Here's what I'm thinking....


All of the great Trio experts from the early days are either dead, or long gone from here.

But, I'm going to need some help with this.

Very early on after TD, I'd say, all of the guys got new instruments.

This was when Shane got a Vega plectrum.

I think there were 3 of them in all.

Way, way back, there was a discussion of this.

There was a guitar shop where they got their instruments.

I can't remember the name of it.

I'm going to assume that it was in San Francisco.

At any rate.... Shane trades his old Plectrum in on a new Vega.

Now, there's a sailor who is stationed at San Diego ....

And, he has a girlfriend who lives in San Francisco.

He's on leave, and he's in San Francisco to visit his girlfriend.

While he's there he goes to the shop to buy a new guitar.

He's saved up his money and he has his eye on a D-28 because he's a Trio fan.

When he walks into the shop, the owner is on the phone....

The sailor hears the shop owner telling a friend that Bob Shane has just traded in the Tom Dooley banjo for a new Vega, and he tells the friend that some day, the banjo will be worth a ton of money.

After the shop owner hangs up, the sailor tells him he overheard the conversation about the Tom Dooley banjo, and asks what he wants for it.

The sailor ends up buying it. He's about to ship out and he asks the shop owner to mail the banjo to his parents' house for safe keeping.

The sailor is killed in an accident while he's out to sea, and the banjo spends the next ... 60 years in his parents' attic.