FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

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Steve
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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by Steve »

For me personally it was a particularly bittersweet and poignant moment to witness Frank's interment in the beautifully peaceful cemetery where he now rests with his beloved wife, Jan. We had some time before the church ceremony began to reflect on the people we've lost.

I'll never forget Jan and Frank - two of the most warm and hospitable people I've ever had the privilege of knowing. Throughout the day my memory was full of all the riotous conversations the three of us used to have over bangers and mash whenever I paid a visit to see Frank.

I still can't quite believe they've both gone.

It was good to catch up with both Alistair and Roger afterwards.

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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by old country chemist »

Yesterday was a most memorable one, for me, Roger and Steve. I see they have placed on the forum their thoughts. The lovely little church high up, in the Ross -o-Wye area. was almost full for the service for Frank. A no frills service, (just as he would have wanted it), gave several of the family a chance to air their memories of our old friend. A couple of hymns and readings made up the service.
After that we all arrived at the village Hall, for a sumptuous afternoon tea, with endless amounts of sandwiches and lovely cakes. The hall was buzzing with folk chatting, and quite a few listening to Frank's first EMG gramophone. Roger and I worked the machine, and Anni and Peter James, (son and daughter-in-law), had brought along a large box of part of Frank's 78s collection. We chose quite a few, mainly jazz records, interspersed with an occasional vocal or instrumental record, and one or two of our own that we had brought along.
Anni's daughter, whose name I have forgotten, a very pleasant young lady, enquired about how to use the machine. I showed her how to sharpen a bamboo needle with the snippers, and also to sharpen a thorn with the Davey sharpener. Roger showed about how many turns to wind it up, and how to insert the needle and play a record. I have a feeling that the EMG will burst into life at Yartleton Farm more frequently now! I always like to encourage youngsters in the art of our wonderful hobby, the reproduction of sound, acoustically.
It was good to see Steve again, as it had been a while since we last met. He looked taller, but it must have been my memory. I think he knew Frank and Jan even longer than myself, and I see he has placed his appreciations of the forum.
We shall never see the likes of Frank James again. I have been very happy to be classed as one of his friends, He will not be forgotten.

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emgcr
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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by emgcr »

Very many thanks both for painting a picture of the day which is much appreciated as not being able to be present. Frank is, however, very much in our thoughts and will remain so for many years to come.

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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by chunnybh »

I wish I could have made it, sounds like a great way to say goodbye. I spent the day playing records in the memory of Frank. And yes, he will still be with us for a very long time.
Cheers to the EMG Guru!

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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by epigramophone »

It hardly seems possible that Frank passed away a year ago today. Gone but not forgotten.
The James family have invited Alastair and I to visit them in the New Year, to help them sort out Frank's record collection.
We played very few records during our annual visits to Frank, so many of them will be new to us. Most of the time was spent admiring the progress he had made at Brook Farm, and solving the problems of the world over a glass of wine.

Rest in peace old friend.

Roger and Alastair.

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Steve
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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by Steve »

Yes, thinking about it now, in all the time I used to spend at Frank's place through the years we used to talk a lot about many different things and of course "talk shop" about gramophones and all things Ginn related, but we rarely ever played much music apart from to demonstrate a machine!

I never got the impression that Frank had many records and he only bothered to keep records he really liked and would bother to play.

It'll certainly be interesting to learn what turns up when Roger and Alistair sort through it all. Please keep us posted.

I agree it hardly seems possible it's already been a year since Frank left us.

He is certainly missed. Whenever I recall his slightly mischievous grin at the mention of something in a conversation we had, I have a quiet little chuckle to myself. I sincerely hope I will never forget some of those conversations we had. He was a very wise fellow.

RIP

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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by epigramophone »

epigramophone wrote: Wed Dec 15, 2021 4:36 am It hardly seems possible that Frank passed away a year ago today. Gone but not forgotten.
The James family have invited Alastair and I to visit them in the New Year, to help them sort out Frank's record collection.
We played very few records during our annual visits to Frank, so many of them will be new to us. Most of the time was spent admiring the progress he had made at Brook Farm, and solving the problems of the world over a glass of wine.

Rest in peace old friend.

Roger and Alastair.
For various reasons our visit did not take place until September 2022, by which time Frank's first EMG (a Xb) had stopped working.
We diagnosed a broken spring, and on our advice the family ordered two new springs from Soundgen.
These were fitted by Liz Tuddenham, and we returned and reinstalled the motor today. It should last another 90 years.

The family have asked me to say how much they appreciated the many tributes to Frank which appeared on this Forum.
Until then they had not realised the extent to which he was liked and respected by collectors all over the world.
December 15th will be the second anniversary of his passing, and he is still very much missed by us all.

Roger.

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Steve
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Re: FRANK JAMES 1940-2020

Post by Steve »

A timely update to this thread for me, if ever there was one, probably for two reasons.

I've just moved house and the enormity of the task of moving, not just an entire life's worth of "normal" house contents along with some of my late parents contents, but an entire gramophone and record collection with it all, hit me like a train. I'd never do it again!

Most sensible people get rid of things before they move house and have a clear out or simply thin their collectons. Not me. I even managed to add stuff to my collection during the process! :roll:

But .....Frank's words kept haunting me. "Of course we're all a bit mad" and "It's complete madness". Yes, Frank, it is. The obsession with collecting........we don't "need" any of it but we convince ourselves and rationalise it so we do.

Frank also had the perfect antidote for it all. Well, to be honest, he had quite a few but the one I recall most specifically was the philosophy that "When it fails to teach us anything new, it stops being interesting". Put it another way, if we find a popular gramophone we are already very familiar with and conversant with the model, why are we going to be quite as interested in owning it? Some of the initial mystery and intrigue will be gone. To quote a less reputable collector some of us knew "It's just three dimensional stamp collecting". Why not simply own the books which have photographs of the machines in? Frank admirably kept his collection fairly small at all times. New arrivals replaced something else which had languished in a corner for a while. I might need to develop that discipline.

The other time I thought about Frank recently was when I set up my Expert Senior machine in a corner of my new living room. I recall originally seeing it in Frank and Jan's sitting room and asking Frank if it was for sale. It wasn't, at least not for a few months until one day Frank asked me if I was still as keen to own it. He already knew my answer, the question was just a polite formality!

It's still singing and I even serenaded the two removal guys who helped me move. Understandably neither had ever seen anything like it before and took pictures and videos of it playing with their phones. They couldn't believe how "big" the sound was without electricity. I'm sure Frank would have been delighted to see their jaws drop with their initiation into the world of Expert and EMG gramophones.

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