Crude instrument kits - 1970s

[ksdaddy]

In the mid 70s I stumbled on a store in Orono, ME run by an old hippie. I don't recall what all was sold there but the theme was do-it-yourself crafts and 'back to the land living' type stuff. Stuff you'd find in the Lehmans catalog. They carried a line of instrument kits, very crude and rustic. They had a peach box guitar, dulcimer, banjo, and maybe others. The pieces were rough cut; the bandsaw stuff was done but required a good deal of hand work and you could end up with a cobbled together piece of junk or a semi-usable instrument, depending on how much time you wanted to spend on it.

 

Does anyone remember these kits? Somewhere there's probably a back room full of them and I think they would be an exellent rite of passage for anyone even considering building a guitar.

 

My first instrument was made from one of these kits:

 

My kit dulcimer

 

And there's a finished banjo from one of those kits on ebay right now:

 

Kit banjo

 

Seems like the company that put the kits out was one of those little hippie companies fom the 70s, complete with mimeographed instructions.

 

Any recollections?

[L5Larry]

Kits of this nature must have slipped right by me in the fog of the 70's.

[TommyK]

I remember them.

 

Kits seem to be a dying childhood item. Heathkit is no more. Have you tried to buy a styrene car or airplane model lately? A couple weeks ago, we bought a car for our grandson. That sucker was $18.00! Sad thing is the selections in all stores, if they had them, were puny. More than half were snap-to-gether, no glue, no paint, just snap and decal. Great for the beginner, but absolutely no challenge, no detail.

 

True enough I used to lurk in a somewhat local hobby shop, that sold primarily model cars, boats, planes and the like. I haven't been there in years. I should stop in next time up that way. Most of the big box 'Hobby Shops' cater to the .... ahem... female side of hobbies. They have bric-a-brac you can paint, flowers to decorate with and needle point, but model cars and planes? very few if any. Model rockets are becoming difficult to find in stores.

 

Is it any wonder why kids today have no patience? no pride in workmanship? and carpal tunnel in their thumbs?

 

Stewart-Mac Donald is the only outlet I know of that sells serious musical instrument kits. But these take a fairly advanced skill set to assemble into a usable instrument. Definitely not for the young beginner.

 

I've have a music education supply catalog around here from several years ago. It had a couple you-make-it instrument kits, one was a dulcimer. The body was essentially a cereal box deal, you folded up, inserted a couple tabs into slots, glued and strung up, painting optional. Functional, taught a lesson, but not a serious instrument.

[ksdaddy]

I used to build models cars when I was a kid, back when AMT, Revell, and MPC were king. Two bucks plus tax would get you a 1/25 car. If money was tight you could get selected unsold MPC 1/25 cars for under a buck at Woolworths.

 

In 1985 or 86 I bought one of those cast metal 1/25 kits of a 1931 Ford. The metal had a lot of flashing and casting marks and required a great deal of filing and smoothing. There were some plastic parts but not many. I found a full page ad in the November 1930 issue of the Delineator, showing an identical 1931 Ford Tudor in brown/black. My goal was to finish the model identical to the ad and make a shadow box for the car with the ad in the background.

 

Never did finish it but I found it in the attic. The paint is scuffed up and should be redone. Oh well. 25 years late? No problem. I'll put it on the list.

 

A couple years ago a scrap piece of cedar landed on the workbench and I decided there was a biplane in there somewhere. I've got it in an apothecary cabinet in my office now.

 

No plans, just an idea.

 

[TommyK]

If memory serves me right, I was a card carrying member of the MPC Master Model Builders Club of America. It garnered me the aforementioned card and some model building tools that were almost usable.

 

I do remember the "Testors" brand bottles of model paint. 1 oz, maybe. They went from 10¢, to 15¢, to 19¢ in one summer!. One astute young man who read the papers, noticed that it happened during the Nixon "Price Freeze" era. He complained through the right channels. The Nixon administration, to my recollection, took Testors to task, but I don't remember what exactly happened to Testors for breaking federal law.

 

I had built most of the car models they had offered. Every one of the Corvette models through 1978, when I lost interest. Actually, I may have a 1/16 scale version of the 25th anniversary special partially assembled stuffed up in the rafters at home.

 

I did a semi tractor and trailer. Even a Deuce Coupe that glowed in the dark.

 

I currently have a NIB unopened the Beverly Hill Billies truck, not the new one but the original series. Don't know what exactly to do with it. Keep it unopened or put it together?

[ksdaddy]

Sell it on ebay. In 2001 I bought a big box of unbuilt or partially built models at a yard sale for five bucks. There were a few odd car toys in there and a complete set of Charlie's Angels bubble gum cards. I think I made about $300 on that crap. Some models went for $30 and $40.

[Murph]

Is it any wonder why kids today have no patience? no pride in workmanship? and carpal tunnel in their thumbs?

 

Stewart-Mac Donald is the only outlet I know of that sells serious musical instrument kits. But these take a fairly advanced skill set to assemble into a usable instrument. Definitely not for the young beginner.

 

I think the Carvin "Bolt Kit" just screws together, maybe a few solder joints, but you have to finish the body. Pretty simple and a decent guitar.

[TommyK]

In the town where I grew up there was a variety store whose owners had passed away years ago. Their son was the only heir. They say he was a bit 'off'. :- 'They' also say he was in the store every day since the funeral, but never, ever unlocked the front door. Among other things, there were some model kits visible from the front window that I just longed after. Probably from the 1940s or 1950's.

 

I was back there a few years ago, the son, by then an old man, had died and the store cleared out and some other business was in there. I'll have to ask Dad what ever happened to the stuff.