Vintage string packages

[BradKlein]

Happy to have revived interest in this fun thread. Paul, maybe you've run into price information for guitar and/or mando strings from the 20s, 30s, 40s, that would be an approximate way of dating the box of Gretsch Eagle's that I posted? I've found images of packages and ads like the one below, but no way to line up item to approximate date.

[pfox14]

Awesome, thanks. I would guess that they will measure out to .012 for the E string.

[pfox14]

Here are some additional Kalamazoo Brand strings ephemera from 1934:

[pfox14]

[pfox14]

Here are a few more I found

[Tavy]

Time to revive this old thread with some (new to me anyway) packages,

National Musical string company:



And this ones almost a work of art - the Philharmonic mandolin:

[Narayan Kersak]

Not sure I understand this whole vintage string thing. It was my sense that when strings got old you got rid of them!

What's the deal? I know I saw someone on ebay selling over 300 packs of vintages strings. Help me understand who wants to buy them and why.

[Jim Garber]

Narayan: not to buy them to use on an instrument, but more for the art on the packages. That is what this thread is about. There also could be some interest historically in what our string gauges and compositions our predecessors played with.

[Narayan Kersak]

I see! Thank you.

[Christian]

Here's a Gibson mandolin string package that was given to me in the late seventies by Vernon McIntyre. I haven't seen it posted here, if I'm not wrong. From the way it looks, I'm guessing it might be from the 20's or 30's, maybe someone has a clue??

[Jim Garber]

Christian: those are interesting. I am not sure what those are. I have seen other string pkgs from the 20s (see earlier in this thread) but none marked Columbia. I never heard the brand Columbia associated with Gibson -- I seem to recall Lyon & Healy -- so maybe this was made for another company with Gibson brand still on it. Perhaps for export?

[danb]

Here's the box that goes with 'em!

[George Roberts]

I'm a tad late to this thread, and when I went through my stash of old strings, these were the only ones I found that hadn't already been shown. They were very light weight strings when I used them in the 60s. The back of the package says "Made In Germany (U.S. Zone)".
Jim, your Bay State string package was the clue I needed to finally identify my "University of Michigan" guitar. The Lyre logo on the package was so similar to an imprint on the front of the headstock that I started looking for Bay State Guitars. There is a site called "Bay State Registry" and they were able to confirm the identity. Thank you.
George

[niels]

2014 and this thread resurfaces

These strings came with my Silvertone: Mapes and Black Diamond.
Could anyone shed a light on the age of these? Thanks.

[Jim Garber]

The Mapes is pre-1963 since they do not use Zip Codes in their address. Prob they are older than that.

[Eddie Sheehy]

I've got 2 sets of old Gibson Mona-Steel Mandocello strings No. 207 and a set of Gibson Sonomatic Electric 6 Bass strings No. 027

[pfox14]

Here is a little montage of Gibson strings as they appeared in various catalogs.

[danb]

Here is a little montage of Gibson strings as they appeared in various catalogs.

Note the typo in "Gauge" on the earliest ones

I have a few that are paper with the printing like the 1909, then several that are more typical "parchment" like envelopes.

I have quite a few As & Es.. does anyone have Gs & Ds to swap? Might be fun to string up #9100 with a fully original set

[pfox14]

Here's a Gibson mandolin string package that was given to me in the late seventies by Vernon McIntyre. I haven't seen it posted here, if I'm not wrong. From the way it looks, I'm guessing it might be from the 20's or 30's, maybe someone has a clue??

According to an avid collector friend of mine, the Gibson-Columbia strings were made by The Gibson String Co. that was in Plainfield, NJ. Nothing to do with Gibson guitars.

[Timbofood]

Does anyone know who actually produced the packages? The gibson ones may have been made using material from KVP Sutherland which had locations around Kalamazoo, and in Parchment. KVP stood for Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment and one of the factory buildings was not far from the Parsons street offices. I worked with a man who had worked for KVP but, never thought to ask that kind of question until after he had died. I must remember to ask those questions, as they come up!
Should have read to the end of the thread... D'oh!

[pfox14]

Does anyone know who actually produced the packages? The gibson ones may have been made using material from KVP Sutherland which had locations around Kalamazoo, and in Parchment. KVP stood for Kalamazoo Vegetable Parchment and one of the factory buildings was not far from the Parsons street offices. I worked with a man who had worked for KVP but, never thought to ask that kind of question until after he had died. I must remember to ask those questions, as they come up!
Should have read to the end of the thread... D'oh!

There's nothing in Joe Spann's book about who made the string packages, but KVP sounds like a very good guess.

[Tavy]

Must be time to resurface this old thread... found with a DeMeglio mandolin... "Invincible" strings: I could use some of those today