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75th birthday for a Banner SJ


jt

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Stuck inside this morning, as New England hunkers down during a nasty winter storm. It struck me as a good time to document the tone of my 1944-ish (pretty impossible to pinpoint the date of manufacture of a WWII-era Gibson unless you have original receipts or know from which shop it was purchase) Southerner Jumbo. This is the guitar that started me on my Kalamazoo Gals journey.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DpbrJZJLapw

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Really nice, John, and a great guitar in beautiful condition.

 

Was that guitar polished out at some point? If so, do you know when, and how?

Thanks, Nick.

 

Nope, not polished. Just in crazy good condition. George Gruhn has pronounced it the finest Banner SJ he’s ever seen.

 

I got it from a private collector about a decade ago.

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John, that guitar sounds super, well played too. It's kind of hard to tell with recordings, but that guitar sounds very, very loud and articulate. How would you compare the tone of this one to your other, more worn, Banner SJ?

 

Lars

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John, that guitar sounds super, well played too. It's kind of hard to tell with recordings, but that guitar sounds very, very loud and articulate. How would you compare the tone of this one to your other, more worn, Banner SJ?

 

Lars

Thanks, Lars!

 

The guitar is an outlier. As you put it, very loud, very articulate, but also were warm.

 

Louder and more articulate than the went-to-war guitar, but maybe not as sweet.

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Thanks, Lars!

 

The guitar is an outlier. As you put it, very loud, very articulate, but also were warm.

 

Louder and more articulate than the went-to-war guitar, but maybe not as sweet.

 

 

Have you ever tried nickel/bronze strings on either of the two? I put a set on my old J-45 and it's a very cool tone. Dry, dry, dry and more dry. I love it. Like walking on fallen branches, twigs and leaves in a forest that has not seen rain for fifty years. Great for recording. It made for the best acoustic recorded tone I have ever managed with my simple iPad approach and limited skill set.

 

Lars

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Have you ever tried nickel/bronze strings on either of the two? I put a set on my old J-45 and it's a very cool tone. Dry, dry, dry and more dry. I love it. Like walking on fallen branches, twigs and leaves in a forest that has not seen rain for fifty years. Great for recording. It made for the best acoustic recorded tone I have ever managed with my simple iPad approach and limited skill set.

 

Lars

Lars,

 

No, I haven't tried nickel/bronze strings. Thanks for the recommendation! I'll try them my next string change.

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Thanks, all. It's a privilege to be the guitar's current conservator.

 

 

That was cool, even the cat was in to it. Or maybe checking the birds out

I think that he was hoping I'd open the door so that he could escape from the noise I was making. :)

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Love it!

 

Thanks!

 

Is that the SJ with the cockemammy X brace?

 

No. That's my other Banner SJ, the one that a young US soldier took to to WWII. Here in the hands of a guitar player who showed up at one of my gigs and sat in teh front row:

 

 

48358107_10212592739066760_1281256007879622656_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=19b238200e6a6b316dcb822557dd9a14&oe=5CC202DB

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Thanks!

 

 

 

No. That's my other Banner SJ, the one that a young US soldier took to to WWII. Here in the hands of a guitar player who showed up at one of my gigs and sat in teh front row:

 

 

48358107_10212592739066760_1281256007879622656_o.jpg?_nc_cat=106&_nc_ht=scontent-lga3-1.xx&oh=19b238200e6a6b316dcb822557dd9a14&oe=5CC202DB

 

 

You do move in rarified circles, JT!

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You do move in rarified circles, JT!

That crazy night when you walk into a club for a gig (in this case, at Ronnie Scott's in London), and the club manager says, "Jeff's coming to see you tonight." "Jeff Who"?" "Jeff Beck." Gulp.

 

Full story here. Video

.
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