ok, this is a 1976 model with the same screws.

could they be stock, after all?

wtf?

i'm going to send them an email with pictures.

the laptop seems to be ok, after all.

when i tried to turn it on last night, it told me it couldn't read the hard drive - indicating it might not be installed, or had perhaps had the bootloader destroyed. when i tried today, it's fine.

so, i dunno.

i didn't get a chance to really look at it before i went to get the takeharu so i don't really know what happened.

the seller is being evasive about the screws :\. he claims "his friend" gave it to him.

should i bring this into a store before i even touch it just to run it by somebody? it's a $1000 solid body acoustic guitar manufactured in 1973, with some kind of botched mod to the bridge...this isn't the cheap piece of shit i hoped to save...

so, i spent the night trying to sort through cheap instrument listings on a couple of sites and spent the day sleeping.

the laptop with my phone appears to have been sabotaged by the cops, and i might have to r einstall.

for the night, i need to finish eating, clean a bit and get back to sorting through those listings, before i put them aside for tomorrow.

i'm going to have to blow very, very hard to get the same tone.

that's ok...

so, an air reed organ is, physically speaking, essentially the same thing as a melodica.

i can probably get very similar tones using the $5 melodica i just ordered from china.

yeah. $5. 

which is about what i paid for that organ, back in the day.

i'll keep an eye out for a real bontempi replacement, but one shitty part about the internet is that you don't get the same kind of deals on old gear that you used to at garage sales. it's going to cost upward of $100, and my $5 melodica might just be good enough.

this is the model i had.

and, if i'm going to replace it, i want the same one again.

that fan required noise reduction.

i loved the keys.

i was honestly planning on putting the epiphone in the case to try to extend it's lifespan, and leaving the "beginner japanese acoustic" on the stand, as a doodle guitar.

but, if i can fix this, it can keep the case!

the bridge oddly has two screws in it that look like action adjustments. you can see one of them here; it's the same on the other side:

what exactly are these screws?

are they action adjustments? if so, i wonder if the guitar just needs a setup - however bizarre it is.

or, are they there to keep the bridge in place?

i can smell the glue under the bridge, so it seems like the bridge snapped off and got glued on. that is, unless somebody tried to mod it to make adjustable action, in which case we might be dealing with a mod gone wrong that could in theory be undone.

i can tell by holding it that this guitar is an upgrade over the epiphone, but it doesn't hold tension in the strings and instantly falls out of tune...

...so, after adjusting the action, i'm going to probably put nylon strings on it, regardless. and, while it has 20 frets, the 21st is playable. :).

i love finding weird guitars and making them awesome.

let's see if i can save this.

so, i got the bottom of my vox this morning, finally. 

i also took a look around for hh bodies and didn't find what i want. 

when i got back, though, i responded to an ad i had responded to previously for a "beginner japanese guitar" with a "rehoused bridge", really just expecting to buy the case. after fighting with the rain, i got it back home and realized it was this:

this is a vintage 1973 takeharu guitar. and, yes, the guitar is unplayable due to a warped bridge, but i suspect i can fix it...

i paid $40 for this guitar, including the case.

i also got this for $5:

so, expect some mini xylophone madness coming up!