So whats a Magnatone d8 worth?

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 15 Jun 2009 7:15 am

I have a double 8 magnatone, mid to late 50s. Its the 24.5" scale, silver PU version. Anyone have a guess as to what the ballpark value of one of these is in good condition?

Kevin Brown · Post by **Kevin Brown** » 15 Jun 2009 7:43 am

Hi Jon, to help answer your question is it single or twin pickup per neck, three or four legs, whats the condition, is it all intact ? are you selling it ?

Kevin Brown · Post by **Kevin Brown** » 15 Jun 2009 7:46 am

Does it look like this ?

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 15 Jun 2009 7:51 am

Hey Kevin, its the later version, twin pickups- longer scale. Volume/tone per neck. 3 legs.

Maybe selling, not sure. It sounds great but i'm kinda fighting the longer scale. Guess i'm mainly a 22.5" guy.

Condition is good- like the one you posted. Has the case too.

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 15 Jun 2009 11:29 pm

Kevin,

What is the value of the Magnatone Lyric in the picture?

Aloha,

Don

Kevin Brown · Post by **Kevin Brown** » 16 Jun 2009 6:28 am

I dont honestly know Don, my magnatone came from a very generous forumite who just wanted to see it played as he no longer used it. Never seen one on ebay for sale either, nor in our for sale columns ( apart from this one that I trawled way back in the ads for )

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 16 Jun 2009 6:41 am

I'll post pictures when I get a chance, just so people can see it. It's a cool steel.

Played with some different tunings last night where I could slack the strings a bit- that did the trick. I need to move to smaller gauges on this one.

Michael Lee Allen · Post by **Michael Lee Allen** » 16 Jun 2009 6:25 pm

DELETED

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 16 Jun 2009 6:39 pm

Thanks for posting that Micheal. That would be the guitar.

Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 16 Jun 2009 6:59 pm

Magnatone D-8's are undervalued IMHO. For what it's worth (no pun intended) the current VGM price guide lists this model at $700 - $875 in ex. cond. with original case. In recent years I have seen these sell for as little as $400 and for as much as $850. There seems to be a wide range depending upon how much a buyer is willing to pay. In today's soft economy I'd say the right price would be somewhere around $650, give or take a little.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 17 Jun 2009 2:48 am

Jon Nygren wrote:I have a double 8 magnatone, mid to late 50s. Its the 24.5" scale, silver PU version. Anyone have a guess as to what the ballpark value of one of these is in good condition?

It COULD be worth considerably more if it has J.A.S. on the front.

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 17 Jun 2009 4:32 am

Thanks Doug, that helps.

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 17 Jun 2009 4:33 am

basilh wrote:
Jon Nygren wrote:I have a double 8 magnatone, mid to late 50s. Its the 24.5" scale, silver PU version. Anyone have a guess as to what the ballpark value of one of these is in good condition?
It COULD be worth considerably more if it has J.A.S. on the front.

Hmmm you lost me. Jules Ah See?

David Soreff · Post by **David Soreff** » 17 Jun 2009 7:21 am

Yep....I'm pretty sure Alan Akaka has one of his old ones. I got to see it!!

Carl Leyland · Post by **Carl Leyland** » 17 Jun 2009 4:20 pm

A dealer in Laguna Beach called Dan Yablonka (Axes of E'ville) had one listed on G-Base for $750. A friend of mine wanted to buy it but when he called it had just been sold. I don't know if the dealer took less than the $750 for it.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 19 Jun 2009 6:24 am

basilh wrote:...It COULD be worth considerably more if it has J.A.S. on the front.

Sorry to be ignorant, but I still don't understand who JAS is.

basilh · Post by **basilh** » 19 Jun 2009 11:43 am

Jules Ah See..

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 19 Jun 2009 11:54 am

Jon Nygren wrote:...Jules Ah See?

basilh wrote:Jules Ah See...

I thought you were joking. I guess I have to have a very open mind when looking at Hawaiian names.

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 20 Jun 2009 6:03 pm

That is a great picture.

I believe that is a picture taken at the Hawaiian Village Tapa Room with Alfred Apaka and the Village Men. That was a great group of musical entertainers.

Help me get the names of the men in the picture?

Drummer?
Jules Ah See on Hawaiian steel
Rhythm guitar?
Benny Kalama on Ukulele - Alfred Apaka's musical director
Rhythm guitar?
James Kaopuiki on bass
Pauline Isaacs the hula maiden.

By the way, I do not see Jules Ah See's initial on that Magnatone.

Aloha,

Don

Dave Mayes · Post by **Dave Mayes** » 20 Jun 2009 6:41 pm

I think it's Sonny Kamahele on guitar directly behind Alfred Apaka. Maybe the other guitarist is Andy Bright ?

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 20 Jun 2009 10:04 pm

Dave,

I believe that you are correct on Sonny Kamahele.

The other one does not look like Sol Bright to me.

Anyone know the drummer?

Aloha,

Don

Don Kona Woods · Post by **Don Kona Woods** » 20 Jun 2009 10:22 pm

The picture of Jules Ah See posted by Basil in his Chinese garb was for the performance of the song No Hu Hu. He made the song popular-and the song made Jules popular.

Jules Ah See was born in Lahina, Maui and was the youngest in a family of seventeen children. He always loved music and from his own early self-training, and became one of the top steel guitar players of all times in the islands. No Hu Hu was his favorite comedy song and he changed it to its present version for the delight and entertainment of all. No Hu Hu in its original version was written by Alvin Kaleolani Isaacs. Jules Ah See's adaptation is presented here for your enjoyment.

Here are the words to this pake-pidgen song, No HuHu:

If I likee honi honi you, No hu hu
If I speakee you I love you, No hu hu
If I takee you Waikapu, See me father, Ah see you
You me lun away holomalu, No hu hu

If I speakee you marry to me, No hu hu
No more hana hana no pilikia, No hu hu
Me papa ketchum planty money,
Me mama smart cookum Egg Fu Yong

You sometime go Hula Hula, No hu hu
Bumbye you me plenty baby, No hu hu
Tun Min, Fina Min, Ho Min, Yeah! No hu hu
Ah fat, Chu Fat, Hum Fat, lo!
Le Lop Lop Sup, Hum Sup, lo!
One, two, three, four----ooooh!

My aching back, No hu hu
Supposee him come him happa haole, No Hu hu
Because Pake him one big dumb fool, Wahine him too!
Him another dumb fool

Keila, Ice man come 6 A.M.,
Him no dumb fool, No hu hu
Mama speak she no love me, No hu hu
Love me, don't love, I don't care, No hu hu

This haole man him he come me housee
All day long him inside me housee
Wickee, wachee, wickee, wackee, all same termite, No hu hu
Nine months go, new baby come, No hu hu
Blond hair, slant eye, all mix `em up, No hu hu
Me plant um carrots, carrots him come
Me plant um cucumber, cucumber him come
Me plant um pake, Son-oga-bichee, Haole, him come, No hu hu

I think you can get the jist of the story. It is really funny when it is performed. Alan Akaka does a good rendition of it. Duke Ching of HSGA and Aloha Internation does a good job on it.

Aloha,

Don

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 21 Jun 2009 8:48 am

Heres a couple pics FWIW:

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Doug Beaumier · Post by **Doug Beaumier** » 21 Jun 2009 10:18 am

Beautiful! that's in excellent condition!

Jon Nygren · Post by **Jon Nygren** » 21 Jun 2009 10:30 am

Yeah it's pretty nice...still has the typical dings/dents that a well played guitar would have. It's got a weird tone circuit with a resistor...some kind of blend maybe? Sounds really great though. Not a circuit if you'd like to do boo wahs though(like i do)..pretty gradual sweep. These pickups rule.

more pics-

I'll probably put it up for trade(or sale) in the coming weeks. Stll looking for a ric dw16.

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So whats a Magnatone d8 worth?

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