PrairieDog

Haha, I could have been in the shop buying my classical version of your steel string the same day, lol. I was just a kid, walked in, said I wanted a guitar and I had 85 bucks, and the guy handed me the Yamaha. I had no clue there was even a difference between the fret boards. So here I had these tiny little hands and that giant, flat 2 inch wide neck. God, I hated barre chords, lol. Re: playing pain, a couple things. Yeah, it hurts some working the callouses back up, but if the pain persists long after you stop playing, you might consider if you have a nickel allergy, they can pop up in later years. I forgot I had one until I started playing again, and thought, oh crap, I’m dead in the water. Then some kind soul here suggested the Ddarrio XS coated Phosphor Bronze strings. Total life saver. Even if you don’t have an allergy, the coating still helps make the strings slicker. I don’t mind the tone, which is good because I don’t have a choice. but my wife likes them just because she finds them easier to play. We use 12s pretty much. Re: the slides, they make different sizes, you just need to find one that fits. Also, slide can work better with a touch higher action, so don’t get too hung up on it being you if it’s not working so well. You may just need another guitar to play slide on😄

So? it’s not like Gibson doesn’t use CNC machines and molds, and mechanical lathes, too. Lots of big machines in those photos of the Gibson factory. Everyone does, unless you are a high end boutique builder. CNCs can still cut along the grain, and can be programmed with more precision than a human with a blade. And to be sure, a human still has to pick out the right piece to place in the guitar. It not all AI and robots, yet. I can assure you there are vast tonal differences between Taylors, they are not “all the same guitar.” And c’mon, every company charges different prices for different styles/woods/appointments in basically the same shape we recognize as a “guitar.” And I guarantee having played just about every style of guitar now, in every price range, I have never heard the sound our Taylor Sinker/RW makes come out of any Gibson guitar, and it blows anyone away who has heard it. Whatever the machines did that day, proves they will one day take over the world. To your point about being able to “buy better:” The only new guitars we have bought, the Urban Ash, and the J-45 Studio we bought for substantially less than full price. Not many “better quality” American guitars can be had for the $800 bucks we dropped on the Urban Ash. The rest of our brood were bought used, and save two, all cost less than a new Gibson Standard j-45 (my pain threshold) The DIF yes, was more, but it was in the low end of the Reverb range for used, and the Taylor 12-fret was nearly half price so close enough to squinch through . So I guess the retail cost for a Taylor is really immaterial. But we do have a great range of sounds and guitars to pick from.

Ooh, what did you get? TBH, I never thought I would embrace a Taylor. The usual brightness they are known for hits my ears all wrong. But my better half never had an instrument, and one day last year declared she wanted to learn guitar. I was ecstatic. I sang and played several instruments way back in the last century and always loved music. I had a bit of a chance, but was more interested in being stupid. I put it all aside and went on with what I thought was a life. Anyway, we hiked down to GC and she tried every cheap import acoustic guitar in the room, insisting she didn’t deserve a “good” guitar yet. I knew you often learn better on a quality instrument because they can be easier to play and you aren’t fighting shortcuts. So I finally was able to steer her towards the American made models. Still price conscious, she saw a Taylor Urban Ash GT on clearance. I inwardly cringed when she started to pick it up, but gamely covered my trepidation. I was committed to making sure she got whatever she wanted, as long as it was a decent instrument. I braced myself, saying if this what it takes… It had a surprisingly well-rounded rich sound. None of the Taylor “twang” but still nice trebles. So it came home, along with an unintended, new Gibson J45 Walnut Studio for me 😀 I was clueless when I was a kid. My guitar was a cheapie Yamaha classical, picked up at the local school band supply shop. Otherwise I borrowed nice electrics from friends. Even later on, I tended to lump brands into uniform, general sounds: Gibsons= full and rich, guitary, Martins=muddy and dark, Taylors=shrill. Now that I’ve learned more about tone woods and builds in acoustics all bets are off, and Taylors are welcome at our party. She has several. In fact, one of my favorite guitars, right up there with the DIF, is a Sinker Redwood/EIR Taylor 714ce NAMM special. Unbelievable warm, liquid pure sound pours out of that thing. Now we have all kinds, several versions of acoustics, resonators, and even a few banjos. And we just broke the envelope on electric a couple weeks ago, with a Gibson Lucille hollow body, followed immediately up with a Canadian Godin 5th Ave King Pin that dropped right after we picked up the Lucille. Yes, we have bad GAS. Still can’t warm to a Martin, though. yet to find one I can “hear” with my old metal bashed ears. 😆

Terrific!! You too are a wonderful example of a human being.

Aww, stuff happens. We got in similar trouble when we brought in a momma cat and her two kittens from the cold. We did not know much about kitten biology… when we took everyone in to get fixed, we found out we were too late for the little girl. We ended up with kittens who all had umm, “special needs” and most weren’t expected to make it past kittenhood. So we decided they would stay with us in our office for their short little lives and we would keep them safe and warm. Apparently we did a really good job, because they all made through to have long lives. We just lost the last of the crew 17 years later. Of course, with them all being about the same age, it was pretty miserable for a couple years as they all went around the same time.

Chuckle, yeah they understand, well to a point. Apparently Taylor is a bit of a target for some, although there are other folks who try to be politic, chuckle. (We have several) As a fairly new member here too, the only time I really stepped in it was when I did a NGD for a beautiful, top of the line, used Taylor 12-fret we picked up. (Folks here know I am in the middle of a bad case of GAS trying to make up for the lost past 50 years, so NGDs seem to be a monthly occurrence for me 🙄) Anyway, I thought I would at least be humored on this one, because I included a pic of my Gibson DIF next to it as a “posting tax.” I joked the music room was getting a bit “glittery.” So I watched as 38 people stopped by the post over the day and got nothing. Not a single like, no tepid “nice” comment, not even ribbing from the usual suspects about it being a Taylor😆 I assessed I crossed a line and sheepishly took the post down 😅 But seriously, everybody understands folks have different gear. The mods really only care about folks riling up trouble/breaking the posting rules, and even then it takes a lot. Welcome and have fun!

Open the image in imgur, a list of link types will open down the side. Tap “direct link”. Then paste what got copied in your post. Hit return, image should pop up in a beat or two.

Gee, thanks for saying that. High praise indeed. I wish I could say it was the result of a long, arduous epic quest, but it literally fell out of the heavens right when I started playing again and about a week after I bought my first new J45 Studio. The Studio, for being a blind, clueless, impulsive purchase at GC, I lucked out and is a super decent player. I saw the DIF model when I was researching Gibsons after I got home with the Studio, (I had no idea what I bought) and thought well, gosh, that was “a dream guitar, maybe someday.” Idly checked if one was available, just to see what they cost, but nothing was available in the market, plus oof, the previous sold prices! Poked around for a few days, then gave up, figuring it would happen someday maybe. Then about a week later tried again for the fun of it, and this one popped up. I guess I was on the phone within minutes of Carter posting it. That’s a whole ‘nother embarrassing newbie story, chuckle. Suffice it to say, Carter is all class and incredibly patient. I didn’t even realize it was a little different when I bought it. 🙄 I am amazed by it everyday. I am striving to again become the player it deserves.

Cool! I have no clue, but just suggesting you might want to make this a new post to get fresh eyes on it. There is a also a Gibson amp forum and a repair forum that might be able to point you in the right directions. Folks will chatter about other gear frequently.

Nah, no reason to think there is anything wrong… Gibson will be the best source to decipher what the code is and give the intel they have on the guitar. They are really cool if you dial 1-800-4GIBSON. I’ve done it several times with things I want/need to be sure of. They are always friendly about helping you out. Happy for you! Enjoy!

It’s an Autumn burst. 2017. The color is a little softer than the pic, more auburn lightening to honey brown. Not as bright like cherry, but reddish warm undertones in the brown. Real pretty. According to the Gibson CS rep, it was a small run for Sam Ash, Hollywood.

I think you can just link to images in your flickr account? I only use imgur. The important thing is Gibson just doesn’t let us paste images directly here. Too much band width and storage.

I wasn’t going to say it 😄 I did go in and visit with my DIF after reading this thread yesterday

Use Imgur or other photo sharing site to post your pictures. You load the pic there, then there is a place grab the direct link and paste it here in your post. And when you post the link it will connect with the photo site. Good luck, and hope every day keeps getting a little better for you.

Huh. it doesn’t help that Gibson switches things up. I’d be really interested if you have a good modern source. I’ve been using the old model ID post threads here and some rather dated online guides. As always, Just calling/writing Gibson is the most reliable.

Model numbers are a code, and can be a bit of a game to decipher. my take it’s saying ES 339, the second 9 is tricky (could it be a g?), but the L is probably for laminate, C could either be the neck shape, it has a C neck, or CB for the burst color, then it looks like NH=Nickel hardware, and 1 for 1st quality. I’m not familiar with all the burst names, but think something like cinnamon burst, or coffee burst, etc. Gibson should be able to tell you if you call them. It’s a sweet one!

Hmmmm, okay that is very interesting… I see what you are saying after a quick google. Or, was there an “f-hole” die being sold that the manufacturers were using? Or is the whole Cromwell/Gibson thing a canard, and Kay was actually jobbing for Gibson, who was just wholesaling them under the Gibson distributorship. In fact I just found a Kay with nearly an identical burst, just a birch build and slightly different binding. Hmmmmmm again.

Nod, there are a couple mentions that higher end models actually had a carved top. The extra inlay points to it being a “better budget” model. Folks could order these from department stores, and Cromwell is mentioned as being the “best” appointed of the hidden Gibson brands, so I could see, kinda like what happens with Epiphone, somebody would maybe up-order a budget model Cromwell, to be more in line with a mid-level Gibson. Interesting the Gibson L-10 specs for 1936 sports very similar but larger triangle inlays, and the checkerboard binding of the Cromwells 6s for that year. So I could see this being a “higher end” Cromwell built on the chassis of a maybe a toned down L-10. A couple sites mention Cromwell FONS appearing to have the same batch number as Gibsons. So it seems they were built in mixed batches. I could see if a SO for a Cromwell came in, it could get a carved top, but dumbed down appointments, like smaller inlays and the attached fretboard, to cut the cost. In any case, it’s a surprisingly great sounding guitar. I’d really like to compare it to a same period Gibson.

Nod, probably. I wish there were other references out there that weren’t so “resale” motivated. I’m not buying guitars to pad my 401k, I just want to know about them cause “history is kewl.” 😄 And yeah, it was well below our imposed price limit. Less than a new electrified entry level Gibson G-series, but already lightly “Murphy labbed” 😆

God help us… A week after the Lucille, this fell into our laps (well okay, we had to drive an hour yesterday to catch it before it hit the floor.) Cromwell c1935-1938/39. One of the house brands made by Gibson in Kala. Sitka/maple, solid mahogany neck that tapers to a vee, RW fretboard, abalone markers but celluoid skunk stripe. Adjustable bridge Been researching the heck out of it but can’t find any comps. It’s at least a G6, because of the upgraded markers, but with the fancier abalone headstock inlays, and the one reference I found for one made with maple, it is moving into G-8 territory. It appears to have a real carved top, since I think I can feel a bevel moving towards the edge. The back is arched too, but I think that was pressed? It seems mighty uniform, but solid wood. However, the fret board is attached to the body, which is common to 4s? or maybe 6s. While Gruhn’s doesn’t give Cromwell any love, I don’t think he played this one… It’s warm and loud, Gibsony sounding with a nice bluesy plunk if you handle it right. I’d love to get my hands on some period Grossman’s catalogues to figure out what it is. We think this is towards the end of production because the 6s and 8s originally had fancier checkerboard perfling, and were mahogany. Speculating maybe later into the Depression, importing mahogany was getting to be too pricey. Maple was cheap and local. They sure took advantage with that softer burst. Most images have super dark bursts, probably to camo the cost effective woods used in these guitars. Any knowledge you guitar encyclopedias could provide we’d love to hear. In any case, it will probably get even better when we get the strings swapped and that gross fingerboard cleaned up. But that will be a weekend project. Came with a cool prewar tone bar, and a temp nut to convert to slide in the alligator cardboard case.

Okay, I can’t stand it. Jumping in with a reality check: It’s simple to do the math: The SG standard in 1961 cost $265.00. In today’s dollars, thanks to inflation, this an equivalent list price of $2,768.16. You can buy a brand new ‘61 standard reissue for $2,399, and a modern version for $2,499. Gibson mainline prices have actually dropped, and in comparison are more affordable than they were “back in the good ol’ days.” All hail the CNC machines.

Nod, your eye is correct. I did call Gibson just to be sure, and they confirmed the guitar and serial number is right, even though it is after the changeover to 9 digits. Even told me where it was originally sold, so makes sense it ended up in a shop here. I also got a chance to chat with the guy who bought it for the shop. His story is it came from a widow, whose husband played it in jazz bands for years and accounts for the honest ‘relic-ing’.

Great click. And kinda astounded how small it looks on him! I didn’t realize he was such a tall guy. It’s just tucked under his forearm. I’m reaching my whole arm all the way over. Probably not the most ergonomically correct guitar for us, but man it sounds so nice, I’ll put up with the shoulder strain, 😁

Oh, thanks, I thought you were talking about mine 😁 And, I’m crawling down off the roof. We just found another 2006 with an 8 digit number with the “artist series” paperwork for model just like ours made in August. By 2007, it looks like they completed the changeover to 9 digits. Still calling the mothership in the morning to be sure.

Okay, Okay,… geeze rub a little harder why don’t you, chuckle…