WHAT BECAME OF THE INSTRUMENTS OF THE OLD MASTERS?

I think about this sometimes. We hear names like (among so many others, the list would be immense) Blind Lemon Jefferson, Doc Boggs, Stringbean, people from the beginning of the last century, and the music reaches us alive, pulsating. But what about their instruments? Where is Blind Lemon Jefferson's guitar? Where did Doc Boggs' banjo go? Who ended up with all that?

The most likely answer isn't romantic. Many of these instruments simply disappeared. They were tools of the trade for musicians with limited resources, used to their limits. Wood that cracked, neck that warped, string that no longer held. There came a point when it was impossible to continue and the instrument became scrap, firewood, or was abandoned. Others may have passed from hand to hand, without any record. A relative kept it, then sold it, then someone traded it for something. And that's it, the history was lost. Today, an old guitar might exist somewhere in the world that was once in the hands of one of these guys, but nobody has any idea.

There's also the harsher factor: at the time, many of them weren't seen as important. There was no concept of preservation. Nobody thought that instrument would one day have historical value. It was just another musician, another object. A few escaped this fate. Instruments of musicians who were recognized in their lifetime or rediscovered later ended up in museums or collections. But that's the exception. What really remained was the sound. The way of playing, the phrasing, the intention. The wood may have turned to dust, but the language has transcended time.

Perhaps there's something beautiful in that. The instrument was just the means. The music was what truly mattered.