Ray Montee’s Rick Bakelites 4 sale on eBay this week

[Jerry Wagner]

Six of Ray's Bakelites, including one 1935 7-string, have been listed on eBay by a seller in Oregon:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/263897116065?ul_noapp=true

I first learned about the unique qualities of these guitars by reading Ray's informative posts here on the forum. I really hope Ray's guitars receive a lot of devoted playing time by appreciative new custodians.

[Bill Sinclair]

Wow. Why the heck would that pawnshop glut the market like that? And with half the ads misspelled? Ricenbacher, Rikenbacher, all the same to me. All ending the same day. It would seem to be a good time to be in the market for a bakelite. We'll see in a few days, I guess.

[Scott Thomas]

The forum's own late great Ray Montee lived in or around Beaverton OR. He owned a collection of baklites and I wonder if this is where these ended up.

[Todd Clinesmith]

I am 99% sure these were what is left over of Ray's guitars. Sally lives in Beaverton, and told me she sold all but one of Ray's Bakelite steels.

[Doug Beaumier]

Definitely Ray’s guitars. The pawn shop is also selling an Emmons D-10 with “Skip Montee” on the front of the guitar. This is so sad to see. Sally probably sold all those guitars to the pawn shop for a fraction of their value.

[Doug Beaumier]

Regarding those extremely l - o - n - g links to the Bay auctions in the original post: All of the text in the link from the "?" on (including the "?") can be deleted. It's not necessary.

So the link should simply be: https://www.ebay.com/itm/Rickenbacker-B ... 3422984783

All of that other gibberish is related to the search you did. Go for the shorter link. The extra long links cause all of the text in the thread to be stretched out and hard to read.

[Allen Hutchison]

Very sad to see them end up like this.
Very hard to let go, but, perhaps Ray should have done so when he still had some control.
I also thought there would have been plenty of expressions of interest in them from this place.
I guess that fell through.

[Doug Beaumier]

...perhaps Ray should have done so when he still had some control.
I also thought there would have been plenty of expressions of interest in them from this place. I guess that fell through.

That's what I was thinking too. He advertised them here but he didn't provide pictures and he didn't respond promptly to the inquiries.

This reminds me of a thread a while back... someone said that a house full of guitars and amps might become a burden to your family after you're gone. I'm not ready to check out yet, but I have sold a lot of stuff in the last couple of years. I'm now down to two lap steels, one console, one pedal steel guitar, four amps, a couple of electric guitars and one acoustic.

[George Rout]

Here's a picture of the late, great Ray Montee's collection of B6's at one time!!!! I loved this pic, only Ray would have this!!!!!!
Geo

[Allen Hutchison]

...perhaps Ray should have done so when he still had some control.
I also thought there would have been plenty of expressions of interest in them from this place. I guess that fell through.

That's what I was thinking too. He advertised them here but he didn't provide pictures and he didn't respond promptly to the inquiries.

This reminds me of a thread a while back... someone said that a house full of guitars and amps might become a burden to your family after you're gone. I'm not ready to check out yet, but I have sold a lot of stuff in the last couple of years. I'm now down to two lap steels, one console, one pedal steel guitar, four amps, a couple of electric guitars and one acoustic.

Yes Doug, this situation certainly gives me food for thought as to my meagre collection & their future.

[Allen Hutchison]

Here's a picture of the late, great Ray Montee's collection of B6's at one time!!!! I loved this pic, only Ray would have this!!!!!!
Geo

Thanks George, what a magic collection Ray had.

[G Strout]

Those are most definitely Rays' guitars. When he posted that he was selling his collection I had several emails back and forth with him. He would never give me a price. I couldn't nail him down to anything specific. I was willing to pay fair market value for a couple of Bakelites but I could never him to mention a dollar figure. Then it dawned on me that despite his ailing health..... he really didnt want to part with them. So I just kind of drifted off. Sad to see this. I wish his wife could have gotten fair market for them. Looking at the starting prices on these auctions it doesn't seem that it happened.

[Doug Beaumier]

I've seen this a couple of times in the past. A musician passes away and his widow sells everything, all in one lot, for a crazy low price. The buyer later sells the instruments piece by piece and makes a huge profit. I know of one situation where one instrument was sold for seven times the purchase price of the entire lot!

[Todd Clinesmith]

I let folks know these were for sale in the add for Ray's Bigsby , which has 4500 views,and his amp's adds.

Many were sold to forum members, and I had a lot of inquiries .

It is sad the rest did not go to good homes and were sold to a pawn shop. If I had known time and space was that tight I would have helped further but my time has been tough to come by. It's water under the bridge now.

[Ian McLatchie]

I agree, Doug, all that gear can end up being a tremendous burden for one's family. That was brought home to me in a big way a couple of years ago when I was put in touch with a woman whose husband had died suddenly the previous year. As far as I know he rarely if ever performed publicly but he had accumulated a massive amount of gear - numerous guitars, amps, keyboards, mixers, dozens of effects pedals, boxes of hardware, plus thousands of almost unplayed records. I bought several pedals and a couple of hundred records and gave her fair prices, as did a number of friends I sent her way. Even so, she ended up selling the remainder at deep discount and it was months before she got it all cleared away. Who needs to deal with that after losing a spouse?

The problem is more acute in a small community like mine where the nearest major urban centre is a 40-minute ferry ride away. Most of my musical and audio gear would be almost impossible to sell locally and I can't imagine how my wife would cope with the task. I have a six-month rule now: if I go more than six months without making significant use of something, it's disposable. I've already culled the herd quite a bit but expect to be selling some beloved instruments soon, including a Yanuziello resophonic, a Supro Twin and maybe a 7-string bakelite. It's really tough to let these things go, but I must say there's also a great sense of relief that comes with having less stuff.

[George Piburn]

The sad part as I see it , the lack of support from the steel community particularly the Bakeolight collectors.

As Todd said 4500 views and why weren't they all bought up then, both to help Sally his wife , evacuate her life of the memories and so on and to help get these to loving homes blah blah yadda yadda.

Todd did the super right ting and helped her a lot
to sort out rays collections of guitars recordings and such placing the values on them so she could do as good as possible monetarily.

Mrs.Boards stepped up in a big way to get the JerryByrd fan club in the hands of the HSGA.

Steps were taken to do much of what is discussed here , and yet so few if any Panda Folks will even lift a finger to help their own cause.

Amazing Really.

Ditto Todd , Water under the Bridge now. Life goes on within and without you.

[Bill Creller]

I made a new cover for one of his later bakelites If I remember correctly. it was the one (painted white) with volume & tone on it. I made it out of aluminum, with a die I made.

[Bill McCloskey]

Well,

I wouldn't put the blame too much on the collectors. Ray didn't prepare the collection well for sale after his death. A good reminder to us all. Approximate worth, places to sell, description, photos.. to make it easy to sell is wise to have written down and kept with your estate papers. But who does.

and widows are rarely equipped to handle the sale and distribution of a large musical collection. Often going to the pawn shop can be the best option when people want to move on with their lives.

On the other hand: here is your chance, all you wanting a great deal. Still time to give these guitars a good home and if you feel you got too good a deal, send the difference or part of the difference, to Ray's widow.

Seems like some good deals on well kept instruments with a documented provenance . If you think an instrument is worth $1,000 and you get it for $600, throw a hundred to ray's family. Seems like win win to me.

[Former Member]

Just mentioning it, that Shot Frypan is also on the 'bay.
I don't need any instruments.
And my scope of wanting things has gratefully constricted to keeping it simple.
I have sold off most my stuff in the last few months and it feels great!

[Doug Beaumier]

Same here, Ron. I'm not in the market for anything. The only guitars and amps I have now are the ones I need for gigging and teaching.

[Ian McLatchie]

If you think an instrument is worth $1,000 and you get it for $600, throw a hundred to ray's family. Seems like win win to me.

Amen!

[Allen Hutchison]

Seller states US shipping only - so have fun bidding people!

[Ronald Rush]

I purchased one of the 7 string guitars from Sally about a month ago. She had confided with Todd about pricing, and I paid $1800. I thought this was slightly high, But didn't want to bicker--because it was for Ray.

[Brian Saulsman]

I purchased an amp and one of the post war Bakelites (the BD-6 in the photo) from Sally. I paid exactly what she asked for them and felt (and still feel) that it was the right thing to do. I enjoyed my two short visits with her and wish her the best.

Brian Saulsman

[George Rout]

I'll be 81 in a few week and have been downsizing myself and more intensely as the months go by. My older son is coming tomorrow to hopefully take my Gibson CG....free of course!!!!!!!
Geo