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Post by snakehips on Oct 11, 2019 15:25:38 GMT
Not yet. I've given it a good clean, lemon-oiled the fretboard, used Flitz polish on the body, then Pledge furniture polish on the whole guitar. I also opened it up and cleaned the cone which was dirty and had splashes of some sort of dried liquid cleaner (Silvo, or something !). It needs the neck straightened and a neck reset, THEN it's gonna be great !! It came with a used NRP hard case too. The body is definitely brass but I'm less sure about the coverplate, handrest and tailpiece. The plating is worn in a few places on the coverplate and handrest, and looks dull gray underneath - so might be German Silver ?? It looks dull grey undneath too, not dull brass. I scratched the underside, but it just comes up super shiny, so it's then difficult to tell what colour it is !! These are the ebay pictures :
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Post by snakehips on Oct 11, 2019 15:11:58 GMT
I was thinking it's 6% - but maybe that's the Duty ?
Anyway, this is the 2nd parcel that has stuck in customs, with the Parcelforce tracking page saying "Awaiting clearance - information needed from addressee…+" - with zero information about who to contact, what information they need etc etc. Maybe this is a new thing for items over a certain price ?
Anyway, once I eventually found an email address contact from the last parcel that was stuck in customs, they were quite helpful. I sent them the link to the ebay listing, showing the purchase price, and a Paypal Invoice, showing what I paid.
So, they have been sent all the correct and honest information - and so, as far I know, that is their calculation and correct amount.
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Post by snakehips on Oct 11, 2019 14:44:23 GMT
Hi there !
I'm confused (but overall pleased) !
I bought on ebay, recently a very nice 1935 National Style "O", 14-fret neck with chicken-feet coverplate. Original cone in pretty good shape, replacement tuners, all original otherwise, some wear through the neck finish in the cowboy-chord region. Headstock looks great with fully intact decal, and slotted headstock. Guitar body in great shape, nickel plating in great shape, and luckily no scratchplate rash as this guitar obviously never had a scratchplate (as there isn't any screw-holes for attaching one).
$2452 plus $120 (USPS) shipping fees - worked out, including ebay/paypal "fees" (ie. crap exchange rate) that I paid £2145.
The HM Revenue & Customs note said :
Customs Duty - £ 0 Excite Duty - £ 0 Import VAT - £ 104.32 Clearance Fee (Zero rated for VAT) - £ 25
Total £ 129.32
Looks like the Clearance £ 25 fee is a flat fee for a parcel (perhaps for that size / price level, anyway)
I thought there would normally be a Duty fee too, or is that only for brand new items ?
I'm confused how all this works and how the Imposrt VAT is calculated !! Maybe the first £ x amount of GBP's is not taxed, then just the rest over a threshold ?
Don't get me wrong, I thought I'd have to pay more - but I don't want to ask them to check if they've got it wrong, ha ha ha ha ha !!!!!!
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Post by snakehips on Oct 11, 2019 14:26:53 GMT
Hi there ! Is this a MM brand Tricone !!!!
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Post by snakehips on Oct 8, 2019 11:16:14 GMT
Woah ! Great find !!
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Post by snakehips on Oct 8, 2019 7:53:21 GMT
Hi there !
You should also add pictures of your guitar on offer, if you really hope to sell/trade it !
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Post by snakehips on Oct 7, 2019 11:25:21 GMT
Ooft ! That colour is off-putting - at least the way the photographs have been taken !
Should be a great guitar though.
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Post by snakehips on Sept 27, 2019 22:08:27 GMT
Hi there!
Contact Steve directly and order one. That way you'll get what you want for colour, pickup options and your ideal set-up
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Post by snakehips on Sept 24, 2019 7:50:15 GMT
Oh, and bonus track, with Prof Scratchy just on vocals, whisky in hand !
Kid Thomas on piano again :
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Post by snakehips on Sept 24, 2019 7:47:54 GMT
Hi there !
A few years back I told you all about my new young bandmate, Thomas Lucas. Well, he is 23yrs old now and blossoming into a great blues musician, on vocals, guitar, piano, harmonica, mandolin and 6-string banjo. At a mini-blues festival weekend in Edinburgh, back in February, he did a gig with my trio (with special international artist guests), plus on the Sunday afternoon, he managed a half hour solo piano set, and a half hour solo 6-string banjo set (in the style of Papa Charlie Jackson, to his own song lyrics !). He also got up on harmonica for a guest spot with the headline act Big Jon Atkinson (USA) and blew everyone away.
Anyway, if you fancy checking him out, check out the videos on this youtube page. Prof Scratchy is the ever-present blues master, and I’m even on a few tracks (a few on guitar, one on piano), plus our friends from Glasgow (Richard Rinn on viocals on many tracks, plus harmonica on some, and in charge of the sound and video recording, using as few microphones as possible, some with just ONE mic.
So, check out Richard Rinn’s youtube page. Anyway, this post was supposed to be about our young Kid Thomas :
Thomas on piano :
Thomas on guitar :
Thomas on harmonica (with Prof Scratchy playing Big Joe Williams style) :
Thomas on mandolin :
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Post by snakehips on Sept 18, 2019 7:55:05 GMT
Hi Michael, To be fair, I've hardly ever used a Tricone and single-cones at a gig. Never really gel'd so well with Tricones, and even less with the Magnaphonic pickup. Thus, I've not had the EQ issue (or bothered much with it). Sure, the IP-1X and Magnaphonic do require quite different EQ and volume settings. Think I'm a single-cone kind of a guy. Perhaps if my first reso was a Tricone, instead of much later in the game, I'd feel different. I first heard about Orchid Electronics from Jim Murray & Pete Mason (the Hokum Hotshots). I believe they have been using their custom-built Orchid Electronic acoustic preamps for 25yrs or so. I saw Jim play his Style O about 15yrs ago in Dundee and was struck with how authentic-sounding his vintage National Style O sounded, through his PA system. And, ehrm, playing as good as he does, does help !! As I couldn't see any mic in fromt of the guitar, I asked him after the gig what he was using - and he told me about using the Orchid preamp, with the Highlander pickup (but without it's preamp). That was enough for me to convince me to get one too (the standard unit, at £180 it was, now £200 I think). orchid-electronics.co.uk/acoustic.htmThe picture of the mic-stand bracket doesn't look anything like the one on my preamp - I'd ignore that picture (the real thing is better looking !). Also, the Mute button on the top side of the unit is very easy to press even with finger&thumb picks on. When powered up, it starts on Mute, so no horrible pops and feedback if set too loud). Got a tuner output socket too (although I use clip-on headstock tuners.
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Post by snakehips on Sept 17, 2019 9:10:52 GMT
Never had any issues with the battery box or pickups, ONLY the preamps.
The Orchid Electronics Acoustic Preamp works at 18V phantom power. I don't understand the specifics about the difference only that I was told because of working at 18V, it gives the guitar signal more clean headroom, and thus less piezo quack. Into big gig PA systems, the Orchid Electronics unit preamps the pickup signal, is powered by phantom power (so never need to worry about 9V batteries), and it DI's the signal to the mixing desk. I still dial down some treble and boost the bass (on the unit) on some of my Nationals, as not sure if the PA guy will make changes as I change guitar. This way, I just need the one standard (mono) jack to (angled) jack cable, and swap guitars as needed. I used to use separate Highlander battery boxes, separate cables and separate PA channels for each Highlander but eventually found I just didn't need to as their signals as similar enough.
If I do a short wee solo support slot, I might plan on bringing just ONE guitar (ooh, that's rare !) - and thus use a National that I have the full Highlander system with battery box instead, but I prefer the Orchid Electronics preamp now. As I said,I clamp mine on (with the included clamp) to my keyboard stand leg, but it was designed to clamp on to your microphone stand so it's right in front of you.
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Post by snakehips on Sept 16, 2019 17:29:08 GMT
Hi Michael,
I must just be lazy, using the same channel and settings for each of my single-cone Nationals, with maybe just a wee tweak of volume for where one might be a tad quieter than another. Actually, I've not been using my battery boxes much these days anyway - I have only 2 or so Nationals set up with the full Highlander system. For the rest, my main gigging Nationals, I have just the pickup wired up to a mono jack (in the F-holes), and use an external phantom-powered pre-amp/DI box (Orchid Elctronics Acoustic Preamp). I have that clamped to one of my e.piano stand legs, close to where I sit to play guitar - and can tweak each guitar EQ / Volume from there on-the-fly (it has Vol, Treble, Mid & Bass pots). Most of my Highlanders seem to have been purchased at a dodgy time in the company's existance, as I have had about five Highlander preamps fail on me (two were Magnaphonic preamps).
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Post by snakehips on Sept 15, 2019 22:12:49 GMT
Demand not there for the Magnaphonic ?
As for Highlander battery boxes, if you gig with two or more Highlander equipped resos, the maximum battery boxes you need s 2, no matter how many resos you have. One for playing through, and one is reserve, for if the battery 8n the first one runs out mid gig.
That’s why I have a few for sale !
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Post by snakehips on Sept 13, 2019 10:13:15 GMT
Not sure I understand what your point is, and if it relates to the original thread topic or not.
In your first sentence, you said "Without any debating or thinking twice I would go for a guitar". Did you mean to say a NEW guitar ? Or did you actually mean a GUITAR, as opposed to say a saxaphone ?
Brand new guitars can be very expensive. Whatever your budget, you can get a much better quality USED guitar for the same amount on a new guitar.
National Resophonic guitars are built like tanks - so unless you look to buy one well abused, I don't think you can go much wrong buying a 10-20yr old National Resophonic guitar. In general, used NRP guitars sell for much less than brand new ones - and bargains can be had (as many are treated so carefully, they are next to brand new, even if 10yrs old).
The original point of my thread was to ask what is the current expected rough value for a used NRP guitar (which will vary a bit, depending on which model AND condition, and if been modified in some way).
The guitar in question is heavily corroded and butchered quite a bit - and thus in my view the value should be even less than your average used NRP guitar. The original owner seems to think it is worth as much as a brand new one - or perhaps (??) he thinks it is worth more because it will have belonged to him ??
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