PrairieDog

So we took a day trip down the river to a big store on Saturday to pick up a nice, well-mannered 1930s National Duolian for my spouse’s birthday. While we were there, I got to try a bunch of Gibsons, including a ML Hummingbird. Wow, that was quite a bit of a let down. The sound to my ears (which are admittedly damaged) was just “meh” and I was pre-hyped to love it before I picked it up. Also, I now know I’m not a fan of “relic-ing.” If that is what this was. I wish I had thought to take a picture, but the finish had this weird orange peel texture to it, and the back had big, strange “swoopy/swirly” finish crazes in it. Not the regular checking you would expect from old wood fibers expanding and contracting in a logical pattern. This was like somebody took a razor cutter and dragged it around like a tiny ice skater on the back of the guitar. Or maybe they were trying to make it look like it was used to play “spin the bottle” on a tilt-a-whirl. It all made zero sense in the physics of how wood ages or even as faux patina. So, a long day, but at least I have confirmed apparently I like my old looking stuff to come by it honestly. Or like others have said, I want to beat it up myself, so I only have myself to blame and the memories of good times. So there, one more build option to cross off to help narrow the way too wide field.

Purty!!

Holy crap that’s gorgeous. Okay, yeah, I’m a sucker for that sort of inlay. Love to trot that out in front of the old metal crew, lol. (Would have to spend my time travel allowance on that, chuckle)

I can’t offer anything useful, but just wanted to say, as an employer who also gets it, congrats on the nice bonus, and for working for somebody who recognizes how the money gets made. Good job!

Nice thoughts, great song, thanks Eminor for the thread, and the echos in the comments.

I know what you are getting at, the familiarity/ability to make the instrument an extension of yourself, rather than just an attachment. However, in this head to head, it seems like we are also seeing/hearing very different/maturity skill sets. I’m going to be far more tentative than any of you, just because I don’t have the chops back in my fingers again, yet. But it has nothing to do with being afraid of “hurting” or damaging my DIF, I just have to do too much “thinking” about what comes next when I play, as I rebuild muscle memory (50 years and too many bonks on the head since my career was sidelined in those poor choices of youth.) Until I get past that part, I’m not going to have any semblance of fluidity or “easy” with my guitars. The happy bit for me is the connections are being reforged exponentially faster as I’m getting it all back in my bones. It’s an amazing gratification when I’m noodling around without thinking and some little riff gem pops through and I can yell, “THAT’S IT!” Then I proceed to flog it to death because it feels so good, chuckle.

If you are sincerely asking and not just being incredulous we are reduced to this (as I am), it’s another dated, playground pejorative deployed by a certain excitable group against the other side who usually just respond “I’m rubber, you’re glue…”

…And left behind in the pandemic? I didn’t realize folks were were still dragging that chestnut out. I’ve never heard it used with either sex, and linking it to smashing guitars is kinda awkward… Really, one could say most musicians have an over-developed sense of entitlement since we usually believe everyone wants to hear our noise.

”Patina!”

oops, You’ll have to make the link public or upload it here from your device. Great thread you’ve got here, and I’m really enjoying following this bit. Thanks for sharing. Hoping the interview brings opportunities you enjoy. Keep us in the loop, no matter where the adventure takes you, we all got your back and are rooting for you to find a satisfying space there. (Btw, just went through my mental list of folks to see if I knew anyone who moved to Manchester from the TC. Okay, we’re not that small a town, lol. But too bad about them Twins, right?)

the XS’s are where I have to stick for now. Steering clear of nickel after I forgot about my little allergy. Gotta say I really happy I found a solution with the D’darrios. Otherwise I was looking at a very short end to my career. Good to hear there are alternatives for the folks though.

Grin, I have been gathering that… I just haven’t gotten to see everyone’s pretties…yet. Looking forward to admiring them all as I get to know you all better. (And maybe resist trying to keep up, 😆)

Chuckle, I totally understand. Not guitars, yet. But years back we amused ourselves by acquiring a little collection of regional artists, mostly historic era works, that could lay the foundation for a small museum. We have no kids, so we are in the same boat pondering what to do with it all as time grows slowly, but inextricably, shorter… So far all we have come up with is asking the siblings, who are totally uninterested and completely clueless, “to please just don’t throw the art in the dumpster, call a gallery.” And of course, even after we swore off getting “one more piece,” we still are occasionally lured by sirens to crash on the rocks. It’s a hard bruising battle.

Just saying “thanks.” We were getting self-concious about our rapid acquisitions when we had to pop for the 6 case rack while organizing our new music room (converted inconvenient dining small room we never used). I just showed my spouse your pics. We are relaxing a bit. “Okay we have a ways to go!” 😁 Great collection.

May I ask what year? The one I’m circling is a 74 so I’m a bit leery. It has been hanging on the wall for a while now (long enough to start entertaining offers) so if it were the decent deal it looks to be, I imagine it should have been snatched up by now, everything else being in order. OTOH, the tiny shop is primarily a folky place, banjos/dulcimers, mandos, etc. they don’t do a huge used guitar biz, and I think it is in the higher end of their offerings. Plus it was just one local listing on their FB page that brought it to my attention. Anyway, I’m curious if yours is a 70s? I read on some review site that the 200s can have a better track record than the other builds of that era because they were higher end models and weren’t churned out like the workhorses, but that could also be “web speak.” One tick for this one, like yours, it has a subtle carved wood bridge, not the crazy plastic mustache one of late, chuckle. “Not that there is anything wrong with that!” (Before I get letters, lol) It’s a bit of a hike down there for me, so if it’s another 70s problem child (I keep running into them on other models) I kinda want to save the time. If yours is a 70s, that will be the kick I need to go visit.

Nod, spouse has a Taylor Grand Theater Urban Ash and it is the only other Taylor I can happily hear played (besides the 324 I mentioned with the mahogany top/urban ash back) It has really a lovely warm tone for a Taylor. I was leery when they went to try it, but I was going to be brave if that was what they wanted, I was just excited they wanted to learn to play and I wasn’t going to do anything to get in the way. Again, we had no idea when we came home with it what it was or what “urban ash” meant, but we were happily impressed when we read they were salvaging American ash trees that needed to be removed. Nice program and it does make sweet guitars. Oh banjos are just stage hogs, lol. (I actually am looking to pick one up. I’ve had some fun with the ones I’ve picked up.)

Love this. Poetry… thanks for some beautiful imagery

So, here’s a coincidence. I was just searching SJ 200s yesterday because a little shop in my area has a 70s model on consignment for 3,700 and is now taking offers. Doing my research ahead of time for once, I happened to come across this, from Romania even, chuckle. Not an Elvis fan, I am happy to step aside and offer this rare opportunity up to the board. Let the scrum begin… lol. https://reverb.com/item/74241938-1996-gibson-custom-shop-j-200-elvis-presley-signature?bk=eyJhbGciOiJIUzI1NiJ9.eyJqdGkiOiI2ODBhYjYxNC04ODNiLTQ2MDQtOWIzYi1hNmYxYTExZmMzNWYiLCJpYXQiOjE2OTY2MzEzNTMsInVzZXJfaWQiOiIiLCJzZXNzaW9uX2lkIjoiZTQ1MWUyM2ItODU1NS00YTUzLTkxNzQtYmFkMTNhODM1ZTI0IiwiY29va2llX2lkIjoiYzQ3ZjM1YWEtMDAwYi00OWUwLTkxYWItMjA5YTIwOTZhMDk2IiwicHJvZHVjdF9pZCI6Ijc0MjQxOTM4Iiwic291cmNlIjoiTk9ORSJ9.-gIfwdtgnNyIltH9VhoLT9-r956JOV91rPJPSjnUn-E

My J 45 walnut studio has a really nice balanced sound through the whole range. I didn’t know it at the time (not knowing what I bought) but when I looked it up, they said it’s good for recording because of it, and I would guess that would be true. And walnut is kinda cool looking. I didn’t give a thought to the appearance at the time I just saw “brown” guitar. Until I carried it to the check out. It was late on a Saturday night and the usual suspects were hanging around chatting up their buddies still working. The grizzled guy amusing the kid working the register with war stories saw the studio in my hand and started gushing all over it, saying he had never seen figuring like that and, “what the heck is that?” Startled, and clueless, looking blankly at the helper elf checking us out, I let him have a closer look. As he was turning it over and whistling, I took a second to actually “see” the thing and appreciated it is kinda cool looking, and okay I maybe puffed up just a little bit. (I’m still not sure if he wasn’t the just professional shill they have on hand to make the newbies feel like they made a good choice, lol.) Like I said, it was done on a lark and I had no idea what I was looking for other than finding something that sounded nice. I had no idea how complicated “buying” a guitar could really become, lol.

I’ve gathered that. You comments are always well measured and on note.

A relative newbie, I can’t say I picked my woods, I just kinda fell into them. I spontaneously bought my j 45 studio (sitka/walnut) because it was the best sounding guitar in our Guitar Center that evening. I did luck out for a first guitar and buying blind. It is a great balanced sounding guitar. My sitka/maple DIF was bought used on line, so never played it, just lusting after one. I hoped and trusted it would sound as good as the demo videos (and actually better, grin.) However, a few months after we stopped in GC for some strings and there was a fellow noodling around on a used Taylor 324 builder’s edition. Full disclosure, Taylors are NOT my taste, something about their timbre with all those trebly highs attacks my 1970s metal annihilated ears like finger nails on a blackboard. Anyway, this one sounded really nice and rich. I had to do a double-take when I asked what he was playing. I heard him say “Taylor” but figured I misheard. I mention it here because the 324 has a Mahogany top over an Urban Ash body/sides. After the fellow left, I played it myself and was kinda taken with it. I went home and found myself thinking about it, and couldn’t shake it. Always a sign something got to me. Went back to GC to try it again, thinking it must have been a fluke. Nope, still sounded great. I nearly bit, but psyched myself out rationalizing the discount wasn’t that great, and while it’s nicer entry level, it’s still pretty mass produced. So I hesitated again, thinking I could pick up a new one on sale some time for about the same price. I put it back once more, went home, then started second guessing myself after reading a bunch of posts here about how when you meet a guitar you really like grab it if you can, since you can’t guarantee the next one will sound the same, and caught a bad case of FOMO. I went back a couple of days later and yeah, it’s gonna be the one that got away.

Okay, but this doesn’t explain how my DIGITAL tuner is simply “mishearing” the sharpness? I’m not basing any of this on my hearing. it’s a high quality, non-headstock tuner, using the physics of sound-waves, detecting the out-of-tune states that is reporting. Once I scrapped tuning right off the stand, the “problem” was solved. My guitar goes in tune once I work it for a minute or two. To your other points claiming inert materials can’t respond to being played and affect tune? I’m not sure I’m following that? Anyone who has worked with wood and metal knows that the physical properties react depending on temperature and how much you “flex” the materials. Warm, damp wood is more resilient to breaking than dry, frozen wood (just ask anyone trying to build a camp fire in Minnesota in January vs August.) Bend a room temperature piece wire enough the friction from the vibration and force will cause it to break. But apply heat and you can create intricate wrought iron designs, bedsprings, or damascene swords. But apply too much heat, and too much force, it goes brittle and breaks. So the physics say, the vibration of sound waves through a guitar body, by strumming the strings is causing friction (heat) among the molecules in each component, however undetectable outside of lab instruments. Strings don’t break just because they feel like it, they are snapping to due metal fatigue from prolonged vibration (heat) combined with prolong tension (force). So, it only stands to reason that a guitar, under the friction from the vibrations of being played is going to warm up. If the term “wake up” is too poetic for these physical reactions, hey, I’m a bit of a colorful romantic. but all I can say is I haven’t had to touch my pegs for 4 days now.

I always like to stop in shops too, and distract myself when dealing with drs and such. Really nice “after appointment lollipop” you got there! 😄 Here’s to a successful procedure and a super fast recovery. Revel in the excuse to drink all the malts you want!

Yeah, it’s sitting out on the stand, not in the case, as I said. I did an update that proved my theory was right. it’s not out of tune at all, just stiffened up. I haven’t had the “initial sharp/tune down/strum once/now it’s flat/tune back up” routine since I started just strumming a few times and warming it up. Takes like literally 30 seconds. Much happier.

Chuckle, found this on Reverb. https://reverb.com/item/69343757-rare-gibson-brazilian-rosewood-back-only-made-for-the-heritage-model-made-in-kalamazoo-probably-1965-68 Every time I drive by some homemade garage or auction sale sign I can’t stop at, I always figure there’s a dusty pre-war J45 marked 10.00 tucked under one of the card tables.