Dumpster rescue

[Lonnieboy]

Hi this is my first post on this forum. Pleased to meet yall. Last June my wifes car didn't start (battery) so while takeing her to work we stopped at the county dumpsters to toss out the trash.
When I pulled next to the dumpster I noticed a lady with a guitar in her hand looking forlorn. The headstock was hanging suspended by some old strings. I walked over to her and asked if she was going to toss it away. She said yes. I asked her if I could have it? she said yes and gave me the most beat up old antique Gretsch acoustic guitar you have ever seen.
I took it home and repaired the busted headstock ordered a new set of tuners installed them. Opened a big can of elbow grease and began to rub on it....After checking it out on another forum dedicated to Gretsch's found out it was a 1964 model. We have only found one other like it and I have searched this internet like crazy. Oh yeah one other thing. On the back of the headstock was an old plastic strip with the name Sonny Terry. I researched the name seems he was a blind Harmonica delta blues player died in the eighties. Just a little story of a guitar rising from the dead

[VintAxe]

Interesting find.

I saw Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee near the end of their career in the mid 1970's. The audience was mostly comprised of young white kids who understood that their beloved rock bands had borrowed heavily from an earlier generation of black blues musicians. At one point in the show, an older black woman shouted out something pretty harmless like "tell it Brownie; tell it". For whatever reason, this got under Brownie's skin and he stopped playing and proceeded to chastise this woman for her well meant show of support. To this day I have no idea what that was about. She just wanted to participate and show support; Brownie had clearly been on the road too long. After he finished humiliating her he began playing again like nothing ever happened.

Of course, you know Sonny was the harp player of the duo but no doubt he owned guitars. I wonder if there is any way to authenticate the label. You might want to consider sending a picture to Gruhn's; if anyone will recognize it, they might.

[Lonnieboy]

Hi yes I researched as much as I could about Sonny and Brownie. When I got together with my ex-wife I was going through her albums and came across a Sonny and Brownie album. I never asked her about it but thought it somewhat strange for her to be listening to Mississippi Delta blues. Well when I got the guitar I texted her and asked of she remembered them. She did said that when she was in college at Athens university aAthens Ohio that Sonny and Terry Played a coffee shop there in Athens every week. She told me that the plastic nameplate strip was on his guitar because he was blind and that way he could tell it was his guitar when it was handed to him. Makes sense to me. Thanks for your interest...Lonnie

[VintAxe]

Good to hear you can still text an ex wife. Some people can have very positive influences on each other even if being a "couple" may not be the ultimate plan.

I'd still check out the label.

Best

[Lonnieboy]

Yeah we talk all the time we have a beautifull daughter and 4 of the rottenist grand kids in the history of grand kids. If I don't hear from someone about the sticker I promised her she could have it. Lonnie