PrairieDog

Sarge, I never said they were. Come on, it was a josh about “attitudes” and some insisting their guitar was glued together in luthier heaven by angels. Let’s just let my lame joke die a natural death, okay?

Huh, maybe this makes used guitars from the polar regions marginally more desirable? We tend to be trapped in long sleeves for like 9 months out of the year. I wonder if that’s why I don’t see haze on any of my guitars, including that 1910 I just picked up.

Are you guys looking at the same guitar? Dave F said his at Dave’s was 3750. US. That’s only a tweak over 5,000. CDN

yeah, I was just tweaking at the snark that is often cast at Taylor for being “mass produced,” and observing obviously everyone is using tech these days. Some Martin folks feel there is some handmade mystique and want to believe their line-run guitars are somehow different because they are built by “Martin.” I’m just being cheeky. No real offense intended to anyone.

I thought that 2019 date for the “special” stamp was weird since I thought I saw it mentioned earlier, but figured what do I know about Martins? I bet 2019 is when they instituted a standard policy, and before that it could be arbitrary, depending on the order if they got the stamp or not. Or, maybe just one of those forum myths, and I perpetuated it, chuckle. At the risk of blowing up an old dead horse…. To compare, I wonder how many guitars “mass-produced” Taylor made that year? Kinda hard to envision 84,000 guitars being made at luthier benches 😁 (Prairie Dog quickly dives back down the burrow, dodging the flames of Martin loyalists.)

Hi Rachel, it gets a little complicated with those 6 digit ones. If it’s legit, the year looks like it would be either 1968 or between 70-72. If yours has “made in USA” stamped on the back of the headstock, it’s post 1970. Whether it’s real or not, you’d have to post some pics (use imgur to link the photos). Lots of sharp eyed folks on here who know about that than I do. And they may be better with the date. I just checked what the reverb site says. You might want to start a new post in the acoustic room, you’ll likely get more eyes, since this is a pretty dead thread.

Found this on a discussion on the Martin Guitar forum: “The "SPECIAL" designation was introduced in 2019 for large dealer runs.” Some other folks said it didn’t have to be a large run, but just a run requested by a store with some tweak to the standard build. Probably the equivalent of my “Limited” Autumn Burst finish DIF done for Sam Ash.

Ici! les nouveautés: https://www.gibson.com/en-US/Collection/acoustic-custom-shop-modern 🤷‍♂️

Sometime between 72 and 79. With such a short run, I wonder if the year matters much? It’s not like having to sort through decades of originals and reissues. A quick google search shows what they are going for. On reverb you can see current and sold prices.

Wish I’d been more attentive to shows where Spider John was on the bill, but that was back when i was too stupid to appreciate what I was hearing.

Ils ne sont pas allés. C’est dommage.

Ouch. Bummer. And now I went and switched lanes with the L1. Figured it was gone when I didn’t get a reply to my case question. Sorry, man.

So, I probably should put on my glasses more often. I stand humbly corrected, tonight I was admiring carefully and yes, with my cheaters I can see there is the finest spiderweb of checking across the top, so ignore my earlier comment about it being pristine on front. Doesn’t change a thing for me, as you say, it just is.

Well, my main guitar has a 1.56 nut, so this is a bit of a change, chuckle. Amazingly the Adi on mine doesn’t have any checking, which I was really surprised by. Just a soft burnished look. I can’t see any evidence it was refinished, which I was initially suspecting. The back though has that fine pebbly “texture” that old mahogany gets, like I mentioned on my childhood door. Not checking or breaks but more like the resins in the wood and the finish just got wrinkly from all the partying over the years. Given Willies adjusted the floating bridge back just a titch to improve the intonation, I can see why they may have switched to an adjustable, to help with set up. I can’t imagine mine sounding much better. However, I just noticed my bridge has shifted a little to the tenor side, and my low E does seem a bit dull/flabby, I’ll tweak it back centered to see if that changes anything. It may have even happened since we brought it home. I don’t remember it looking like that in the store.

Thanks, Murph! I’m still wrapping my head around the label just saying “Guitar” in the blank for the model, and nothing in the style, since there weren’t any others, yet. It’s just “The Gibson Guitar.” If you wanted one, you bought that, period.

Thanks, I do love me some history, grin. same back at you!

That’s a sweet one, yours still has some gloss on it, mine is pretty satiny now. Yeah, the big V neck. Boy, it’s taking some getting used to. Switching back and forth between it and the Tenor banjo (with a neck the thickness of my thumb) I’m getting hand whiplash 😆

And the case!? AND the strap????!!!! Man, SCORE. yeah, you had no choice but to give that puppy a home. Congrats! And yeah, I’m gonna try finger picks, that might feel more natural. I just feel so detached using a regular pick.

Okay, those are all cool!! Love the banjos! I was just listening to Joe Spann talk about the RB and GBs. Really nice to see yours in that context. I’m just starting out on banjo, and I’m amazed at how fun they are. Not sure if you saw my post at the holidays, but I got gobsmacked by a Pisgah Possum (open back) by my honey. Amazing how different they sound. The Possum is a serious instrument I don’t deserve yet, but I’m making progress. It will melt butter it’s so smooth.

Cool! I’m jealous you have the case. mine is in a barely holding together ‘30s chipboard. I’m going to be on the hunt for something better, but I understand it might be a challenge. And yeah, I was having a tough time putting it down tonight. Curious, I’m a finger picker, but I tried a pick with it, and yeah…. Opened it up even more!

Thanks guys! This feels so much better than the now flown away songbird. I was just willing myself to like it because it showed up at our GC, since they don’t often get in vintage gear. I need to stop shopping guitars and concentrate on picking up a mic. The phone just doesn’t do any of them justice.

Chuckle, thanks. Yeah that color and texture actually seems like home, literally. The house I grew up in was built the same year and trimmed out with mahogany inside. The back of the guitar feels just like my bedroom door.

Thanks! I’m pretty stoked. Not actually as dry as I expected. I was braced for a really flat sound, but it actually has some good sustain/tonality on it. And it’s loud. Not modern, but it sure doesn’t hurt the ears. We’re hoping it’s gonna really bite into some delta blues. With the banjos it should be pretty fun.

Great!! It’s a good looking guitar. Glad it turned out so well. Had my fingers crossed for you! Strum on!

Finally made it down to Willies. Introducing our 1910 L1 (Plus bonus!) It’s in great shape, Willies repaired a couple cracks and a bit of binding, but otherwise it appears to be all original, even down to the Bakelite tortoiseshell celluloid tailpiece. I was buying mostly for the historical vibe and didn’t expect it to have much sound, but wow, it stands up to be heard very nicely! They did adjust the bridge back a smidge, so maybe that helped. Also, sometime in its life the back was taken off, maybe it was re-carved to help with the tone. Be kind to the other toy I picked up. That there is a 1926 TB1, save for the head, nice and original. (Including cobwebs in the pot, and dead life forms in the original case 😆It was out of the way and not even listed on the website, it was practically a give away. The trip to Willies treated me exceptionally well. Both these pre-wars came home for the credit from the poor Songbird returned to the pound.