Jasmine Guitars

Longest Yard Sale/Old-Time Fiddler Covention 2024

Apologies for being a day late, but this weekend was the one that I visit both the US 12 Longest Yard Sale and the Michigan Fiddlers Association Old-Time Fiddlers Convention.

Friday was the day for the year sale. While they advertise it going from Detroit to the western border at New Buffalo, things don’t start to really show up until after Saline if you travel west on the road. Nothing for knick-knacks this year for me, but I did pick up a few music bargains.

MXL 770 large-diaphragm condenser microphone. I really have no need for one of these, as I just sold off a similar one last year and have an older MXL model that I still keep. However, it was a good price, and it was never used, with a shock mount still wrapped up in plastic. I am sure that I can re-sell it and make a few dollars.
Kustom KLA 10 guitar practice amplifier. Again, I have a few small practice amps already, but I picked it up for next to nothing. These are pretty good, reliable little amps, as Kustom has been putting them out for years. I will probably do a review on this next week.
Jasmine by Takamine S-35 acoustic guitar. I did an overview of my experiences with Jasmine guitars in a previous blog (https://luegra.design.blog/2023/09/30/jasmine-guitars-the-good-as-well-as-the-bad-and-ugly/). This particular guitar was made while Jasmine was still a part of the Takamine company. These are high-quality beginner guitars that can hold up to models costing a lot more (these go for about $100.00 used), and it came with a high-end Road Runner case/gig-bag. I paid $60.00 for the package, which is nearly what the gig bag cost new. The guitar was hardly touched. The seller told me that he purchased it for his daughter in high school and she lost interest rather quickly. When I got home, as I was cleaning out the gig bag, I found some lyrics that the girl must have written while she was still interested in playing and performing. Very cliché lyrics about breaking up with a boyfriend, but I had to smile that she at least tried to write a song. I have another S-35, and I will look at selling at least one if not both in the near future.
2002 Made in Mexico Fender Stratocaster. Despite being over 20 years old, it still had the cellophane on the pickguard and wammy bar cover. All I can figure that it sat for all of that time because the nut is cut too low on the B string, so the original owner never bothered to fix it. That’s a $20.00 job if I do it myself, probably $50.00 or so if I get a shop to do it. We shall see if I budget my time, and it’s not like I have to do it right away. I still got a decent deal on it, and while I don’t play electric guitar much, I know a deal when I see it.

There is not a lot of music equipment available along the strip of sales, mostly clothes, old toys, and possible collectible antiques. But I have been going every year since before COVID, and I will surely take the day off from work to go again next year.

Saturday I spent a few hours at the Old-Time Fiddle Convention in Hastings, Michigan. While this is not a big event, those that attend for the three days are extremely loyal fiddlers interested in old-time music and jamming with others. I probably could have more time there, but traffic accents and construction took a lot of my Saturday morning time. I caught the end of the Sing-Along workshop by Glen Warners, then watched the Michigan Fiddle Tunes workshop hosted by Dave Langdon. Dave is a great old-time fiddler, playing left handed. However, his instructional skills are less than satisfactory. While the class worked on two simple fiddle tunes, and most everyone there were competent with the tunes, Dave tends to just play a part of the tune and then have everyone join in. There is very little discussion on notes, and he doesn’t even give a count to start the song, he just jumps in and expects everyone to catch what he is doing. There were a few instances that students had to point out that he wasn’t following the sheet music verbatim, but said that he had his own style. Fortunately, everyone in attendance was very friendly and appreciative of the workshop.

I was able to make a simple video of the Langdon workshop with my older video camera (I’m still having problems with the video camera I purchased last year, and the instruction manual is all in Chinese, so I still have a lot to learn with it). I will post it on my YouTube page later this week.

I would love to see more people at the convention. Unfortunately, Hastings is not that easy to drive to, and people interested in old-time fiddle music are usually going to hit more popular events such as Galax in Virginia. The MFA doesn’t do much to advertise the event either, so attendance depends mostly through word-of-mouth from previous attendees. I have chatted this event up to many other bluegrass musicians and fiddlers, but just about everyone feigns interest. I do plan on going next year, as well as hitting the old-time fiddle contest in New Boston this October.

Chew on it and comment.

Jasmine Guitars: The Good, As Well As The Bad and Ugly!

Jasmine acoustic guitars. You either love them or hate them. And that depends on the model, I guess. I have had three Jasmine guitars over the years, and only one has really impressed me.

Jasmine started out as being marketed by Takamine Guitars to be a low-cost alternative to its acoustic guitar lineup. They were made during the 1990s and early 2000s in China. About 10 years ago, Jasmine was created as its own separate brand by KMC Music, and most of the guitars are manufactured in Indonesia. Early models will have “Jasmine by Takamine” on the headstock, while more recent models will just state “Jasmine.”

My first Jasmine was a 12-string (I don’t remember the model number) that was purchased used back in the mid-1990s. My pop-punk band The Masons (of detroit) (yes, that is how we spelled it) were doing some acoustic shows, and since it was just single guitar/bass/drums, I wanted to fill out the sound more with a 12-string. I remember that the thing was a pain to stay in tune, even after I replaced the tuning gears. The nut was not sturdy, moving about if you loosened even one string. Even though it had a dreadnought body, it wasn’t every loud. I actually trashed it after a few years because it was falling apart so much. Its legacy still lives on, as the headstock appears on the cover of the CD compilation that I produced in 1997, Boombacoustic!

Just prior to the COVID pandemic, I was shopping around for some acoustic guitars that I could bang around at jam sessions and such, not wanting to take my prized Martin or Blueridge guitars to get damaged. I came across a Craigslist ad that someone in town was selling a Jasmine S341 with case real cheap. He was leaving town and wanted to get rid of everything except the clothes on his back. I gave him $50, I figured that the hardshell case was worth that. I probably was not that far off with that thought. The S341 was a model that Jasmine put out in the mid-2000s to be a somewhat total package for a beginning guitarist. It retailed for about $250.00, and came with that hardshell case covered in faux leather with a big brass-like badge showing “Jasmine by Takamine” on the side. The dreadnought guitar has a black finish, something that I have never been a big fan of (apologies to Johnny Cash). The previous owner must have not played it much, or even pulled it out of the case often, as the guitar still had that glue smell to it that newer, cheaper guitars give off. Like my previous experiences with Jasmine guitars, the tone was not that great, typical of acoustic guitar bodies made almost entirely of laminated wood finished in a opaque paint. It plays well, the neck is pretty comfortable, but other than playing it solo, it wouldn’t cut through too well in a jam, especially a bluegrass setting. I played it once at a Songwriters Anonymous meeting, and then the pandemic kicked in, so it has sat in waiting ever since. I plan on selling it off soon, hopefully to someone who could appreciate it more than the previous owner or myself.

Two weeks ago, I purchased a Jasmine S35 off of eBay. I was a bit sorry at the time, as although I got a decent final bid price, the shipping was higher than the price of the guitar. It totalled just under $70, and without a case or gigbag. I received it a few days ago, and I have been surprised by the sound of this beginner acoustic! It has a dreadnought body, although at first glance, it looks a wee bit smaller. This is one of the newer models not marketed by Takamine. It has the specifications of most lower-cost acoustics (spruce sitka laminated top, mahogany sides/back, rosewood fingerboard), but the sound is much more loud than I expected, and has a much richer tone than most beginner guitars. I don’t plan on keeping it, but after a clean up and bridge modification, I am sure that I can find an interested customer. I have seen this particular model going anywhere from about $80 used to $150 new, and if all of them sound as good as the one I have now, it is a good buy.

Chew on it and comment.