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I wrote this a year or so ago and posted it on another (Local) forum. I just ran into it again and thought I'd share....
Some of my earliest recollections as a child were going to my grandparent’s house every weekend for our family get-togethers. Grandmother always cooked a big dinner and, afterwards, we would all go into the living room and listen to my grandfather, my mom, step-father, uncle, and aunt play guitar and sing old folk and gospel songs. Grandpa loved music, and besides guitar, he also played harmonica and accordion. Those we memorable times indeed, and to this day, I believe that that was the foundation to my influence and fascination with music.
When my grandmother passed away, grandpa stopped playing his guitar so much. Shortly after, my step-father had an accident with a circular saw leaving him with only his thumb and forefinger on his left (fretting) hand. He tried for awhile, but eventually gave up playing his guitar as well. My mom still strummed around every now and then, and even played a couple of small coffee houses every now and then for something to do. After my grandfather passed away in 1990, it was pretty much up to my aunt and my mom to take care of his affairs and finalized the family business and my aunt took grandfathers guitar for safe keeping.
Last week, my mother came to town for a visit. When she got here, she pulled out a guitar case and handed it to me, “this is for you.” She said. I have no words to describe the feeling I had when I opened the case and saw my grandfathers guitar, I was so moved, I couldn’t speak. Of all the grandkids, I was the only one that took an interest in music, so my aunt thought it only made sense for me to have it, so she sent it with mom to give to me. Upon further inspection of the case, I also found one of his old Harmonicas (an E) a cord (the guitar is a hollow body electric) and his old Capo.
It’s not a vintage, highly sought after Gibson or anything like that, on the contrary, it’s an old Silvertone, made by Harmony for Sears. I did some looking online and found that it was produced from 1954 to 1958 and sold for $69.95 but it’s priceless to me.
I haven’t hooked it to an amp yet to see if the pickup is still any good, but I did clean it up and put new strings on it. I’m amazed at how good the condition is after all these years, especially the neck which is as straight as a…. well…. A board… LOL
I know this is a long message, but I thought it was worth sharing.
Some of my earliest recollections as a child were going to my grandparent’s house every weekend for our family get-togethers. Grandmother always cooked a big dinner and, afterwards, we would all go into the living room and listen to my grandfather, my mom, step-father, uncle, and aunt play guitar and sing old folk and gospel songs. Grandpa loved music, and besides guitar, he also played harmonica and accordion. Those we memorable times indeed, and to this day, I believe that that was the foundation to my influence and fascination with music.
When my grandmother passed away, grandpa stopped playing his guitar so much. Shortly after, my step-father had an accident with a circular saw leaving him with only his thumb and forefinger on his left (fretting) hand. He tried for awhile, but eventually gave up playing his guitar as well. My mom still strummed around every now and then, and even played a couple of small coffee houses every now and then for something to do. After my grandfather passed away in 1990, it was pretty much up to my aunt and my mom to take care of his affairs and finalized the family business and my aunt took grandfathers guitar for safe keeping.
Last week, my mother came to town for a visit. When she got here, she pulled out a guitar case and handed it to me, “this is for you.” She said. I have no words to describe the feeling I had when I opened the case and saw my grandfathers guitar, I was so moved, I couldn’t speak. Of all the grandkids, I was the only one that took an interest in music, so my aunt thought it only made sense for me to have it, so she sent it with mom to give to me. Upon further inspection of the case, I also found one of his old Harmonicas (an E) a cord (the guitar is a hollow body electric) and his old Capo.
It’s not a vintage, highly sought after Gibson or anything like that, on the contrary, it’s an old Silvertone, made by Harmony for Sears. I did some looking online and found that it was produced from 1954 to 1958 and sold for $69.95 but it’s priceless to me.
I haven’t hooked it to an amp yet to see if the pickup is still any good, but I did clean it up and put new strings on it. I’m amazed at how good the condition is after all these years, especially the neck which is as straight as a…. well…. A board… LOL
I know this is a long message, but I thought it was worth sharing.
Both of them will be with me forever, right alongside my granpas Silvertone..
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