Pentax End of an Era

I bought a beautiful guitar once. It was a K.Yairi 6 string acoustic, dreadnought body, beautifully hand made by an excellent luthier. However, I could no longer play it for a lot of reasons, and after some (many) years of it sitting in a case, only to be brought out for dusting, I decided to sell. I was lucky, it went to an Irish musician who had intended to buy for his son who had just graduated from University, but after playing, decided to keep it for himself. I once worked restaurants and pubs in this town, for a few years, but nothing since 1996, and really, it was time to let go... I'm never going to be working in the music bizz again.

Here's a couple of shots...

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IMG_0177.JPG by kyte50, on Flickr

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Guitar E12 by kyte50, on Flickr

K5, DA35mm f/2.8 Ltd Macro
 
That's gotta hurt Sue, but knowing its going to a good home helps. Tough to part with a nice guitar - I had and sold a really nice old Martin once and I hated to let that go.

-Ray
 
Thanks, Ray and Dan. Yeah, hard to let go. I have owned many many guitars but this one was one I had a real attachment to, it was the best, and most beautiful, and magic to play. I will probably get a small travel guitar just for fun, but it wont be like the Yairi.
 
Beautiful.
I have a love affair with a guitar. I feel your pain. I also have a vintage sax who needs a new home I think, but it's hard to let her go. I was hoping she might pay for the renovation of the big lady who really does need tightened and tweaked.
 
I'm sorry it had to come to this, Sue. But it sounds like the Yairi has a good home. Tell me, what's tougher: Giving up the guitar or acknowledging that you won't work in the music business again?
 
@Heather: You never get what you think the instrument is worth (because its always worth more to you than to anyone else). I was hoping to get at least enough to buy a new camera but oh well... Bit sad, but there it is.

@Biro: Harder to give the guitar up because until I did, I didn't have to acknowledge that the rest of it was really over. I could always pretend that "one day..."
 
giving up an item and the notion that you can use it to it's best potential can be hard. I'm sure you made some great music with that guitar, just as you make some great photos with your cameras. Just remember that everything is VERY temporary and enjoy the great moments.

Very recently I came to the realization that it's easy to cherish the great moments and hang onto them like physical objects. I think it's best to try to treasure the mundane. Elevate the everyday moment. A cup of coffee needn't be an epiphany, but if we savor it and enjoy it it becomes a little treasure. One can do it with almost anything, but in our busy lives, it's usually easier to target the really special bits. The problem is for most of us mortals, the really special bits are way too far apart and we can get bogged down in chasing down the unobtainable or the "trophy" bits. I'm sure your Yairi was great, but the music comes from you...just as your cameras are great, they mean nothing until YOU frame the shot.

Congrats (and condolences) on your guitar moving on.
 
Really like the second shot Sue. My daughter took guitar a few years ago in high school. I thought I would give her mine from when I took it in high school. Turns out over time, perhaps due to just sitting or maybe as a natural course of time passing, the neck starts to bow, to warp. They were able to restring and tune it however it required more pressure on the strings due to the warping. I ended up getting her one after a few weeks and sore fingers. You have a good attitude about giving it to someone who can use it. The music, the photos, the art, it does come from within. Good for you Sue.
 
Do you have any recordings you made with this guitar?

God. NO! I just did covers in restaurants and pubs in the early 80s then a little in mid 90s. No recordings. The manager of a band that was pretty popular around town at the time said to me "Sue, as a guitarist, you are a wonderful singer!" LOL. I wasnt very good at guitar and used to get any "proper" guitarist who would turn up to my gigs, to do the do for me :)
 
Really like the second shot Sue. My daughter took guitar a few years ago in high school. I thought I would give her mine from when I took it in high school. Turns out over time, perhaps due to just sitting or maybe as a natural course of time passing, the neck starts to bow, to warp. They were able to restring and tune it however it required more pressure on the strings due to the warping. I ended up getting her one after a few weeks and sore fingers. You have a good attitude about giving it to someone who can use it. The music, the photos, the art, it does come from within. Good for you Sue.

Thanks for your comment about the shot, Kristen... thats what its all about now :) And yes, the neck warps. Luckily mine had not, at least not that made a difference to the playing. The purchaser looked it up and down. I never tightened the strings right up unless I was going to actually play, thats one of the things that makes it happen over time. Frets needed a bit of a polish, and new strings, but thats all he will be up for.
 
God. NO! I just did covers in restaurants and pubs in the early 80s then a little in mid 90s. No recordings. The manager of a band that was pretty popular around town at the time said to me "Sue, as a guitarist, you are a wonderful singer!" LOL. I wasnt very good at guitar and used to get any "proper" guitarist who would turn up to my gigs, to do the do for me :)

haha well it would've been all good for the memories.
 
God. NO! I just did covers in restaurants and pubs in the early 80s then a little in mid 90s. No recordings. The manager of a band that was pretty popular around town at the time said to me "Sue, as a guitarist, you are a wonderful singer!" LOL. I wasnt very good at guitar and used to get any "proper" guitarist who would turn up to my gigs, to do the do for me :)

Parallel lives. I ski bummed in Colorado in the early '80s and used to play for beer and pizza in local bars and restaurants. I was (and am) the worst singer on the planet - really bad (although I could sort of do a parody of Jagger doing his country music parody voice). And I couldn't hold together a rhythm section to save my life. But I could play some lead and play pretty decent rhythm fills around a good rhythm player/section. I had a roomie for a while who could sort of play rhythm and sort of sing, so we'd get beer and pizza gigs a fair amount. I managed to play occasionally with some make-shift bands that we'd put together for big parties and local events, with some key guys who were good enough to really hold it together, and in that context I wasn't bad at all. I mean, that's about the easiest role in all of music - playing fills around a good rhythm section, but I was at least good enough to do THAT pretty well, and sometimes even kick the whole thing into a higher gear just by pushing a bit. No buzz in the world like having a room full of people dancing their butts off and playing a part in making that happen. I even had people make a big stink over me around town after some of those performances, but they didn't know how good I wasn't - I just did the easiest job in the band well enough.

But by the mid-'80s I was married and had a real career going and then kids came along and I haven't played guitar in front of people since. I kept it up for a while on my own - had fun with a little four track recorder. I sold my Martin and my Strat and for several years I've had a cheap Taylor acoustic and a cheap Ibanez electric hanging on my walls. Because if I ever sold them, I'd suddenly develop a huge interest in getting back into guitar, buy something else, probably for too much money, and then not play THAT. So I may as well not play what I already have than sell it and then buy something new not to play...

-Ray
 
Bittersweet time. Good to know your "baby" has a good home but I'm so sorry it had to go!

I certainly have no fire-in-the-belly to do clubs and so forth anymore at this age. My music is currently confined to the home and right now its only purpose is to do my soundtracks for my little movies. I'm a bassist but my Carvin fretless 5 string sits in the case 99.9% of the time I'm afraid. The music business for me was certainly a mixed bag and truthfully I'm glad to be out of it. It was many years ago.

The most recent revival of doing anything with a band was doing a Christian Contemporary thing with some folks in a band called "Mercy Street" which actually got local radio air play -- but we were nothing too special. We had fun though. That was in the late 90's and I don't think the album is even online anymore. One of my bandmates Angela Burns has a new album out called "Arbitrary Mind" if you're interested though: Angela Burns

So at least SOME of us are still active, lol. But for me: no more.

Edit: Ha ha! I just found we still have an entry for the Mercy Street album on Amazon! Wierd. Street, Mercy - LONGING - Amazon.com Music
 
OK, we need the '13 Year-Old at Heart' counter to all this: "What are you doing? What happened to "Dying with the most toys winning?!!"

Seriously, sorry for the loss, but the maturity that went into the decision is beautiful.
 
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