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We are Going Dutch!
What is a Dutch Auction?
How is Gryphon Stringed Instrument's Auction different?Traditionally, a Dutch Auction is where the item being auctioned has a starting price and then every day or week the price drops by a fixed amount. As the price gets lower more people become interested in the instrument. At some point you won't be able to resist purchasing it. But while you are making up your mind somebody else might be deciding that the price is already a bargain and so they make the purchase, and you lose.
Gryphon, has had traditional Dutch Auctions in the past. This time we've decided to harness technology to spice things up and add a bit of randomness to make things more interesting. This is how we've set it up, so pay close attention to these "rules":
1) The prices are updated by the computer every day we are open at 12:00 noon Pacific Time according to the computer's clock. The computer's clock might be off a few seconds, or more, so we can't guarantee a universal time sync. Keep reloading the page until you see the daily update. That means 6 days a week, Monday through Saturday, there will be a price drop right at noon.
3) Most days the price will fall by a set amount but on random days (probably once per week, maybe more,) the price will drop by a larger amount. How much larger? We don't know. It might be 10% or 50% more, it might be 300% or 400% more. This is where the irritatingly fun part comes in. The Geek has been instructed to make it random and surprise us. We dont know when, or how much the next "Wildcard" discount will be. We can't give you advice because we don't know what the next day's discount will be. Maybe you'll save $50 by waiting another day, maybe you'll save more than that, and, maybe someone else will buy it and you'll miss out.
4) The best way to monitor our Dutch Auctions is through the website. Here in the store we don't know any more than you do about tomorrow's price. Remember, you might need to refresh your browser to see the latest price.
5) The current price is the only price we will honor until the next price update. The price does not include any applicable sales tax nor does it include shipping costs. Because of the difficulties and delays with bank wires and other forms of payment from foreign countries, we will restrict Dutch Auction sales to forms of payment that can be verified the same day.
6) When you realize you want to buy the instrument, CALL GRYPHON. Yep, this is when you need to pick up the phone, rather than sending an email. Be ready to pay with credit card or PayPal. For credit cards the billing & shipping addresses must be the same or the shipping address needs to be added to your credit card first. For PayPal you must have a verified shipping address.
7) All Dutch Auction Sales are final. We guarantee the instrument is as we represent it and is in healthy, playable condition - as we do with all of the instruments we sell. We will pack it carefully and ship it to you fully insured. When it arrives you'll have a great instrument in your house, at a bargain price, and you can be sure that other potential buyers waited one day too long and lost the auction.
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Gryphon Stringed Instruments
Our Hours
Monday through Thursday
10:30 a.m. - 8:00 p.m.
Friday and Saturday
10:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
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Our Location
211 Lambert Avenue
at the corner of Park and Lambert
Palo Alto, California 94306
650.493.2131
Toll Free: 888.493.2131 |
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Open Back Banjos at Gryphon |
 The subject of the banjo covers much history, and a number of similar but different instruments have shared the name 'banjo'. From the 19th century minstrel players to the razzle dazzle vaudeville acts of the Roaring Twenties on through contemporary bluegrass, the banjo has been a part of folk and popular music for over two hundred years. Various types of instruments and the styles played on them have gone in and out of fashion over time and each new generation seems to find a way to use the banjo for its own musical expression. |
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The Holy Grail for Lefties |
 1931 Martin 000-45L 12-fret
12-fret 000-45 models are hard to find, but a special order left-handed version has to be one of the most rare pearl-bordered Martins of all time. This was a stand-alone (not part of a batch) special order in 1931 for Harry Ingraham in Wyoming. He not only ordered the most expensive Martin model in the catalog left-handed, he also ordered it with seven strings. Martin made a number of special-order 7-string models in the late 1920s through the mid-1930s, usually for Hawaiian-style guitar playing, and almost always by simply adding a simple banjo tuner to their standard headstock. On slotted headstocks, of course, this meant the tuner went in the center "spine" of the head, and you can see where the hole for this extra tuner has been plugged. We've known this guitar for over a decade, as it belongs to a long-time Gryphon pal. In fact, you can see him holding it on page 64 of the 1996 Jim Washburn/Richard Johnston book "Martin Guitars, An Illustrated Celebration." |
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New Taylor Baritone Guitars |
 One of the best kept secrets of acoustic music is the tone and depth of a low-tuned or baritone guitar. While it may seem as though this is a recent phenomenon, two of the most well-known acoustic tracks of the sixties used low-tuned guitars (The Beatles' "Yesterday" and "Sugar Mountain" by Neil Young were recorded on guitars tuned a whole step lower: low string to high string: D-G-C-F-A-D). Going back further, blues genius Leadbelly played a Stella twelve string tuned even lower yet (low to high: C-F-Bb-Eb-G-C). In more recent years, the late songwriter and sublime fingerpicker Elliott Smith experimented with many such low tunings, adding even greater depth to his powerful songs. |
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