PrairieDog

Okay, I found the thread. What are you picking up? The serial number? Yeah, just double checked and realized mine has an 8 digit number. Guess I’ll be calling Gibson in the morning. I’m seriously hoping it is just a matter of something getting caught in the 2005 serial number change over to 9 digits, maybe because it was a custom? Geeze, this party didn’t last long… sure plays and sounds nice for a fake…

Two weeks ago I swore I would not buy another guitar 😆

But you gotta ask why would they? They can all make much cheaper guitars a lot cheaper, and get a decent volume going. Doing this kind of high end detail work is still gonna take a whole lot of time, plus then you gotta find the marks to buy it… There are much easier ways to make a scam buck in the third world. As to falling apart in a month, gee, CaliforniaMan’s is 15 years old… The corollary in the art world, no one is forging the Mona Lisa or Guernica, because everyone knows them. The bad dudes are forging up the mid-level name artists that are harder to verify. Mocking up a top end guitar is too easy to get caught just because there are too many tells and checks. Like I said, if someone is that determined to fake somebody, and the person doesn’t do the research to tell if something is off, then hard lessons are at least lasting lessons.

I figure if someone wants to go to all the trouble to do all the triple binding, gild the hardware, do all the wiring for the multi switches and varitone, and add meticulous inlay just to fake a guitar so it looks exactly like the catalog beauty shot, then I say, more power to them? 😁

Niiice! I’m thinking I’m finally starting to sort the models out. Your headstock must be the marker of a CS model? Initially I thought all Lucilles were custom shop if they had the blocks and inlay. But mine just has a normal serial number, no CS at the front mentioned in the Gibson guide. So, just found the 2006 Custom catalogue which has our model shown in the Artist Collection. So it is a ‘custom’ just not an extra special “custom shop.” Geeze, Gibson can we be any more capricious in our models?

I get it, it can be a hoot!

I was fooling around and kinda like 2 and 3. Right now, just to get started we are playing through the gimmicky Fender T-25 with all the preset tone modeling. “But I WANT to stomp on pedals!” 😆 It was super cheap and we are just playing through one of the open channels with no modifications to get used to the guitar. There are some kinda fun channels, and some dark spaces that are luring me back to my head banger days 😁 Still, I am looking forward to getting a nice old tube amp worthy of the guitar.

Wow, that’s purty! Do you know what year? I see you have the stereo plugs too. I guess they changed to a single jack at some point? My 2006 has a black case with BB King stenciled on… but it’s pretty rough too. Even a replaced handle.

Well gosh, just finished up its “welcome home” polish, and wow! I knew it was grungy, but a lot of what looked like wear/scratches was just schmutz. Even the beans polished back up nice. Not glass-case-feel-guilty playing it perfect, but sincerely less cooty/distressed looking! Still gotta get to the fretboard, but huffed too much guitar polish, so gotta take a break. But I have high hopes I’m gonna have the same results there, which will really spiff her up.

Didn't yours have the bb kingh with the crown in the middle? I thought that was the special birthday issue? Geeze, it is so hard to figure out all the lineages.

Yeah, flashy when new, but sure can look sad when they get on in years. We might pop for new covers at some point. I was going to say, from our research your red one was one of the “special” models… I don’t think many of them were made. I did like the look of yours. Ours just has a standard serial number, not even one of the CS or signature ones.

There are a couple deeper scratches on the front, some light finish wear that shows where the an owner liked to hang out up in the cutaways, and the gilding on the pups and bridge and tuner buttons is a bit sad, and no papers, so it’s out of the “collector” market. Strictly a player but for hundreds less than a J-45 Standard so we’re feeling pretty good about it.

Hey folks, it happened, we’ve been dragged over to the dark side and this came home with us. It’s a 2006, grungy, cosmetically banged up, but works perfect. Priced less than one of the acoustic/electric hybrids we were looking at to dip our toe into electric. Not a museum piece, and that’s about our speed since I barely remember how to plug in. Despite the scary comments from the naysayers the varitone is really fun, but we spent a good amount of time studying what it does and doesn’t do. The tone scoops (which I think is what some folks are calling the tone suck) make for some cool tones when dialed in with the amp. Way more guitar than we know what to do with right now but we expect to grow into it. Kinda like getting a Ferrari right after passing your driving exam. 😄

Excactly! You can always add pickup system to any acoustic guitar for volume if you need it. If you are just looking for a loud guitar, without caring about tone, there are around a zillion electrics that will give you that. And just mentioning, if you want bass forward, our bassiest guitar isn’t a Gibson at all. We have to actually dampen the bass when we plug it in. Though if I wanted to fake a simple bass line, I probably could. The tone woods are sinker redwood top over rosewood on a dreadnaught body a bit smaller than a j45. However, you probably aren’t looking in the direction of that often dissed “newer” brand.

Wow.

So where does art “start” in a guitar’s design to the point it becomes useless as an instrument? Chapman showed you can stick some pick-ups and strings on a stick and it’s a guitar. Steinberger went for a 2x4 with a neck. So why does a Les Paul have the hump? That’s not functional. What about legs on a Vee? Sure the horns on Strats and SGs allow some reach, but that is to compensate for the neck being designed to land in the middle of that rounded body shape. All of this in a guitar is “design” aka art. Who needs a burst? A Gold top? Flamed Maple? Gold/black/nickel tuners? Inlay/purfling…? None of that adds to the playability. But they sure “look” good. So where you gonna draw the line to where it’s not a playable guitar anymore? If someone wants to thrash one of those pieces on the stage and bang it all up… hey, they could, shrug. It’s still a working guitar. Just cause you would assume it should be in a glass case, doesn’t mean it has to be. And of course, you know Picasso did do a whole line of ceramics meant for use…. Vases, platters, bowls… Some lucky folks bought them at the local department store in the 60s for retail. Now they are worth five figures if they are still intact after being used…. even then, chipped they still get you a few thousand. Not bad for a beater plate. Each his own…

Anything that takes creativity and artistry lights me up. If you have ever seen an “art car” parade, you get what is going on here. Of course those are just “cars” but the art takes them to another plane. Nobody requires anybody to like every work of art in the world, but you can appreciate the effort behind it and recognize other people might dig it. In this case, his talent and sense of design are pretty impeccable, and real master-craftsmanship. Among an entire group of gems, that Mediterranean one is perfect. And how great is it that Gibson gives him free rein and actively supports the work by finding the right bits when needed. That is a cool company ethic. Are these very expensive guitars you can play? Sure. Do they go beyond that and become works of art? Definitely. I don’t get what anyone would think is wrong with that?

Nice post, thanks

Oh, I’m not!! I own three now, including a 1890s Gatcomb I just picked up (maybe a frankenbanjo, but the neck and pot are for sure old). It needs to be switched over to gut strings for neck safety. It’s got steel on right now, which means I can’t play it for more than a few minutes.

Fwiw, Our GC is have a “bring us your gear event” today. Saying they will pay 1,000 cash with the balance for anything higher in a check. I have no idea what you’d have to bring in to get even 1G, probably a real vintage 59 LP, 😄… but they are buying here, in any case. And we may be single handedly propping up the used market and I’m not complaining too much about the slump for sellers. The last 12 instruments we’ve bought have all been used. And yeah, we’re getting pretty good prices when I check against the historical sold comps. And today we maybe going to check out a custom j45 model that sold on reverb for $2,600 11 years ago (over $3,500 in today’s dollars.) It’s priced at $2,600. So yeah, maybe not a great investment, but it’s great guitar if you want to play one.

And for those of us who have the issue, coated strings are a lifesaver if you have a metal allergy…. I thought I was dead in the water 2 weeks after getting my first guitar, when I read a thread that suggested trying p/b coated. I don’t mind the sound of the elixirs, and that a good thing, since I don’t have any other choice. Do the guitars sound their absolute best? I won’t ever know… but otherwise I’d be stuck playing the gut string banjo now.

Oh for sure… There is nothing like it, it’s beautiful, I just learned a bit more about it today, and that I shouldn’t have been expecting it to compete with the boomier guitars

Hey, thanks everyone! After reading all these comments I am just chiming in to say I’m seconding the idea the maple may be to blame. And, you all set my mind right about my DIF. Since I picked that up early in the spree, I’ve noticed, even being the largest body we have, I was thinking it was sounding quiet, a bit of a wall flower, in comparison with smaller guitars with RW or mahogany, including the little 12 fret L1 archtop. It still sounds dreamy unplugged, but now I have an explanation why it doesn’t hold the center in a jam. I will give it more love as a solo instrument, and stop thinking of the quietness as a tiny disappointment. As always thanks for the great info.

Elderly is great too. My Pisgah banjo came from them, but it was “new.” (A 2017 that got lost in the back room 🙂) And regarding dealing with places like Elderly and Carter being faster, chuckle, I was talking with the Carter guy about the DIF within hours of it being listed, and it was paid for and shipped out that day. Same thing with my Banjo, I hear (Christmas present) It went up, it went out the door.

Carter Vintage does consignments and often deals in rarities/high end stuff. Call and ask their opinion on it? My DIF was a consignment from Carter’s, and at least as a buyer they were great to work with.