dhanners623
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Posts posted by dhanners623
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Yes and no. There are times when you can feel the thoughts/words/lines coalescing and you know they'll soon reach critical mass and it is time to pull out pen and paper and start writing things down.
But the other side of that is writing is a discipline, in that you have to discipline yourself to write. I've read plenty of interviews with great songwriters in which they discuss their ritual of songwriting. They set aside a certain amount of time a day, at a particular time of day, and make themselves write. I remember reading an interview with the late Bill Morrissey (one of the greats) in which he said he shot for a verse a day. Keep that up for a week and you've got a song.
A few years back I was a finalist in Big Top Chatauqua's NxNW songwriting competition and the performer on the day of the competition was the late Jesse Winchester, another great. He met with the finalists before the competition and in an informal Q-and-A sitting around a table, he gave us his thoughts on songwriting. I took notes and while packing for our recent move, I stumbled upon them. On the subject of getting in the right frame of mind to write, he told us, "You have to shut the part of you off that pays the bills."
A couple of other quotes I jotted down:
"If you complicate what comes out of your heart, you've pretty much lost it."
He said to avoid chord changes that distract from the song. "Audiences don't care about chords."
Songwriting, he said, "is like solving a puzzle you made up yourself."
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Have a great time. Always liked Galveston, although the only times I was ever there I was covering hurricanes. Last time I was there, after the storm made landfall, I got stuck in an elevator in the federal building. Eight hours. Fortunately, I went to the restroom before getting on. Then the emergency generator gave out.
While sitting in the NOAA office there, I asked them if they had any data from the 1900 hurricane, the worst natural disaster in American history. One of the meteorologists went into a closet and brought out this old book filled with typed oral histories taken from survivors in the 1930s. (It was a WPA project.) They were riveting, scary, heartbreaking, fascinating and sometimes inspirational. And the rememberances of the "Death Gangs" -- African-Americans forced at gunpoint to collect the dead for burial at sea -- were sad. They were paid with whiskey. The bodies were loaded on barges, taken out into the Gulf, had rocks tied to them and then dumped overboard.
Physiology being what it is, nearly all the bodies began popping up to the surface after a day or two and the tides washed them ashore on Galveston. The Death Gangs were forced to collect them and burn them in giant pyres that burned for weeks.
The oral histories prompted me to write this. I've always wanted to go back and re-write/edit it, but just haven't gotten around to it yet.
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Also, that V-shaped line at the base of the headstock gives me pause. A finish crack or something worse? Or just odd light in the photo?
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Shouldn't the model number be stamped inside somewhere?
That's quite the lid on the case. (Speaking of which, get a case that fits the guitar better....)
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What Buc said. Acoustic guitars are idiosyncratic, and Gibsons are even more so. What sounds "good" (and "good" is subjective) on your guitar may sound lousy on mine, and vice versa, even though they are the same models. Add to that the player's individual style.
On my J-35, I switched out the plastic (ugh...) bridge pins for camel bone, and that was an improvement straight away. Last year, I got a Bob Colosi bone saddle and it, too, was an immediate improvement. The Tusq saddle that came with the guitar was ill-fitting and leaned in the saddle slot, so its bottom wasn't making full contact with the slot.
When I'm back in the U.S. this summer, I'm having the Tusq nut replaced with ebony. I just don't like Tusq (yes, I know people swear by it) but I want the sound and look of ebony. Plus, the original J-35s came with ebony bridges.
I'm also planning on having the UST taken out and going full-on acoustic.
I'll report back when it's all done.
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Thanks. Here in Kuwait, I keep my guitars humidified with Kyser soundhole pickups, and the guitars are in their cases when not being played. I've had no troubles in five years here. In looking at Casablanca's weather, I'll probably be better off there, humidity-wise.
Edit: Looking online, the average annual humidity in Casablanca hovers around 80 percent. It is fairly stable month-to-month. Here in Kuwait, the humidity can range from 40 percent up to 70 percent. No wonder my guitars feel schizophrenic....
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I'll be back in the U.S. this summer (and then we move to Casablanca) and while back home, I'm seriously thinking of getting a Farida OT-22 -- their take on the LG-2 -- to take to Morocco with me. Any owners here? If so, what are your impressions? Are they built to handle medium strings or do I have to go with lights?
Any pros and cons I should know before ordering? I could be ordering it as early as next Wednesday.
Thanks!
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I'm not much of a melodic songwriter. James Taylor claims the very same thing. Not that I'm James Taylor, mind you. But for me, the words always come first because songs have to tell a story. You have to get the story down pat before putting it to music.
Once I get the story, I'll start playing around with melodies in whatever key best suits the story and my voice. It is a hit-and-miss process. I've come up with progressions that I've liked, only to decide a few days (or a couple of years) later that I can come up with something better. Once you have the melody, then you can go back and edit the lyrics for meter, meaning and what Pat Pattinson refers to as "prosody." (If you're the least bit interested in songwriting, or in improving your songwriting, go to YouTube and watch Pattison's videos or visit his website: https://www.patpattison.com/)
At the other end of the spectrum are guys like Al Stewart. I've read where he'll have a melody (and he is a great melodicist) and walk into the studio with two or three sets of lyrics for each melody. Each lyric will be different. Then he'll record whichever one he feels works best. Given the quality of his songwriting, I'm guessing his "rejects" are better than 95 percent of what other people record.
It is a matter of finding your strength and going with it.
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Thanks for the report. Been a fan of him since the early '80s. Even hung out with him one evening in NYC a few years back. (He was appearing off-Broadway in a production of "The Exonerated," which features the story of a guy I helped get off Texas death row.)
We chatted about a lot of things over dinner and drinks (ice tea for both of us) and we talked Texas, capital punishment, music and guitars. He said he was in talks with Gibson to come up with a signature guitar. He said it would be a stripped-down J-45; I think I asked him, as a J-45 owner myself, how much more stripped-down can you get? He said he wanted it to be affordable. I guess nothing ever became of it.
Earle has a great work ethic.
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I'm contemplating having the pickup removed from my J-35. I sometimes think the UST becomes a crutch, if that makes any sense.
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You guys raise some excellent points. Much to mull.
I'm not sure this guitar will ever be part of the vintage/original market; I screwed that up when I had the pickguard removed and slapped on a lefty. And removed the original tuners. I can no doubt live with the headstock as it is.
I am, however, seriously considering de-electrifying the guitar. I'm moving back to the U.S. next month, and the places I'll be playing will be better equipped to mic an acoustic guitar. Here in Kuwait, you pretty much need a pickup because nine out of 10 soundguys have no clue how to mic an acoustic guitar.
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If you'll look at my avatar, you'll realize I'm the wrong person to answer this question. That particular headstock in my avatar doesn't look anything like the original headstock details of the 1950 J-45 that wears it.
I understand your desire to have the parts go together properly. If you can get someone to do a proper job of it, why not? I think (but could be wrong) that I've seen a few J-35 special editions with the "proper" late-30's logo.
I only have one modern banner headstock Gibson. Since it's on a 1943 SJ re-issue, it's fine.
Like you, I'm not crazy about seeing a banner logo on a guitar where it doesn't belong, but it's sometimes hard to draw the line.
I seem to want to recall that Gibson made some special J-35s for Chicago Music Exchange that carried the script logo on the headstock, without the banner.
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If you contact Dan Erlewine at StewMac, he can help you access your local print shop to create a 'frisket' (stencil) for restoring period correct logos. I went through it with my J50 but decided on the shortcut waterslide decal for now. No ethics involved.
My headstock came stripped so I black lacquered it, laid the decal down and sprayed 3 clear lacquer coats over it. You have to look close to see the decal perimeters, so it's OK for now.
danerlewine@gmail.com
I remember watching the video. I also remember the alacrity with which it was taken down....
I've scoped out some silkscreen shops in the area, but haven't approached any to get pricing, etc.
Here are the stencils I was referring to:
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-Gibson-SCRIPT-LOGO-STENCIL-1930s-1940s-/332980608326
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A quintessential first world dilemma.
Thank you for the insightful response. I think I conceded as much when I wrote, "Expense, vanity and common sense aside, are there any ethical considerations...."
And given that this is a Gibson forum, and Gibsons ain't cheap, virtually any issue discussed here is "a quintessential First World dilemma."
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Love my '16 J-35 but from an aesthetic standpoint, the historically incorrect banner headstock bugs me. Give me the plain black with white silkscreened script logo -- as the original J-35s had -- any day of the week.
I looked on the Tubes of the Internets and you can buy Gibson script logo stencils. So I'm wondering: Expense, vanity and common sense aside, are there any ethical considerations with having a repair person refinish the headstock and painting on the script logo?
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Ages ago, in the early '70s, Prune Johnson and I decided to climb in the car and head down to Nashville because neither of us had ever been there before. We got into town and as Dame Fortune would have it, there was a bluegrass show with several acts at the Ryman. We paid the paltry ticket price (it was the early '70s...) and were treated to a great show.
Lester Flatt came on with his band, The Nashville Grass, and it featured a 13-year-old kid on mandolin. He tore up the place. It was Marty Stuart.
Marty's been tearing up every stage he's ever been on. The guy's great.
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OK being a relative rookie at the guitar thing, 7 years now I have been trying to play, I am curious what is the "magic" of waverly tuners?Is it a looks thing or are they superior in keeping tune?
The "magic" is that they are exceptionally well made and tune very smoothly and precisely. There are a few different factors involved in whether a guitar stays in tune, but with Waverlys, tuners aren't one of them.
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I believe the point Sal is getting at..
Stay in your wheelhouse...
To quote that famous vocalist Leo Kottke after citing the example of Ethel Merman trying to sing disco: "An audience will forgive a wrong note, but they won't forgive an insincere note."
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You won't be disappointed....
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My wife would be happy to critique your performance. She can be pretty brutal critiquing mine and I've usually found that she's right....
The trouble with relying on others (particularly other performers) for an honest critique is that they want to recreate you in their image. They think you should do things the way they do it. They judge by what they know. That's not necessarily helpful.
My advice is go to a lot of open mics or shows and watch other performers and see what works and what doesn't. Try to analyze why a particular act seems to do well and why others don't, and then adopt as much of the good traits as you can. As others have noted, you have to be YOU, and you'll probably have a good sense of when you're doing well and when you're bombing. You'll develop your own style and approach, and that is something that only comes with time and experience playing in front of an audience.
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Anybody try Monel strings on their J-35’s? At least Those that feel the guitar actually lives up to Gibson’s standards.
Been using them on my J-35 since last summer. Love them. They take a day or two to settle in, but boy howdy, once they do, I really love the tone, volume and feel.
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Seems like there might also be a bit of a tip-of-the-hat to Ren's Orpheum series Guilds, built in New Hartford. Roundshoulder dreads were part of the series, as well as the cursive headstock logo.
But for my money, rather than get a MIC Guild, Westerly Guilds built from the early '70s to 2000 can often represent a very good value on the used market, and many of them are simply great guitars.
A few years ago when I decided to revisit my Guild past (had four of them in the '70s), I quickly ran into one fine sounding Westerly after another, and typically one great deal after another. Prices have gone up recently, so a little more patience may be required these days.
Wasn't one of those Orpheums a 12-fretter? I could really go for that. As I recall, from a purely aesthetic standpoint, the sunbursts looked pretty ugly.
In my youth, I owned a Guild F212NT. Great guitar and, yeah, if you want a 12-string, Guild set the standard. Then I realized I really wasn't much of a 12-string guitarist.
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Don't know if it has been discussed here before, but I stumbled across the Guild DS-240, a clear-as-day nod to Gibson slopes:
https://guildguitars.com/g/ds-240-memoir-2/
Anybody know anything about them? At a price below $700, I'm assuming they aren't built in the U.S. And they have a poly finish. But at that price, it could be a decent back-up for the budget-conscious picker.
I'd be interested in hearing if anyone has any personal experience with one. Most Guilds I've seen and played have been decent guitars.
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"You never get a second chance to make a first impression." -- Albert Einstein
Or maybe it was Oscar Wilde who said it. Or Will Rogers. Or an adman for Head & Shoulders shampoo.
Interesting that the OP would hold up two Canadian companies, Godin and Seagull, as great examples of guitars that are cheaper than Gibsons. I'd be interested to know how much Godin and Seagull have to contribute a year to their employees' healthcare. Oh, wait -- they're Canadian, so that's not an expense they have. Gibson does. And Gibson has other expenses of doing business in America. (And we can save the whole debate on living wages, taxes, etc., for later.) The bottom line is, Gibson builds in America, so they have those costs of doing business and companies have always passed those costs along to the consumer.
I'll note he didn't throw in Fender's acoustics, most of which are made in the North American country of Mexico. When Fender announced in January that it was going to start selling a U.S.-built acoustic, the American Acoustasonic Series Telecaster, it said it was going to cost about $2,000. That's $400 more than what I paid for my Gibson J-35 in 2016. One is an iconic slope-shoulder guitar from one of America's oldest guitar builders, while the other is an "acoustic" guitar for people who don't like acoustic guitars.
Apologies to Seagull, Godin and Fender acoustic owners, but Gibsons just tend to be better guitars.
Nobody is forcing anyone to buy a Gibson. If you don't think they are worth the money, don't buy them. Those other guitars may be nice, and you may find an occasional great one, just like you'll find an occasional Gibson that still thinks it's a tree. But my experience is that Gibsons are worth it.
I can't believe this is a discussion we're wasting precious brain cells on.
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Gig bag for larger Gibson acoustics?
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
Sorry, but gig bags are the guitar repairer's best friend. A quality instrument needs to be protected, especially when being transported.
That said, Gator lightweight cases (I've owned several) are a great compromise if you're looking for something that is light AND provides protection. They have handy shoulder straps so you can throw them over your shoulder. (Two days ago I was running through the airport in Dubai to catch a flight with my J-35 in a Gator case flung over my shoulder.)
Good luck in your search.