Post by Martin on Oct 2, 2024 13:28:19 GMT
What you lose on the swings, you gain on the roundabouts. Or something.
Anyway, this past weekend I said farewell to a rather lovely old Fylde guitar, which has gone to a much better (certainly less abusive) home in the far south-west (well, it seems far to me).
To cheer myself up, and taking advantage of being in fair Huddersfield at the weekend, I made my way to Eagle Music under the supervision of doc who was under orders to make sure I didn't do anything daft.
We had a fairly uneventful, if winding journey through the hills and streets to the very unassuming shop, which seemed to be in a business unit, with plenty of car parking.
Venturing inside, we were confronted with a plethora of banjos, guitars and ukuleles! We spent a little while wandering, looking, chatting and testing some of these instruments, with no interference from shop staff at all.
I eventually realised I couldn't see any of the fancier banjos I'd seen on their website and dared to ask a young (ish) staff member where the "good stuff" was. He explained it was all hidden away (I mean it really was) - all the posher instruments were scattered in nooks and crannies upstairs, in their cases and I couldn't simply browse them, I'd need to tell him exactly what I wanted to see and he would search it out.
Slightly off-putting, but doc and I are made of sterner stuff, being from the West of Scotland and having a heady mixture of Irn-Bru, whisky and vegetable oil in our veins, so we persevered and threw a few 'names' out hoping one might stick.
Two indeed did. I was brought a used Mike Ramsay tubaphone banjo and a brand spanking new Pisgah dobson banjo.
I loved them both, but slightly preferred the Pisgah. doc expressed a slight preference for the Ramsey, saying it sounded a 'bit less bad' than the other one. Glowing praise.
After some to-ing and fro-ing (who knows how that's meant to be spelled), I decided on the Pisgah, forked over the surprisingly high amount of beer tokens required (I mean it's a tambourine on a stick!) and fled.
We had larks on the way back. Despite having two Sat Navs and doc's innate sense of direction, we still managed to go through someone's driveway and a farm courtyard.
Then I stupidly slowed to let a bus out, which enraged the Corsa driver behind me, who pursued me to the next traffic lights before leaping from his vehicle to harangue me for my adherence to the Highway Code. Luckily for me he saw doc removing his jacket and reaching for his cough medicine. Seeing a Scotsman seemingly getting ready for battle, he quickly called me a 'tosser', made some racist remarks and drove off. How we laughed.
Anyway, here she is, and she's a real beauty...
Anyway, this past weekend I said farewell to a rather lovely old Fylde guitar, which has gone to a much better (certainly less abusive) home in the far south-west (well, it seems far to me).
To cheer myself up, and taking advantage of being in fair Huddersfield at the weekend, I made my way to Eagle Music under the supervision of doc who was under orders to make sure I didn't do anything daft.
We had a fairly uneventful, if winding journey through the hills and streets to the very unassuming shop, which seemed to be in a business unit, with plenty of car parking.
Venturing inside, we were confronted with a plethora of banjos, guitars and ukuleles! We spent a little while wandering, looking, chatting and testing some of these instruments, with no interference from shop staff at all.
I eventually realised I couldn't see any of the fancier banjos I'd seen on their website and dared to ask a young (ish) staff member where the "good stuff" was. He explained it was all hidden away (I mean it really was) - all the posher instruments were scattered in nooks and crannies upstairs, in their cases and I couldn't simply browse them, I'd need to tell him exactly what I wanted to see and he would search it out.
Slightly off-putting, but doc and I are made of sterner stuff, being from the West of Scotland and having a heady mixture of Irn-Bru, whisky and vegetable oil in our veins, so we persevered and threw a few 'names' out hoping one might stick.
Two indeed did. I was brought a used Mike Ramsay tubaphone banjo and a brand spanking new Pisgah dobson banjo.
I loved them both, but slightly preferred the Pisgah. doc expressed a slight preference for the Ramsey, saying it sounded a 'bit less bad' than the other one. Glowing praise.
After some to-ing and fro-ing (who knows how that's meant to be spelled), I decided on the Pisgah, forked over the surprisingly high amount of beer tokens required (I mean it's a tambourine on a stick!) and fled.
We had larks on the way back. Despite having two Sat Navs and doc's innate sense of direction, we still managed to go through someone's driveway and a farm courtyard.
Then I stupidly slowed to let a bus out, which enraged the Corsa driver behind me, who pursued me to the next traffic lights before leaping from his vehicle to harangue me for my adherence to the Highway Code. Luckily for me he saw doc removing his jacket and reaching for his cough medicine. Seeing a Scotsman seemingly getting ready for battle, he quickly called me a 'tosser', made some racist remarks and drove off. How we laughed.
Anyway, here she is, and she's a real beauty...
Jo whoever he is.
