, my stretch isn’t what it used to be. We sent a note to Elderly at Patrick’s suggestion. He thought it did sound a bit shopworn and thought they might make an adjustment since it had to be touched up, not to mention the strings are pretty well aged looking closely at them. While it will be great if they offer a consideration, we are mostly relieved Patrick gave us the thumbs up everything looked right from his records. Plucking on!

Thanks Dave