If you couldn't play a Guild, what would you play?

[Ridgemont]

... Have you tried/own a recording king? They are certainly interesting guitars...

Hi Burst; .... 'interesting' ... damnation by faint praise? :wink:

Subject to one condition, I think I'd enjoy owning and playing any pre-war, US-made, lesser-grade guitar. Before WW2, Recording King was the in-house brand at Montgomery Wards ... a US retail and catalog company that also featured other musical essentials like washing machines and underwear; I don't know who owns the brand today. The Recording King in the pic was owned by John Fahey who is said to have broken it over his +1's head in drunken fit. Naturally I'm opposed to violence against guitars ......... and people too. :wink:

I'm old enough to remember, as part of the resurgence of folk music in the late '50s, my brother and his friends playing scratchy Alan Lomax / Library of Congress recordings of black musicians playing/singing the blues and white guys singing everything from genuine hill music to the whinny Bill Monroe-style stuff and I'll bet you a set of strings and a new polishing cloth that hardly any were playing Martins, Strombergs, or other high-line brands. I'd agree with you that they probably would have preferred something higher-end but if I sounded as good as they did with their instruments, that would be okay with me.

Provided they were playable, I'd be happy with a Recording King ... or a Stella like Leadbelly's .. or a Harmony ... or any of the other lesser brands. I'd agree with you that most as-found older guitars aren't in such good shape but that's what luthiers are for. Cheers.

Never really had the opportunity to try an old junker like an RK or Kalamazoo or Stella. But I have heard plenty of recordings with them. I do like the new RK models, at least the ones I have tried. I find them to be one of the better imports along with GADs of course. I believe they are priced slightly less than the GADs, but that may be because GADs have more to offer like Jumbos and 12ers. Definitely a new brand I would consider if I couldn't play a Guild.

 

[capnjuan]

... Never really had the opportunity to try an old junker like an RK ....

Junker :shock:

I was thinking more along the lines of something like:

That is, ... this:

Not this:

Both are 1941 Fords made the same year as RK ...

Edit: another 'junk' RK ... 1939 model

 

[krysh]

well, if 1939 Ford, then I'd prefer one of these:

:mrgreen: :mrgreen: :mrgreen:

 

[steffenson]

Next to the T100D, I also have a 1967 Gretsch Double Anniversary, which suits me fine, so that one is covered, so it must be a Harmony Meteor!

 

[BurstD55]

Very interesting capnjuan!!!

I should have been more specific in that I meant to ask about the 'gasp' new imported line of recording king guitars...

What is the value of the old RK guitars?? Are they bargains?

 

[Ridgemont]

What is the value of the old RK guitars?? Are they bargains?

Don't know about RK but I have seen overhauled Stellas go for around $3K.

 

[Ridgemont]

... Never really had the opportunity to try an old junker like an RK ....

Junker :shock:

Oh don't mind me. I didn't mean junker in the sense that it is of poor condition. I pretty much meant anything made during the time that is not the revered Martin or Gibson. Like you said, RK was the department store brand for Montgomery Ward. Intended to be available to the masses and probably pretty affordable, much like Stellas and Harmonys during that time period. These are the guitars that most of the Blues was written on.

 

[adorshki]

I pretty much meant anything made during the time that is not the revered Martin or Gibson. Like you said, RK was the department store brand for Montgomery Ward. Intended to be available to the masses and probably pretty affordable, much like Stellas and Harmonys during that time period. These are the guitars that most of the Blues was written on.

I'm thinkin': Wasn't Montgomery Ward also one of the first places to offer "time payments"? I wonder if that helped things for the less-than-well-heeled aspiring musician, if true?

 

[capnjuan]

Most of the cheap guitars made in the '30s probably ended up as kindling wood; lack of air conditioning/too much humidity in the south, too little humidity in the north, cardboard cases, and the slings and arrows of a musician's life - pro or amateur. Both Gibson and Kay made RK-branded guitars for Monkey Wards ... don't know which firm made the more better gooders or who made the cheapies.

It's easy to imagine Gibson in the '30s wanting to stay as busy as possible ... while waiting for orders for L5s ... making a buck or two under somebody else's name. Don't know what the pre-war RKs, Kays, Harmonys and the rest of the bargain guitars bring today but, like the '41 Ford above (a 'bargain' car when it was made and cost less then than a new D55 today), most things that were reasonably well-made back in the day and taken care of since still have value ... and yes Ridgemont, most of the blues was written on them.

Takoma Park MD's own John Fahey and his Recording King (pictured above in this thread) playing 'In Christ ...'

Would we like this vid better if he'd been playing a Martin? (I know we'd celebrate it more if he'd been play a Guild :wink: ).

In 2003, would he have cracked the top 30 in Rolling Stone's Top 100 guitar players instead being stuck at #35 if he'd only been playing a J-200?

Cheers

 

[tjmangum]

Takoma Park MD's own John Fahey and his Recording King (pictured above in this thread) playing 'In Christ ...'

Would we like this vid better if he'd been playing a Martin? (I know we'd celebrate it more if he'd been play a Guild :wink: ).

In 2003, would he have cracked the top 30 in Rolling Stone's Top 100 guitar players instead being stuck at #35 if he'd only been playing a J-200?

Cheers

Seems I've seen some later videos of JF playing a Martin D76 and Vanguard album covers with a D-28. Regardless of the instrument make, his music sound was distinctively his own. To heck with Rolling Stone, he's a top 5 on my list.
tj

 

[P-E-Z]

Pretty much the others I already have

 

[capnjuan]

... Seems I've seen some later videos of JF playing a Martin D76 and Vanguard album covers with a D-28 ...

As you said:

For a guy with issues, he did some of his most remarkable work with Christmas songs.

 

[tjmangum]

... Seems I've seen some later videos of JF playing a Martin D76 and Vanguard album covers with a D-28 ...

As you said:

For a guy with issues, he did some of his most remarkable work with Christmas songs.

Agreed Capn, The New Possibility is an amazing album. I listen to it all year round. Guildsters, if you don't know John Fahey and this work, you owe it to yourself to give it a listen.
tj