Natrone

^Yes, yes, this.

Please Dave?

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Rest In Peace Stevie Ray

LeftyDave

Alrighty then. Here are a few(well, 15 to be exact) pics of the old gal. First off, let me toss in a few of the details that I know about it, which will help as you view the pics.
The top is spruce, heavily aged with a lovely patina. The back is rosewood, also aged to perfection. I'm not quite sure of the wood used for the neck, but the fretboard is ebony. The face of the headstock is veneered with rosewood. The tuners are all functioning and are original. Check out the coloring of the tuner buttons. The saddle piece is, I think, maple and needs to be replaced. The damage is shown in the pic where the saddle is slanted. The crack is at the tip of the saddle, and runs from the base to the ridge of the soundboard. There's a pic of the sticker on the inside, but what you can't see is another sticker above the main one with signatures on it and dates. Also, and this is really wild, there is a paper coating on the entire inside of the bowl. It looks just like brown shipping paper and has the same appearance as if you were to paper mache a balloon, let it dry, pop the balloon and remove it and look inside. It's really weird, but also has really protected the interior surface of the bowl wood for over a century. This is so freaking cool for me to be sharing something this old with all of you. I still can't believe I have it to be quite honest. Ok, enough talk, on to the pics!

Oh, if UG's size limits kick in, I'll just add another post to continue them. K? Here we go:

LeftyDave

That's what I thought would happen. Ok then, here's the other 7 pics:

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1897! Looks great for the age. You said you're going to restore it right?

LeftyDave

Yep, but it's going to take some time. The very first and foremost thing that needs to be done is to get her re-hydrated. The wood is extremely dried out. My Kentucky mandolin there in the first picture weighs like twice as much as the old timer. And she's so so delicate I'm actually afraid to touch it sometimes. I'll get over that no doubt.
Notice also that the way it was made it'll be a snap to convert it to lefty so that I can actually play it. New bridge and nut and that's it. No flipping the pick guard over or tail piece.

captivate

I just remembered that you're a lefty, dave. Didn't quite think about it until I just saw your Kentucky mando.

__________________
Equipment:
- Art & Lutherie Cedar CW (SOLD! )
- Martin D-16RGT w/ LR Baggs M1 Active Soundhole Pickup
- Seagull 25th Anniversary Flame Maple w/ LR Baggs Micro EQ

Have an acoustic guitar? Don't let your guitar dry out! Click here.

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How does the quality of construction hold up to new ages madolins? Looks well done, but I don't know anything about them. And yup, I must say your name is fitting.

LeftyDave

^ If I were to swap both mandolins year for year and make the Kentucky 113 years old, I'd have to say it would not be in near as good a shape as the Washburn is at that age. So there's a lot to be said for old school manufacturing, glues, workmanship and so on. It(the Washburn) has stood the test of time and is still in one piece. Perhaps the most amazing part is that the neck is still perfectly straight, and that's with no adjustable truss rod. There may be an embedded one that's not adjustable, but I don't know.
Just from doing a visual on both mando's, the Washburn was made to higher standards than the Kentucky.
Now, keep in mind that this is a lower end model from Washburn, and certainly no Gibson.
Imagine a Lloyd Loar Gibson mandolin from their golden era of the 1920's. I can certainly see why those are valued today in the thousands of dollars.

Natrone

And yet it has stood the test of time. That's awesome.

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Rest In Peace Stevie Ray

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What does everyone do for practising here? I'm trying to get a solid plan together looking at pieces from lessons

1) Notes on the fretboard, go over them a few times linearly, then pick randoms
2) Chromatics, all patterns
3) Pull off & hammer on patterns
4) Bends down the neck with each finger and string - try to bend to exact pitch (half,whole etc)
5) Scalar runs sounding out each note
...
Doing it all a few times each with up/down/alt picking.
Then playing a new song/sing. I have a hard time with that (projecting my voice)

captivate

I don't really practice at all. It's why I'm rubbish at playing. I enjoy learning about the guitar more so than playing it, to be honest.

Anyway, my brother's currently photoshooting the Lowden O-35 in my room with a black backdrop as we speak. Some of these pics are amazing. Many of you will need new pants/undergarments after seeing these. I'm going to have to just post a link to his flickr. There are way too many pics for me to just post.

__________________
Equipment:
- Art & Lutherie Cedar CW (SOLD! )
- Martin D-16RGT w/ LR Baggs M1 Active Soundhole Pickup
- Seagull 25th Anniversary Flame Maple w/ LR Baggs Micro EQ

Have an acoustic guitar? Don't let your guitar dry out! Click here.

|Long|

I don't even know what a Lowden is! And I've just fiddled with guitar for the last 8 years, now I'm set to really practice I don't know how I went so long without even knowing the notes on the fretboard.

(if you don't care about playing give me your Martin ... it suits me better - considering my name and all

Silverstein14

Can my breedlove+your lowden get a group photo someday?

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captivate

Probably not, LOL. It's going back to its owner in a day or two.

__________________
Equipment:
- Art & Lutherie Cedar CW (SOLD! )
- Martin D-16RGT w/ LR Baggs M1 Active Soundhole Pickup
- Seagull 25th Anniversary Flame Maple w/ LR Baggs Micro EQ

Have an acoustic guitar? Don't let your guitar dry out! Click here.

Natrone

How sad.

I'm with you on the practicing Cap, except I do love playing guitar. I just don't really like comitting to get better at it. I'm perfectly content with my skill level right now considering how much, or rather how little, I practice. I guess it gives me hope for my future when I decide to take it a bit more seriously.

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Rest In Peace Stevie Ray

clayonfire

I have to really start practicing now. Finger exercises, scales, etc etc. Seeing as how I plan on studying guitar in college, and my next audition requires me to play some scales. I'm more so a fan of just playing though too, preferably in a group setting more than anything else. Part of the reasons I hate auditions I guess and why I'm intending to be a jazz guitar major.

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All my life I've wanted to play with people, but no one who played guitar had the slightest skill level to play with (not saying I'm good, but they just picked up a guitar and learned some songs ... ie, can't play on their own). My only friend who I can play with, we only jam on campfire songs - Still fun, but I like the real jam sess idea.

EDIT:

I'm chording a song, since the UG version fails - hell it's time consuming to do.

clayonfire

Yeah, I've always played with other musicians through school-run groups. It's pretty fun.

And I just recorded the acoustic guitar part to this song I've been working on...after finishing, it ended up being just short of 10 minute long. I'm not sure if I miscounted while playing, or if I really wrote a long song. It changes tempo a few times (once from 110 to 72, then back to 110, then back to 72 for the remainder of the song). I'm thinking it'll end with some synth/maybe clarinet? solos.

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Post it up when you're done! I have a song that I've never recorded and only have it on memory - safe to say each time I play it it changes ... who knows that it started out as.