Tondeleo: I was just talking with Doc about how he and Marilyn are getting through the winter, with all the cold weather. He told me that kerosene is very costly right now, but his income is very low. I asked him what they are doing to cope, when there’s no work.
Doc: When you're down and hurtin' for money, you can sell things, I done that. Done it recently to get me through the winter. I been sellin’ some of my tools. Been sellin’ some of my car parts for old cars and hot rods. But I still been needin’ money. So now I sold last week my 1950’s Kay electric arch top guitar.
I have had that guitar for many a year and I love it. It has that vibe what only comes from an old guitar what has a story to tell. I have taken it all over the South and it has done me a good job. But now I got to pay for heat and the light bill and all that. Work has slowed down and people ain’t got no money to pay me for what I done for them.
I sold a coupla guitars and some other things sittin'
around the house. I give to a guy over to Bryans Road who put them on that ebay to sell 'em to whoever would give the most money for 'em and you figure whoever will give the most money for 'em will like 'em as good as I do.
A boy all the way up to Ohio, name Jacob bought my Kay guitar what I done had for years, but it was time for it to go. I loved that guitar, but I had some bills to pay, and was comin' up short. I know I am gonna miss that guitar, but guess what? That boy sent a e-letter to the dude up to Bryans Road what sold it for me an’ said that he been lookin’ for a old guitar like that for a long time to play bottleneck blues and fingerstyle on it! That’s the same as me. But I bet he’s better ‘n me ‘cause he is young and prolly a lot smarter n’ me an’ I think he’ll do it all right. That guitar done me right, I tell you.
Tondeleo: But Doc, couldn’t you have pawned them? At least then you’d get your money to get you through the winter, and then you could redeem them out of the pawn shop when warm weather gets here…
Doc: I'd rather sell 'em outright than to pawn 'em. Pawnshop might give you fifty or a hundred bucks for it, then you got to go back an' pay 'em just the interest on that hundred bucks, what may be 20 bucks a pop, an' you might have 300 bucks tied up in interest on a hundred dollars. Now as long as you're payin' that kind of interest, you ain't gonna be able to get the money together to get that guitar back. It's better to just sell it outright for what you can and then find someone else what needs money and buy one from them. I don't like pawn shops too much.
Tondeleo: You seem to have a lot of tools. And I know that you’re not as devoted to your tools as you are to your guitars. How about pawning them, or selling them?
Doc: When you're sellin' you're tools, you're cuttin' your own throat. Cause you need your tools to make money, and you cain't make money without 'em. But you gotta keep the lights on and you hafta eat. But when you pawn your guitar, it hurts. That thing is your friend. It's like puttin' your friend in jail. Better to sell it than to pawn it. Cause; you could make your payments every month and then still lose it after all that money - Pay a couple hundred bucks in interest, and still wind up losing it, for a hundred bucks. It’s better to sell it to someone what’ll like it like you do and give it a good home. That’s what I done with it, Tondy.
