What was so infamous about Manny's?

Charlie Bernstein

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On the Guild website's history page, it says, "Little known fact: at the beginning of 1970, Jimi Hendrix purchases a left-handed F-212 12-string model from the infamous Manny's Music in New York City."

Why infamous? A short Google search didsn't turn up anything remotely brow-raising. Crazy Eddie went to jail. What did Manny do?

Did Manny's guitars corrupt minors, or what?

=O.
 

dreadnut

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They're famous because they sold a guitar to Jimi Hendrix.
 
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GAD

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Likely written by someone who thought “infamous” was just a cooler form of “famous”.
 

Charlie Bernstein

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They're famous because they sold a guitar to Jimi Hendrix.
Yup, a hangout of the stars.

But it doesn't say famous. It says infamous.

- - - Updated - - -

Likely written by someone who thought “infamous” was just a cooler form of “famous”.
Yup, probably. If so, it's not the only typo on the page. Proofreading is so pre-web.
 
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SFIV1967

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Here's some info about the former glory:

https://mannysmusic.ning.com/
There's even a book: https://mannysmusic.ning.com/photo/albums/from-the-wall-of-fame-by-holly

And the famous vertical Manny's sign and clock now hangs in the Songbird's Guitar Museum in Chattanooga since November 2019, courtesy of Joe Bonamassa. He had to remove the steel frame however, as it was badly corroded, and the letters hang now not vertival but horizontal in the museum.
https://www.facebook.com/SongbirdsR...bonamassa-right-now-tune-in-/524779481697567/

Ralf
 
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twocorgis

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My "fondest" memory of Manny's is that I never bought anything from them because their help was unbelievably arrogant. In fact, in the early eighties, I bought my '59 X175 from Silver Horland Music (also long gone) right across West 48th Street instead of the '63 Gibson ES175 from them because of their crappy attitude. I'm glad I did, but that ES would surely be worth a lot more money now!
 

bobdcat

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I had to travel frequently to NYC in the early 2000s. I never missed "Music Row": Manny's, Sam Ash, Rudy's, etc. All gone now, alas.
 

fronobulax

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Likely written by someone who thought “infamous” was just a cooler form of “famous”.

Agreed. I don't think it is a typo or a failure in proofreading but just someone who chooses not to know any better. Sort of like using irregardless instead of regardless.
 

chazmo

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Agreed. I don't think it is a typo or a failure in proofreading but just someone who chooses not to know any better. Sort of like using irregardless instead of regardless.

But, these are not synonyms, right? Infamy is some sort of tainted fame, right, as in being famous for the "wrong" reasons? Just checking my own recollection of these words. Irregardless is just not a real word, right? And, in the vernacular, it is synoymous with regardless.
 

adorshki

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But, these are not synonyms, right? Infamy is some sort of tainted fame, right, as in being famous for the "wrong" reasons?
Yep: "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a date which will live in infamy the United States of America..."
(FDR's declaration of war on Japan Dec. 8th 1941)
Just checking my own recollection of these words. Irregardless is just not a real word, right?
Right.
Unfortunately, ya can't fight common usage.
Or bad broadcast journalists who constantly mangle the language in pursuit of colorful usage and yet who still rely on that trite and overworked "Shots rang out".
Hello?
Shots don't even "ring"!
How about: "Bullets ripped the air!" ?
:glee:
 

FNG

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Bullets ripping air is an apt description.
 

chazmo

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I have no problem with colorful or poetic usage of words, but I get confused and tune out when such usage demonstrates ignorance of the underlying meanings. Anyway, all good. Language evolves, irregardless of how I feel about it. :)
 

adorshki

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Bullets ripping air is an apt description.

Coming from someone who's been there that's a huge (even if sobering) compliment, thank you.
Wasn't even thinking of the combat implication at the time.

Anyway, all good. Language evolves, irregardless of how I feel about it. :)

Smack you!
:glee:
 
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chazmo

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Al, Effin may also be referring to the fact that bullets (mostly) go supersonic and thats a big component of the BANG you hear when a gun fires. So ripping the air is not exactly correct but, as he said, apt.
 

adorshki

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Al, Effin may also be referring to the fact that bullets (mostly) go supersonic and thats a big component of the BANG you hear when a gun fires. So ripping the air is not exactly correct but, as he said, apt.

Sorry chief, but "uh-uh" re the "big component of the BANG you hear when a gun fires"
Guns have gone bang ever since the world began, and early rounds weren't supersonic, that's a relatively recent technological advance, the largest component of the "bang" is the detonation of the propellant itself.
Which is also why subsonic rounds are preferable for use with suppressors
Granted for a supersonic round the sonic boom does make the "bang" sound louder.
https://shoot-on.com/supersonic-vs-subsonic/
"Suppressors reduce the sound of shot by an average of about 30 dB(decibels), but they do nothing to reduce the sonic boom that a bullet makes as it flies through the air. The only practical way to eliminate the boom is to use subsonic ammo."
But in fact you wouldn't hear the sonic boom of the round itself until it was passing you, it's not emanating from the barrel of the weapon, it's emanating from the tip of the round.
But ALL bullets do in fact "punch a hole" in the air leaving a low pressure area behind them (which is almost immediately filled again but I'm not saying this causes sonic boom), but that's what I meant by "ripping".
(insert conciliatory smile emoticon here)
:smile:
 
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