Long Neck Connection

My flea market buddy Gary, he calls it "horse trading"---you know, buying and selling stuff on the second hand market. To him it's a craft, no different than framing up houses or welding or sewing quilts or what have you.

And he's right---it takes years of experience to be a successful horse trader. Of course in popular parlance what he calls horse trading is known as "picking".

No horses involved these days, at least not for most of us who practice that particular craft. The picker subculture is a rich and varied entity, one that I've come to be quite fond of.

See, despite rumors to the contrary, folk singing ain't what you'd call a lucrative proposition for outliers like me. I live well under the poverty line, at least as established by government standards, but that factoid never did bother me a whole bunch---I have all that I need and more.

But maybe twenty-five years back I started seeing the writing on the wall. Despite the fact that my first two albums were critical successes, I remained impoverished, and with kids to feed and clothe and mortgages to pay and such I realized that I needed a side gig, so I learned how to be a picker, buying things second hand, sometimes fixing them if they were broken, other times just cleaning them up a bit, then locating the most viable platform to sell them, as that platform angle, that's the key to success.

See, some items get sold locally on Facebook, while others are offered on more specialized sites like Reverb.com, or, as a last resort, Ebay. I don't mind badmouthing eBay because it's not any kind of an epicenter of decency or fairness. But occasionally that's the only card you have to play---I mean, you pick up some weird sonar unit to vintage French Foreign Legion ca0 for $20 at a yard sale and know that somewhere, somehow someone would likely be willing to pay more than that. So to eBay you go, holding your nose in the process, as eBay is truly a soulless, parasitic platform with abysmal customer service...at least if you're a seller like me.

So each week I head out to the J & J and various yard sales and such and sometimes I succeed with my goals, while others I fall flat on my face---I got a whole house full of crap that I picked up cheap over the years, thinking there was secondhand value in it, only to find that there wasn't.

That's the craft part. Live and learn.

So last year I got this message on Facebook Marketplace regarding a guitar that I was selling there. The guy asked would I be interested in a trade, and most times the answer to that question is a firm no. My house is already full and the secondary benefit of this resale process is clearing stuff out, not getting more of it. But this guy, he was pleasant and offered an old long neck banjo in exchange for the guitar.

I already own a long neck, but figured it was a viable trade so I went ahead and did the deal, then listed it for sale in lieu of the guitar. To my surprise said exotic banjo languished for months, not one inquiry about it, and least not until a few days ago when a guy wrote asking would I consider a trade.

I had to laugh, considering the transaction history to date, but I figured I'd see what he was offering. It turned out to be a nearly new Chinese Rickenbacker guitar, colloquially known as a "Chickenbacker". Basically it's a fake Rickenbacker.

Those guitars, they're all eye candy, but not much to speak of in terms of performance---cheap pop-out type guitar. I told him that deal wouldn't work, but then he offered to throw in a Berringer synthesizer as well, which perked up my interest, as I love synthesizers and arpeggiators and such.

So I agreed to the deal, not knowing what to expect when the actual items were in front of me to inspect. Often times you get to the pickup location and the stuff they show up with bears little semblance to what they promised.

But he was coming from a goodly distance, maybe 90 miles away, so it was a bigger risk for him than me. That angle works in my favor, as, if I feel like the swap isn't reasonable I'll nix the deal, which he knows, so he's likely not gonna come all that way with bogus offerings.

But there's been times when, upon meeting with a swapper, I've had to kill the deal. It's a sort of last-resort type tactic, but I've had to employ it from time to time when shady propositions surfaced after promises otherwise were made.

So this guy and me, we met at the Winterville Dollar General, my usual, well-lit public meet-up location. Being a picker and musician I don't typically invite strangers into my house---these days you just can't be too safe.

Well, he showed up right on time and the guitar and synthesizer turned out to be better quality than I expected---in fact they were worth considerably more than the banjo. But his eyes, they about popped out of their sockets when he saw the long neck thing, saying he'd always wanted one.

He grinned happily and asked hopefully would I agreed to the deal.

It was a fine blue winter day, not too cold, not to hot, and you could see this young man was a good soul and a fine musician. With the synthesizer thrown in the swap favored me pretty heavily, so when I agreed, I went ahead and gave him another $25 to balance out the deal. He was ecstatic.

Then, right there in the parking lot of the Dollar General, he propped his foot up on his truck bumper and proceeded to lay down some fairly choice clawhammer licks.

Walking to my car, Chickenbacker and synthesizer in hand, I turned and listened to him playing the hell out of that banjo and I have to say, all felt right in the world...which surely is a rare feeling these days. I videoed this clip of him diving into his passion to share with you, as I felt like it was a fine talisman of our encounter.

Later in the evening he sent me a message, thanking me again for making the deal, saying he'd always dreamed of owning a long neck banjo. His kindness made me all the more gratified that I didn't just take the deal and run, that I offered him a few bucks extra to balance out the proposition. Of course, paying over the asking price is not what you'd call good horse trading protocol, but it felt good to do at the time and even better after he sent that kind message.

There's plenty of good in the world. Sometimes it's elusive, but yesterday it was front and center on display in the Winterville Dollar General parking lot. And if you can find it there, well hell, you probably can find it anywhere.