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| Moderated by: Tony Provencher, Richard Hefner |
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| lucky finds? | Rate Topic |
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| Posted: Sat May 8th, 2004 04:23 am |
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1st Post |
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uncburr Approved 
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I'm interested in knowing any good stories about how you acquired your banjo. Did anyone find one at a flea market, yard sale, etc for dirt cheap? I have this dream that someday I'll come across that once in a lifetime find at some flea market stand and pay next to nothing. I guess I came pretty close because my fiance found one at an antique store for $80----good little banjo. No name, open back, old---but its got a really nice plunk to it for clawhammer. It especially sounds good in double C tuning. I'm interested in other stories!
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| Posted: Sun May 9th, 2004 03:42 am |
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2nd Post |
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GreasyStrings Approved 
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Well, I dont know if this is a lucky find or not, but when my brother bought his Gold Tone White Layde, I kind of inherited his Deering Goodtime Special. Of course, I wasted no time removing the resonator and it has turned out to be a charming open back. Oh, and if you come across a sweet banjo for cheap at a flea market or what not...have you met my friend George Washington?  
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| Posted: Sun May 9th, 2004 10:07 am |
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3rd Post |
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Richard Hefner Administrator 
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I haven't found any good banjo deals at flea markets and yard sales but have found some other pretty good instruments, all at yard sales... Back about 20 years ago I bought a Silvertone archtop acoustic guitar for 50 cents. It played nicely and looked good except for a pretty bad crack in the back that I never got fixed. A couple years ago I bought a pretty nice German made fiddle for around 5 bucks (I don't remember for sure). I just dug it out of the closet a couple of weeks ago when Banjo Brad was talking about the fiddle and I'm planning on getting it fixed up soon (the bridge was missing and it only has 1 string). My best yard sale find was in May of 2001. I was looking through a box of old records and saw an old autoharp instruction album. I asked the lady if she had an autoharp to go with it. She said she did. I asked if she had any other musical instruments. She said "I've got a bunch of old ukuleles." The ukes weren't great ones but I bought them and that's what got me started playing the uke. I ended up with 3 old Harmony ukes, an Aria baritone uke, and the autoharp, all for about 50 bucks I think. 
____________________ Richard Hefner MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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| Posted: Sun Aug 1st, 2004 03:26 pm |
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4th Post |
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TB11 Approved
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I didn't but a very good friend of mine did,garage sale 1936 TB11 Gibson with original case in 1985 for $50.00. He has been very sick the past couple of years and came to me in Feb. and wanted me to have the banjo before he passes. I asked what he wanted for it he said $550.00 and he knew what it was worth,it is a power house of a banjo.
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| Posted: Tue Aug 3rd, 2004 10:46 am |
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5th Post |
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Richard Hefner Administrator
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Just when I was about to give up on yard sales! I guess you just never know if you don't get out there and look around. Wonder why anybody would sell a 1936 Gibson banjo at a yard sale?
____________________ Richard Hefner MP3 Page: http://www.ezfolk.com/audio/richardhefner Running Blog: http://old-runner.com |
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| Posted: Sun Aug 8th, 2004 10:02 pm |
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6th Post |
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klebsack Approved 
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I dont know about the gibson, sure would like to find one of those, but I did buy an 1897 new washburn mandolin at a garage sale down the street for 25 dollars last year, and I have no idea how to play a mandolin, at the same sale I picked up a Lark violin for ten, so I keep my eye out for stuff, estate sales are the best, a few years ago I picked up a set of Ludwig drums stamped may 13, 1957 on the inside for 75.00, so the deals are out there
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| Posted: Thu Sep 16th, 2004 03:05 am |
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7th Post |
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banjo brad Super Moderator 
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No find, but Heartbreak story of the Century (20th, that is): When I was going to Junior College in Coalinga in the early 1960's, a neighbor of mine and I were really getting into guitars and folk music. He was graduating from JC that year and going into the service. Anyway, he said that his Grandfather had had an old Dobro that Ken had discovered in the attic of the old Hot Springs resort that the elder had run. Ken had no interest at the time in trying to learn the Dobro, so he said I could have the guitar. We made arrangements to go up to the Springs that weekend and retrieve the instrument. Something came up late Friday and we were unable to make the trip on Saturday. (sob, here comes the sad part) . . . . At 12:43 AM on Sunday morning, the building went up in flames, taking my vintage Dobro with it!  keep on pickin' (but no slidin')Brad
____________________ ezFolk Help Brad Prickly Pear Music Banjo Brad's ezFolk page TOTMC |
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| Posted: Sun Jul 17th, 2005 09:01 pm |
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8th Post |
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1four5 Approved 
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Cool...I'm reading up on all the banjo threads...came across this one. I got my first banjo last week, a nice new Gold Tone Cripple Creek. Well, while waiting for that one I decided I needed a beater banjo for work jams...and found one on Goodwill. My Gold tone came in last Wednesday. Thursday my Goodwill banjo came. I spent Thursday night overhauling the Goodwill banjo, and strung it up on Friday. It plays great...and all things figured in was about a $50 bill. Now for the story. I needed strings for the Goodwill banjo. The banjo store is 2 miles from my house. On the way (on a moderately busy street) I passed a garage sale. I almost caused a traffic wreck when I saw a banjo sitting there. I couldn't find a side street quick enough and went to check it out. The lady says $20 and I'm checking it all out (you know, looking down the neck and stuff like that) and the lady thinks (misinturpertation of my inspecting) I may not want it...she says OK...would you give me $15? So I said no, I'll give you the full price...and took it home...in the case that came with it! It's nothing fancy...Lotus brand. It tunes up and plays GREAT! It's in almost flawless condition. I did put new strings on it, but I really didn't have to. So that's my story. In 3 days I got 3 banjos...the last one was the lucky find   Last edited on Sun Jul 17th, 2005 09:02 pm by 1four5 ____________________ These are the good times! |
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| Posted: Sun Sep 4th, 2005 09:55 pm |
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9th Post |
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playthebanjo Approved 
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I don't know that my banjo really qualifies as a lucky find, but I have never been unhappy with it. I got it from elderly in 2001. According to Ome, the guy who was the original owner waited like 3 years for them to make this. They have no idea how elderly got ahold of it, and when I told them how much I paid they were astonished. (about 40% of retail). I love this banjo. It is an Ome Longneck Golden Magician and there are very few that they made. : ) Lucky find? For me, yes! It's the best banjo in the world. : ) Andrew Attachment: longneck_ome_web.jpg (Downloaded 52 times)
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