Another charity shop find

ICBM

Got this yesterday from my local Oxfam - it's a 1950s 'folk' guitar, possibly made by Höfner or Framus, but I'm not sure... 'Florida' is the brand on it but I think that may be for the British market only - it just says Made In Germany below the logo.



It came with three nylon and three steel strings! It was actually intended for steel - the nut grooves are too narrow for nylon, especially the top E - but the bridge is clearly more a classical design, and given that it's probably seventy years old, the top is bellying slightly behind the bridge and the neck has quite a bow in it already, I think it's much safer to string it with nylon. I found another old black nylon top E string to go with the B and G that were already on it - I had to open out the E string nut slot slightly - and fitted some hard-tension classical wound strings, but apart from that, it really needed nothing more than a gentle clean and the machineheads oiling - it's in really very good condition for a guitar this age. (I forgot - the bridge saddle was chewed up, but I had another in my box of old spares which fitted.)

The neck is quite chunky and the action somewhat high above the 5th fret due to the neck bow, but it's still perfectly playable with the nylons on it. It's not loud, and nor does it sound 'great' - I assume it's a ply top since the back is - but it actually suits me much better than my proper classical guitar which is just not really me...

thomasross20

What a find - re the bellying is that something you can fix?

ICBM

thomasross20 said:

What a find - re the bellying is that something you can fix?

Probably not - it’s just a lightly braced top that really isn’t very strong. It’s done well to survive this long without suffering worse - although when I got it, the strings were almost slack and I suspect had been left like that for maybe decades, which may have saved it. If anything, the bowed neck is the bigger issue - it would be rather uncomfortable to play with steel strings, although it’s OK with nylon.

bugileman

It's a laminate top, back and sides. German Made guitar. Probably better with silk n steel strings.....these don't fair that well after many years unless nylon strings were used. 

ICBM

bugileman said:

It's a laminate top, back and sides. German Made guitar. Probably better with silk n steel strings.....these don't fair that well after many years unless nylon strings were used. 

When I got it the B, G and low E were nylon, and the high E, D and A steel! Thankfully no-one had tried to tune it up in the shop - the strings were just about flapping in the wind, and from the dust under them I don’t think it’s been touched in at least 20 years, possibly much longer.

Silk and steels may be pushing it given the bow in the neck - even if it doesn’t cause further problems the action height will probably make it too hard to play. I’m happy enough with the nylons for those Leonard Cohen moments .

Supportact

I like the look of it, well done for saving it. 

Smellyfingers

It looks really nice and well preserved, if it is 70 years old, you've got teutonic workmanship from back when it was really cheap.

You don't say how much you paid?

ICBM

Smellyfingers said:

You don't say how much you paid?

£35. Oxfam is not giving away stuff they know is worth a touch more than the usual 3/4-size junk classicals now!

AK99

thomasross20 said:

What a find - re the bellying is that something you can fix?

Sounds like a job for a wallpaper-steamer and some proper shed-time

guitarjack66

AK99 said:

thomasross20 said:

What a find - re the bellying is that something you can fix?

Sounds like a job for a wallpaper-steamer and some proper shed-time

Are we still talking about the guitar here?

BillDL

ICBM said:

Smellyfingers said:

You don't say how much you paid?

£35. Oxfam is not giving away stuff they know is worth a touch more than the usual 3/4-size junk classicals now!

I've noticed this in the online shop.  They must have somebody advising them or else somebody does a lot of Google searches to find prices.  I really don't think you will get any real bargains in the Oxfam online store these days, but perhaps you still can in theirs and other charities' physical shops.  In fact, I think that most of the musical instruments in the Oxfam online shop (filtered results) are overpriced (like THIS guitar that started at £1,000 and is now down to £600) and you still have to pay shipping, but they are relying on people thinking "It's going to a good cause, so I don't mind paying above market price".  I think that most people would probably still feel a bit uneasy or even guilty at finding a real bargain that is seriously underpriced and snapping it up before somebody told them it's worth a lot more.

With that said, however, I like the look of your wee £35 guitar.  It has a nice shape to it and has nice clean lines.  There are very similar mid-50s "Florida" branded (Hofner?) guitars being advertised for between £130 and £180.

ICBM

I have now given this to a friend who would like to learn the guitar. She was born in 1953, which from some research is around the most likely date this guitar was made, so she thought it was appropriate! She also likes that it’s not very loud, so she can practice quietly - and unlike me, has long fingers, so the rather chunky neck is not an issue. I can’t really think of a better use for it, so I’m happy to see it passed on .

boogieman

Good swag. I really like your chair as well. 

BillDL

I'm glad there are still some bargains to be had in charity shops.  I read an article the other day about an announcement by the Cancer Research (I think) shops saying they would be closing quite a few of their shops and citing the dropping number of buyers as the main reason.  The article writer highlighted a lot of letters that had been sent to the charity and numerous social media or website comments by people telling them plain and straight that if they lowered their prices the items would fly out the doors.  Mention was made of them selling used items that are still currently available as new for up to 85% of the new price.  Obviously they need to remain profitable to pay the business rates, insurance, rent, electricity and heating costs, packaging materials for goods sold through their websites and shipped, wages for the non-volunteers (a contentious issue), and various other overheads, but it seems that they can't seem to understand that it's better to make their prices more attractive and shift stock than trying to maximise the takings and have items sitting around unsold.  It's not as though they bought the items and have to pull a certain % profit to break even and make a bit extra.  I think they are either being falsely guided by what similar items are being advertised for on the likes of eBay, or going by suggested "don't sell it for less than £whatever" by the people donating the items.

shufflebeat

It should be noted that many guitars at this time were held together by animal glue which dries out and cracks, particularly at the neck joint. It’s very common to see Hofners with a reset neck joint. This may be relevant to the steel/nylon discussion.

ICBM

boogieman said:

I really like your chair as well. 

That’s an Orkney chair - that one is quite old, and belongs to some friends who loaned it to us when they had no room in their flat, it was a family heirloom so they didn’t want to get rid of it. They’ve since wanted it back, so last summer we went to Orkney and bought ourselves one - we’d wanted one since we were first there in the late 80s, so it’s been a long time coming! Not cheap, but it’s a lovely thing and will also get passed down to our kids eventually .

BillDL

Some journey for a chair.  That's almost as bad as the old Knorr stock cube advert where the guy's wife went "all the way to Inverness just to pick up a chicken".

GoFish

BillDL said:

I'm glad there are still some bargains to be had in charity shops.  I read an article the other day about an announcement by the Cancer Research (I think) shops saying they would be closing quite a few of their shops and citing the dropping number of buyers as the main reason.  The article writer highlighted a lot of letters that had been sent to the charity and numerous social media or website comments by people telling them plain and straight that if they lowered their prices the items would fly out the doors.  Mention was made of them selling used items that are still currently available as new for up to 85% of the new price.  Obviously they need to remain profitable to pay the business rates, insurance, rent, electricity and heating costs, packaging materials for goods sold through their websites and shipped, wages for the non-volunteers (a contentious issue), and various other overheads, but it seems that they can't seem to understand that it's better to make their prices more attractive and shift stock than trying to maximise the takings and have items sitting around unsold.  It's not as though they bought the items and have to pull a certain % profit to break even and make a bit extra.  I think they are either being falsely guided by what similar items are being advertised for on the likes of eBay, or going by suggested "don't sell it for less than £whatever" by the people donating the items.

I partly blame that Mary Portas who was given loadsa airtime around 2012 to do to shops what "Changing Rooms" had done to interior decor. It promoted success as getting rid of 80% of the stock and jacking up prices - week after week. Having read an interview or two with her since, she strikes me aas a very silly person who really shouldn't have had a megaphone and a fat BBC contract parroting her retail opinions as facts - something she is now belatedly realising.

ICBM

BillDL said:

Some journey for a chair.  That's almost as bad as the old Knorr stock cube advert where the guy's wife went "all the way to Inverness just to pick up a chicken".

Well, we did go on holiday for a week at the same time .