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
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.
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!
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.
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.
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
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".
@@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"
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.
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? 😊
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.
Nice job putting this video together. Learned so much that I didn’t even know, about people I thought I knew something about. I appreciate that and the obvious amount of hard work and research you put in to give this such high production value.
Wow! Thanks for this . I have never seen such a great collection of these great legendary bluesmen in one place. Thanks for a great history lesson as well.
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.
Great video, thank you for making this video. Guitar is an amazing instrument and I’m grateful to have become a guitarist in my life, it’s the very thing that gives me peace, hope and joy within. Thanks again
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 😊
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 :)
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!
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...
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.
Edward - this is a great video! Your commentary is spot on about the old blues instruments. It also highlights the fact that the great form of music we call the "Blues" evolved on instruments that the common man of the time could afford. The Blues is not about having a great instrument it is about using what life lets you have to express yourself. If it is a second hand Kalamazoo, then make it your voice. Thanks for the commentary!
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!
@@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.
@@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.
Fantastic stuff ! I love Delta Blues & blues from the depression era in general. Cheers from Bristol, England 👍 Btw , Subscribed ! Your playing is flippin wicked 👌
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.
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.
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
Great video, thank you...i have and play the Gretsch Guitars G9201 Honey Dipper shown at 1:51; i dig it. I was shocked at how much more a metal body resonator responded so quickly and loudly then my wood body resonator i had before...
Great video, lots of good info. A couple other features that really gave these old guitars such a particular sound were the prevalence of birch as a tonewood at the time, and the wide use of ladder bracing as opposed to more modern x-bracing.
Really good vid. As someone fascinated by vintage instruments particularly guitars this is instructional and moving. And the narrator's Southern accent adds authenticity. :-)
This video was awesome. Great respect for those old players. They made sounds that only those old “cheap” guitars could make. I have a nice guitar collection but I still enjoy pulling the Harmony out of its case from time to time. Again, great video.
I really enjoyed your video. When Harmony got the Stella brand, they made those guitars and other body sizes / brands they were still made in Chicago, U.S.A. until 1975 before getting bought out and went to overseas production.
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
Back when there wasn’t so many of us
❤
That’s why I collect them!
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.
Yeah with just a lil knowledge coulda had nylon on that sumbich.
Felt like that when I discovered silk and steel string.
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!
Their hearts out. That's what they were playing.
Very true. It's not the guitar strings, it's your heart strings.
@@MarkSmith-nw4os The history of roots music: Heart strings on barely affordable instruments ...
@@whynottalklikeapirat Maybelle Carter played The Wildwood Flower on a Stella.
@@MarkSmith-nw4os I am not surprised.
God bless you for this video .. this is apart of our American history ...
More like black history, whites just appropiated.
The Communist 😂😂😂😂 ever heard of Appalachia troll harder
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.
The Communist you’re saying “black people don’t count as Americans”
Come on, folks.... How about we save the fighting for political, and religious discussions? 😊
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.
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
Over sixty people liked your ridiculous comment. Congratulations jack ass 👍
Shaun W salty
8-string jackson is a guitar for pussies. here a 8-string guitar for real cool guys: ruclips.net/video/grbFhgHTqvY/видео.html
@@shaunw9270 you must not be an EMG fan
@@hellsq Thanks for posting the video link now I gotta get a Ellis Resonator.
1:59 They're a product of jEaHzZ
😂
A beautiful dialect of English, at least in my Scandinavian ears.
I chuckled at that too.
@@herrbonk3635 Southern accents are harder to find these days.
@@A.M...... I felt his voice to be very soothing to my Philly ears. New Orleans maybe??
Absolutely. I own a 1941 Kalamazoo Oriole and I’ll be damned if it doesn’t sound exactly like those early Delta Blues recordings.
Nice ! 👌
My first guitar was a Stella. I had no idea. Wow.
Not all Stellas were actual Oscar Schmidt Stellas.
A wealth of information and history.. Thanks from England.. 💜
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".
my first was a Montgomery Wards AIrline as their house brand. Likely from the Kay.
I think ALL Sears music and sound products were branded "Silvertone"
@@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"
I have a Silvertone in pretty rough shape. Sometimes, I wonder if it would be worth restoring.
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.
Beautifully well done essay on early blues guitars, many of which I have owned and played over the years. Thank you!
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? 😊
That was a great video man, I mean seriously, thanks.
Agreed.
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.
I'm so glad I discovered your channel, Edward. This was a great trip through American Blues History. Thanks.
Yes!! I am sooo interested in the old blues and wondered what kinds of instruments were played. Thank you for this video.
Nice job putting this video together. Learned so much that I didn’t even know, about people I thought I knew something about. I appreciate that and the obvious amount of hard work and research you put in to give this such high production value.
Wow! Thanks for this . I have never seen such a great collection of these great legendary bluesmen in one place.
Thanks for a great history lesson as well.
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.
Very interesting, fascinating blues I love playing! Some of those guitars are beautiful! Thanks for sharing. Cheers from France!
Thank-you, Edward. Very valuable insights and grasp of this important history. Much appreciated!
Thanks for putting out this great informative video.
Big Bill had a very unusual Gibson with a scroll at the top of the body. Beautiful instrument!
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.
This is a great you tube channel. Lots of historical information and music. 🎸👍
Great video, thank you for making this video. Guitar is an amazing instrument and I’m grateful to have become a guitarist in my life, it’s the very thing that gives me peace, hope and joy within. Thanks again
So that famous "cigarrette" picture of Robert Johnson was a selfie ! =)
And there is a new pic from the same place. He took two photos (selfies) at that photo booth that day.
Love the blues and watching your channel
I found this very interesting and informative. Your voice has a charm that I felt really suited the video.
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
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 😊
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 :)
@@xzysyndrome thats kind of my point
Why are they are they so expensive now? I've never heard of a Jazz master?
@@TurtleGamers1 Oh, I didn't realize it was your point an no one was allowed to illustrate it too. My bad...
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!
This is a great informative video..thank you for making this..love old delta blues.
Whow!!! Such a precious video like this is so hard pop up from RUclips...thank you for the great job.
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...
I'm so glad this channel exists, so informative!
Fascinating. Thank you.
I am so glad I ran across this.
I like music and I like history and this is perfect!!!
That was really enjoyable. It sure would be interesting to see other historical videos in the future. You have alot of knowledge to share.
Beautifully delivered narration.
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.
You are really doing great service to the subject. God Speed.
Fascinating video. Thanks for making it.
I really enjoyed this video, thanks for making it. It wasnt something I'd ever thought about till I saw the thumbnail then I HAD to know!
Edward - this is a great video! Your commentary is spot on about the old blues instruments. It also highlights the fact that the great form of music we call the "Blues" evolved on instruments that the common man of the time could afford. The Blues is not about having a great instrument it is about using what life lets you have to express yourself. If it is a second hand Kalamazoo, then make it your voice. Thanks for the commentary!
Thanks for the great video!👍😎🎸🎶
I rocked a Stella acoustic and a Teisco electric that I got from a Western Auto Sports gear store!
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!
Was it a Teisco Del Ray, and did you buy it, because it had the most pick-ups (3)?
@@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.
Thx EP. This is a great highlight for the mostly unknown Stella guitar.
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.
@@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.
The song Stella Blue is about those old blues guitars
"🎶Dust of those rusty strings just one more time🎶"
Very cool video! I don’t play but it’s cool to hear this history. Thanks dude
Fantastic stuff ! I love Delta Blues & blues from the depression era in general. Cheers from Bristol, England 👍 Btw , Subscribed ! Your playing is flippin wicked 👌
Loved this video man. Should make some more like this 👍🏻
great video and a question i have asked to myself many times thank you!
Great video and very interesting. Easy to listen to.
Very insightful. Thanks.
NICLY DONE!!! thank you i enjoyed this vid very much!!!
Wow. These videos are awesome. Just binged this whole lot.
Really enjoyed this. Not too much talking. Very objective. Great job.
Keep pushing out the awesome content my man!
Very instructive and interesting! I 💙 BLUES
Very well made short documentary. Thanks.
This was great thank you!
My favourite and newest guitar is a 1935? Slingerland Maybelle under the name Mastertone. It is amazing!
I really enjoyed this. Thanks.
Phenomenal video!
Great video Edward 😎🎸👍
thank you. great report.
Very informative! Thanks!
Fantastic doco
Look at Robert Johnson’s fingers no wonder he played well those are some long ass fingers
Johnny Winter had long thin fingers...they looked like a spider crawling on the fretboard
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.
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.
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
Thanks for the very interesting video!
Wicked tubie brother... Thank you very much.
Nice, highly informative video; thank you very much
Fascinating information. Worthy of a like and new subscriber!
Very informative, well done!!
Thanks man!! Good info.
Great video, thank you...i have and play the Gretsch Guitars G9201 Honey Dipper shown at 1:51; i dig it. I was shocked at how much more a metal body resonator responded so quickly and loudly then my wood body resonator i had before...
Great video, lots of good info. A couple other features that really gave these old guitars such a particular sound were the prevalence of birch as a tonewood at the time, and the wide use of ladder bracing as opposed to more modern x-bracing.
Great video. Thank you
Great video thanks👍🎸🇨🇦
This was truly awesome
Fantastic video!
Gr8 video Ed ! Thanks ;)
Well this blew up! Great video man!
Well done
Thank you.
Really good vid. As someone fascinated by vintage instruments particularly guitars this is instructional and moving. And the narrator's Southern accent adds authenticity. :-)
Great vid! great info, thanks!!
I picked up a black, 1958 Stella in the case, maybe 5 hours of use, mint shape: $65.00
Great stuff
Great video, make more of these bro
Have three stella guitars pre 1939.amazing sound.
Awesome, thank you for this video.
This video was awesome. Great respect for those old players. They made sounds that only those old “cheap” guitars could make. I have a nice guitar collection but I still enjoy pulling the Harmony out of its case from time to time. Again, great video.
LOVE this kinda stuff👍
I got a 1990 hello kitty its pretty bad ass. Sounds alot like those old blues guitars.
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 :-)
great and entertaining info.
Makes me feel better about my old guitars.
I really enjoyed your video. When Harmony got the Stella brand, they made those guitars and other body sizes / brands they were still made in Chicago, U.S.A. until 1975 before getting bought out and went to overseas production.
Thank you