RBSinTo

PrairieDog, I made no references to persons on fixed incomes, or their inability to spend $4,000.00 on a guitar. You should take more care when citing other's comments in a thread. RBSinTo

PrairieDog, We were in North Miami in December, and because I didn't dare take a guitar down on the plane, I visited a Guitar Center just to noodle for a bit. I was shocked by the number of acoustics that were damaged beyond repair, and yet were on display at full price. I was neither impressed by what I saw, nor how I was treated by staff during my visit, and would never spend any money in their stores. RBSinTo

Sheepdog, I'm so relieved to read that the sun won't actually be turning off. Now I won't have to put on my witch-doctor's outfit, and prance about to beseech the gods to turn it back on, and can just relax. Much appreciated. RBSinTo

Waking up is always the first major accomplishment of any day. RBSinTo

While it was about 8 or 9 years ago when I bought it, the 2001 j-45 (that was equipped with the mandatory repaired broken headstock), cost me $1,200.00 CDN, (around $960.00 USD.). The repair was well done and stable, the guitar plays well and sounds very nice, and as I've come to realize is the best Gibson guitar on the planet. RBSinTo

.....and round and around we go. RBSinTo

BT., That stiff transparent, colourless pickguard protector looks exactly like the pickguard on my Guild maple Jumbo. Guild had a line of less expensive guitars they called GAD ( Guild Acoustic Design) that were built in China (analagous to the off-shore Epiphones in the Gibson lineup), and for some reason the Chinese version had a clear, transparent pickguard instead of the coloured tortoise shell(?) guard on the domestically-built version. My pickguard is virtually invisible, and I briefly thought about replacing it because to me, a steel-string acoustic guitar seemingly without a pickguard looks strange. However, it was so skillfully applied that in the end, I decided to just leave well enough alone, and not mess with it. Good decision, I think. RBSinTo

PrairieDog, Whether they did or not, they were very complimentary, as we all were of each others' performances. And in the context of a recital where the students ranged in age from about 10 to 75 ( that would be me), and many were performing in front of an audience for the first time, it would have been incredibly rude for any of us not to be. RBSinTo

i am always surprised and frankly dismayed by the sound of my voice when I hear it on phone messages I've left at home. It sounds very different from what I hear when I talk. And when I watched the video a fellow student made of me at our recent teacher's recital, playing and singing "Reminiscing", I cringed. I really hate the sound of my voice only slightly less than the sound of me playing guitar. Together they are a musical tragedy. RBSinTo

Guithartic, Keep in mind that if Gibson did reduce the nut width, The Fans would have to buy the "new" j-45 in all the colours lest their collections not be up-to-date. RBSinTo

My teacher always complains about the inaccuracy of much of the music available on-line, or even in printed books, and often modifies anything I bring him. In the case of "Reminiscing", the score wasn't even available, and had to be determined by listening to the recording. To score "Dream a little dream" he listened to the recording, as well as a karaoke version, and between the two, scored the fingerpicking and the very cool chords, but they are accurate. RBSinTo

Having put "Reminising" to bed after playing it in my music teacher's recital, we decided to start on something new for the next concert. We came up with an instrumental version of Cass Eliot's 1968 cover of the 1931 song "Dream a little dream of me", written by Fabian Andre, Wilbur Schwandt, and Gus Kahn, (and first recorded that year by Ozzie Nelson and his orchestra). I have a sanitized version of the chords that I found years ago on-line, but my teacher listened to the song a few times, and correctly scored the chords and fingerpicking from the Mamas and Papa version for me to practice from. RBSinTo

I'm currently the best guitar player in our home because The Lovely Missus RBSinTo has never played the guitar, and my music bud who is much better than me, and comes over to play is not here. How's that? RBSinTo

Before something or someone can be called the best, it is necessary to define the term, otherwise the designation is meaningless. RBSinTo

Sheepdog1969, I didn't read the article you cited, but I assume that the experience you describe would result from many other group activities such as playing team sports. I'm 75, and play competitive hockey (I'm a goalie), with players, nearly all much younger than I am. And the satisfaction ( high) I get from playing well (winning or losing being irrelevant) is indescribable. RBSinTo

DanvillRob, Sorry for the loss of your friend. May his memory be a blessing. RBSinTo

Dave, Double necked guitars always remind me of conjoined twins. Feh. Not for me. RBSinTo

tx-ogre, And if you ever tire of either part, you can saw it off and sell it, and still have a guitar to play. Is that great or what? RBSinTo

Chief, Thanks but no thanks. I have enough problems with a double chin. RBSinTo

For my electric needs, I have $125.00 amp originally purchased for my grand-daughter, and it more than enough amp for me, so I have no horse in this race. Having said that the second thing that strikes me about this amp (after the extraordinary price) is how its design makes it so completely unsuited to professional road use. Stacking components on stage, and storage considerations with its odd shape would make its use a nightmare. Feh. RBSinTo

IanHenry, Maybe they lock the door after you enter so you must buy something to leave? Whatcha think? RBSinTo

Larsongs, And I can hand out fresh picks as necessary. RBSinTo

Phil OKeefe, A CNN article????? It's not like there are other really important issues to report on, so they had to do "serious investigative journalism" to tell this story. Just knowing that it was lost, recovered, and returned was far, far more than I ever needed to know, or cared about this business. RBSinTo

Murph, Also easy to spot those who weren't guitar players. On the other hand (sorry, couldn't help myself), I'll bet you wouldn't find many gigs in the countries that still impose those sorts of punishment. Or cool music stores to hang around in either. Be careful what you wish for. RBSinTo

Karloff, Those who don't even like a happy beginning. RBSinTo