N.O.S.

N.O.S. - three little magic letters, standing for 'New Old Stock' ( or as my friends who crave vintage fashions call it - 'Dead Stock' ) basically stuff that didn't sell all those years ago when 'they' made stuff 'like they used to'.

One of my favourite auction search triggers ... maybe combined with the word 'lot'.

I'm talking nickel plated brass woodscrews in their original dusty cardboard boxes, bakelite knobs from 1950s radios, vulcanized fibre washers, and more obviously, guitar parts - maybe even O.E.M. ( original equipment manufacturer ) guitar parts like the rosewood and ebony archtop guitar bridges I received in the post from Germany last week ... Brazilian rosewood and nickel-plating ... from factories that close or downsize when the going gets tough.

Cheers, Anthony