new old guy

Hi- another "old new guy". I've been playing gor 30 years, was in a couple of bands in the 60's during high school. Bought my M-20 in 69 used, and still play it for fingerstyle folk and country.
I didn't play much for 15 years due to raising kids but my son got interested in my old albums and wanted a guitar. Bought him a Squire strat, and he had to wrestle it out of my hands so I bought a 96 Fender MIJ strat. Then he appropriated my old Greco dred, so I bought a Martin D-15. Then I got a GAD-50. Then a banjo. then a mandolin. I appeased the wife by teaching her some chords on the mando. :lol:
I play mostly old country, folk, country rock, and working on bluegrass- hats off to anyone who can pick that fast!
A very informative site.

drowlins said:

I appeased the wife by teaching her some chords on the mando. :lol:

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I had to buy my wife a mother's day present (diamond ring) that was the same price as the Guild Bluesbird I just got!!! :roll:

I'm laughing Mr. P.: :lol: :lol: :lol: I bought my wife a nice diamond ring too, right after I bought my F-512, in fact I spent slightly more on the ring.

I just helped my buddy buy a new Guild on Saturday, his wife was not exactly thrilled about it either, my advice to him on the ride home was, no kidding: buy her a diamond ring, and soon, pal!

Guys,

There is a different approach! Convince them (As I have), that your new Guild is truly an investment. Your purchase is for the sole purpose of making her money in the future. And Honey, I'll teach you to play too!
It has worked beautifully for me, provided you can tolerate 45 minutes of "Row, Row, Row the Boat". 8)

West

Welcome new old guy. Seems we have somewhat the same taste in guitars at least to the point that I own a 1986 CIJ Squire Strat and a GAD40C. We Gadsters Need all the support we can get in this Hobo-Wave heaven. Your Hoboken will stand you in very good sted with the natives.
Yes this is a fantastic site. Enjoy.
Benee Wafers

Hello from N.Z. Drowlins. An oriental bloke told me once, "Life is like a game of chess, you must protect your Queen at all cost."
Happily, my "Queen" of 34 years tolerates my antics !
I read somewhere recently, a comment that Guild's are "Geezer Guitars" - the ages of some of us may well lend some weight to that assertion !!

geezer guitars

In my youth (I graduated high school in 1969) I got to see the folk boom up close. That in turn, segued into the country/rock movement. I remember that Guild guitars were considered the poor mans Martin. Lots of folkies used guilds as they were a less costly alternative to the VERY dear Martins. I got my M-20 around that time, and fit right in with the scene. I paid $50 for it as it was considered a "budget" guitar. I learned how to play on it, I taught my sons to play on it, and my wife tries to play on it.
Oh- the GAD-50 and mandolin cost me a new dishwasher. :lol:

Glad to see I am not the only one making those trades!! 8)

Re: geezer guitars

drowlins said:

In my youth (I graduated high school in 1969) I got to see the folk boom up close.

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My sister, who is 4 years older than me, got into Bob Dylan before anyone knew who he was - so I grew up with the folkies of the very early 60's. The folk boom in NYC's Greenwich Village was pretty much over when I was a HS senior (1966-7) - I remember when my classmates were heavily into "Rubber Soul", a few of us guys would go down to MacDougal street to see the Fugs. The "serious" music we listened to ranged from blues to the Byrds at that time.

Oh man what a time! Rubber Soul. Dig it man.
I started leaning towards the Stones afterward, The Who, Ten Years After but always did really dig the Mersey Sound ( you know I think I actually did The Freddie and sing Henry the Eighth but lets keep that to ourselves o.k.?)
Now I'm leaning to the great acoustic songs from way back, even the Stones have some great acoustic songs.AND I just purchased a Westerly 12 string to make it all that better.
Benee Wafers

Benee Wafers said:

Oh man what a time! Rubber Soul. Dig it man.
I started leaning towards the Stones afterward, The Who, Ten Years After but always did really dig the Mersey Sound ( you know I think I actually did The Freddie and sing Henry the Eighth but lets keep that to ourselves o.k.?)
Now I'm leaning to the great acoustic songs from way back, even the Stones have some great acoustic songs.AND I just purchased a Westerly 12 string to make it all that better.

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Which model did you get? Regardless, just play "Ticket to Ride" - it will go right through you!

Guild F 212 XL NT 12 .
Ticket to Ride. Yeah I remember that.... I think I'm gonna be sad........
I don't recall it being played on a 12 string though. Was it?
Benee

Benee Wafers said:

Guild F 212 XL NT 12 .
Ticket to Ride. Yeah I remember that.... I think I'm gonna be sad........
I don't recall it being played on a 12 string though. Was it?
Benee

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It sounds like it was played on a 12-string electric - probably a Rickenbacker. I can't imagine getting that jangle sound from a 6-string.

Other opening 12-string solo riffs from the 60's include The Seekers "I know I'll never find another you" and just about anything from the Byrds - notably "Mr. Tambourine Man".

Byrds

The Byrds rocked! My brother was the big Beatles fan but I was a Byrds freak. Mixing folk with rock, then pioneering the country rock movement with Sweetheart of the rodeo was pure heaven. Over the years I have followed all of the Byrds in their various careers.

Re: Byrds

drowlins said:

The Byrds rocked! My brother was the big Beatles fan but I was a Byrds freak. Mixing folk with rock, then pioneering the country rock movement with Sweetheart of the rodeo was pure heaven. Over the years I have followed all of the Byrds in their various careers.

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Last year, Roger McGuinn did a concert in Trenton - and I had no idea until a few days after it happened. I have all the albums (I think all) on my iPod, including the reissued versions with extra songs and outtakes. What a group!

Older than DIRT

Man - you guys are SO-o-o-o old. Wow! Beatles, Byrds, Freddie & the Dreamers..... Geezer Guitars is right! Man....you guys probably did the first set aboard Noah's Ark. Yeah? And some of you were the dance band on the Titanic. Next you'll be hitting each other with your handbags....

I, of course, am FAR TOO young for any of that. The first song I remember in the cradle was "Oops I've Done IT Again!" Hahahahahahahahahaha!!!

I bet you guys even remember disco.....

OK - enough of the old man jokes or I'm gonna lock you suckers in your rooms to watch constant reruns of Leave It To Beaver, The Man From U.N.C.L.E. (Ducky's first gig), T.H.E. Cat with Robert Logia, and Howdy Doody. (Remember the show Whirlybirds? Fireball XL5 with Steve Zodiac and Venus? Wasn't Thunderball better than anything with Roger Moore? He was even a stiff in The Saint. Remember Liberty Creme Soda and taking the cork backing off bottle caps to make then badges for your t-shirts? I remember milk being delivered to my front door and the clink of bottles in the wire racks.) Ah, the good old days.

I remember too my first Guild - an early 70's F112. I still have my second - a 1975 G-37SB - I'll be playing it on my radio interview in the morning and using it this weekend for the concert since it's here in town. It is a credit to Al Dronge, Carlo Greco and all the other Westerly crew. The poor man's Martin - I don't think so....I think Martins are for those with money and no taste. (Sorry, it's an opinion I suffer from.)

OK, I'm rambling...Welcome aboard, your newness! Welcome to the wacky and unpredictable world of Guild hardcores. Welcome to the land of eternally wonderful sound. Up Westerly! (They're chanting....I can hear it. Can you????) Up Westerly!

So, Dudley-Brian, speaking of rambling as you were, just a note to tell y'all that the New Lost City Ramblers are playing the Vancouver Folk Music Festival this year. They started up in 1958. That's a band that's been continuously performing for forty-eight years. Geezers, us true geezers, are old enough to remember them.

Maybe we should start up an antique trivia thread just for us old farts.

Cheers,

Intriguing how that most English of slang terms - "Geezer" - has entered the American lexicon. I thought today, how bloody good it is to be an old geezer and in particular, having experienced the fabulous musical explosion of the '60's and early '70's.
Old farts ? Yep, but not BORING old farts. (Thank you, Pete Townsend.)
Do any of you still listen to The Lovin' Spoonful ? These guys to me, were, in the time of their first two albums, just fabulous. Such lovely, memorable pop music. And I believe, they probably sound even better now ! Not only a great little band, but a great little (mostly) Guild band.
But my all-time favourite album is The Band's epynomous album. Absolutely and utterly sublime, I cannot describe my love of this album sufficiently. My overwhelmingly main musical love is the Blues, but I love that one album of The Band's above all else.

"GEEZERS RULE !!!!! "

I'm just thankful that the arthritis is only in my knees - and hasn't reached my fingers....yet!

Geezoids

Coastie - I'm listening to the Spoonful as I write. Loved them with Zally and with Jerry. Of course the "6 degrees" idea runs from Jerry Yester and the Modern Folk Quartet to his brother Jim and the Association (even Jerry did a stint with them and produced albums for them) and from John Sebastion to Geoff Muldaur and jug bands that featured Geoff's then wife Maria Muldaur and John and Zally with the Mugwumps which featured Denny Daugherty and Cass Elliott of the Mamas & the Papas. It was Cass that introduced her friends Crosby, Stills and Nash and got them going at her Laurel Canyon home and then got them together with Joni Mitchell....Wow! What a fertile musical landscape that was then. We've lost something in the mix. We don't have "everyday" stars of that quality, in that number and no connectivity.

So, there, John Kidder! Enough thread for you to run with?

OK - one more. I, as John and some of the others of you know, was a big fan of the aforementioned Association. I loved the songwriting strength. I mean 6 singer/songwriters in one band with such power - Terry Kirkman (Cherish, Enter the Young, Requiem for the Masses, 6 man Band), Jim Yester (Birthday morning, Goodbye Columbus, Along the Way), Jules Alexander (Goodbye Forever, Remember, Dubuque Blues), Ted Bleuchel (The Nest, Standing Still), Brian Cole (I Am Up For Europe), and Russ Giguere (Time It Is Today)...BTW Larry Ramos was NOT an original member, even though he calls himself one in all press for the current incarnation of the band...he came in as a replacement for Jules on hiatus for the 3rd and 4th albums. ANYWAY, on the Association's album "Stop Your Motor" was a song called 'Seven Virgins' written by Jimmie Spheeris and was on his groundbreaking 1969 album "Isle of View" and also a song called "P.F. Sloan", a tribute to that amazing songwriter by equally amazing songwriter Jimmy Webb. P. F. Sloan was a member of the Fabulous Baggies with Jeff Barrie (surf music/Jan & Dean inspirations) and later, they were the original singers/songwriters for the Grass Roots (Temptation Eyes, Midnight Confessions, etc.). P.F. Sloan wrote for Elvis, even! Jimmie Spheeris' heart-wrenchingly beautiful work with open tunings led me back to RIchie Havens' Vestapol tuning and onward to the work of Bruce Cockburn. How's that for a little scenic tour around influencial music.

Ball's in your court, geezers! dbs