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The Tomás Crown Affair
I shouldn’t be buying any more guitars, but I love guitars. A guitar got me through my tough teenage years. I have a dozen or so now (15 including 2 basses), but I’m always looking around to see what’s out there. I should admit to myself that I probably won’t be purchasing another guitar in a while. For a good while at least. There’s no harm in looking, right? How long is “a while” anyway?
So, in my perusing around online, a few months ago in June, I came across a “Crown” guitar. It was in the used gear section of a Guitar Center in Florida. A highly recommended place, it is not. But, this little guitar, like a puppy in a window said “buy me please!” Simultaneously, all the hairs in the back of my neck stood up, so I paid attention.
I had never heard of Crown guitars before and I’ve known a few brands. I did my research and it turns out that a shop in Pasadena, California (originally a pawn shop, later a full fledged store) was importing guitars in the 60s and 70s from Japan. To make a long story short, I was able to date the guitar to the late 60’s, probably 1967 or 1968. This Crown guitar has a gold sticker in the sound hole that reads “Crown Classic and Folk Guitars”. It’s a 000 style and clearly a Martin copy. Solid Spruce & Rosewood.
This is the picture I saw online:
I bought the guitar, but more on that later…
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22 Replies
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Nice guitars Tomás and also an interesting topic title. The Tomas Crown Affair was a great movie. I remember the 1999 version more so than the 1968 original. I note your guitar got you through your tough teenage years, along with, I suspect, your favourite music!
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Thanks Howard.
I couldn’t really justify this Crown guitar for me, but I thought it would be perfect for my niece. She’s 11, and had just picked up playing the guitar. Once a week I have been giving her lessons over Skype. She’s Australian, but the whole family is spending a sabbatical in Spain. The “F” chord is an impossibility for her, especially on the cheap guitar she has been playing with. This guitar has a shorter scale (24.9”), and with light strings and low action, I thought it would be much easier for her small hands to attempt barred chords.
I went ahead and bought the guitar not knowing what would arrive, though the price was low enough. Old guitars can have a myriad of issues that sometimes become too expensive to fix. I was very happy with what arrived. It had it’s issues, like a shrinking pickguard (standard for the period), worn frets, some uneven frets, some gunk accumulated, but no cracks and overall good, including the neck. I cleaned it up, dressed some frets, adjusted the truss rod, changed the pickguard and it’s looking very snazzy. More importantly, the back and sides seem to be Brazilian Rosewood. I’m not an expert on the matter, but I’ve put it up against my Brazilian Rosewood guitar and the East Indian Rosewood one I’ve got and it’s clearly in the Brazilian camp. Since there are so many variations in wood patterns I can’t be 100% sure. Whatever wood it may be, it sounds lovely.
Here it is mid repairs:
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Here it is from the back:
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And this is after repairs:
The problem is that I can’t ship it internationally because of CITES.
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Wow! That is a huge difference. You have one very lucky niece. I hope she appreciates the consideration.
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The saga continues…
When I told my sister that I wanted to give the Crown guitar to her daughter, her response was that I can’t give it to her “just because,” she has to earn it. As I’m giving her lessons every week, to earn the guitar we agree that she must learn one song properly. Of course I ‘m going to be very lenient, since at this point she’s only been playing for 4 months. While all this is going on, my sister confirms that she’s coming over to North Carolina for a visit. It’s the perfect time to hand over the guitar. The pressure was on for my niece, Lucila (Luli for short), since the countdown to performance had started and the clock was ticking.
Here’s a picture of my sister and her family. Luli is in the pink shirt.
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You have a very wise sister Tomás!
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Wow Tomas, what a labor of love, specially picking that guitar out and fixing and restoring it for your niece. It’s going to be a very, very special instrument your niece can cherish for a life time.
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The whole family just left after being over for a week. We had a such great time and I got to know the 2 little ones that I had never met in person. We did so many things I ended exhausted but very happy. The picture above by the old tractor was from a pumpkin patch we visited.
I let my niece practice a bit on the guitar before doing the final “test”. I know she practiced a lot before coming over too. As the uncle it’s very hard for me to be objective. I think she’s so sweet and growing up so fast, how can I say “no”? I know I’m absolutely biased, but still I think she did fabulously and she really surprised me. After all, she’s only been playing the guitar for 6 months.
I recorded her and got permission to post the video here, but please don’t share it outside this group.
http://calvo.us/Luli-TheWideWideLand.mp4
I know it’s far from perfect, but do you think she did OK?
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Oh wow Tomas, my eyes just swelled up hearing such a beautiful rendition of that song. She plays the guitar so gently and beautifully and her singing carries the melody so perfectly. Really, really well done! You are not biased Tomas, she is good!
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The video opens but unfortunately won’t play properly. However, a couple of glimpses where it has briefly worked have been enough to tell me she has a lovely sweet voice. I’ll try again another day and hope it is working better for me. Too frustrating trying to watch for just a few seconds at a time. I don’t know who chose the song, but it is one of my favourites and the perfect choice for young Luli IMHO.
By the way, it’s okay to be biassed when it comes to favourite nieces. One of mine is currently at Bologna University in Italy, continuing her postgraduate studies there for six months. She seems to be having such a wonderful time that I suggested to her parents that she may not want to come home. Bologna is the oldest university in the world, as well as one of the leading academic institutions in Italy and Europe. It is one of the most prestigious Italian universities, commonly ranking in the first places of national rankings. My niece was already a multilinguist and no doubt her Italian is going to improve immensely mixing with Italians. Reminds me of Mona and Lisa spending six months in Adelaide to improve their English.
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Fantastic job by your niece, Tomas! I’ll be in the front row at her first concert.
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She did a great job. A lot of confidence for 11 years old. Tell her I thought it was excellent!
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Thank you guys.
I thought I had answered Jung and Howard, maybe it didn’t post, sorry. Howard, I’ve heard Bologna is one of the most prestigious universities in the world, so congratulations on your niece’s accomplishments.
It’s quite amazing to me to see how quickly she learned the finger picking, because it’s not that easy, even for a child that learn faster, to get that coordination. She’s very dedicated though and practices a lot. We’re keeping on with the lessons over Skype and she also has a tutor in Spain.
Heading for Spain. Clouds in my eyes as the story comes to an end.
Epilogue: The younger one got a Violin for her birthday. Both happy with their new instruments.
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Tomas, nice touch with the MLT sticker on your nieces guitar case! 🙂 I hope they grow up to be great musicians. They are both adorable!
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