Hi,
In between surveying and building I sang pro, as a solo artist and the odd duo, in pubs and clubs etc and toured the outback towns for months at a time,sometimes 3000k over 3 months, then return the same way home for another 3 months. In australia it was good money then, 80's and early 90's.
Easily making $120 to 200 an hour, paid for an apartment and trips to America. So around 911 I picked these up while living in the usa, from NYC and Staten Is., lefties are hard to get. The martin d41 is the only one in Australia. I came back from America and they all sat under my bed for 11 years, maybe only an hour playing each in all those years.
Have absolutely no inclination to play any more, yet I did the muso thing for almost 20 years, a policeman bought the Taylor and Martin, and a country singer got the Ovation, which is still my favourite sounding guitar plugged in, with the right p.a.
Cheers and merry xmas to all from sunny Brisbane.
That is a beautiful Martin. If you lived in the states I would have been interested in the D41 for my father. He's a lefty.
It's sad that you have no desire to play anymore. I find sitting down and strumming a few tunes to be the best stress relief out there.
They'd be better if they weren't lefties 😉
I hope you have at least one guitar still......you never know when the bug will come back. I also played a lot for a stretch (not to the extent you did, but probably 3-4 gigs a month for roughly $200 a night).
I believe once you've been bit by that music bug it can never go away completely. You're going to want to play again at some point.
That was a nice collection you had. It is hard for me to focus on those lefties. The little things make it seem like I've had too much to drink, with the compensating bridge angled the wrong way and the pickguard on upside down. i'm glad you found a home for them. There is currently a custody dispute on my favorite guitar upon my demise which is what it is going to take to have it change hands.
"3000k over 3 months" If I read that right, that is $3,000,000 every three months or 12 million a year. Nice side job.
sorry, i meant i drove 3000 kilometers each way when i toured, i have an australian maton and a takamine guitar, i used these on stage, holes drilled in the top for mic stands with radio mics, so i could run around the rooom, chat to the women and avoid the beer cans, a moving target is hard to hit ha ha
cheers
David,
When you were in America did you have an opportunity to visit the
Martin guitar factory located in Nazareth, PA?
You guitar players should check out this link:
http://www.martinguitar.com/about-martin/visit-us/guided-factory-tour.html
Even if you don't play a guitar and just like the music, it's a very interesting place to visit.
Grant
Martin Factory Tour
(I've always wanted to check out the Martin factory in Nazareth.)
Bought myself a D-28 at Manny's in NYC in 1972. Helluva tone.
What is the Maton like? Never saw one.
It's unusual for the desire to play music to disappear permanently. Good thing you still have those two on hand.
Martin Factory Tour
lefty guitars
yes my aunt lived in lansdale pa, so i went to martin in nazareth twice, mike longworth who wrote a history of martin guitars took me to lunch once, i also played at godfrey daniels in allentown i think, and in lots of folk clubs in the day across the usa.
the maton guitars are over rated, too expensive for what you get sound wise, ok plugged in, the taylors are ok, i could strum the d41, put it down and walk away and it would still be resonating, amazing, as are collins etc.
bought a few from mandolin bros, mat uminov in the village, texas and somewhere else.
they all will do a run of lefties, and thats it for the year.
paul mc cartney got presented with a les paul he said it was funny, when he was poor he bought them, and when he is rich they give them to him ha ha
cheers
