The Guitars of Early Blues

If you enjoy content like this, hop over to patreon where you'll get exclusive content, ad free youtube videos and other perks. / edwardphillips
Get my album Edward Phillips Plays the Country Blues:
edwardphillips...
Throw a tip in the Paypal bucket:
paypal.me/edwa...
Contact me at [e-mail]

[@emailercc3565]

those cheap guitars were made with top of the line materials. most of the stuff was organic material not plastic. pre war materials were high quality, the wood alone was far superior, as it was usually made from really old trees with weather patterns that you will never see again. the craftsman even were all self taught by apprentice. times have changed automation and mass production and weather has made these guitars one of a kind. great video

[@DjSinxix]

Back when there wasn’t so many of us

[@Magnum_Opus_Music]

❤

[@garymelnyk7910]

That’s why I collect them!

[@A.M......]

1:59 They're a product of jEaHzZ

[@hunt_sonicshaman5711]

😂

[@herrbonk3635]

A beautiful dialect of English, at least in my Scandinavian ears.

[@c.a.t.732]

I chuckled at that too.

[@A.M......]

@@herrbonk3635 Southern accents are harder to find these days.

[@johnmcaleese8459]

@@A.M...... I felt his voice to be very soothing to my Philly ears. New Orleans maybe??

[@shawni321]

Hee hee 1972 got my first non-plastic guitar. It came from Sears. It's parlor size because I was just a little girl still, but it had steel strings and my God it hurt to play but I played and learned and bled...and then played some more. 50 years later and thru several guitars, back to a parlor guitar but with nylon strings now. It's a French brand. Decent.

[@PN1296]

Yeah with just a lil knowledge coulda had nylon on that sumbich. Felt like that when I discovered silk and steel string.

[@c.a.t.732]

My first guitar, that I got around 1970, was a Sears Silvertone. Action about an inch off the fretboard at the 12th fret, screw-on pickguard, separate bridge and tailpiece like a jazz guitar... it looks very much like those early guitars in the video. I say "looks" cause it's hanging on the wall a few feet from me now, a real tribute to the durability of good old American plywood!

[@missbritt288]

God bless you for this video .. this is apart of our American history ...

[@the.communist]

More like black history, whites just appropiated.

[@dinosqautch6941]

The Communist 😂😂😂😂 ever heard of Appalachia troll harder

[@wood4life]

The Communist Who did black people get the guitar from? They didn’t invent it. They appropriated it from white people. Who do you think taught them how to play. Blues is just the black version of folk music which has been around before any black man picked a guitar.

[@TheAlienFleet]

The Communist you’re saying “black people don’t count as Americans”

[@heathkish6901]

Come on, folks.... How about we save the fighting for political, and religious discussions? 😊

[@garnetbezanson1404]

Clearly the best bluesmen only played 8 string jacksons with emgs and floyds. Of course they didn't have mesa boogie mark 3s so they had to use marshall jcm 800s

[@shaunw9270]

Over sixty people liked your ridiculous comment. Congratulations jack ass 👍

[@aaronbrown581]

Shaun W salty

[@hellsq]

8-string jackson is a guitar for pussies. here a 8-string guitar for real cool guys: kzbin.info/www/bejne/naPFd5udfbmkrLs

[@mdurst2009]

@@shaunw9270 you must not be an EMG fan

[@pt8175]

@@hellsq Thanks for posting the video link now I gotta get a Ellis Resonator.

[@jimincornwall1925]

My first guitar, which I got as a Christmas present 1964, was a Stella purchased at The T. Eaton department store in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, and I think it was $24.95. It was a difficult neck to play and to learn on, but it made my first electric guitar, a second-hand National solid body electric (shaped like a Les Paul), a breeze to play. I was 15 back then, and I just turned 70 last month, and I’m still playing guitar. Thank your good Lord for my Stella, I wish I still had it today.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

Their hearts out. That's what they were playing.

[@MarkSmith-nw4os]

Very true. It's not the guitar strings, it's your heart strings.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@MarkSmith-nw4os The history of roots music: Heart strings on barely affordable instruments ...

[@MarkSmith-nw4os]

@@whynottalklikeapirat Maybelle Carter played The Wildwood Flower on a Stella.

[@whynottalklikeapirat]

@@MarkSmith-nw4os I am not surprised.

[@randyscott9034]

Look at Robert Johnson’s fingers no wonder he played well those are some long ass fingers

[@richardgreen9393]

Johnny Winter had long thin fingers...they looked like a spider crawling on the fretboard

[@goodun2974]

Randy Scott, It's not the length of the fingers so much as the strength of the fingers. Martin Simpson, one of the best modern finger pickers I know of, commented in an interview about how most of the old blues men picked cotton throughout their youth and developed really strong and heavily calloused hands doing manual labor. Cotton bolls are prickly and abrasive and would rip your fingers to shreds until you build-up callouses. The same could be said about the guitars with high action and rusty strings that these guys were forced to play because it was all they could get, all they could afford.

[@clawhammer704]

Practiced is where it's at. These guys also probably played around 15 songs all the time and stayed in the key they sang in for the most part. They knew their range fingerings very well.

[@paulgordon6949]

Theres a possibility that Robert johnson had a condition called marfans, which can cause people with the condition to have elongated digits and limbs. I'm not sure if that is the case, but it does look like it could be

[@bobaldo2339]

Thanks for the video. My first acoustic was a Stella. My first electric was a Sears brand, made by Harmony. Just remembered the Sears guitar was called a "Silvertone".

[@lindahartman4543]

my first was a Montgomery Wards AIrline as their house brand. Likely from the Kay.

[@swinde]

I think ALL Sears music and sound products were branded "Silvertone"

[@act.13.41]

@@swinde Yes. I remember my grand dad's Silvertone console stereo. The turntable was so-so, but that tube amp and alnico speakers sounded so good. I will never forget the first time I put Physical Graffiti on and cranked it up. "I'll chew on a piece of your custard pie"

[@DC-ei9vl]

I have a Silvertone in pretty rough shape. Sometimes, I wonder if it would be worth restoring.

[@sparky6086]

My 1970 Sears Silvertone 12 string has the best of both worlds. It's clearly a Stella, but it has a truss rod, so I can adjust the action just right. It sounds just like the guitar Blind Willie McTell plays.

[@AnthonyRecenello]

Hey Edward I love your videos. Could you make a video about HOW these men in rural states came to learn the blues? It'd be cool to hear all about what they did. Did they have weekly guitar lessons? Did they learn through records? Did they play for hours a day? Thanks!

[@BUTTER-oc5gs]

Creole, and black culture came together in southern states to create the blues, with roots in slave music.

[@AnthonyRecenello]

@@BUTTER-oc5gs yeah I know. But I wanna know how they learned.

[@patfornies776]

Absolutely. I own a 1941 Kalamazoo Oriole and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t sound exactly like those early Delta Blues recordings.

[@shaunw9270]

Nice ! 👌

[@stevet4450]

Thank you man-very interesting and overlooked subject...the roots of the music in poverty so different to the tsunami of bullshit spoken about tone this and nitro-cellulose that nowadays

[@TurtleGamers1]

Kinda reminds me of how Jazzmasters nowadays are super expensive when the indie musicians of the 80's bought them at pawn-shops for 200 bucks

[@shaunw9270]

Yes, but they were old guitars in the 80's and many of the custom colour ones had been stripped & varnished or just badly painted and were not as fashionable as the pointy metal cliché "axes" lol 😊

[@xzysyndrome]

It is because new players want the stuff their idols used...as if it will somehow make them good too. Hell, you could pick up Mustangs dirt cheap until Cobain decided to play one....which is exactly why he started playing one :)

[@TurtleGamers1]

@@xzysyndrome thats kind of my point

[@davidaston5773]

Why are they are they so expensive now? I've never heard of a Jazz master?

[@xzysyndrome]

@@TurtleGamers1 Oh, I didn't realize it was your point an no one was allowed to illustrate it too. My bad...

[@Benjabola]

So it follows that if you want to be like the early blues men you buy a cheap guitar for this era. Spending thousands of dollars for an old cheap guitar is still spending thousands of dollars. Buy cheap and put the time in. Find your own sound.

[@ironmanmachine]

The cheap guitars of today are not comparable to those of yesteryear.

[@xzysyndrome]

Cheap guitar, expensive guitar....it matters not. Without talent, they all sound the same.

[@bluesman1063]

Buy the equipment you can afford, then put in the time to find your sound. thats all we're sayin. you don't need a Marshall half stack to play any club, especially now that you can mic your amps to ear splitting vol through the mixer board.

[@tuckerpeters1913]

You nailed it. I'm currently trying to find my own sound with a Martin Backpacker. Great guitar IMO. Fairly affordable, good sound, and extremely portable. I have a feeling many of the Delta Blues Masters would have appreciated it.

[@dreembarge]

My first guitar was a Stella. I had no idea. Wow.

[@johnjriggsarchery2457]

Not all Stellas were actual Oscar Schmidt Stellas.

[@RicTic66]

I love videos like this. 👍😊 It could have gone on for another hour as far as I'm concerned. The Blues, The men and women who played it and the often overlooked, the instruments they used. What's not to love? 😊

[@Liesl_Cigarboxguitar]

A wealth of information and history.. Thanks from England.. 💜

[@juliansantaguida6225]

I think mostly the guitars where so expensive back in those days and even today even modern day guitars like Gibsons fenders martins Epiphones harmony Geratchs what is your opinion about this Edward

[@stevestillman8211]

No secret, its not the tools its the carpenter

[@gtate135]

That was a great video man, I mean seriously, thanks.

[@stephensmith799]

Agreed.

[@johnmcaleese8459]

Just the old photos alone ! Wish that video was 2hrs long. American history for sure. Music nurtured despite poverty and injustices. Would love to sit down with these men.

[@ROOKTABULA]

I picked up a black, 1958 Stella in the case, maybe 5 hours of use, mint shape: $65.00

[@axiomist1076]

So that famous "cigarrette" picture of Robert Johnson was a selfie ! =)

[@clintondagenais4545]

And there is a new pic from the same place. He took two photos (selfies) at that photo booth that day.

[@one-handstrumman4616]

Play what you can get

[@bluesman1063]

Even today if you step into a real southern Juke Joint I doubt you'll see old Blue's guy's playing $2500 Les Paul's and $5000 boutique amps. More like Epiphone 335's, Mex Strats and old Fender and Peavey amps. They know most of your tone comes from your fingers.

[@bluesman1063]

@William Harvey Been out of the house for 40 years asswipe you f@cking assholes who think they have to have $10k worth of equipment on stage are still in the "look at me stage" of playing! 99% of the people listening couldn't care less what your rig is, and couldn't tell if it is a Marshall or a Boogie. but then again "you" probably need every thing you can get to hide your lack of skill. here's proof ass hat. kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGqQnaeGqMeqb8k

[@vitabricksnailslime8273]

@@bluesman1063 Nice touch to find the link went to my favourite piece from my favourite subscription.

[@bluesman1063]

@@vitabricksnailslime8273 The man is flat out amazing!

[@msspi764]

These folks you're talking about are working musicians. What people play here (Mississippi) is a mix. A lot of people play Epiphones (Mr. Sipp, Keith Johnson) but others play Gibsons ("Kingfish" Ingram, Luther Dickinson). I've seen people play whatever, Bill Howl N Madd Perry with both a Strat and a Gibson Les Paul, Kenny Brown plays a couple of guitars, I've seen him with Gibson ES 335s a Strat, even a Danelectro. But a guitar that's made inroads among some professional musicians here are PRSs. The tools are different, but a lot of the tone is in the fingers.

[@3niknicholson]

Epiphone 335 excellent guitar, I had one in the 80's, wish I still had it, very nice action, nice feel, nice weight. Still got the Peavey Classic: loudest 50 watts I've ever heard...

[@urbanothepopeofdeath]

going to a doctor's appointment last year and some guy was tossing out a guitar while doing a renovation for a house. it was a Stella. fairly good shape!

[@matthewf1979]

Just like the poor and working class today, they made due. Thankfully, an inexpensive guitar today is light years ahead of its early 20th century equivalent. Thank god for truss rods and CNC!

I passed on a student prince for 15$ because i didn't know what it was. Damn.

[@mrfester42]

Just because it is an old guitar that these blues guys used doesn't necessarily mean it is valuable and in fact, most of them are not valuable. If you don't know anything about guitars don't just buy one because it looks like it's in good condition. There are a lot of things that could be big problems which most people would not notice at all.

[@Magnetron33]

Big Bill had a very unusual Gibson with a scroll at the top of the body. Beautiful instrument!

[@rondy702]

I rocked a Stella acoustic and a Teisco electric that I got from a Western Auto Sports gear store!

[@vilstef6988]

I really love odd instruments, even though I don't play anything. Early in the rock era, most of Ritchie Valens's records had six string Dan Electro bass on them!

[@sparky6086]

Was it a Teisco Del Ray, and did you buy it, because it had the most pick-ups (3)?

[@goodun2974]

@@vilstef6988 , David Lindley played a Danelectro 6string "bass" on several records with his band El Rayo X. The cover version of the Isley Brothers tune "Your Old Lady" being an excellent example.

[@briansteffmagnussen9078]

You can't buy authenticity, you make it your self. I have one 20 $ classic china guitar for the Blues purpose, and one cheap chinese strat "Starsound" for the old scratchy record sound. There's no modification on them, they are as rotten and real as they are which is enough for the purpose.

[@vilstef6988]

That's great! Brian-you sound like a cool guy!

[@stephencharman9604]

Yeah, I agree. Most players go into a second hand guitar shop and buy the best sounding one (and often the most expensive). A better option is to choose one with a distinctive and interesting sound (it might be the cheapest guitar in the shop) and then get it set up by an expert. My own guitar sounds like nothing on earth.

[@christopher19894]

A sketchy guitar with bad intonation never sounds pleasant when you try to play standard diatonic music. The blues gets its unique sound by adding a minor melody to major chords. The blues also leans on the tritone, which is an interval that doesn't resolve intuitively in either direction. Do you think the sketchy guitars forced early blues artists to invent a genre that made the unavoidable dissonance sound pleasant?

[@theserpentshaman5027]

Interesting idea.

[@PN1296]

@albatrossus albatrossus Gotta love slide. Though with no frets, there's no way I could hear the intonation.

[@moonshineman5691]

Personally I think that's very important and a lot of people nowadays don't think about it. It came to me when I realized that the blues sound a LOT better on an old sketchy guitar that used to belong to my grandpa, than any modern premium guitar I've tried.

[@markzieg3593]

Might could be so the way you’re saying about dissonance. That or they didn’t tune up very good before they started playing ;)

[@MST3Killa]

Necessity is the mother of invention.

[@jimhood1202]

Great video. Once again I've been reminded that it isn't necessary to have the most expensive instrument (or anything) to make your mark.

[@GuitarlosCarlos]

I USE CAPS SO I CAN SEE THANK YOU FOR THIS POST 4 YEARS AGO I GOT A TINY 1905 LADIES PARLOR GUITAR WITH A 9" UPPER BOUT AND A 11 3/4 LOWER BOUT SHE RINGS LIKE A BELL ✔️ CARLOS GUITARLOS 90042 "RAMBLING ON MY MIND" ROBERT JOHNSON COVER 1961 GIBSON J 50 & VOCAL www.carlosguitarlosmusic.com/carlos/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/12-Rambling-on-My-Mind.mp3

[@Backcountryhunter]

CARLOS....... YOUR FN EVERYWHERE MAN..... LIKE A GHOST.... GHOSTLOS GUITARLOS 90042.... U NEED A DAYJOB..... ML93455

[@GuitarlosCarlos]

Mike Lathery MIKE... I HAVE A DAY JOB TAKING GOOD CARE OF DOZENS OF BASSES IS WORK TAKING CARE OF 180 + GUITARS IS A LOT MORE WORK THAT YOU'D IMAGINE KEEPING UP THE PIANOS & THE HAMMOND, THE MICS THE MARIMBA & MIXERS & RECORDING EQUIPMENT THE DRUM SETS AND ALL THE AMPS COST TO KEEP UP I'VE GOT LOTS OF TOOLS I PLAY GUITAR OR BASS OR BOTH FOR 5 TO 10 HOURS EVERYDAY, 7 DAYS A WEEK IT'S A LOT OF WORK I WRITE EVERYDAY AS WELL DON'T NEED A FUCKING JOB I NEED A FUCKING LIFE carlosguitarlosmusic.com CARLOS GUITARLOS 90042 IT'S KINDA LIKE THIS... "ALL THESE YEARS" from 'THE INNOCENT REMAINS' AN ALL ACOUSTIC CD www.carlosguitarlosmusic.com/carlos/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/08-All-These-Years.mp3

[@LuisFGarcia89]

Carlooos

[@trevorgwelch7412]

I was at a barn sale in Silverton and not only did I buy a 1962 mint Stratocaster but a Stella all for $300 and a 1967 good condition Camaro SS . The old farmer was 92 and had mild Dementia the car was $1200 not bad . I passed on the 1958 Rolex Submariner wasn’t my thing , $35

[@art4life691]

Yes!! I am sooo interested in the old blues and wondered what kinds of instruments were played. Thank you for this video.

[@calebsutton6219]

The song Stella Blue is about those old blues guitars "🎶Dust of those rusty strings just one more time🎶"

[@rooguitar]

Very instructive and interesting! I 💙 BLUES

[@18roselover]

Thanks for posting , as a long time builder and repairman . I have seen and repaired these instruments. It just proves you dont need much $ to get playing and singing.

[@TheGuitarMan71]

Robert Johnson and Charlie Patton. Nuff said

[@villagecarpenter2266]

Son House!

[@habiibqawiy7884]

Yo, im a fan of all the bands in your name. Cool eh

[@Bertoblam1]

You did say ‘ mother of toilet seat’ didn’t you? Had to listen again twice to be sure

[@mrfester42]

Mother of toilet seat is actually Pearloid which is a decorative variety of celluloid made to resemble mother of pearl but it doesn't really look all that much like mother of pearl. Celluloid was probably the first plastic invented. It was made, in part, from the cellulose extracted from cotton plus some other chemicals and it is highly flammable.

[@goodun2974]

Lots of lap steel slide guitars, Supro and Magnatone and such, were made with mother-of-toilet-seat (aka MOTS) finishes. I also have a Dickerson amp (predecessor to Magnatone) with MOTS finish.

[@williamrobertson1563]

I got a 1990 hello kitty its pretty bad ass. Sounds alot like those old blues guitars.

[@ChrisOkunbor]

Thanks, great info. I bought a Stella a year ago, now reset and playable. You're right about the restrictions, but it sure has that Skip sound :-)

[@JGAbstract]

It's mind boggling how much the value of US currency has gone down. How the hell did 10 dollars turn to 100 dollars? I don't mean merely the term inflation, I mean literally, what happened to devalue our currency?

[@act.13.41]

The Central Bank. Inflation is just another means of taxation.

[@BlueBeeMCMLXI]

Banjo if you;re talking early.

[@daveventura1246]

I'm so glad I discovered your channel, Edward. This was a great trip through American Blues History. Thanks.

[@cappdaddyu812]

W.C. Handy is the Father of the Blues and Father of Jazz just go to Florence AL and you will see His Birth Place and August there is the W.C. Handy festival Yaw

[@shaunw9270]

He discovered Blues being played by a black Hobo at a rail yard in Tutweiler, MS and popularised it . I don't get into all that "Father of" nonsense, sorry.

[@herrfriberger5]

Illustrates what I often say: Most forms of blues, as we know it today, are younger than jazz (with R&B, "Rock'n roll", etc. being even younger). Ragtime existed in the 1890s and jazz in the 1910s. Originally they were more syncopated variants of imported European cabaré, military and gypsy music. Styles that were good for improvisation. (This was before jazz took of and included more advanced elements from both Latin music and Stravinskij, Schönberg, etc. and also before swing and the modern drum set with hi hat + large ride cymbals were invented.)

[@nicolen.9642]

Very interesting, fascinating blues I love playing! Some of those guitars are beautiful! Thanks for sharing. Cheers from France!

[@DG5466]

Most appear to be parlour guitars.

[@morog7933]

What they played? Magic.

[@verdatum]

You aren't kidding about intonation. My pre-war banjo sounds lovely, but once you get it in tune, you have to cradle it like a baby or the neck will shift and the retuning is so random that it's like spinning a combination lock.

[@whatspadethinks]

Ed your playing is exemplary and keeps these styles alive brother, but these historical rundowns are just as cool. In just a few minutes you hepped people to the guitars that the delta & folk blues cats of those days did their work on. So cool...

[@anonamous6968]

I found this very interesting and informative. Your voice has a charm that I felt really suited the video.

[@jacksonman5217]

Charlie patton looked like a white man with a dark tan look at him

[@alldenashcraft3558]

He was very interracial. Some say he was some parts white, black, and native american.

[@banjoplayingbison2275]

He was multiracial, Cherokee Indian for sure and possibly Anglo and black

[@gsdfan8455]

Very cool video! I don’t play but it’s cool to hear this history. Thanks dude

[@genekloszewski5484]

the player " makes the guitar ",, the best instruments don't always make the player !,...

[@oiudatropen9548]

Gene Kloszewski - very true! Good players can make an instrument most of us would think of as only being only good for kindling wood sing like an angel. And each guitar, like each person has it's own unique voice. Make friends with it, let it speak it's piece it will help you speak uours it may take take a while, but in time you'll both make better music for coming to an understanding

[@bluesblabber]

What an amazing thing that one of the most (if not the most) influential music and culture in history of mankind was created with all kinds of limitations. Good guitar does not make a good guitar player or good musician.

[@bpabustan]

If these vintage Stellas now command thousands of dollars, then it's no different than buying a standard model Taylor or Martin. Might as well buy a Chinese made dreadnought, and you might just get more mileage out of it. Point is, these blues guys buy what they can afford, so it still applies to us today.

[@PulseCodeMusic]

Just bought a second hand '3rd Ave' guitar for £15 (maybe $20/$30), made the action horribly high and started learning to play slide in open D. It seems to be cheap and janky enough to sound quite authentic.

[@spacealienjesus709]

This is a great informative video..thank you for making this..love old delta blues.

[@lgwhittaker]

My favourite and newest guitar is a 1935? Slingerland Maybelle under the name Mastertone. It is amazing!

[@soundknight]

Could get a modern clone I suppose? Let me think, cheap shitty acoustic guitar... FENDER! :)

[@shaunw9270]

Fantastic stuff ! I love Delta Blues & blues from the depression era in general. Cheers from Bristol, England 👍 Btw , Subscribed ! Your playing is flippin wicked 👌

[@no-bozos]

It fascinates me that items legends used and cared very little about become treasures to fans later on. Musical instruments, sports equipment, clothing items, etc., are worth thousands, if not millions, of dollars after these people used and basically threw away the tools of their trade.

[@joelsimms4636]

I had an old Stella guitar. Bought it for $20 in 1959. I wonder how much it is worth now.

[@dinosilone7613]

I paid $40 for one a few months ago. A bunch are usually on Facebook Marketplace in the $100-$200 range. They almost all need work - a lot of loose braces, and the area under the bridge on the trapeze tailpiece ones tends to cave in, which makes the guitar completely unplayable, since the strings are laying flat against the upper frets. To really fix them right can be a real job - can involve having to take the back off. But you can make them “good for slide” (which is a euphemism for action so high you can't even play above the 7th fret or so because it actually pulls the string out of tune), just by building up either the bridge or the saddle (depending on whether it's a one-piece wooden bridge, or a wooden bridge with a removable saddle). I think restored Stellas can go for north of $1k.

[@12artman]

In good condition the average '59 Stella could range between a low of $150 to $250.

[@sleepy4x]

You don't need an expensive high end guitar to make good music.

[@act.13.41]

Just talent.

[@PaisleyPatchouli]

Beautifully well done essay on early blues guitars, many of which I have owned and played over the years. Thank you!

[@phayzyre1052]

I agree with what you said about Robert Johnson; he probably either borrowed that Gibson L-1 for the photo or it was a prop. As an owner of several Gibsons I can attest that Gibsons have always carried a hefty price tag. If I had to take a guess I'd say that a Gibson L-1 back then probably costed around $75 to $100 give or take.

[@redrock1963]

Thx EP. This is a great highlight for the mostly unknown Stella guitar.

[@12artman]

Hardly unknown, actually rather well known. I've been hearing Stella stories since I started playing in 1966. My teacher's first guitar in 1938.

[@leocomerford]

@@12artman It's all relative. Compared to the number of people who recognise Gibson or even Martin awareness of Stella is surely a lot lower. That said, the Stella brand must be floating around somewhere in the legal ether, and it's surely ripe for one of those brand-revival efforts, if someone isn't doing it already. Not only does it have a great story and fairly good brand awareness, there are some pretty beautiful designs to work from. That Art Deco black-and-white guitar at 1:14 for instance, both beautiful and distinct from the usual Gibson/Martin looks.

[@iamnoone3040]

I had an old Stella from early 30's and slowly it came apart... what I am left with is a neck! I'm thinking of creating a one off hybrid similar to amp-in-case Silvertone's. Solid wood neck~ no truss rod! Hmmm.... Awesome video!

[@robertcooney1938]

I'm a bluesman. I usually play my Seagull or two main electric guitars, fender Tele deluxe and Tele custom, but I have an old Stella that I use for slide because the action is so high. I got the Stella because I knew the history and was able to trade a decent 12 string for it.

[@DFDuck55]

I'm a Stella fan. I play a '63 Harmony Stella tenor.

[@tommytramp]

NICLY DONE!!! thank you i enjoyed this vid very much!!!

[@steev6946]

Lesson learned by all I hope ...it's not the instrument that makes great music it's the one playing it.

[@jjjjeeeeeffffffffff]

*JEEEAAZZZ*

[@Gutch220]

I have a Gibson L-00 from 1934 and it's horrible to play. Very uncomfortable. Very V-necked, high action, not loud. I'm sure if it was the only thing around and I played it all my life I would have gotten used to it, but they are VERY different than modern guitars, at least the old small-bodied ones, I'm sure an old Martin dreadnought is excellent.

[@freedomisntfree2089]

Back then a Gibson was actually affordable,otherwise we have to look back and think about those old Stella guitars, up to the Kay guitars. Cheap but great

[@antneyfatts665]

To think those prices were our $150, is insane and it's hard to comprehend. Lol

[@robbes7rh]

And just like the pianos that blues musicians were likely to have at their disposal in the first half of the last century wouldn’t be concert Steinway grands impeccably tuned, they would likely be cheaply-built old uprights nobody wanted that had been abused and neglected in juke joints of the rural south, having extraneous noises, detuned “funny” sounding notes and sticky keyboards from spilled drinks, etc. To be black in America at that time, and particularly in the Deep South, meant making do with very little. So having only inexpensive hand-me-down guitars to play would not deter these men from making music.

[@murattaner7384]

Excellent video. To express my gratitude let me say that please let me know when you will be around İstanbul :)))))

[@RackwitzG]

Interesting video. Your drawl sounds like Forrest Gump. ;)

[@rickysguitar]

Great video Edward 😎🎸👍

[@philsmall1601]

Have three stella guitars pre 1939.amazing sound.

[@duaneholcomb8408]

Every body bought. From,sears back then heck even in my life time when I was a boy sears was still very popular. And if they didn't have it in,the store you could always order it out there huge magazine. Those days are gone now,,,

[@jeffmoore9487]

Great video! "That sound" often meant a cheap ladder braced sound. Nearly every guitar you see in a acoustic guitar store today is X braced. Occasionally an X braced will give you that spanky ladder braced sound but they usually sound fuller and less snappy. You may get a blank stare if you ask for a new ladder braced guitar and even if the clerk knows what you mean they're rare. Rare but cheap. I wish I could give you a list, but the new incarnation of Harmony guitars (and Waterloo) makes smaller ladder braced guitars. There are a thousands of old (70 years) harmonies on eba but the old harmonies will likely need a little or a lot of work. I've bought lots of them and find the descriptions are pretty accurate and fair but you need to look out for ones that DON'T say "plays good" or something reassuring. Don't expect perfect tuners or a lazer straight neck either. The sound of a good ladder braced guitar that sounds like the early blues guys may shock you a bit. You flat might not like it. I do cuz their aggressive and bright. No matter what bracing is in a guitar, that style of bracing will still come in a wide pallette of sounds going from one of that type to another, but its usually pretty easy to pick out the bright snappy sound of a ladder braced axe. European gypsy jazz guitars are all ladder braced but made quite differently (great guitars too) from the catalogue style American made ladder braced guitars of the 20th century.

[@Pladderkasse]

That "cigarette" picture of Robert Johnson...that's one hard as nails, don't mess with me, tough son of a bitch. Legend!

[@jamespoppitz2256]

Nice video,your getting better at that plus your just a damn good player...thanks

[@PacesIII]

I have an original head Stromberg Voisinet 4 string strumming banjo. It was my grandfather's and found it in dad's garage when he was moving many years ago. Hard to find anyone reputable willing to restring and replace the knobs.

[@eelson2]

My kid: Dad I can't learn to play anything good on this crappy guitar. ME: here, watch this video

[@345kobi]

Thanks for putting out this great informative video.

[@leocomerford]

0:43 For black Americans in the South, the appeal of Sears wasn't just price and convenience, it was also being able to avoid having to bow and scrape to a racist local storekeeper: threadreaderapp.com/thread/1051872178415828993.html .

[@1joshjosh1]

I am so glad I ran across this. I like music and I like history and this is perfect!!!

[@teksight9714]

Great video. I learned as much about the artists as I did about their guitars. I recently discovered the blues and dont know much history, just that I love it now more than modern rock which I grew up on.

[@chriseliothernandez]

I put a trapeze tailpiece on my gretsch jim dandy. The reason these guitars were so good for stride style picking was the thumbed bass didnt resonate long enough to muddy up the melodies and blues licks.

[@thisisstevet]

Nice, highly informative video; thank you very much

[@ergbudster3333]

Hands up all those who started out playin whatever they could get and who tore their fingers to shreds just tryin to learn. And hands up all those who have tied broken strings together because they did not have the bread to buy others. Those fellas who change their strings like every time they play make me laugh. What do you fey bastids know about anything anyway? Here's to the poor musicians who learned the hard way. The only way. God bless you all.

[@richardbusson5903]

I am fascinated by your presentation. I gained a lot of knowledge from your research. Do you recall the source in your reference to resonators came from jazz?

[@AnonYmous-jp8uu]

I'm from Miss, and started on a stella, open tuned with a shot glass slide

[@banjoman44]

Excellent video. I have heard it said that the Gibson L1 was designed for the blues. This of course is not so. It was just around at the time.

[@seanwelch71]

Japanese eleki bands played lower quality guitars that look better than they sound.