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A Dove love story


Jinder

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Hi all,

I got in from my morning walk an hour or so ago and decided it was time to pop open a case and explore the contents...this morning, it was the one with my Dove inside.

 

I must admit that my Dove doesn't get as much live action as my Jumbos because I find the Baggs Element doesn't really suit it, so until I get that changed it's a bit of a case queen, but I was just blown away this morning by how rich, crisp and three dimensional it sounds. Absolutely gorgeous right hand response, delicate for fingerstyle and an absolutely full bore carnival of sound when strummed. I didn't hit it with a pick at all, all fingers and nails today and I was just endlessly surprised and pleased with how spectacular it sounded and how effortless it is to play.

 

My Dove quest has been a long one...12yrs ago I stumbled into Rudy's in Manhattan at the end of a US tour and spent most of an afternoon in there with Gordon, their acoustic specialist. I was flat broke at the time and told him so, but he insisted that I try as many guitars as I wanted and discussed layaway options and international shipping etc, absolutely stellar customer service. Most of the Gibsons they had in stock were superb but Gordon advised me that the best in his opinion and the "sleeper" was a '60s Reissue Dove, with Tune-O-Matic and all...he said it was one of those guitars that shouldn't be amazing on paper but in reality it was a perfect combo of the right woods and the right hardware.

 

This thing was a MONSTER. Absolutely insane, loud, rich, overtones flying every which way, just the perfect guitar...the grail. To my ears and eyes anyway!

 

I went on my way, and kept in touch with Gordon who told me the Dove hadn't sold and it was "just waiting for me". A couple of years after my initial visit to Rudy's and about two months after I'd last spoken to Gordon, I signed a record deal with Sony BMG, and finally had some money. As soon as my advance arrived, I emailed Gordon to tell him I'd take the Dove and asked for a shipping quote to the UK. Sadly he emailed me back telling me it had sold a fortnight previously!

 

I was really disappointed but accepted that sometimes those are the breaks. Shortly afterwards, however, my then manager arranged an artist endorsement deal with Gibson in the UK as me and my bandmates were all Gibsonites, and I asked David at Gibson's UK HQ in London if I could commission a Dove to be made for me. He agreed, but said it would be a standard model and not a '60s RI unless I wanted to go down the Custom Shop route which would have taken longer and cost more. I was in a hurry and wanted to get my mitts on a Dove asap, so agreed to the standard model.

 

Three months later, my Dove arrived...fresh off the production line, a newborn, no time spent dangling in a shop or hanging around in a warehouse. I had tickets to see Brian Wilson at the Royal Albert Hall that night, so my then-wife and I went to pick up the guitar and headed to Hyde Park for a picnic and to while away some time picking in the sunshine before the show.

 

To my immense disappointment, that particular Dove wasn't a good example of one at all...the opposite to my experience in Rudy's. This one looked beautiful (as they all do) but it felt like a collection of tonewoods that didn't want to spend time with each other. It didn't intonate well and even after a full setup still displayed wolf tones and weird dead spots at certain points up the neck. I kept it and kept on playing it for nearly a year, but it didn't improve and I ended up trading it for a standard J45 which was a fabulous example. That J45 now belongs to Steve Smith who co-produced all the records I made during my major label days, and lives in his studio-it's been on countless records and sounds even better now!

 

So, yet again i was Doveless and yearning for that tone I heard in Rudy's all those years ago. Time went by and I fell on hard times for a while, which saw my guitar arsenal whittled down to just one battered old Takamine as I mentioned in a previous post, but things got better as they always do.

 

At the start of last year, my marriage ended after ten years and I found myself starting again from scratch with life...I was feeling pretty low and a bit defeated by everything. One afternoon I found myself in Southampton on my way to a gig, and in need of strings, so I popped in to a guitar store in the city where many years before I'd bought a Blues King. I knew the manager and he was aware of my music and my taste in guitars, and he took me to one side and said "If you have a minute, there's a guitar you really have to try...we've had it in stock for a while and I'm amazed it hasn't sold yet. It's possibly the best sounding acoustic in the place, a real sleeper!"

 

I laughed and remembered Gordon's words in Rudy's all those years ago...then he pulled down a beautiful Dove with a honey coloured top and some of the most beautiful figuring I've ever seen on the sides and back. I played an E chord and was blown away instantly...the whole guitar felt alive in that way that great guitars do, and was every bit as glorious as the Rudy's Dove of yore.

 

I decided within a minute that it was coming home with me, and was my present to myself after a truly miserable few months. It represented (and still represents) a turning point, a fresh start and the first steps on the road to the happy, peaceful life I have now. It's all over my new album and is a great writing and recording guitar. I waited a LONG time for the Dove I always wanted, and picking it up this morning I felt grateful and thrilled all over again!

 

I just wanted to share...excuse the rambling tale ☺️

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Guitars like that are special

I too have a j45 that aside from being my favourite guitar that I've ever played , (I have had one or two that others may well be right to argue were better , but for me it fits like a favourite pair of jeans ) it was a turning point in my life after a similar situation to yours jinder

Will never leave me and if it ever comes down to it or the rent money ever again I'll sleep on a few sofas with my guitar at my feet rather than do what I did before

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Guitars like that are special

I too have a j45 that aside from being my favourite guitar that I've ever played , (I have had one or two that others may well be right to argue were better , but for me it fits like a favourite pair of jeans ) it was a turning point in my life after a similar situation to yours jinder

Will never leave me and if it ever comes down to it or the rent money ever again I'll sleep on a few sofas with my guitar at my feet rather than do what I did before

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Truly a 'love story'. Funny how we, as humans, form emotional attachments to certain things. Material possessions, ideas, animals - but usually people - because they're more interesting (read 'challenging') I suppose.

This short, short story - for musicians who appreciate acoustic guitars - resonates as loudly that Dove.

While I will never find 'the best of the best', and am not sophisticated enough to recognize it if I were to - I feel as close an attachment to my SJ200. So this story helped me realize that. Thank You.

In part - this is what makes us 'human'. The 'sensitivity' to things outside our own mind and body go a long way to making it possible to make others feel things through music.

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J,

 

Thanks so much for the story .

I am going through a hand full of emotions right now.

I can relate to your story I recently parted ways with my best friend of 10 years and associated to her were my J 200 TV and Hummingbird TV ...I have chosen not to play any of those guitars anymore because I don't want to keep thinking about her ... I need to move on.

 

Anyways until I am able to get access to some of my other gibsons my old Yamaha FG720 is serving me well after years of just being stored away.

 

The funny thing is I have been lusting after a Dove in particual the Elvis Ebony Dove.From what I have heard on youtube they can sound amazing.Will Bozeman agree to make a lefty ? I plan to find out!

 

 

Your story gives me hope that my life will get better

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

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J,

 

Thanks so much for the story .

I am going through a hand full of emotions right now.

I can relate to your story I recently parted ways with my best friend of 10 years and associated to her were my J 200 TV and Hummingbird TV ...I have chosen not to play any of those guitars anymore because I don't want to keep thinking about her ... I need to move on.

 

Anyways until I am able to get access to some of my other gibsons my old Yamaha FG720 is serving me well after years of just being stored away.

 

The funny thing is I have been lusting after a Dove in particual the Elvis Ebony Dove.From what I have heard on youtube they can sound amazing.Will Bozeman agree to make a lefty ? I plan to find out!

 

 

Your story gives me hope that my life will get better

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

 

Absolutely Juan

What seems like the end of the world turns into 'I'm glad that happened'

Mostly turns into regret that so much time of life was wasted , but then again you bring a lot of knowledge to the next stage of your life , so 'wasted' isn't perfectly true

Just don't sit trying to figure it out , you never will 😄

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Grunt - happy for you too.

 

JC - the future's so bright you're gonna need to wear shades. Don't give up on your amazing Gibson treasures either.

 

I have some bad memories. Rather than my expunging them, I have at times turned them on myself like a firehose to motivate me like a college football Michigan Fight Song.

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Doves are fantastic acoustics though mine too has been in the case for some time, , , maybe 10 days.

Look forward to re-fetch it, but the F-bird has the maple-word in this temple for now. That flier is down right incredible.

 

Would like to see some Dove-pics here. Jinder you can't write such tale without presenting a portrait.

 

OC too, , , I feel you almost owe me and the Board sights'n'sounds of your square G's. A double-shot of the D & H would bring things in balance.

 

I'll try to find mine in the meantime. . .

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Jinder, your story was a pleasure to read!

 

I can very much relate to what you are describing. As we all do from time to time, I also went through some though times a while back, and I can honestly and without any exaggeration say that it was my love of music and guitars that kept me going. They represented hope and meaning, despite what was going on in the real world around me. Later I discovered songwriting and the depths of my dependance on music increased even further.

 

Learning songwriting, singing, and playing are now my main sources of drive and inspiration, and it fuels other parts of my life.

 

Lars

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A fine bedtime story. . . much better than the evening news. There has been enough talk around here lately about the Gibson squares, and of the long scale maple Dove/ Firebird that the curiosity gains a certain momentum. Only makes one wonder about sitting down and hearing the Dove with the J-200. Or a maple Hummingbird. Or a Hogbird.

 

Re: the above '96- The space between the curve of the bridge and the curve of the pickguard just begs for a little something.

 

 

 

OC too, , , I feel you almost owe me and the Board sights'n'sounds of your square G's. A double-shot of the D & H would bring things in balance.

 

Not the first time Mr. E has asked- you know, for the good of the Board. And I second that.

 

 

.

 

I find that after having a guitar put away for a while, coming back to it for a play allows you to again appreciate the qualities that spoke to you when you decided to buy it. . B)

 

 

.

As good a reason as one could find for hanging on to them.

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Not the first time Mr. E has asked- you know, for the good of the Board. And I second that.

 

OC moves when OC moves. . .

 

 

 

A fine bedtime story. . . much better than the evening news. There has been enough talk around here lately about the Gibson squares, and of the long scale maple Dove/ Firebird that the curiosity gains a certain momentum. Only makes one wonder about sitting down and hearing the Dove with the J-200. Or a maple Hummingbird. Or a Hogbird.

 

I'd really like your hear your 'wet' rosebird - that's #2 on my wish-list right now.

 

 

OC moves when OC moves. . .

Admit bein' impatient as OCowboy is one the authentic first-wave square witnesses and keepers (if not fans) here on Board.

We need all we can get from the real sources. Every bucket raised from the wells of history is liquid gold.

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OC moves when OC moves. . .

 

 

 

 

 

I'd really like your hear your 'wet rosebird - that's #2 on my wish-list right now.

 

 

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Admit bein' impatient as OCowboy is one the authentic first-wave square witnesses and keepers (if not fans) here on Board.

We need all we can get from the real sources. Every bucket raised from the wells of history is liquid gold.

I expect you all (that's how the perfesser got away with saying y'all in the classroom😎) are are correct. My phone takes pictures - I just recently got a photobucket account - now trying to figure out how to upload to photobucket. Feel like I've outlived my time, as far as technology goes, and struggling to keep up😨

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I feel you all on this, believe me... my first guitar was a '77 (or so) Dove Custom. I've had a J45, D28, and currently a D16 but none of them pleased me like it did. You know; you never get over your "First love"...

 

I've got a long, sad story how I let it go, but don't think I can ever tell it all...

 

Suffice it to say my collection will never be complete until I get another like the one I had...

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I've got a long, sad story how I let it go, but don't think I can ever tell it all...

 

 

Maybe this Board, in fact this very thread, is the place where you could and should try.

 

Besides we are a bit low on romantic stories about 70's Gibsons, , , especially Doves.

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Maybe this Board, in fact this very thread, is the place where you could and should try.

 

Besides we are a bit low on romantic stories about 70's Gibsons, , , especially Doves.

 

I guess I should go ahead and tell it so's I'll quit talking around it...thanks for the push, E-minor7...

 

When I was 20 (40 yrs. ago), I'd just gotten my first real job. A local guitar store was having a sale where every day they took another 10% off every instrument. They had a Dove Custom that I just loved. Up 'til then I'd been learning on my sister's G Holiday for a couple years. I liked it, but playing a Major Leaguer was a whole 'nother world...

 

We had a neighbor who was real good friends w/my mom (I still lived @ home then) and she played the ponies. I asked her to loan me the $180 I would need to get the Gibson. She was glad to and I paid her back out of my first two paychecks.

 

Fast forward about 25 years. I had built a pretty nice stable by this time, but by now had stopped playing for 10 years or so. A J45, D28, B45 12 string and a couple electrics. But for me, that Dove was my favorite, go-to 6 string. I was widowed and remarried. Moved into my new wife's house. No room for my axes (barely room for me). They sat locked in a closet in a vacant house w/no climate control for years.

 

I'd had enough and went to retrieve them. The 45 had major binding damage, the bridge on the Dove was split (I'd had it repaired once but it should've been replaced). You can imagine the shape they were in. I had been hit w/a number of financial setbacks (new furnace/water heater/roof) and needed $$$, so I took them all to a (different) guitar shop to see if they were interested in repairing and selling them. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, believe me.

 

They were more than happy to oblige. After about three months I couldn't take the pangs of separation anymore and called to see if the 12 string was still there. He said it was so I reclaimed it (it needed no repair or adjustments).

 

Then I really screwed up; I started playing it. Fires rekindled, I asked for every acoustic he still had back. They were all sold.

 

I feel like I kicked the best woman I ever had out for no reason, ya feel me?

 

So I'm rebuilding, but again, won't be satisfied until I get another Dove. Even then it won't be THAT one, but...well, you all know...

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I guess I should go ahead and tell it so's I'll quit talking around it...thanks for the push, E-minor7...

 

When I was 20 (40 yrs. ago), I'd just gotten my first real job. A local guitar store was having a sale where every day they took another 10% off every instrument. They had a Dove Custom that I just loved. Up 'til then I'd been learning on my sister's G Holiday for a couple years. I liked it, but playing a Major Leaguer was a whole 'nother world...

 

We had a neighbor who was real good friends w/my mom (I still lived @ home then) and she played the ponies. I asked her to loan me the $180 I would need to get the Gibson. She was glad to and I paid her back out of my first two paychecks.

 

Fast forward about 25 years. I had built a pretty nice stable by this time, but by now had stopped playing for 10 years or so. A J45, D28, B45 12 string and a couple electrics. But for me, that Dove was my favorite, go-to 6 string. I was widowed and remarried. Moved into my new wife's house. No room for my axes (barely room for me). They sat locked in a closet in a vacant house w/no climate control for years.

 

I'd had enough and went to retrieve them. The 45 had major binding damage, the bridge on the Dove was split (I'd had it repaired once but it should've been replaced). You can imagine the shape they were in. I had been hit w/a number of financial setbacks (new furnace/water heater/roof) and needed $$$, so I took them all to a (different) guitar shop to see if they were interested in repairing and selling them. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done, believe me.

 

They were more than happy to oblige. After about three months I couldn't take the pangs of separation anymore and called to see if the 12 string was still there. He said it was so I reclaimed it (it needed no repair or adjustments).

 

Then I really screwed up; I started playing it. Fires rekindled, I asked for every acoustic he still had back. They were all sold.

 

I feel like I kicked the best woman I ever had out for no reason, ya feel me?

 

So I'm rebuilding, but again, won't be satisfied until I get another Dove. Even then it won't be THAT one, but...well, you all know...

That's a fine story - thank you for sharing. The best part, to me, is to know that you're now able to begin rebuilding.

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Thanks returned to you.

 

 

These stories of passion, fate, life and sometimes drama - yours doesn't stand alone - give the Board an extra dimension

that shows the soul behind all the questions, facts, guitar-knowledge etc. here.

 

 

Like OC I'm pleased to hear you went back on track.

Don't believe there's any way around finding, not just a new, , , but the absolutely right Dove.

 

 

 

Best of luck and keep posting

 

 

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Thanks for the support...I know in a world full of pain, suffering, sickness and injustice my story doesn't carry much weight, but it's inexplicably priceless to have kindred spirits that allow room for this kind of passion as well...kudos to all and thanks again...

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Thanks for the support...I know in a world full of pain, suffering, sickness and injustice my story doesn't carry much weight, but it's inexplicably priceless to have kindred spirits that allow room for this kind of passion as well...kudos to all and thanks again...

 

There's a lot of differences in the forum but the one part of the ven diagram in the middle has passionate in it

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