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Post by lacerta on Dec 10, 2018 18:50:39 GMT
So, guess whose guitar I got to play today!?
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Post by bonzo on Dec 10, 2018 18:52:42 GMT
Booker Whites!
Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by bonzo on Dec 10, 2018 18:56:17 GMT
I think that's the same guitar he let me hold circa 69'70 before he had it stripped and plated.
Lucky you!
Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 10, 2018 19:15:20 GMT
If the current owner gets what he is hoping for, you were holding a very valuable guitar. That room has some interesting stuff lying around. Can you tell us about where you were today? Shine On Michael. |
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Post by lacerta on Dec 10, 2018 21:44:03 GMT
Bonzo, got it in one, a real privilege to play. That room has some interesting stuff lying around. Can you tell us about where you were today? Shine On Michael. I was at the Gardiner Houlgate auction to view the lost for the sale on Wednesday. I walked into the room and there it was! The current owner is selling it through them and it will be in their March sale |
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 10, 2018 21:59:05 GMT
Thanks!
In 1991 it was offered to me for a fraction of what the owner is hoping to get now.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 11, 2018 13:32:10 GMT
This has troubled me since I saw the photo yesterday.
I know other people that have played this guitar in the past 48 hours.
This is not a criticism of the people playing it, it is aimed at the auctioneers and the current owner. Allowing celebrities to play it in recent years to help raise its profile and maybe its value, is one thing, but.....
I just cannot understand how the auctioneers and the current owner are allowing people to touch this instrument. It is a unique and now valuable antique that is about to exchange hands for a very large amount of money and therefore should only be handled with linen gloves in a controlled environment. Allowing people to play it is just extraordinary and beyond belief. Imagine if it got a ding or a scratch!!!!
I used to be a guitar consultant for Christie's auctioneers in London and there is just no way this could possibly happen there, just no way! I Among other things, I was involved as a consultant on their Eric Clapton auctions. That is the reason I asked Liam yesterday about where he was. They are obviously not used to handling stuff of this importance and by the looks of things are not the right people for the job. I know what the bidding will start at and I know who some of the bidders are. I don't understand why it hasn't been handled properly, and more than that.... why it is being touched and played by whoever fancies a go!
Hopefully it will be in safe hands soon.
Rant over.
Shine On
Michael
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Post by bonzo on Dec 11, 2018 14:43:25 GMT
I've read your thoughts on the subject before Michael and entirely agree with you. This is an instrument that has been genuinely used by Booker White, an instrument he made his living with and not just a guitar that has been 'touched'by some famous personality.
As such it deserves to be treated with extra care and attention.
Mind you I don't think any of us would say no given the chance to have a go!
Best wishes to you all, John
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Post by biscuit on Dec 11, 2018 15:05:44 GMT
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Post by snakehips on Dec 11, 2018 15:44:32 GMT
Hi there ! I still can't get over the fact that Bukka White stripped that superb Duco finish of that guitar. I wonder if it would be worth more if he had never had it stripped and plated ? I'm sure it is still worth a lot though and may sell for a ridiculous price. Is it OK for famous people to deface a vintage guitar  ? Is it less bad than a non-famous person doing it It's like the Bo Carter Style N National, with Kluson snot-green Tulip button tuners (but worse than that, because at least the Style N can have vintage-looking tuners put back on) !! |
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Post by pete1951 on Dec 11, 2018 16:38:13 GMT
I’m sure I remember the Duco when I saw him in ‘69 (or was it ‘70?). I am not sure how good it would sound in any other hands, Bukka seemed to use it as a percussion instrument rather than a stringed one. He made it sound fantastic!
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Post by Michael Messer on Dec 11, 2018 16:41:21 GMT
Snakehips, something that is really hard to understand today, even for me now, is that back in the 'olden days' very few people liked the duco finish. Many Duolians were stripped and 'chrome' plated because the shiny look was more attractive. I remember Mark, myself and other collectors back in the 80s, referring to duco as the 'science' look, because it was like 30s laboratory and electronics equipment. Today everyone reveres duco and rightly so, but back in the dark days of the 20th century it was not to everybody's taste. I had a beautiful Duolian that was duco finish and it drove me crazy because it came off all over my clothes at gigs. Eventually I sold it because it started to rust. Shiny Nationals were more cool than green grey army finishes. Of course we see it differently now, but Bukka White would have refinished it because (a) it was probably coming off all over his nice cardigans, and (b) because shiny looked more cool.
I still cannot believe that the auctioneers and the current owner are not treating that guitar correctly! In my days working with Christie's, which I just did on a free lance basis occasionally, if anyone had touch that guitar without linen gloves, they would have been in serious trouble.
Shine On
Michael.
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Post by slide496 on Dec 11, 2018 16:58:44 GMT
I think the instrument along with other bluesmen's gear should be in a museum setting with a video set up of Bukka playing it beside it - headphones for listeners. Preserved as a treasure. I really hate to see the guitar in the hands of anyone but Bukka, and for celebrities like Joe Bonassama played some legendary guitar on video and I've seen a video of Toby Walker playing one of John Hurts - WTF. I really believe that the artists vibrations and magic are embedded in the instrument and others playing it dilutes.
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Post by Deleted on Dec 11, 2018 17:13:47 GMT
Hi there ! I still can't get over the fact that Bukka White stripped that superb Duco finish of that guitar. I wonder if it would be worth more if he had never had it stripped and plated ? I'm sure it is still worth a lot though and may sell for a ridiculous price. Is it OK for famous people to deface a vintage guitar ???? Is it less bad than a non-famous person doing it ??? It's like the Bo Carter Style N National, with Kluson snot-green Tulip button tuners (but worse than that, because at least the Style N can have vintage-looking tuners put back on) !! To expand on Michael's post while it would be an act of gross vandalism today it wouldn't be considered a big deal in the 60's or 70's to 'alter' the finish. In that era Art Deco buildings were demolished that would be Grade One listed and Ford T'birds thrown on the scrap heap that people would kill for in this day and age. |
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Post by Peter Webber on Dec 11, 2018 18:08:12 GMT
Of course we see it differently now, but Bukka White would have refinished it because (a) it was probably coming off all over his nice cardigans, and (b) because shiny looked more cool. I don't like to namedrop but I happen to know the man who bought Bukka his iconic garish cardigan in the 60s. Son House's too  |
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