The humorous tale of becoming friends with Dave Miner!!
Almost two decades ago Joyce and I were living in a little Alaskan Bush community connected to the internet with a 28K dial-up. As a side interest I bought, sold, and traded guitars while trying to build an ever better stable of fine wood instruments.
Ebay was more of a worldwide flea market in those days without the many mega-sellers that dominate the site at present.
The 28K dial-up meant it would take the better part of an hour or more to put an item with pictures on Ebay for auction.
I decided to part with a very rare 1928 all Mahogany Gibson L-O guitar in fantastic shape. I set a fair market price reserve on the guitar and expected it to sell, as higher ticket items do, to a last minute bid sniper. Mush to my surprise the guitar made reserve in three days of a seven day auction. The sky was the limit now. Alas, when I looked at the bidders name I saw he had (0) feedback meaning he had never bought or sold on Ebay before.
I elected to send the bidder an email in the hopes of verifying the veracity of his intent to follow through with the auction. I received the fastest reply ever that our 28K connection delivered…
“Dave Miner of Miner Family Wines is out of the office and will not return until August 9th.â€
That would be close to a week after the auction would end. It’s Ebay etiquette to end all transactions within 72 hours if possible.
I sent a second email stating the obvious but also telling him that if he won the auction I would hold the guitar for him and would he please contact me immediately when he returned. I again got an instant response. “Dave Miner of Miner Family Wines is out of the office and will not return until August 9thâ€.
A higher bid never occurred and Dave won the guitar.
On August 9th I received an apologetic email outlining that he would not have been able reply even if he had seen the email because he was in a remote part of Alaska.
I asked, “Where in Alaska were you�
“A very remote place fishing, you would have never heard of it.†Dave replied
“Yes I would I live in remote Alaska where were you?â€, I asked
“Dillinghamâ€, Dave replied
“You idiotâ€, I joked. “I live in Dillingham I could have handed you the guitar at the airportâ€.
So concluded a fine guitar transaction and the beginning of a two decade friendship. Dave has since gotten together with Joyce and I when time permits during his annual migration to the fishing waters of the Bristol Bay.
Last night we shared a fine dinner at Jen’s Restaurant and again laughed about our mode of introduction. I suspect he will never part with that Gibson L-O simply because the story of buying it is just too funny.
Almost two decades ago Joyce and I were living in a little Alaskan Bush community connected to the internet with a 28K dial-up. As a side interest I bought, sold, and traded guitars while trying to build an ever better stable of fine wood instruments.
Ebay was more of a worldwide flea market in those days without the many mega-sellers that dominate the site at present.
The 28K dial-up meant it would take the better part of an hour or more to put an item with pictures on Ebay for auction.
I decided to part with a very rare 1928 all Mahogany Gibson L-O guitar in fantastic shape. I set a fair market price reserve on the guitar and expected it to sell, as higher ticket items do, to a last minute bid sniper. Mush to my surprise the guitar made reserve in three days of a seven day auction. The sky was the limit now. Alas, when I looked at the bidders name I saw he had (0) feedback meaning he had never bought or sold on Ebay before.
I elected to send the bidder an email in the hopes of verifying the veracity of his intent to follow through with the auction. I received the fastest reply ever that our 28K connection delivered…
“Dave Miner of Miner Family Wines is out of the office and will not return until August 9th.â€
That would be close to a week after the auction would end. It’s Ebay etiquette to end all transactions within 72 hours if possible.
I sent a second email stating the obvious but also telling him that if he won the auction I would hold the guitar for him and would he please contact me immediately when he returned. I again got an instant response. “Dave Miner of Miner Family Wines is out of the office and will not return until August 9thâ€.
A higher bid never occurred and Dave won the guitar.
On August 9th I received an apologetic email outlining that he would not have been able reply even if he had seen the email because he was in a remote part of Alaska.
I asked, “Where in Alaska were you�
“A very remote place fishing, you would have never heard of it.†Dave replied
“Yes I would I live in remote Alaska where were you?â€, I asked
“Dillinghamâ€, Dave replied
“You idiotâ€, I joked. “I live in Dillingham I could have handed you the guitar at the airportâ€.
So concluded a fine guitar transaction and the beginning of a two decade friendship. Dave has since gotten together with Joyce and I when time permits during his annual migration to the fishing waters of the Bristol Bay.
Last night we shared a fine dinner at Jen’s Restaurant and again laughed about our mode of introduction. I suspect he will never part with that Gibson L-O simply because the story of buying it is just too funny.
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