We had picked up a cheap youth guitar at a garage sale last spring when Kat said she might want to learn. She quickly found that the fantasy was better than reality, so Shane started out by taking that youth guitar with him. Soon, though, he wanted one more his size, so he bought a good used one Eleca from a pawn shop in the town where he was working. It's not a big name brand, but it sounds and looks nice.
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| 6-string Eleca on the left. |
While scouting for online lessons, some of which are on YouTube videos, he ran across something called a Diddley Bow (aka, primal slide guitar). Of course, he had to make one, just to see if he could. He messed around with that for a little while, but was soon back at the "real" guitar.
That's when he found his nice little Martin Backpacker guitar at a really good price on craigslist. Isn't it cute? We actually have it hanging on the wall in our bedroom and it looks surprisingly attractive there.
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| Martin Backpacker. |
More recently, Shane and I both read the book Made By Hand: My Adventures in the World of Do-It-Yourself by Mark Frauenfelder. One of the things he mentioned among his attempts to garden, keep chickens and bees, and supercharge his espresso maker was that he made a banjo from a piece of wood, some guitar strings and a tin can. Of course, Shane had to try it, and actually ended up making two. (By the way, we both recommend this book.)
That was Saturday, and on Sunday we visited my dad, who is a junker/reseller of the highest order. He picked up this 1970s Ensenada 12-string guitar, sans the strings, for $3 at a garage sale. It was priced at $5, but of course, he had to bargain a little for a better price. My dad spent another $25 getting it strung and tuned at a music shop and had plans to sell it when he realized it has a physical flaw that could keep him from getting very much for it. But it's still playable and sounds good, so he is letting Shane borrow it for as long as he wants it.
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| Old Ensenada 12-string. |
Thus the story of Shane's instrument collection. And now the good (or bad) news, depending on how you look at it. I thought our camera only recorded video, but I learned it records audio, too. It just doesn't have audio playback capability; I have to play the videos on the computer to hear them. Why would I consider that bad news? Because I usually can't be bothered to watch embedded videos and maybe you can't, either.
If you do (want to be bothered, that is), just watch these.
