kidsmoke
April 28th, 2011, 01:35 PM
Well, I traveled to Mexico with my girl last week, to visit the town that her father was born in, and that his huge family is a local institution of. Not small, but not a big town either. He has retired, and spends several months a year there, visiting family and tending to homes, and family issues, as the de facto patriarch.
That is to give context, this is a guitar thread after all.
During our visit, we were in the homestead, maintained, but uninhabited since my girlfriends grandparents passed in the late 90's. This is a huge adobe and brick home, walled at the street, with interior courtyards and patchwork masonry additions added as the family grew to have 10 children.
One of those was a prodigy. Uncle Jose had shown such promise that he did not become the laborer as his brothers had, he studied english and business in Chicago, was an accomplished musician(piano voice and, duh, guitar) a skilled wrangler and leather worker and furniture builder. oh, and the guy was pretty handsome too. And of course, as the one with the most promise, his story is the most tragic. Drowned in a lake at a family reunion at the age of 23. It still stings family members when they try to talk about him.
So we're being shown the house, and one Aunt says, you know, all his guitars are upstairs, nobody's touched them in 30 years. If you can use them.....
I broke into a cold sweat and tried to look nonchalant, thinking I was about to have one of those insane moments where someone hands you a '59 LP and says, "I don't know if you can do anything with this old piece of junk..."
well, that didn't happen.
But it was pretty cool. According to the GF's dad, a couple gits are missing. Likely they were the more valuable ones. What was left was still very cool to look at, and worth the trouble to get back to the states. Only one made the trip, and it's a player for sure.
here's the one that came home
1980 Hondo Chiquita Travel Guitar (NGD thread elsewhere)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110994.jpg
70's vintage Kay KB-1 Bass
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110991.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110993.jpg
The Gem: US made 1964 Harmony H-77 Hollowbody with D'Armond Gold Foil P'ups
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110983.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110984.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110988.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110989.jpg
And perhaps most valuable, a very old classical, hand made in the guitar mecca of Paracho Michuacan Mexico
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110979.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1120021.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1120018.jpg
Enjoy!
That is to give context, this is a guitar thread after all.
During our visit, we were in the homestead, maintained, but uninhabited since my girlfriends grandparents passed in the late 90's. This is a huge adobe and brick home, walled at the street, with interior courtyards and patchwork masonry additions added as the family grew to have 10 children.
One of those was a prodigy. Uncle Jose had shown such promise that he did not become the laborer as his brothers had, he studied english and business in Chicago, was an accomplished musician(piano voice and, duh, guitar) a skilled wrangler and leather worker and furniture builder. oh, and the guy was pretty handsome too. And of course, as the one with the most promise, his story is the most tragic. Drowned in a lake at a family reunion at the age of 23. It still stings family members when they try to talk about him.
So we're being shown the house, and one Aunt says, you know, all his guitars are upstairs, nobody's touched them in 30 years. If you can use them.....
I broke into a cold sweat and tried to look nonchalant, thinking I was about to have one of those insane moments where someone hands you a '59 LP and says, "I don't know if you can do anything with this old piece of junk..."
well, that didn't happen.
But it was pretty cool. According to the GF's dad, a couple gits are missing. Likely they were the more valuable ones. What was left was still very cool to look at, and worth the trouble to get back to the states. Only one made the trip, and it's a player for sure.
here's the one that came home
1980 Hondo Chiquita Travel Guitar (NGD thread elsewhere)
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110994.jpg
70's vintage Kay KB-1 Bass
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110991.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110993.jpg
The Gem: US made 1964 Harmony H-77 Hollowbody with D'Armond Gold Foil P'ups
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110983.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110984.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110988.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110989.jpg
And perhaps most valuable, a very old classical, hand made in the guitar mecca of Paracho Michuacan Mexico
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1110979.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1120021.jpg
http://i93.photobucket.com/albums/l58/tiokimo/La%20Chona%20Guitars/P1120018.jpg
Enjoy!