In my never ending difficult quest NOT to participate in the economy which sources instruments of the likes of Indonesia and China, we offer these alternative instruments. I have nothing against the people, but have problems with multinational cartels of predatory capitalists making obscene profits, exploiting the workers with 10 cent an hour wages and no regard for their health and safety. Our country was and still is built on the despicable institution of slavery. Kidnapped Africans made billions for US businesses, and that same institution is alive and well only this time with Asian women and children continuing to make billions for us. Our culture is so bankrupt of substance and self esteem, Madison Avenue and Hollywood sell us a value system of consuming cheap products so our peers will respect us. This dynamic coupled with the crashing value of the US dollar and home foreclosures is a recipe of disaster leading to economic depression. Shortly the currency for oil in US dollars will be substituted for Euros, devaluating the dollar even lower. Our country only imports products, sells, advertises, and transports them. Most of these import items are un-repairable and disposable, and end up in landfills, where we will soon join them.
This holiday season we are offering, for $150 to $200+, refurbished 1940s to 1960s USA proletarian guitars.
Stellas, Harmonies, Airlines, and Silvertones. These are solid birch. I found a huge stash and we are resetting the necks, gluing on pin bridges and setting them up to play and sound good.
Stellas BEFORE:
Stellas AFTER!:
Years ago, Dave Hager, who had something to do with the Martin line, would send us Martin necks and bodies that weren't up to their impeccable cosmetic tolerances. For instance a microscopic chip might have popped out of the side when they were routing the binding. They used to saw these up and burn them, and Dave thought this was intolerable. They started to sell them to people who put conterfeit Martin stickers on them which caused problems for Martin's warantee, so they decided to saw and burn them again. Then Dave convinced them to sell them to us, because we wouldn't misrepresent them for what they were. You can see where the Martin logo was scraped off the inside off the center strip. We bought a few hundred of them, and eventually the Git-Hard Center pressured Martin into cutting us off. Their sales crew got tired of answering "how come a Fat Dog Martin costs one third of what you sell them for, just because it doesn't have a sticker?" We have been building and assembling these for years with nitro-cellulose laquer finishes, slightly higher neck angles, and bone saddle and nut. Some we've even done French polished tops on, and I've cut down some of the 12 string pegheads to 6, leaving a wider 30s and 40s neck width, which I personally prefer. Demitri has shots of beautiful sunburst on the tops. Everybody that has bought them has loved them, except for one guy who couldn't live without the Martin sticker. The price is right, from $700.00
Demitri at work at Fat Dog's Ranch
$125.00 - $200.00
I unearthed a large pile of old Korean acoustics, 000-18, D-18, and cutaway style. These are coming from an old factory that had labor unions and Osha. There's some with solid spruce tops, D-28 style, for $250.00. They play and sound great. One of the best bargains ever.
This is something that I make for $500.00 from 1960s parts and and a Bill Lawrence A-400 pickup. Taj Mahal uses a pair of these for recording and touring. David Hildago has an 8 string Mandola version. And Tom Peterson has a Baritone version. They have a big neck like a 50's or 60's guitar. Since Taj was performing at the 40th aniversary of the summer of love, and I was about a half mile away on my bicycle at an outdoor concert, and I could just hear this bad boy blasting through Golden Gate Park.
