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Author
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Topic: Why So Many Weissenborns For Sale?
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Dana Duplan
Member From: Ramona, CA
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posted 14 September 2002 05:37 AM
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Everywhere I turn lately I see Weissenborns for sale--saw a 1/2 a dozen in L.A., a bunch on the internet, etc. It got me wondering why, given their relative rarity. Are they priced higher than the market will bear or overpriced, are owners finding they aren't that useful, are their problems or better choices? Any ideas? BTW, almost all that I've seen have been very nice ones!
DD |
Stephen Gambrell
Member From: Ware Shoals, South Carolina, USA
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posted 14 September 2002 09:50 AM
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Acoustic Guitar magazine ran an article on these things a couple of years ago, and they were shoddily built. Glue all over the place, whatever. Rumor has it that Jerry Douglas bought one off the wall at somebody's house--they were using it for a planter! Somebody told me about buying one for 3 or 4 hundred bucks, a few years ago, and now you know the price. Luthiers are getting in on the action, now, build the same type instruments, but better quality, and better sounding(IMHO), than those old things---for less money. So maybe justice is winning out! |
Andy Volk
Member From: Boston, MA
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posted 14 September 2002 12:18 PM
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I think Stephan hit the nailed on the head. You can buy a Bear Creek with master quality construction and spectacular tone starting at about 2K. The old Weisenborns - provided you get one in good condition - do have a certain indefinable magic to the tone but the volume is nowhere near that of the luthier-built reissues. It's probably just coincidence that several hit the market at once. If anything, players like Ben Harper. Bob Brozman & Greg Leisz have made these even MORE visible over the last five years or so. |
Dana Duplan
Member From: Ramona, CA
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posted 14 September 2002 09:12 PM
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They're everywhere! Saw four more today at the Orange County Guitar Show--2 Weissenborns and 2 Konas, priced at $2500-$4500. And a nice Kona style made several years ago by the Gibson/Dobro folks @$4000. Hard to evaluate the tone due to the noisy environment.
DD |
Bob Stone
Member From: Gainesville, FL, USA
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posted 16 September 2002 06:24 AM
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I owned a 1920s style 1 (all koa, zero ornamentation) Weissenborn from about 1987-1992 and never really cared for it. I thought the sound was really wimpy and it was just about impossible to mike on stage, even at coffee house volume level. I sold it to Bob Brozman. |
Dan Tyack
Member From: Seattle, WA USA
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posted 16 September 2002 06:37 PM
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I have a Howlett (spelling?) Weissenborn style guitar which kicks any 'real' Weissenborn in the rear (IMHO). This was built in the islands (not those islands, it's from Wales). |
Ward Williams
Member From: Dallas, Texas, USA
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posted 19 September 2002 11:41 AM
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I can't shed any light on the reason for weissenborns being so overpriced, but I do have an interesting story. Several years ago I saw David Lindley at the Fillmore. I was working as a stage tech so I was back stage most of the time. Being a Dobro and bottle neck player, I've always been interested in anything that slides. I was in awe of how many weissenborns Lindley had with him. He had a least five or six on stage and then a few more spares in cases back stage. Knowing how pricey weissenborns can be, I started joking with Lindley's guitar tech saying that he must get nervous being in charge of about $20,000 worth of guitars from night to night. He laughed and said, "Yea, you'd think that, but actually all Lindley's weissenborns are really cheap. He gets them in Mexico for about $400 a guitar." I just hit the floor laughing. "That's hilarious man," I said, "You're a very funny guy." To which he replied, "No, I'm serious." My jaw dropped. I couldn't believe that this great sound I was hearing come from the stage was coming from these cheap Mexican made weissenborns. It just goes to show that sometimes you can get a little more than you pay for. Incidentally, this guy told me to go to Lindley's website and post a message about where he got his weissenborns, and he would be glad to tell be. I never followed through. It might be worth a shot, or I'm sure that many of you out there already know about this mysterious factory in Mexico that makes in expensive, great sounding, hollow neck guitars, and now you're mad at me because I leaked the information that this place might exist, and now everyone is going to try to find it, and your little secret is safe no more. Of course, I could be making the whole thing up anyway. |
Brad Bechtel
Moderator From: San Francisco, CA
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posted 19 September 2002 12:40 PM
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That's not actually completely true. Mr. Dave does use Weissenborn-style guitars from Berkeley Musical Instrument Exchange; these guitar are roughed out in Mexico, but the finish work is performed in Berkeley, California.
He also uses guitars made by Canopus of Japan and Manzanita of Germany.
He uses various Weissenborn guitars with various tunings.------------------
Brad's Page of Steel
A web site devoted to acoustic & electric lap steel guitars |
Andy Volk
Member From: Boston, MA
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posted 19 September 2002 05:01 PM
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Brad giveth the true lowdown. DL also amplifies them with top level gear including Sunrise pickups and pre-amps. |
Russ Young
Member From: Seattle, Washington, USA
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posted 19 September 2002 05:15 PM
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I've got a Superior "Weissenborn" just like Mr. Dave's, but mine doesn't sound anything like his (when I'm playing it.)Do you suppose it would help if I grew sideburns just like his?  |
Greg Simmons
Member From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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posted 19 September 2002 05:28 PM
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It's the polyester factor seriously though, check out Neil Russell of Victoria B.C. Canada who builds a real fine Weissenborn for a great price.  ------------------
Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net
[This message was edited by Greg Simmons on 19 September 2002 at 05:32 PM.]
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Bob Stone
Member From: Gainesville, FL, USA
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posted 20 September 2002 05:31 AM
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While we're on the topic of acoustic non-resonator steels, I'd love to see some good luthiers experiment in building instruments without hollow necks. There should be some interesting sounds available from high-quality acoustic 6-8 string square neck, non-resonator instruments built of fine tonewoods. Kelly Joe Phelps gets a fine tone from a std. acoustic guitar set up for steel. Seems like an instrument hand-built just for that purpose could sound even better. Food for thought. |
Bill Leff
Member From: Santa Cruz, CA, USA
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posted 20 September 2002 07:23 AM
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Wow Greg, those Neil Russel Weissenborns are beautiful (and how about that double-neck!). I ran a quick currency conversion and price of the (single-neck) is $825 US!! If they sound anything near as good as they look, that is a steal! |
Mike D
Member From: Phx, Az
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posted 20 September 2002 07:45 AM
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Bob Check out Rich Mermer's guitars. He builds, conventional, double soundhole, baritone and Kona style Hawaiians. |
Ian McLatchie
Member From: Toronto, Ontario, Canada
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posted 20 September 2002 02:37 PM
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Greg, Bill: I tried a Russell a couple of years ago in a store in Calgary and was very impressed. As I remember, the finish and ornamentation were basic but good, but the sound was excellent. In fact, I can't recall what the brand was, but there was another, better-known Weissenborn knock-off there as well, I think almost twice the price of the Russell, and the Russell was clearly the better sounding instrument. An excellent buy, no question. |
Greg Simmons
Member From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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posted 20 September 2002 03:01 PM
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Ian, you got it - they sound fantastic and it was even better when Neil was selling them for $1000 CDN (which at that time I did feel was way underpriced). I think they are real sleepers, and are IMHO the best unknown Weissenborn replica - sound vs. price - out there. I have one Neil made for me about 3 years ago - Mahogany with purpleheart bridge, fretboard, peghead veneer and spruce/purpleheart rope binding. You can check out Neil's instruments on recordings by some fine Canadian players: Neil built a doubleneck for Doug Cox Steve Dawson also plays one of Neil’s Weissenborns. Bill, if you’re at all interested I’d recommend giving Neil a call – he’s a great guy. When I learned that he was building these a few years ago, I just looked him up in the phone book and gave him a call - we had a fine chat at which time I asked him to build me a guitar – at that time he required no deposit (as he says, if you change your mind or whatever, somebody else’ll be right there to buy it) and it was ready in about 4 months. I visited and hung out w/him in his shop on Vancouver Island to pick up my finished instrument I know I have some digital pics of mine, I'll round them up and if anybody is interested I can send you some. Ian, that other you saw might have been a Sawchyn, made buy a guy in Saskatchewan. Was that at the Acoustic Guitar Store in Calgary by any chance? Sadly that store is physically no more (what a great place it was to spend a few hours - you know the kind of place where you just want to "drop in" for 5 or 10 minutes and...)but one of the partners is running it via the web. best deals on Calton Cases anywhere
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Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net
[This message was edited by Greg Simmons on 21 September 2002 at 10:18 AM.]
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Greg Simmons
Member From: Edmonton, Alberta, Canada
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posted 21 September 2002 10:16 AM
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Here's some photos of a Russell (Celtic Cross) Weissenborn
and one to whet your appetite...
The bright area on the upper bout treble-side is just a light reflection not a finish flaw! ------------------
Greg Simmons
Custodian of the Official Sho~Bud Pedal Steel Guitar Website
shobud.cjb.net [This message was edited by Greg Simmons on 21 September 2002 at 12:56 PM.]
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tom anderson
Member From: leawood, ks., usa
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posted 22 September 2002 08:14 PM
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I have a Weissenborn copy sold by John Pearse several years ago that has a very nice tone, but I got an old Martin Hawaiian that has a much much better tone & more volume. I found it at a better price than the old Gibson hawaiians, that are also supposed to sound great. |
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