Vintage & Used Instruments

The John and Rudy Dopyera Collection We are very proud to offer for sale the combined collection of John and Rudy Dopyera. Few instrument makers represent the American Dream quite as completely as these two inventors, innovators, marketers, and all-around creative force behind both the National and Dobro companies.

The BEST of the BEST Visit the Elderly Web-Vault, where you'll find the finest in highly collectible, exceedingly rare instruments.

Check out our latest price reductions .

See the list of abbreviations we use in our descriptions.

Featured Items: MARTIN D-28 (1941) Fine sounding crack-free prewar D-28 which was worked on by Martin ~30 years ago. check this one out! DOMINIK ZUCHOWICZ "LYRA VIOL" (2004) Here's an instrument you may not have seen before! A lyra viol is like a viola da gamba but with sympathetic strings. This was made in Canada and is copied from a 17th century instrument in a Toronto museum. MARSHALL 1959T 100 WATT TREMOLO HEAD (late '67 / early '68) Here's a 100 watt Marshall head that sounds like a million bucks - and costs a lot less! BREEDLOVE SC/W (1995) Look over this very nice Breedlove acoustic-electric - with advanced styling features and fine Breedlove sound. LARRIVEE 30TH ANNIVERSARY MODEL (1997) Jean Larrivee makes a lot of great guitars in his California and Vancouver plants. This one was made before the California days, and is both tonally and visually gorgeous - with Brazilian rosewood sides and back and very fancy peghead and fretboard inlays. GIBSON SJ-100 (1939-40) It's a prewar SJ-100 with all the earliest and best features: stairstep peghead, open moustache bridge with individual saddles, 26" scale. This is a super-rare guitar which also plays and sounds like a dream! GIBSON J-50 ADJ (1967) There's nothing quite like the sound of the old Gibson slope-shoulder models. Here's a nice clean J-50 from 1967! KISO / KLEIN OMK-1 (recent) Kiso/Klein guitars are designed by Steve Klein and built by luthiers of the Kiso region of Japan. Very fine guitar and certainly worth a look. JAMES OLSON JUMBO CUSTOM (1996) James Olson is the luthier to James Taylor and many other top recording artists. Here's a fine jumbo size model from the mid-'90's. GIBSON B25-12N (1965) Look over this nice small-bodied Gibson 12-string from the 1960's - part of Gibson's answer to the folk craze started by Leadbelly and Pete Seeger, and later taken into the Stratosphere by Roger McGuinn! THE BACON PROFESSIONAL BANJO CATALOG (REPRINT) Rare catalog showing c.1913 Bacon 5-string and other banjos of the time. THE BACON 1923 CATALOG (REPRINT) This catalog features the introduction of those great Silver Bell banjos of the 1920's. VEGAPHONE BANJOS Nice repro catalog of old Vega banjos from the 1920's. GIBSON LES PAUL (1954) Here's a fine working man's gold top from 1954! GIBSON LES PAUL JR (1962) Cherry red at it's best - look at and listen to this '62 LP Jr and you'll know why the double cutaway slab body was a big hit beginning in the '60's. GIBSON LES PAUL SPECIAL (1956) Excellent condition, one owner instrument that is very clean. This guitar screams! GIBSON LES PAUL CUSTOM (1960) Here's a really nice 1960 Black Beauty -- looks cool, sounds great. GIBSON LES PAUL JR (1955) Cool, light weight '55 LP Jr that sounds great! FENDER STRATOCASTER (1959) Here's a nice '59 Strat with nice honest player's wear, and it plays and sounds like a dream! GIBSON ES-355 SV (late 1962 / early '63) Here's a really nice early '60's ES-355! GIBSON L-7 CUSTOM ELECTRIC (1936) Here's a very cool custom-ordered Gibson L-7 with Charlie Christian pickup installed at the factory in 1936. Rare bird! GUITARS: THE TSUMURA COLLECTION by Akira Tsumura, foreword by James L. D'Aquisto First published in 1987, this long out-of-print book has been sold for quite a bit more than this for several years now. We have a limited quantity of brand new copies that have recently surfaced. GIBSON L-5 (1925) From the family of the original owner, this just-post-Loar L-5 is a wonder to behold, and play! FENDER PRECISION BASS (1974) Bring back those crazy days of 1974 with this super sounding natural finish P-Bass. GIBSON CUSTOM 12" CONVERSION BANJO (c.1936) Can you spell R-A-R-E?? We don't know why Gibson made this in the 1930's, since virtually all their banjos had 11" rims, but this 12" rim Gibson is about as rare as they come. Originally a plectrum banjo, it has a fine conversion 5-string neck made by the late Bill Sullivan. GIBSON STYLE 75 FLATHEAD CONVERSION (late 1930's -- early 1940's) Wow! This is a great-sounding, all original (rim) prewar flathead Gibson Mastertone with a Frank Neat conversion neck on it. They don't get much better than this for the bluegrass banjoist. GIBSON RB-3 (1929) Original prewar Gibson 5-string banjos are might MIGHTY rare, so we are especially pleased to offer this super clean, great-sounding RB-3 for you Gibson banjo aficionados. GIBSON F-5 (1924) Her is a stunning "new" Gibson F-5 mando with Lloyd Loar signature and dated Dec. 1, 1924. It has been in the same family since at least the 1930's and has not been offered for sale in all that time. ALTMAN M-F5 (2006) Top grade bluegrass mandolin from luthier Robert Altman, this features classic styling with great sound. DUFF F-5 (1999) Here's a very fine F-5 mandolin from that other very fine Australian maker - Paul Duff. COOL AMERICAN GUITAR CARDS 40 cool color cards of vintage instruments, with descriptions on the back! ELLIS F-5 DELUXE MANDOLIN & CASE Made in Texas by legendary luthier Tom Ellis, this fine F-5 instrument is up there with the best.

Our Vintage and Used Instrument List describes all the Vintage and Used instruments in our store. The printed version is published every six weeks and features a full-color cover and 24 jam-packed pages for the fretted instrument enthusiast. It is available by subscription for $15/12 issues ($30 overseas), sent first-class mail. The online version available here is free.