PittPastor
Member
I have a question:Why the emotional attachment to a guitar your father hardly ever played? (You mentioned the frets are almost in perfect condition...)
I'm all for sentimental value of things, I have a bunch of stuff my wife can't fathom (like the original Ohio Scientific Computer my parents bought me when I graduated from High School.) But to me a thing is only of sentimental value if there is some sentimental memory attached to it. Everyone is different, of course.
I have some things from my father (who passed away 5 years ago) that mean a lot to me. He also had accumulated loads of weird junk that I sold or threw away. I actually think my father would approve of that. He did the same thing when he went through his father's effects.
I would caution you not to let others sentiment affect yours. A guy might say: "I would never part with a family heirloom!" because he's thinking about something in the family that is meaningful to him. That might make you think: "Man I should keep it, too then." But maybe not.
If the action is too high to be playable. And if your father never (or hardly ever) played it -- how do you know he wasn't thinking: "You know, if I could find someone stupid enough to buy that old Martin, I'd unload it in a minute!"
I guess I am saying that we all remember our family in different ways, and there is nothing wrong with that.
My father passed away on December 26, 2013. That was about a month after I became a Pastor. Three days later I stepped into the pulpit to preach, knowing that an hour after the service, I would be flying to Tulsa for my father's funeral. Some people asked me why I didn't take the week off and have someone else preach. But my father had been a Presbyterian preacher all of his life. It would have been more important to him that I preached that Sunday than that I made his funeral the following day. There were some folks (in my family) that didn't understand my decision, and don't to this day (even though I made all of my flights and was there on time...) But I honored my father's memory the way I felt was right.
Maybe your dad would rather see you trade the Martin in, and buy a guitar that you loved to play, and every time you picked it up, you thought of him?
Or maybe not. The guys on here know an amazing amount of things about vintage guitars, and in assessing values of instruments this forum is one of the best.
But only you knew your dad. I rarely advise this... but you should follow your heart. IMHO. You'll do the right thing.
I'm all for sentimental value of things, I have a bunch of stuff my wife can't fathom (like the original Ohio Scientific Computer my parents bought me when I graduated from High School.) But to me a thing is only of sentimental value if there is some sentimental memory attached to it. Everyone is different, of course.
I have some things from my father (who passed away 5 years ago) that mean a lot to me. He also had accumulated loads of weird junk that I sold or threw away. I actually think my father would approve of that. He did the same thing when he went through his father's effects.
I would caution you not to let others sentiment affect yours. A guy might say: "I would never part with a family heirloom!" because he's thinking about something in the family that is meaningful to him. That might make you think: "Man I should keep it, too then." But maybe not.
If the action is too high to be playable. And if your father never (or hardly ever) played it -- how do you know he wasn't thinking: "You know, if I could find someone stupid enough to buy that old Martin, I'd unload it in a minute!"
I guess I am saying that we all remember our family in different ways, and there is nothing wrong with that.
My father passed away on December 26, 2013. That was about a month after I became a Pastor. Three days later I stepped into the pulpit to preach, knowing that an hour after the service, I would be flying to Tulsa for my father's funeral. Some people asked me why I didn't take the week off and have someone else preach. But my father had been a Presbyterian preacher all of his life. It would have been more important to him that I preached that Sunday than that I made his funeral the following day. There were some folks (in my family) that didn't understand my decision, and don't to this day (even though I made all of my flights and was there on time...) But I honored my father's memory the way I felt was right.
Maybe your dad would rather see you trade the Martin in, and buy a guitar that you loved to play, and every time you picked it up, you thought of him?
Or maybe not. The guys on here know an amazing amount of things about vintage guitars, and in assessing values of instruments this forum is one of the best.
But only you knew your dad. I rarely advise this... but you should follow your heart. IMHO. You'll do the right thing.
