[Kalamazoo Gals]

9 hours ago, jt said:

There's a Kindle version! 🙂

Will check that out, but I have to dig out my U.S. Amazon password and stuff. Can’t buy it as a Kindle in the UK.

I’d probably rather have a physical copy anyway….

[Kalamazoo Gals]

That’s a book I’ve always wanted to get. Maybe I’ll finally break down and buy it.

I’ve wondered, though…. Has Gibson produced (or given any thought to producing) any limited runs of guitars with wartime specs and no adjustable truss rods? With available carbon fiber neck rods and improved square steel tube truss rods, it would be easy enough to do.

[Have I made a mistake buying a Martin 000-15m?]

Lose the Elixirs and try other strings. Experiment. I know some people swear by Elixirs, but I never saw the attraction.

Also, keep in mind it’s just going to sound different from your Hummingbird. You’ve spent all these years associating your Hummingbird with how a guitar should sound that when another guitar enters the picture, you naturally compare them. That’s not fair to either guitar.

Give yourself a chance to get used to the guitar. You’ll probably find your playing style changes slightly to take advantage of what the 000-15M is good at and even excels at.

You’re fortunate enough to have two very good guitars. Don’t complain. Play.

[Post-Set-Up Intonation w/Capo]

And if you really want to get into the capo/tuning weeds, here is some insight from James Taylor: 

 

[Pickup for j45 banner reissue]

16 hours ago, aliasphobias said:

That's the second time I've heard a "through cut should be glued in". I'm not dismissing it but I have 3 and none are glued!I have had several pass through my hands and unless I am mistaken none have been glued. Would gluing it provide some advantage over well fit or is it just for the benefit of the pickup?

At least Martin has always glued in through-cut saddles. Unsure about Gibson or other builders. https://www.13thfret.com/saddleswap.shtml

I don’t know that I’ve ever seen one that wasn’t glued, but I’m no expert and certainly don’t doubt your personal experience.

[Pickup for j45 banner reissue]

4 minutes ago, G Man said:

Its a full cut through saddle, versus the drop in type, so they are less than ideal for a UST, not to say it couldn't be done,  but it would likely be messy to make it work right.  You would need to add shim to the outside of the UST itself.

 

Plus there’s the fact a through-cut saddle should be glued in….

Why not try a Baggs M1, M1 Active or M80? I’ve got an M1 in my J-35 and an M80 for my Kevin Schwab hand built guitar (which has a through-cut saddle…) and both work well. Yeah, they’re soundhole pickups, but both are really a step above, especially the M80. And if you decide you want something different, there’s no disassembly required….

["Mighty Ohio" new tracked song, yes even an accordion...]

Jeezamae. That one is excellent on EVERY level. Great writing, great performance instrumentally and vocally. It all goes together in a stunning way.

I couldn’t decide if the singing and general vibe reminded me of Randy Newman, John Hiatt or Levon Helm, and that is a VERY good thing.

Impressive.

[Hiscox cases?]

44 minutes ago, Boyd said:

I got mine from Elderly Instruments in 2014, took my 2008 J-50 round-trip to Europe in checked luggage most of the way. No problems at all. I would not attempt that with the original Gibson case!

Was it the Standard, the Pro II or theArtist?

[Hiscox cases?]

Now that I’m living in the UK, I’ve been thinking of getting a British-made Hiscox case for my J-35. Anybody have any experience with them? Pros? Cons?

[My Guitar Fast Is Still Holding]

I haven’t bought any since 2019….

[Button Tuners. Any recommendations?]

I’ve got Waverlys on one guitar and Golden Age Restoration tuners on my other two, including my J-35. All work well and are well-made. And, yes, Waverlys are pricey but worth it. 

Check out JP Guitars in Bristol, UK, for both. https://www.jp-guitars.co.uk/sales/parts_and_spares/tuners/golden_age/golden_age.htm 

I’ve ordered other things from them and they’ve always been fast and trouble-free. Determine whether you’ll need conversion bushings, though.

[Why down tune your guitar?]

Noted Gibsonophile Jackson Browne has made a career of tuning down….

[Loctite question….]

35 minutes ago, Buc McMaster said:

No harm.  Use blue, not red.

Thanks! I hope I can get the blue (or something similar) over here in the UK…..

[Loctite question….]

Hey, gear experts…. My J-35 is wired for a Baggs M1 soundhole pickup, as are my other two guitars. But when I use a strap, it loosens the strap ring, the piece that goes on over the actual nut that tightens the jack to the tail block. (I enlarge the hole in the strap, but it still has to be tight enough that the guitar doesn’t fall off.)

My question: Is there any harm to sticking a little Loctite on the threads so the strap ring won’t come loose easily when I use a strap?

[??]

On 1/7/2023 at 2:30 AM, zombywoof said:

I used to see that at the Dallas Guitar Show but earlier than you did.

I witnessed that myself at the Dallas Guitar Show in the ‘80s, and I also heard many a local dealer complain about it at the time.

[Confessions of an ignorant Gibson acoustic owner]

5 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:

Do guitars need to be practical? Why feel guilty about buying a guitar? Sell the Martin if it not your thing anymore.

Some weird stars must be in rare alignment but I gotta go with Sgt. Pepper on this one. A guitar doesn’t need to be practical. It just needs to be a guitar you’ll play.

I’m “down” to three guitars — a paltry herd by the standards here — and sometimes I think it’s two guitars too many. I worry that some folks think about their guitars more than they play them. Unless you’re a pro intending to make money off the guitar, little of what we do is going to be heard by others, so you might as well own guitars that make YOU happy.

I know I might be in the minority on this score, but I think a smart player gets a decent guitar they adore and then tailors his or her style to it. To me, that is one of the attractions of my J-35. It’s a very versatile guitar — more so, I would posit, than a run-of-the-mill J-45.

[How's the J45 for finger pickin'?]

The J-45 is a great all-around guitar. I’ve owned a couple over the years. But for fingerstyle, I prefer the J-35. Taste is largely subjective  but, generally speaking, I believe the J-35 handles fingerstyle better.

[Just Why?]

A guitar can have too much bling.

[What would you like to see Gibson build in 2023?]

While I’m not really in the market for a new guitar, a Roy Smeck Stage Deluxe replica would be tempting.

[The headstock on this Gibson songwriter deluxe doesn’t look like other songwriter deluxes]

I’m no expert — and I’m sure the actual experts will comment — but it looks to me like somebody wanted their headstock to look like a Les Paul. Going solely from the one photo, it looks like they didn’t do a very good job of it.

Is there a serial number? Is there anything else about the guitar you consider suspect?

The Mother of Pearl Gibson logo and split-diamond inlay are readily available online; heck, you can even buy headstock veneers with the Gibson MoP already inlaid. This doesn’t look like a pro job, though.

[Gibson Faded Series]

The J-35 looks/sounds nice. At least they got the headstock logo right this time….

[Jackson Browne with a Gibson and Billy Strings - Running on Empty]

1 hour ago, Murph said:

Billy is bringing a lot of young people into bluegrass and acoustic music.

That's a good thing.

Indeed he is. Strings is one of those guys I have mixed feelings about. He is undoubtedly a once-in-a-generation talent. But sometimes, his playing is too ornamented for my tastes. Just because you can play a jillion notes doesn’t mean you should. At least that’s how I feel.

That said, when he pays homage to Doc Watson, Tony Rice or Clarence White or even classic bluegrass, there is none better right now and his playing is sharp and focused. The guy is the Larry Bird of the fretboard. He sees plays others don’t.

Browne seems to be in standard tuning, which is pretty rare for him, no?

[A non-Gibson general guitar question….]

13 hours ago, tpbiii said:

I guess people will buy anything.  I have a lot of old guitars with bar frets.  Also have three old guitars that actually belonged to Norman Blake -- I traded with him in 2005. 

First some generalities.  Bar fret necks are compression freted -- and when neck work is done, each fret may need to be of a different size.  When correctly maintained and set up, I have not found them to be a problem, but when they need neck work there are only a few people who can do it right, and it can be very expensive.

Here are my "Norman Blake" guitars -- 1930 Larson Brothers, 1934 Martin 00-40H, and c. 1900 Almcrantz.

I would put that 00-40H -- as Normans favorite for about a full decade -- as the "other" famous Norman Blake guitar.

Of course people have actual old guitars mostly because they can't be sonically copied by new guitars. 

 

When Norman Blake bought the 00-40H Martin in the 1990s and set it up to be his main guitar for around a decade, HE HAD JOHN ARNOLD REWORK THE NECK AND REPLACE THE BAR FRETS WITH TANG FRETS.  I guess that tells you what Norman thought of bar frets😎

Let's pick,

-Tom

 

 

 

Those three are beautiful guitars.

I’m getting a hankering for a 12-fret dread. Not at PWG’s prices, though….

[A non-Gibson general guitar question….]

31 minutes ago, jdgm said:

https://hazeguitars.com/blog/vintage-refretting-with-bar-frets

Informative. Having never played a guitar with bar frets, I wonder what they feel like. All in all, though, it sounds like T-frets are a modern feature I can continue living with just fine.

[A non-Gibson general guitar question….]

46 minutes ago, Larsongs said:

I would have no interest in a Guitar without a Truss Rod to adjust Necks.. At some point every Guitar needs some Neck adjustment.. 

Yes, but…. It’s a 12-fret neck, so you’ve got less length and movement to worry about. (Or fret over, as the case may be….) There are plenty of guitars out there without truss rods whose necks don’t need adjusting any more than guitars with truss rods. If it’s built properly to begin with, that is.

I think PWG’s disclaimer explains the player has to adjust his/her expectations about playability on such guitars. Some days it might feel the way you want, and some days it might not. The target market of these guitars (particularly the instruments with Brazilian rosewood) is such that I’m guessing the buyers know this.