Save Me a Seat

[toomanycats]

This past weekend I picked up a pair of antique Windsor style chairs at a thrift store. One is a Captain's chair, the other a comb back.

They are really great quality older pieces, magnificently constructed, just beautiful. You guys may not be aware of this, but I've got something of a chair fetish. So what, you may be asking, does this remotely have to do with guitars?

Let's take a closer look at the Captain's chair, which is made out of tiger maple. There is some prominent stripes on the legs and fiddle back . . .

But this is what really floored me. If you're a guitar player, I challenge you to look at this seat and not see anything other than a vintage Les Paul flame maple top. If this wood had been sent to Kalamazoo Michigan instead of Salem Massachuttes it could have been a guitar top. The seat is solid (not a veneer) and 1 1/4" thick at the edge.

[mickey]

You may not be aware but you should be in a great place to find quality wood furniture.
Before China took over the world, North Carolina was where most solid wood furniture was made.
I have a solid oak hutch, solid maple coffee table & end tables, plus a solid hickory (at least I think it is hickory) rocker.
All made in Nawth Klina.

Wish the stuff coming out of China was of equal quality to the older NC stuff.

[toomanycats]

You may not be aware but you should be in a great place to find quality wood furniture.
Before China took over the world, North Carolina was where most solid wood furniture was made.
I have a solid oak hutch, solid maple coffee table & end tables, plus a solid hickory (at least I think it is hickory) rocker.
All made in Nawth Klina.

Wish the stuff coming out of China was of equal quality to the older NC stuff.

Oh yeah, I'm definitely hip that to [mention]mickey[/mention]. Not just wood furniture, but also upholstered furniture and the textile mills associated with them too.

Right here in town is a major Ethan Allen factory, along with many other frame manufacturers, upholsterers, and textile mills in the surrounding communities. I played a gig in Drexel last Friday night, which is where Drexel-Heritage furniture is based. I've found incredible quality vintage pieces by these manufacturers, along with pieces by Baker, Hickory Chair Company, the list is really too long to remember.

There is a glut of this type of furniture at yard sales, in thrift stores, being sold for pennies on the dollar, almost being given away. I got a Chippendale style camel back sofa for $5 about a month ago. I have no place in the house to put it, so it went in the garage. I just couldn't walk away from it for the price.

The construction of this older furniture is something you just don't see anymore in new pieces unless you pay very high dollar. The upholstery work is something only real craftsman can do, being all hand done, with horse hair, the springing, eight way tie, all real tacks, framing that could survive a bomb blast. The sad thing is that most people don't want this stuff anymore, as it's not to scale to the "McMansion" environment they live in or the throw away culture. They'd rather pay ten times more for oversized crap from Big Lots.

[mickey]

Well, I had no idea how aware you were.
When my wife & I were first married some of our relatives gave us several pieces of furniture.
One was a solid (oak?) chest of drawers, on the bottom of one drawer was a copy of the original sales receipt.
It sold for all of $1.29 when new. (in the 1930's, I think.)

[Chocol8]

My wife has a chair hoarding issue as well. They mostly get stacked in the barn until they hit critical mass and get purged back down to a smaller but still unreasonable number.

[aullucci]

My wife too! There are 2 sets of dining room chairs in my garage waiting to be refinished.

[toomanycats]

This is one of the more puzzling chairs I've acquired at a local second hand store. I think I paid $25 or something like that for it.

The general style is William & Mary, though it is unique in that the front legs are characteristic of Queen Ann. While a hodgepodge of stylistic elements is often seen in furniture from the Victorian period (roughly mid 1800s), there is a curious detail that leads me to believe that it is much older. That detail is the hand wrought nails throughout the underside. Nails like these with a square shank and oval head are almost always pre industrial revolution, pre 1800. The presence of these very old hand wrought nails leads me to suspect that this chair could possibly be from the actual transitional period between William & Mary and the introduction of the Queen Ann style, which would date it at around 1700.

[nomadh]

Reminds me of my great grandma's desk and chair. I still have the desk but I think the poor chair was migrated outside and fell apart. It might even be that my great grandfather built them. He was a woodworker and did some fine work. I think my mini parts drawer was built by him.

[uwmcscott]

But this is what really floored me. If you're a guitar player, I challenge you to look at this seat and not see anything other than a vintage Les Paul flame maple top. If this wood had been sent to Kalamazoo Michigan instead of Salem Massachuttes it could have been a guitar top. The seat is solid (not a veneer) and 1 1/4" thick at the edge.

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Build thread? I'm subscribed if you do it. Chaircaster.

There was an individual many years back on AGF that made a Harley Davison themed singlecut ( I think maybe for his dad? ) out of a shipping crate and some assorted motorcycle parts - pardon me for not remembering who it was if you are still here.

[mickey]

There was an individual many years back on AGF that made a Harley Davison signlecut ( I think maybe for his dad? ) out of a shipping crate and some assorted motorcycle parts - pardon me for not remembering who it was if you are still here.

I remember the guitar, but do not remember who built it.

[uwmcscott]

There was an individual many years back on AGF that made a Harley Davison signlecut ( I think maybe for his dad? ) out of a shipping crate and some assorted motorcycle parts - pardon me for not remembering who it was if you are still here.

I remember the guitar, but do not remember who built it.

If you do a google search of the old domain one posts pops up that references the original build thread, but I don't have access to the momo site to read the full text of the search. If someone here does, do a google search for "site:www.aguitarform.com harley davidson" and it will be the first result.

[mickey]

If you do a google search of the old domain one posts pops up that references the original build thread, but I don't have access to the momo site to read the full text of the search. If someone here does, do a google search for "site:www.aguitarform.com harley davidson" and it will be the first result.

Well, I got a little further than you did, never got to see the thread but did see it was started by @rambleon.
We do not have a member here with that handle.

[Tonray's Ghost]

You may not be aware but you should be in a great place to find quality wood furniture.
Before China took over the world, North Carolina was where most solid wood furniture was made.
I have a solid oak hutch, solid maple coffee table & end tables, plus a solid hickory (at least I think it is hickory) rocker.
All made in Nawth Klina.

Wish the stuff coming out of China was of equal quality to the older NC stuff.

My parents had a fantastic Cedar Chifferobe (which unfortunately was severely damaged in basement flooding) which I kept literally until I left the USA. It had a great quilted tiger pattern. All Cedar..but the lower back portion had to be cut out as it rotted and had mold. When I researched it before selling it on Craigslist...turns out it was made in North Carolina in the 1920's...the buyer still was willing to pay a pretty good price for it with the damage...he was a collector of early century pieces. I used it as a TV cabinet in my home for many years.

[tlarson58]

Very interesting post. Thanks for sharing. It's interesting to learn about our other passions/fetishes.

The only thing worse than moving hardwood furniture is sleeper sofas.

What if somebody built a solid oak sleeper sofa? (shudder).

[mickey]

My parents had a fantastic Cedar Chifferobe (which unfortunately was severely damaged in basement flooding) which I kept literally until I left the USA. It had a great quilted tiger pattern. All Cedar..but the lower back portion had to be cut out as it rotted and had mold. When I researched it before selling it on Craigslist...turns out it was made in North Carolina in the 1920's...the buyer still was willing to pay a pretty good price for it with the damage...he was a collector of early century pieces. I used it as a TV cabinet in my home for many years.

I have an old wardrobe my father bought because (for some reason) he thought suits should only be kept in a cedar wardrobe. Which I could almost understand if he had wool suits, which he did not have.
Anyhoo, he got it direct from the factory in NC in either the later 1950's or early 1960's. It still has the price marked with grease pencil on the inside of one of the doors: $43.95.

[Tonray's Ghost]

My parents had a fantastic Cedar Chifferobe (which unfortunately was severely damaged in basement flooding) which I kept literally until I left the USA. It had a great quilted tiger pattern. All Cedar..but the lower back portion had to be cut out as it rotted and had mold. When I researched it before selling it on Craigslist...turns out it was made in North Carolina in the 1920's...the buyer still was willing to pay a pretty good price for it with the damage...he was a collector of early century pieces. I used it as a TV cabinet in my home for many years.

I have an old wardrobe my father bought because (for some reason) he thought suits should only be kept in a cedar wardrobe. Which I could almost understand if he had wool suits, which he did not have.
Anyhoo, he got it direct from the factory in NC in either the later 1950's or early 1960's. It still has the price marked with grease pencil on the inside of one of the doors: $43.95.

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That's nearly identical to the one my parents had !

I think it was inscribed with Kincade company somewhere..

[mickey]

That's nearly identical to the one my parents had !

I think it was inscribed with Kincade company somewhere..

There is no "Kincade company" on anything I can see, but the back is against the wall & it is too full of stuff for me to try to move it just to look.

Just thinking, if I remember correctly, when he bought this Dad was driving a 1958 Chevy wagon & came home from the factory with it sticking out the back of the wagon.
The cars back then we a lot more "heavy duty" than any of the SUV's today.

[PoodlesAgain]

Spouse spoke to an local antique shop owner once, and was told younger generations do not care for well-made but DARK furniture.

Keep your "Philippines mahogany", I' ll keep enjoying the real mahogany furniture left to spouse by her grandpa!
Watch out in (our) August though, when wooden drawers swell and lock up!