ANDREW: I've got a 1963 carbon
mandolin. [mandolin playing]
COREY HARRISON: OK. ANDREW: --with some
interesting history behind it. COREY HARRISON: What
history is behind it, here? ANDREW: It's an instrument
that was owned by a member of Bob Wills's Texas Playboys. [mandolin playing] COREY HARRISON: Nice. Bob Wills and the Texas
Playboys, or Texas Swing Band. Wow. I mean, this is really cool,
but it's kind of hard to be cool playing this thing,
unless you're, like, an Oompa-Loompa or something.
[laughter] [mandolin playing] ANDREW: You don't have
the guys we have today without the foundation that Bob
Wills and the Texas Playboys set for us. This was music where nobody sat
down, and the place was packed. We'll just see if these
guys are willing to come to the plate and play ball. COREY HARRISON:
Now, Texas Swing. There's people
playing, you know, washboards, and jugs, and--
- Everything. You name It. COREY HARRISON:
You know, somewhere between Hank Williams and
Elvis, there had to be something in the middle there.
ANDREW: Right. And that's Texas Swing. COREY HARRISON: I
mean, it's really cool. The leather work on
it's really good. ANDREW: The gentleman
this belonged to, he was known as Fiddlin' Ed. And shortly after
he purchased it, had this leather wrap done up. COREY HARRISON:
Pretty impressive. Mandolins have been used in
country music for as long as the genre has been around. Collectors will pay big
money for stuff like this if it's really connected
to the Texas Playboys. How much do you want for it? Uh, you know, I
think it's probably worth anywhere from 3 to 5. - Thousand?
- Thousand. COREY HARRISON: OK. Now, do you get anything
backin' your story up, here? ANDREW: I do. This is an affidavit
that I had the last owner fill out and sign. COREY HARRISON: All right. Owned by Ed Whittaker,
Texas Playboy. Played with Bob Wills
and his Texas Playboys. Unfortunately, this
does nothing for me. Why would you say that? This isn't concrete enough
for me to sell that on. This is notarized.
COREY HARRISON: OK. [inaudible] ANDREW: This is a gentleman
saying, this is indeed fact. [rock music playing] COREY HARRISON: Let me
call a buddy of mine down here to come
check this out. He'll help me be able
to back up the story and let me know what this
adds to it, all right? Yeah, all right.
Let's get him in here. COREY HARRISON:
I'll be right back. This is it, man. EXPERT: Pretty awesome. So what did you need to know? COREY HARRISON: So it
was one of the members in the band the Texas Playboys,
that played with Bob Wills. EXPERT: Oh, cool.
Cool. Well, you know, Bob Wills
and the Texas Playboys. That's kind of the
guys who popularized the whole Texas Swing thing. These were the big bands
from the southern parts of the United States. And, you know,
the Texas Playboys would come into town,
and whatever dance hall they were playing was packed. They called it Texas
Swing for a reason. When these guys played,
everybody danced. COREY HARRISON: So in
terms of mandolins, where does this stack up? The leather wrap
on it's pretty rad. This was a really big popular
thing in the country scene. It morphed over
into rock and roll. You see Elvis Presley
with his Martin, and the whole top of
it's wrapped in leather. So, you know, that's
actually pretty cool that this is on there. Who did that? ANDREW: Whittaker
actually did that. The original owner,
Ed Whittaker. You have any
paperwork or anything? I-- I do. I had the owner, a gentleman
by the name of RJ Cannon, compile his story. This was willed to him by-- By. Ed Whittaker. EXPERT: Do you have any
pictures of any of the guys in the Playboys playin' it? I-- I don't. EXPERT: In the retail
end of things, pictures-- ANDREW: Right. EXPERT: --usually help things. ANDREW: That's why I
had him notarize this. And-- and that helps. COREY HARRISON: So how do you
feel as it sits, this package? EXPERT: This mandolin by itself
is a $1,500, $1,600 mandolin. With the provenance
and the Playboys tie and all that kind of
stuff, it's probably-- [SUSPENSFUL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
STING] You know, three to four grand. [rock music playing] COREY HARRISON: All right.
Well, I gotcha. Appreciate it, my man. EXPERT: There's
gonna be that guy that the affidavit
is good enough for, and that's a Bob Wills fan. With all that being
said, I'm willing to offer you two grand for it. [rock music playing] You know, we both know
that's not the best you can do. [rock music playing] Uh, it's pretty
damn close, buddy. I'm confident I can sell
it for around three grand, and I'm taking all the risk. Two grand's what I'm gonna do.
- Tell you what. Meet me in the middle at
25 and we've got a deal. I'm not gonna do it. [SUSPENSFUL INSTRUMENTAL MUSIC
STING] I'll go $2,100 if it
makes you feel better. How about 21 without
the case, 22 since that's $100 flight case? - All right, you got a deal.
- All right. [instrumental music playing]
- All right. Meet me over there.
We'll do some paperwork, buddy. OK. Yeah, you know, 2,200
is fair, quite frankly. I thought they were going
to offer me around $1,000. So you gotta put your
poker face on in that case, and not look overly excited.
