My paternal grandfather played piano by ear. He also played guitar.

Incredibly, he had a Martin guitar from the 1870s.

My brother Bill “found” the guitar in a coat closet the last time he visited our grandparents in Lowell. (Grandpa Vayo passed away in 1993; Grandma two years later.)

Bill’s daughter, Lucy, wrote a school paper about the guitar a few years ago, when she was a junior in high school. She’s a freshman at the Fashion Institute of Technology this year – but back home, of course, for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis.

With her permission, here’s her paper:

Reflection on an Artifact

It all started in the 1950s, when my great-aunt Barbara bought a Martin Parlor Guitar which dates back to the 1870s. Apparently, a concertmaster was selling off his musical instruments, and the Martin guitar was up for sale. My great-aunt Barbara jumped at the opportunity and bought it for her father, my great-grandfather Harold Vayo Sr. This was a memorable moment because he loved and adored listening to and playing music.

Back in the day, a parlor guitar was used for intimate settings, like a small dinner party or a friendly gathering.

Tucked away for years thereafter, my great-grandfather took it out one Thanksgiving Day in the early 1990s. He showed it off to everyone. This was one of the first holidays my parents celebrated as a newly engaged couple, and a very memorable and meaningful event in their lives.

My great-grandfather surprised everyone and began playing the only song he knew, a flamenco song. Incredibly, my 90-year-old great-grandfather still had amazing talent and skill.

Years later, after my great-grandfather died, my grandpa Harold E. Vayo, Jr. inherited it and stowed it away in the attic for 20 years or so. In 2010, my father, Bill Vayo, searched high and low for this long-lost guitar and finally found it.

It was in terrible condition.

Since it hadn’t been played for decades, my father and I took it to a guitar luthier, Ian Davlin, who began the process of fixing it. In a matter of two years, he had restored it to mint condition. My father took a fancy to it and ended up playing it more than any of his other eight guitars.

This parlor guitar has been passed down three generations and I hope one day I will be the fourth. My dad gets great joy in playing this guitar, especially “Here Comes the Sun,” by the Beatles. I enjoy accompanying him and it’s a great way for us to bond as father and daughter.

My father loved the history of this guitar, because when it was created in the 1800s, nobody could have foreseen how this instrument would have survived or even played in the present day.

This family heirloom is very important to me because of its deep-rooted history, meaning, and value. The tuning pegs are extremely rare, being that they are made from ivory elephant tusks. Today, the use and sales of ivory is illegal.

This guitar has a great story, a story I hope to continue and pass on to the next generation. This amazing artifact is something everyone in my family appreciates and cherishes.
———-

Bill says the restoration process was very detailed. Designed for “cat gut” strings, the Martin guitar needed a lot of work because someone had replaced them with steel strings at some point.

My dad remembers his father enjoyed playing songs from the 1910s and ’20s on his Martin guitar, which came at a good price, as the concertmaster wanted it to go to “a good home,” and he knew grandpa personally.

All these decades later, I’m sure Grandpa can rest easy, knowing his beloved guitar is still in the family, in a musical home.

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