dhanners623
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Posts posted by dhanners623
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After a year in Manchester, I’ve finally gotten an actual paying gig, opening for (or “supporting,” as they say in the U.K.) up-and-coming Sony Music Nashville act Tyler Booth. It’s next Monday night at the Night & Day Cafe, if you’re in town. He’s doing his first tour of the U.K. and Ireland.
He made his debut on the Grand Ole Opry in June. Going from photos and videos, he appears to be a Gibson guy — a J-200 and an SJ. (He also appears in an old photo with a Taylor, but hey, nobody’s perfect….) Strung up my J-35 with some DR Sunbeams this afternoon.
I’m not really what I’d call “country” and I’m not entirely sure why the promoter picked me (aside from my begging and groveling) but I’ve dug out my best “black dirt country” songs — I am from rural East Central Illinois, after all — and I will give it my best shot.
Will report back later….
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On 7/5/2023 at 3:25 AM, Larsongs said:
What is the difference between a J45 std & the J35? Materials look similar.. I’m guessing Bracing & other upgrades.. But, what are they?
Thanks
The main difference is the bracing. The J-35’s bracing is scalloped forward-shifted. Some people consider the J-45 to have a “warmer” sound; I’m not one of them. I’ve owned both (currently have a J-35) and I think the ‘35 is better for fingerstyle, but it has that classic Gibson “thump” when you play rhythm.
Guitars — particularly Gibsons — are idiosyncratic, though, so it is hard to generalize about sound. I prefer my J-35 to the J-45s I’ve owned, though.
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You can get a used (“pre-owned”?) J-35 for under $2K. They’re very nice and many come with pickups.
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1 hour ago, slyfox said:
So it sounds like it's not that intrusive to remove them but I do take issue with having to likely replace a saddle and probably end pin...then somehow carefully remove glue to take out the electronics I'm never going to use...that's a lot of monkeying around on a brand new $5399 CDN (plus tax) guitar. I might option to leave them in...
In my opinion, Gibson tends to cater a lot to its storied history so I'm surprised they jam electronics in all of their acoustics because to me it takes away from its heirloom quality, specifically on an otherwise acoustic instrument. They should take a lesson from Martin and make it standard without and an option with. I think all Taylor models are available without electronics but Gibson you have to take it.
It also seems I'm not alone in wanting their guitars without electronics so you might think it would be worthwhile to run a focus group with their consumers. Even if you wanted electronics, pickups are such a personal thing why not just leave it out instead of trying to please everyone with a one size fits all.
The other consideration is that pickups continue to evolve. Today’s must-have pickup may be tomorrow’s outdated technology. I’m old enough to remember when some players (including Ricky Skaggs, as I recall) cut holes in the upper bouts of some vintage guitars to install the then-cutting-edge Takamine volume and tone slider controls panels. That was nigh-well irreversible.
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7 hours ago, Larsongs said:
I’ve owned my Martin D-35 since new in 1975… It sounded great new & has improved even more over the years.. The Guitar weighs about 4 1/2 lbs +/-…
About 8-9 years ago I sent it to Martin for Warranty work, refret & a hole repair.. Which was superbly done.. I asked about adding Electronics as I’m a performing Musician & dislike Mic’ing my Acoustic Guitar.. I’m also a Lead Vocalist & do play other Guitars.. There’s just too much clutter on Stage with extra Mics… Martin added their System & I noticed no difference in the Sound unplugged.. The weight is unnoticeable as well. The convenience & sound is great..
All that would be covered in my introductory qualifier, “While pickup systems differ….”
I know some folks don’t like miking their guitars, but players in the bluegrass world (or us folkies) don’t really view the mic stands as “clutter.” I can see how others would, however, and some players just like to move around a lot, which miking a guitar precludes. And the fact is, regardless of what we think about valuable or vintage instruments, audiences really don’t care about the sound of an acoustic guitar. Except for a few gearheads, their judgment comes down to, “I can hear it just fine” or “It’s too loud/quiet.” Ninety-nine percent of the audience doesn’t care if you’re playing a pre-war D-28, a Kalamazoo Gal J-45 or a cheap Asian import. It’s all the same to them: “acoustic.”
(The above doesn’t necessarily apply for some artists who audiences go to see particularly for their virtuosity and tone. I never saw Tony Rice or Norman Blake — or even Gordon Lightfoot — plug in. Conversely, folks like Molly Tuttle and Billy Strings do plug in.)
So for me, it’s a question of how my guitars sound when I sit around playing them. The J-35 felt lighter and, to my ears, sounded better after the pickup/battery/volume&tone control were removed. If I want to play out, I stick the M1 in it. When I do that, the audience doesn’t care if I’m playing the J-35 or my M1-equipped Farida OT-22, which cost a quarter of the J-35 (and sounds pretty decent unplugged).
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5 hours ago, Larsongs said:
Why would you want to bother removing? Just don’t use it.. If you ever sell you’ll lose money or have to reinstall.. Too each his own I guess…
I find the Electronics a huge “Plus” & use for playing live & recording.. In some cases I also add Mics & get a great blended Sound.
While pickup systems differ, I’ve never had a guitar sound worse after removing a pickup. They always sound better. Isn’t that our aim? You’re better off anytime you can remove whatever is between the saddle and the floor of the saddle slot. Plus, if they are active pickups, there’s probably a 9V battery stuck in the guitar somewhere. Getting rid of all that weight is a big plus. And let’s face it — we play our guitars unplugged the great majority of the time.
When I play out (probably two or three times a month currently) I much prefer to amplify the guitar with a mic. Just sounds better. That’s not always possible, though, so I carry a Baggs M1.
I know some folks here buy and sell guitars at the drop of a hat, but I don’t, so I’m not worried about resale value.
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I had the Baggs Element system removed from my 2016 J-35. It’s a good pickup, but I just don’t like 9V batteries in my guitars. Had the endpin jack replaced with a NoJak endpin from StewMac. It was a great move for the guitar; it just felt lighter and the top seemed more vibrant. Now, if I need to amplify it, I use a Baggs M1.
One note of caution, though — The Element’s tone and volume control was actually glued to the underside near the soundhole. I thought it would’ve been stuck on with double-sided tape, but the shop that did the work (St. Paul Guitar Repair in St. Paul, MN) said it was actually glued in. They figured Gibson was finding the double-sided tape wasn’t doing the job so they started gluing them in.
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43 minutes ago, Red 333 said:
It would be hard not to. 90% of all denim sold is prewashed to some degree, in order to soften it, remove some of the pigment to change the shade, or fade it or make it look broken in in some way. It also keeps the pigment from rubbing off on other clothing or furniture. It's been this way sine the '70s. Less than 10% of denim sold is "raw" or unwashed, though it's making a bit of a comeback. Perversely, you usually pay far more to buy denim in this state, often because its made with higher quality selvedge denim produced on rare and often old shuttle looms, and sewn by hand to some degree.
Red 333
I had no idea. I just know I wear mine until they fall apart. My wife lives in fear they’ll fall apart while we’re out eating, or while I’m on stage.
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2 minutes ago, olie said:
"Pre-washed"? How about pre-ripped, torn and otherwise- made to look like they were put through a tornado just before they were bought.
People are strange.
I was trying to be gentle. There’s also a big market in “distressed” gimme caps that cost big bucks. I’m proud to say all my ball caps are frayed from honest wear.
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33 minutes ago, Joe M said:
As the OP of this thread, that has gone completely off the rails, dhanners623, I couldn't agree more. I'm a moderator on another site that continually gets "relic" threads hashed and rehashed. It's a finish option, nothing else. It's like saying "how could anyone like a red guitar, they're hideous". You don't like them? Fine, don't rip on someone who does.
In the end, it's all opinion, and we all know what opinions are like.....thanks to the couple of you that gave a direct response to my original question.....oh, and FWIW, I bought the full gloss HB, not the faded model, just because it sounded and played better....
I’m betting some of the folks trashing relic’d guitars have probably bought pre-washed jeans….
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Why do we care what somebody else’s guitar looks like? A guitar is just that — a guitar. It’s not a “statement” or a calling card or a manifesto or a price of admission to some exclusive club. It’s a guitar.
I’ve never quite understood the preoccupation with how somebody else’s guitar looks. Similarly, I’ve never understood the preoccupation with knowing how much others spend on their guitars.
Helpful Hint: If you don’t like the look of a “relic’d” or “aged” or “distressed” or a “George Santos” guitar, don’t buy one.
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I don’t want to sound New Age-y (or even sacrilegious) and I know guitars are just tools, but I truly believe some of them have souls. Or at least they have some mysterious quality that connects the player to something that is bigger or older or wiser than we are.
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Get a Gator case. Either their Lightweight case: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GLClassic--gator-lightweight-case-classical-guitar or their ATA Molded case: https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/GTSAGTRClass--gator-ata-molded-guitar-case-with-tsa-latches-for-classical-guitars
I have both, and both have their advantages. The Lightweight case is MUCH better than a gigbag — much more protection but still very light. I was once made to gate-check my J-35 in a Gator Lightweight case on an international flight. The guitar was fine.
The ATA Molded doesn’t really bill itself as a “flight” case, but I have checked mine before as baggage with zero problems. They offer very good protection for the price and the TSA latch is a bonus.
The big thing to remember re: taking a guitar as a carry-on is you catch more flies with honey than with vinegar. When dealing with the airline counter people and gate agents, be polite. Smile. Depending on the airplane, they generally have room in a closet, and a classical-sized guitar case will even fit in many overheads. I’ve stuck mine there before.
I’ve found airline people are more prone to make you check the guitar if they see a hardshell case. If it is a soft-sided case, they’ll often figure it is safer to let you take it aboard. (Airlines want to avoid liability if they can….) That’s one of the reasons I like the Lightweight — it looks like a gigbag but the rigid foam offers good protection on the sides, top and bottom.
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A mark of a great songwriter is they can ignore convention and you never notice because the song is just so good. Lightfoot’s “Carefree Highway” is an example.
Of the three verses, only the second has two lines that rhyme. The third line of the first verse has an internal rhyme (Ann/damned) and the chorus has two lines that rhyme, and they’re in the middle of the chorus. Nothing rhymes in the third verse.
The song made it to No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. It spent a week at No. 1 on the Easy Listening chart in October 1974.
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No, not Jinder in the Bath, but in the city of Bath. This came up on my Facebook feed….
If you ever need an opener in Manchester, just holler….
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As long as the guitar is out of a smoky environment, the odor will go away eventually. Wiping the guitar down is a start. Letting it sit in the case with an odor-eater or neutralizer can also help.
As with the others, I’ve had cases that reeked of cigarette smoke, but never the actual guitar.
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Go with 4. The big heel of a J-45 is perfect for it.
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Much improved!
If I may offer the following in the spirit of hopefully constructive thoughts:
— Why not just say “void” instead of “deep void”? We’re assuming from the context that the void is deep, so “deep” becomes an extraneous word.
— “Submission” is a cumbersome word for a song like this. Its meaning here seems imprecise, and it’s just a hard word to sing. It’s a big word.
— One hack’s opinion, but the latter part of the song has two “derailing” points I would consider problematic. (A “derailing” point — a phrase I made up — is a word or phrase that has the potential to derail the listener. They hear it and spend too much time processing it. By the time they do, you’re two or three lines ahead of them and you’ve lost them.)
The first is “fortress of solitude.” Sorry, but I can’t hear that and not think of Superman. I hear it in the song and think, “Is this song about Superman?” Maybe it’s just me. In a similar vein, I can’t hear “a bridge too far” without thinking of the Cornelius Ryan book (and movie) about Operation Market Garden. Yeah, I know some people use it when they speak, but it just seems too specific.
I think you can edit around those two points fairly easily.
Again, I mean all this in a constructive way and I don’t want it to detract from the fact you’re making great progress. Now go play an open mic….
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46 minutes ago, Janglemore said:
Strung for a righty, but pick guarded for a lefty?
Also, thanks for the photo hosting tip!
I’m left-handed and play upside down. Just the way I taught myself to play. Only thing I change is the pickguard.
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5 hours ago, Larsongs said:
I haven’t found a Pic site I’ve liked since Photo bucket.. But, I’m no longer using that..
I’ve used something called Post Image at https://postimages.org
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5 hours ago, sbpark said:
I could care less about the headstock! Still looks great to me and doesn't affect the sound, and separates these and makes them easy to identify what era they are from compared to other J-35 versions.
Nobody’s going to confuse the J-35 reissues with the original deal from the ‘30s….
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Congrats! Love my ‘16 J-35. Over the years I’ve owned two very good J-45s, but I’d take the J-35 over them any day of the week. I think they are very versatile guitars, more so than the J-45. Others my feel differently, of course.
My only beef is aesthetic. As cool as a banner headstock is, I wish Gibson had just used the historically accurate old white script logo.
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Boy howdy if that ain’t Midwestern rock’n’roll, I don’t know what is. Sounded good. I know touring life is hard, but it’s cool you stuck it out as long as you did. The video is a great memento, and she did a fine job with what she had.
And yeah, 52 is just too damn young. I’m of an age where friends and classmates are passing away. It’s sobering. Make music while you can.
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Find a good used J-35 reissue. VERY versatile guitar. Aside from that, I’d vote for the LG-2 to accompany a deep voice. Listen to what the great Tom Russell does with one:
Getting to open for somebody….
in Gibson Acoustic
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Oh, my set will be all originals. I’ve got 30 minutes, and as a good friend always reminds me, “When the promoter says, ‘30 minutes,’ think 25.” I think I’ll be able to fit in six songs and it leaves time for reasonable introductions to the songs.
Booth and I are both from small towns, so I’ll do a couple small-town songs.