ksdaddy

I think it’s a really cool artifact as is, and if it were mine I’d not do anything to it. I’d hang it on the wall. It may never be resolved but if it were “put together “ it loses its enigma conversation value.

Two cannibals start eating a guy, one starting from the head, the other at the feet. After a while, the “head” cannibal had worked his way down around the neck. Without looking up, he asked the other cannibal how things were going on his end. “Great! I’m having a ball!” The first cannibal said, “wow, you eat fast!”

I have difficulty with conversations. It bugs me when someone is halfway across the room and their voice drops down because they’re getting to the juicy part. For some reason, people think if they can hear their OWN voice, then you can hear it too. And despite my asking them to speak up or repeat, they keep on doing it at our next conversation. My ears haven’t healed, guy. It’s t-shirt time: “I’m old! Speak up!” As to your post, I’m sorry to hear of your tinnitus. I’ve heard that can be maddening. The only time I use ear protection is if I’m out shooting, particularly a handgun. Nothing happens immediately but a half hour later comes the earache. Today I’m working on a pine cabinet for an old 8 track player and I broke out the B&D finish sander. Good LORD that thing was loud. It was like it was making me lose my balance. I popped on my shooting earmuffs and all was good.

In the 70s we took Industrial Arts in our sophomore year. Half the year in woodworking, half in automotive. Our wood shop teacher was a bit like John Houseman's character in The Paper Chase. He had a heart attack while I was in his class (not literally, but in that time frame). A substitute came in to finish out the year. At the onset of the next school year, they were juggling substitutes and looking for a permanent replacement. They brought back a crusty old dude, looked exactly like Disney's Carl Fredericksen. Phil Rogers was his name. He had taught shop and Farm Mechanics in our school system from around 1940 to the early 70s. He had my brother in one of his classes. One day in 1967 or so, he gathered the boys around a tractor and asked, "What's the first thing you need to know about this tractor?" My brother barked from the back of the group, "Learn how to get ON the f***** thing!" He blazed a trail for the school year. Fast forward to my Junior year in 1976, I signed up for an elective woodworking class (I had already taken wood shop the previous year). There were FOUR of us in the class. My best friend and I, a huge Native American dude named Roger with long hair and Brando biker jacket (gentle as a lamb but didn't look it) and another guy in my class who had neatly combed 1950s hair and Buddy Holly glasses. I don't think I heard him say seven words the whole time were in high school. He might have been "on the spectrum" but we wouldn't have known it at the time. We (happily) spent our class time puttering on little wood projects of our own, and also sorting out the vast supply of project lumber overhead... mahogany, maple, Lignum Vitae (I could swear I heard him call it Limber, which is totally wrong). The sophomores wreaked havoc on the supply, tossing everything around and mixing it up. We sorted, jointed, planed, labeled... it was good. On the very first day, we four gathered around his desk. He had his fingers laced together in his lap, rocking slowly in the office chair. He glared at me. "Your name Englund?" (Yes it is, Mr. Rogers.) His words slowed with deliberate strong enunciation... "You got a brother named Paul?" (Yes.) He slowly nodded and his eyes narrowed, staring daggers right through my head... "I'm gonna keep an EYE on you." Nothing profound, no message, no life lesson, it just brings a smile to my face every time I think of it. And to this day, if someone asks me if Paul is my brother, I quickly weigh where this is going and how I should answer.

Even Heritage has dropped all the carved tops. At least they haven’t listed any for a couple years. Edit: they do list the Eagle Classic but that must be a very recent change in the lineup.

I don't believe they are making any carved archtops, or any plywood archtops for that matter. When I was at the Gibson Garage in October, the gentleman I spoke with said he didn't know of any plans to begin again. That sounded worse than I meant it. He stated there was not a plan in place to begin production again, with (my injected) caveat that things can change with a phone call.

Volute puts it 1970 or later.

Last time I heard from Hogeye was 2022. He was encouraging me to bring a u-haul to Bozeman so I could buy out the contents of his storage shed. I drive 150 miles and I’m ready for a nap.

As it pertains to “contract” stuff like the Cromwell, Recording King, etc, and the high probability that some or most would have pressed tops, I wonder, did Gibson even have the equipment to produce pressed tops? Obviously they did later on, what with the huge number of ES models produced, but in the 30s, did they have the equipment? Or for the purposes of producing pressed guitars, might it have been easier to just buy them from Kay? Sometimes more questions are produced than answers.

Addendum: I stand by what I said about the Kay f holes but those are NOT Kay rims. Too rounded at the shoulder.

I once played a Kalamazoo archtop from this era. It was a smaller bodied one, 14-1/2” or so, kinda odd shaped. I think the L-30 and ES-100 might have shared the same body mold. What I do remember is that the F holes looked exactly like the ones on this Cromwell, which is exactly like the F holes on virtually every 15” Kay archtop in existence. (Even some 17” Kays, but more rare) Makes me wonder, in the mishmash of “sorta Gibsons” that have been made in the 30s and 40s, could Gibson have just bought pre-pressed and stamped tops from Kay in Chicago?

I’m very sorry to hear of your loss. I went through it in 2011. I learned firsthand that there are no words to convey to anyone the feelings you went through.

I’ve seen that pickup before, I just can’t place it. The mounting bracket is quite wide and angles downward, as you might guess looking at the mounting screws.

They did offer an L-7E in the late 40s, early 50s, but they’re scarce. Gibson tailpieces…. inconsistent at best. Don’t go by that.

What was OJ’s favorite soft drink? Slice