dhanners623

"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.

The weather in 1936 was so much better than it is today. Why can't we have 1936 weather?

Frank Ford -- who, unlike me, is an expert -- uses plain ol' Elmer's wood glue, an aliphatic resin: http://frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Pickguards/ReglueGuard/reglueguard.html Whether he'd use it on a firestripe pickguard is something I don't know. In the past when I've had questions, I actually emailed Ford out of the blue and was pleasantly surprised to get a prompt and very helpful reply.

Or have the repair person affix the pickguard with glue instead of tape.

I'm going to have to respectfully beg to differ. Any luthiers here can correct me if I'm wrong, but the irregular light-colored linear splotches in Scott's original photos appear, to my eye, to be air bubbles trapped between the pickguard and soundboard. They are where the double-stick tape has failed to make proper contact with the pickguard and/or soundboard. Were I a betting man, I'd wager the person who put the pickguard on did not clamp it. He or she figured where it should go, peeled off the protective tape and just pressed it down by hand without clamping it. If he/she did clamp it, I'll gladly stand corrected. I know if my guitar came back from the repair shop looking like that, I'd have a chat with with the repair person.

I'm not a repairman but being a lefty, I've done my share of pickguard removals and installs. While I'd need to see it in person, going from the photos I'd have to say I'm not sure it should look like that. It looks to me like the double-sided tape didn't fully make contact with the pickguard, or the soundboard, or both. A new pickguard should be clamped on, even if double-sided tape is used. It's not just a matter of slapping the tape on the back of the pickguard and then sticking the pickguard on the soundboard. As always, Frank Ford explains it all: http://frets.com/FretsPages/Luthier/Technique/Guitar/Pickguards/Pickguard/pickguard2.html

Yet another vote for mediums. Martin Retros in particular. I know some people say lights on a J-45 are ok, but I've just always felt the slopes need mediums to move the top in any decent way. I'd also recommend switching out the Tusq saddle for a bone one. I had a Bob Colosi saddle installed in my J-35 awhile back and it made a considerable difference. For one thing, the Tusq saddle was undersized and didn't fill the slot properly. It was leaning in the slot and wasn't making proper contact with the bottom. That problem somehow made it past the QC people at Gibson AND Sweetwater.

I don't know the first thing about running a guitar company, but I DO know my J-35 is a great guitar, especially given it's price. I've had it since the summer of '16 and have gigged with it on two continents and it's always come through. I know Gibson was trying to keep expenses down, but I would've loved some aging toner on top and a simple white silkscreen script logo on the headstock, ala the original '35s. Those are just cosmetic gripes, though. In terms of build quality, finish, playability and, most critically, sound, it's a wonderful guitar.

What Wall has going for him is authenticity. When I look at people who are my favorite vocalists -- John Prine, the late Bill Morrissey and Gram Parsons, Johnny Cash, Lucinda Williams, Nanci Griffith and Steve Earle, to name a few -- they lack what one might consider a "good" or even "pleasant" voice, but they sound real. They sing with authenticity. Sometimes when I drag my wife out to an open mic (she neither plays nor sings, but is a good sport) she'll hear some of the women performers mumble their lyrics and throw some sort of affectation into their voice, which my wife dubs, "Female Angst." I usually know it's time to go when that happens. I have never liked my singing voice, and from time to time I've tried some technique to make it sound different, but nothing has ever worked. So at least what I do is authentic to me. It sucks, but at least it's me.

It strikes me as more of an affectation. There's a whole crop of singers out there who do strange things to their voices or sing out of the side of their mouths so they don't sound "normal." Brett Dennen. Charlie Parr. Carrie Rodriguez. Heck, I'd probably do it if I thought I could get away with it. It's all about standing out. A few years back, Americana artist Mary Lou Lord complained on Facebook about the style. She posted a video of the aforementioned Dennen, and asked, "who the @&$!#* talks like that?!?" Except she was more blunt. She complained about Dennen and other singers whose voice, phrasing and weird-*** pronunciation twist things into incomprehensibility. One of the words she used to describe it was "mumbletwang." Said it drove her nuts because that's not how people talk. While Wall certainly has a deep speaking voice, it's not quite as affected as his singing voice: http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=zuyjagoWNzU

It's been awhile since I've seen "Twister," and although I lived in Tornado Alley for years, "finger of God" was not a term I remember. But your explanation makes sense, so go with it. Like I said, you've got a winner here and when a couple of things are ironed out, it'll make a strong son even more powerful.

I'm pickin' up what you're puttin' down. Good job. And yeah, angst out the wazoo. If you can allow some observations from a hack songwriter (meant constructively) I'd offer the following: 1) It needs a title telling me where it takes place. Songs need a sense of place, and this is an easy way to give it one. "Rain Blues" only tells me you're sad about rain. "Florence Blues" tells me more, but that's just an off-the-cuff example. 2) I offer this as someone whose own attempts to play slide have crashed and burned, but I'm hearing slide on this. Slide launches this song into the stratosphere, in my opinion. Turns it into a blues monster. 3) Let's talk words. Yeah, wind blows, but did Florence howl? Scream? Shriek? In fact, if your first line is, "I hear Florence howl" then you've immediately grabbed my attention because a woman is screaming. Then I learn it is Hurricane Florence and you've put me in the center of it. 4) Similarly, when I hear the phrase "finger of God," my question is, "Why not hand of God?" which is the more common term. This may be a conscious choice on your part, but I'm just saying what I as a listener think when I hear "finger of God." 5) In Verse 4 you refer to "river" and in Verse 5 you say "creek." Maybe it's just a rural Illinois thing (where I grew up) but a river is different from a creek. (Or, as we would've said in rural Illinois, "crick.") You may indeed be talking about two different waterways, but again, it struck me as a listener. 6) Speaking of rivers and creeks, why not name them? Again, that gives the song a sense of place. 7) The "We need us a friend" line at the end is genius. The song's protagonist has lost everything, but he's saying that what gets us through hard times are friends, and he sure as heck needs some now. Good tune. It is VERY atmospheric, and that is a quality that can't be faked. And again, I mean all this constructively. You're welcome to ignore every word and I won't be offended in the least.

I string my J-35 with D'Addario EJ17s (13-56) and have never been disappointed. Very good from set to set. In the opinion of this gentle herald, it is better for your fingers to get used to the guitar than the other way around.

Well, if you're changing tuners, why not go whole-hog and get some Waverlys:http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Tuning_Machines/Solid_Peghead_Guitar_Tuning_Machines/Waverly_Guitar_Tuners_with_Ivoroid_Knobs_for_Solid_Pegheads.html Your Grovers required 13/32" peghead holes, and since the Waverlys need only 11/32" holes, you'll need conversion bushings: http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Tuning_Machines/Tuner_Parts/3_8_Conversion_Tuner_Bushing.html And, to each his/her own but I've always thought Gotoh 510s were perhaps the ugliest tuners ever slapped on a peghead.

Played the gig and, as usual, worried over nothing. Took the J-35. Hands got chilly but the guitar did just fine. Stayed in tune. I wouldn't want to play in weather that was much colder, though....

Indeed, I can almost hear the moisture being sucked out of the guitar....

I can either take my new J-35 or my Epiphone IB'64 Texan. I don't particularly "baby" my guitars -- they are tools built to be played -- but I do take good care of them and I also don't want to needlessly subject them to adverse conditions. When I lived in Minnesota, I never had to worry about playing outside in the winter.... The forecast humidity at 5 p.m. is 40 percent. I'm supposed to play a 25-minute set.

I've been playing for years but here's a question I've never really given much thought to: Is there a temperature below which you won't play your guitar outdoors? I'm part of an arts showcase tonight in Kuwait. We're playing on the rooftop of a building. I go on at 5 p.m., and the forecast says it will be 55 degrees F (13 C) with a "feels like" temperature of 53. Thoughts?

I'd echo what has already been said. Find a good luthier/repair shop in your area and take it in to see what, if anything, the guitar needs. It will be worth it. Not sure what the repairman meant by "steam pressed." A neck can be heat-set if things get too bad. It involves using heating pads to heat the neck and soften the glue between the neck and the fretboard, then using special clamps to straighten the neck while it cools and the glue dries. Obviously, don't try this at home.... Repair shops use steam when doing a full neck reset -- in which the neck is actually removed from the guitar and re-glued at the proper angle -- but that is a repair of last resort. It is also pricey. (The steam is injected into the body-neck joint to weaken the glue.) I would suggest taking a look at Frank Ford's website: http://frets.com/FretsPages/pagelist.html He is a world-class repairman and his website has TONS of useful information on guitar care and repair. Lots of helpful stuff for a beginner, and you can learn a lot about guitar construction, repair and upkeep there. As for the case, yeah, a modern case would be a big improvement. You've got a valuable guitar, so you should take care of it as best you can. The trick might be finding a case that fits. I'm a big fan of Gator polyfoam cases. They offer good protection and they are lightweight, and with the shoulder strap, you can just sling it over your shoulder. AVOID GIG BAGS. Yeah, gig bags are light and cover the guitar, but they offer close to zero protection. Check this out: http://www.gatorcases.com/p/16117-316/gl-classic Also, I've no idea where you live, but make sure you keep the guitar properly humidified.

I would posit that most of us raised on bold dreads like Martins and Gibsons have probably been unimpressed by the Taylors we came upon because they just didn't seem to have the "oomph" or depth we were accustomed to. I've got a good friend who owns a Taylor 712 or 714 (can't recall which) and it is a pretty sweet guitar for fingerstyle. But beyond that guitar, I've not played a Taylor that I'd take home. I can see why people more accustomed to playing electric guitar -- with their thin necks -- might get into playing Taylors. When you play a really good Martin or Gibson, though, your life becomes a quest to find a guitar that matches that sound and Taylors have never done that for me. And I believe some Epiphones are underrated and don't get the respect they deserve. The IB'64 Texan I have has really blossomed into a very fine guitar, with a sound that far exceeds what I'd expect for a guitar at that price. I know the Recording King and Blueridge guitars I've heard at jams at bluegrass festivals have also been impressive for the money. Everybody turns out a clunker from time to time, but they seem to have hit on a fairly consistent formula for making a nice guitar. When it comes to resophonic guitars, I am of the opinion that Republic Guitars, out of Texas, are very underrated.

I've got an "Early J-45" that's a '98, and I've always kind of wondered about the distinction, too. I'll be interested in the replies.

I've got a '98 J-45 that has fairly moderate finish checking on the top but nowhere else. I've taken great care of the guitar, but I live in Minnesota so extremes in temperatures are a way of life. I have wondered, though, what is is about the nitro finish Gibson uses that makes it more prone to checking than Martins or other makes.

Fine performance, Markus. Two very nice guitars, and you and your brother did a great job with the tune. (And completely off-topic, what is it with German women and red hair? My second ex-wife, whose mother was German, had hair that shade of red, and when I took a trip to Munich with her, it seemed so many women had red hair. What's up with that?)