My first vintage acoustic guitar
1938 B&D Groton No. 1

1938 B&D Groton No. 1

In May 1997, near the end of a nine-year stint as a business and real estate reporter for the Washington Post, I got a pay raise and spent $467 on an old guitar at J. B. Kline & Son, a small guitar store in Lambertville, NJ, a Delaware River city full of trendy restaurants and antique shops.
     The guitar’s raspy-sweet tone was bright, balanced and appealing. Called Groton No. 1, it is an auditorium-size guitar that was built circa 1938 by Regal Co. of Chicago, IL for resale by Bacon Banjo Co. of Groton, CT at $15 retail.
     Several years later I found a Bacon catalog from the late 1930s. It described the Groton No. 1 as: "Low in price, plain but beautiful in [its] velvety rubbed finish. Extra large frets, rich tone quality." The same catalog listed a B&D Groton No. 2 with "arched top and back, mahogany, super-auditorium size" at $25 retail. I'll offer details on this big dog at a later time.

Art Decor headstock on
1938 B & D Groton No. 1

     My Groton No. 1 has 15 1/4-in. lower-bout width, 25 3/8-in. scale length and Art Deco headstock on an unbound mahogany neck with 14 frets to the body. It has a rosewood fingerboard and replaced rosewood bridge located in the top's sweet spot — 3 3/4 inches below the sound hole. The unbound back and sides are mahogany, while the ladder-braced spruce top has a shaded finish. It also has an unusual-shaped pickguard that back in the day was called a "celluloid shell guard plate."
     Except for the bridge, nut and saddle, it had survived 60 years in original condition, including bridge pins, engraved tuners and two-tone finish. I loved it despite some modest wear, wide neck (17/8-in. nut width) and high action. It just sounds so darn good for jazz and swing tunes, whether comped or flat-picked.
     By comparison, ladder-braced, budget-brand guitars such as Gibson's KG-11 from the 1930s have similar body shape, 14-fret neck and sweet-spot bridge location, but shorter 243/4-in. scale length. The B&D's sound board has a larger surface area, more power and heftier sustain than any 141/4-in. wide Kalamazoo. I know this for a fact because I've owned several KG-11 guitars in the last 14 years and compared each to this B&D Groton No. 1.
     After a few years it became apparent the Groton's neck angle had to be re-set. In March, 2003, when luthiers Greg Hanson and David Crawford of Raleigh, NC, pulled the neck, they found Popsicle sticks jammed into the neck's dovetail joint. By removing them, trimming the dovetail edge and re-glueing the joint, they re-established a proper fit of the neck to the body of the guitar. And once the mass of the neck had rejoined the mass of the body, the whole instrument thrummed with delight.
     A few years after I bought it Jeff Kline, the guitar store owner, told me this guitar once graced the walls of Izzy Young's Folklore Center in NYC's Greenwich Village in the 1960s. Whenever the folk-singing crowd visited Young's store without their own guitar, they'd pull this Groton off the wall and play it. So, in addition a jazz-era pedigree and sound, this guitar has folk-era provenance.
     Still, buying and playing a vintage guitar, even a cheap one like my Groton, proved an experience of dubious value even as it opened many doors for me. I became a player who collected guitars, someone who visited vintage instrument dealers, spent hours online shopping for vintage models, and compared the appointments, sound and cost of older instruments.
     Over the next 14 years I investigated the vintage guitar market and learned how to deal with guitar dealers. I bought and sold about 140 vintage instruments (some at a profit, many at a loss), repaired dozens of guitars, and documented the provenance of numerous guitars. And because I performed Vintage Music Concerts at retirement villages, I was given ten instruments by the original owner, his widow, his daughter or the executor of his estate.
     So the B&D Groton ultimately opened many doors for me. But, as my wife once remarked, it also led me down the path to ruin.
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                                        © 2011 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved

Vintage Music Concerts — 10^th Anniversary

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In the past decade I’ve performed about 925 Vintage Music Concerts at more than 700 venues that spanned scores of formats and musical styles. Besides the thrill of entertaining thousands of people, my concerts have pushed the cause of live acoustic music, the splendor of period guitars in full-figured performance, and the sublime beauty of ragtime, jazz and swing creations. These concerts have also generated some great media coverage for me.

                                                                         Photo: Peter Gallo
In February 2007 Ken Lelen showed several vintage

guitars to the Hasbrouck Heights, NJ Leisure Club.

     These all-acoustic concerts were held in the MidAtlantic, New England, Southeast and Midwest. My audiences ranged in size from 35 to 350 people, while ages ranged from pre-teens to oldsters with more than 100 years.

     One of the youngest concert-goers was a 10-year-old boy at Ft. Lee, NJ Public Library. He and his family attended my event because the youngster was trying to convince his parents to let him abandon violin lessons and take up the guitar.
     The oldest were female centenarians. One, a resident at a nursing home in Willoughby, OH, smiled and sighed throughout the program but said nothing. The other, a resident at a retirement facility in Nazareth, PA, rolled up to me in a geriatric chair to thank me for m concert. When I told her one of my 70-year-old Martin guitars cost $50, a princely sum in 1936, she admonished me for paying too much.

     Initially, my Vintage Music Concerts were delivered at retirement communities — the niche market I developed once I left publishing in 1999 to start an entertainment career. But in the past decade a growing portion of concerts were hosted by other kinds of venues, including:
     •  acoustic music clubs

     •  antique shops, art galleries & guitar shops

     •  churches & religious community centers

     •  community colleges

     •  cultural arts facilities

     •  house concerts & family gatherings

     •  municipal recreation departments

     •  museums & historic societies

     •  public libraries

     •  radio broadcasts

     •  senior centers

     •  social clubs, travel societies & fraternal organizations.

In March 2010 the Ken Lelen Combo played for
the Milford CT Fine Arts Council, which hosts a
coffeehouse series in this former train station.

     I’ve been fortunate to be the main act at acoustic-music clubs, museum concerts, live-broadcast radio shows and other venues. I’ve also opened for such big-name performers as singer-songwriter Lynn Miles of Ottawa, Canada, bluegrass singer Beth Coleman, and jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli of Saddle River, NJ.
     In the latter case, I drew better media coverage than Pizzarelli. In essence, I served as the opener's tail that wagged the main act’s dog, filling the 225-seat auditorium until it overflowed with patrons who had to be seated on the stage.
     When elderly people are the core audience it’s no accident they prefer songs of their early adulthood. They like to bathe in the emotional warmth of memorable songs almost as much as I like to perform old-time tunes for their emotional depth. As a result, activity directors at senior villages have been keen about my program because it artfully combines vintage songs, period guitars and amusing anecdotes.
     “My residents are very vocal,” said the former activities director at a large retiree facility in Greenville, SC. “They tell you what they like and don’t like. They like Ken — he tells stories about all of the guitars. If he just played for an hour, it wouldn’t go over as well.”
     I’ve also learned to tailor my concert programs to audience tastes, or market segments, for ragtime, jazz and swing. For example, adults in their 80s and 90s appreciate melodic revivals, since they don’t hear such music on the radio and still like to sing or hum along.
     Younger and more mobile cohorts, folks in their 60s and 70s, want swing, pop standards and country music, but not electric guitars or rock-n-roll. To my surprise, younger audiences yearn for the exposure to my fresh, unadulterated period music because these songs bristle with alacrity, heart and soul.
     Lest you think I play old songs because it’s the only thing seniors want, oldsters in my audiences repeatedly say they want live concerts that don't speak down to them. “We like music for adults,” an 85-year-old woman at a Vintage Music Concert in Newport News, VA told me. “We don’t want moon-june-spoon sing-alongs, no Karaoke, no sweaty drum bangers, no recreational therapy.”
     Sadly, many oldsters are force-fed such lackluster entertainments. In my view such concerts include old-folks-at-home drivel by autoharp huggers or singer-songwriters-cum-folkies, practice sessions by classical-music students and zoot-suit yokum by Cab Calloway impersonators. Such events are more common these days because of curtailed budgets, near-sighted administrators and overwhelmed program managers at skilled-nursing facilities, assisted-living centers, Alzheimer facilities and continuing-care retirement communities.
     Nevertheless, younger audiences at specialty venues say they relish the clever lyrics, memorable melodies and period guitars of my concerts. Hearing music they can’t get from an iPod lures them to an event. But once there, they discover likeable songs and robust instrumental sounds they didn’t think possible from a wooden box.

New York City luthier
Antonio Grauso built
this auditorium-sized
guitar circa 1912

Art Deco emblem adorns
headstock of Grauso guitar

     My audiences often hear me play a 1912 Grauso, an auditorium-sized guitar that was built before pick-ups, amplifiers and microphones were common. It fills a room with sustained, sweet sound. And they hear me sing songs people once sang with and to each other, and marvel: "Why did they ever stop?"
     Finally, my audiences hear anecdotes that cut across age, gender and lifestyle. Tales of Tin Pan Alley tunesmiths, drugstore cowboys, stage-door Johnnies and Broadway's gold diggers nourish an audience in surprising ways. How? Such stories cast 20th Century celebrities as regular people in a way contemporary audiences can relate to.
     This, and the palpable glow that enveloped every Vintage Music Concert enables my audiences to savor every one they attend.

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                                       © 2010 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved

2010 - Concert Schedule - Final
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Jan 12     Lima Estates, Media PA

Jan 13     Meadowood, Lansdale PA

Jan 19     Willow Valley Manor North, Lancaster PA

Jan 26     Shannondell, Audubon PA

Feb 19     Leisure Village West, Manchester NJ

Feb 28     Library Concert, Greenwood Lake NY
Mar  2     Shipley Manor, Wilmington DE

Mar  3     Collington, Mitchellville MD

Mar  5     Edenwald, Towson MD

Mar  6     Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA

Mar  8     Riddle Village, Media PA

Mar  9     JCC of Middlesex County, Edison NJ

Mar 21    Club Shalom, Somers NY
Mar 24     Delaware Cnty Community College, Media PA
Mar 26     Milford Fine Arts Center, Milford CT

Mar 27     Library Concert, Bound Brook NJ

Apr 10     Quadrangle, Haverford PA
Apr 12     Tower One/East, New Haven CT
Apr 12     Pomperaug Woods, Southbury CT

Apr 13     Avery Heights, Hartford CT

Apr 13     Arbors, Manchester CT

Apr 14     Retired Mens Club of Greendale, Worcester MA

Apr 14     Heatherwood, Yarmouth Port MA

Apr 15     Mayflower Place, West Yarmouth MA

Apr 16     Overlook, Charlton MA

Apr 17     Fox Hill Village, Westwood MA
Apr 27     Springmoor, Raleigh NC
Apr 28     Bermuda Village, Advance NC

Apr 29     Stewart Health Center, Charlotte NC

Apr 29     Southminster, Charlotte NC
May 19     Luther Towers, Wilmington DE
Jun  2       Shipley Manor, Wilmington DE

Jun  5       Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA
Jun  9      Cedarfield, Richmond VA
Jun 10     Armed Forces Home, Washington DC

Jun 11     Lake Prince Woods, Suffolk VA

Jun 14     Lakewood Manor, Richmond VA

Jun 15     Stewart Health Center, Charlotte NC

Jun 16     Pennybyrn, High Point NC
Jly 21     JCC of Central NJ, Scotch Plains NJ

Jly 25     Whitney Center, Hamden CT

Sep  1     Heath Village, Hackettstown NJ

Sep  4     Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA

Sep  7     JCC of Midddlesex County, Edison NJ

Sep  8     Luther Towers, Wilmington DE
Sep  9      Homewood, Frederick MD
Sep 10     Collington, Mitchellville MD

Sep 10     Edenwald, Towson MD

Sep 11     Cornwall Majnor, Cornwall PA

Sep 19     Oak Crest Village, Parkville MD

Sep 20     Shannondell, Audubon PA

Sep 23     Wellington, West Chester PA

Sep 24     55 Plus Club, Mtn Lakes NJ

Sep 25     Library Concert, Warren Twp NJ
Oct  5      Springmoor, Raleigh NC
Oct  6      Cypress, Raleigh NC

Oct  7      Stewart Health Center, Charlotte NC

Oct  7      Arbor Acres, Winston-Salem NC

Oct  8      Forest at Duke, Durham NC

Oct  9      Heritage, Raleigh NC
Oct 21     Willow Valley Lakes, Willow Street PA
Oct 22     Lake Prince Woods, Suffolk VA

Oct 23     Carroll Lutheran Village, Westminster MD
Nov  7      Southgate, Shrewsbury MA
Nov  8      Willows, Westborough MA

Nov  9      Avery Heights, Hartford CT

Nov  9      Arbors, Manchester CT

Nov 10     Tower One/East, New Haven CT

Nov 11     Overlook, Charlton MA

Nov 12     Edgewood, North Andover MA

Nov 16     Briarwood, Worcester MA

Nov 17     COA Senior Center, Holden MA
Nov 21     Library Concert, Roseland NJ
Dec  4      Bishop White Lodge, Philadelphia PA

Dec  8      Meadowood, Lansdale PA
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      © 2010 Kenneth Lelen - All Rights Reserved