MissouriPicker

I like this. Something along this line on a pickguard would work for me....I really like the colors. Perhaps if the Gibson design wasn't so linear, just one color, and one-dementional it would look better.

Damn! That is an absolutly gorgeous guitar. If it plays anything like it looks it will approach being the mythical "holy grail." Congrats on a stunning instrument. J200s are awesome to begin with, but that one is on another planet.

Yeah, that was a great thread. I read through all 8 pages of it again,. Truly a super discussion, including the guy who designed the pickguard. I still don't like the pickguard and for the same reasons I had back then, but after reading all this stuff again---I WANT ONE!!!!!....lol....I remember the volume of the one I played and re-reading comments from others really makes me say "screw the pickguard. I'll can make myself live with it,".......lol......The Sparrow really is a monster of a guitar. Sadly, there are only a handful of them around, and even fewer being sold.

Couldn’t get it to copy, but there’s also a thread on it from December 2011

I seriously considered and almost bought one at GC a few years ago. Not many of them around. I must have gone up and played it 5-6 times over a few days. A real brute in the sound department and very nicely made, but I couldn’t get past the pick guard. The name didn’t bother me (although I’d have picked a different bird name), but that pick guard just did not seem natural for a Gibson. Maybe A Taylor...lol..........If I remember correctly, we had a good discussion in here regarding the pick guard——too modern, drawn by a kid, not traditional..

I literally always am sitting down during my gigs and always use a guitar strap. Adjusting my sound, shaking hands with friends coming in, adjusting my chair, reaching for my coffee, just not thinking straight for a few moments, jeans that are kind of slick: All can cause the guitar to slide from my lap. Wearing a guitar strap pretty much eliminates the chances of that. I totally agree with you.

It’s been too slow for me, but things are getting better. I played outside at a winery last weekend and do the same place again tomorrow afternoon. My regular winery gig resumes the 2nd week of August. Nothing at the coffeehouses yet, until they’re opened at full capacity. Hopefully in a couple more weeks. ......People are chaffing-at-the-bit. Get out and get some Vitamin D and kill this SOB virus.

I suspect we’d all like a place like that, but these days they’re “far and few between.” Guitar center used to be one of those places. When I bought my Hummingbird, some 15-16 years ago, I was able to play two other birds too. Plus, they had numerous other high-dollar Gibsons, Martins, and Taylors. Now it’s a couple of Gibsons, a few Martins, and way-too-many Taylors and other guitars I’m not interested in. .....I’ve ordered several guitars over the internet. If you stick with places like GC and Wildwood (and there are a few others) that back-up what they sell and have great return policies, you can find a great Hummingbird. If they say a “Used” guitar is in great/mint condition, you can be pretty sure it is. Then, all you have to do is have it setup for “you,” if needed. I hope you find the guitar you need.

Yeah, I find myself to be very funny, even though it’s often unintentional.. Seems as we get older we become natural comedians........lol....

Yeah, wood grain kind of looks like that. Twenty years from now it will likely still look like that. .....Enjoy your J45! There’s a reason they are legendary.

We live in an age where anything and everything can and will offend someone somewhere. Phylis Diller, Don Rickles, Rodney Dangerfield, and Joan Rivers must be looking-down and just shaking their heads at the current-day stupidity.....For myself, I can laugh at “me” and I can laugh at “you.” If that offends someone, it’ll make me laugh harder.

The early bird was an 80 or so. I bought it new.. I’d only had it 5-6 months when it died...lol...Guitars kind of grow on you. A good guitar becomes a great guitar after you’ve owned and played it for a long time. You get real comfortable with it.....The new and shiny ones look and sound great, but they really don’t offer you anything you don’t already have.

Yeah, that “bird” died in 81-82. My first Hummingbird and dream guitar. I think most of the damage was done when the guy couldn’t get-up without standing on the guitar.. I can still remember that crunching noise...lol....Life’s a bit-ch and then you die...lol....make the most of it.....Don’t think I’d feel complete without my Hummingbird. A couple times I considered trading it for a Bird TV, but in all sincerity I’d don’t know if I’d like the TV better than the one I’m totally satisfied with. I’m simply “at home” with the guitar and it’s a good instrument to hide behind on stage...lol...

Exactly! Playing music is a real blast. At whatever level one plays, it can be very rewarding. If it’s not fun, you’re doing something wrong. When you’re playing be a guitar player, not a sound engineer. Life has enough bull crap. No need to add our own.

My Hummingbird gone? Even just the thought is blasphemy!....lol....No, it’s not going anywhere. I know that we get dramatic at times over our guitars, but I think I’d feel guiltily and even a bit depressed if that guitar was gone....lol...It would be like moving-on and leaving a treasured part of my life behind me. If anything goes someday, it might be the J15. Awesome guitar, but the walnut J100 fills the Walnut sound for me. I don’t know. Time will tell.

1947–Obviously (as Sinatra said), “It was a very good year.”

I think it’s cool how you want to get your dad a Gibson. You are both lucky.👏👍

After decades of searching for “perfect tone,” I became “tone deaf.” ......llSeriously, I don’t know if I’d know it if I heard it. Besides, what’s perfect for me might be lousy for you. All I know is that if a guitar sounds good to me, then that’s close enough to perfect tone.

I get confused with the dozens of variations Gibson makes of each model. I really don’t know a “reissue” from a “historic,” etc. and know very little about bridges aside from I’ll cross it when I come to it. So long as the guitar is easy-to-play, sounds decent to my ears, and kind of seems like “me,” I’m good with it. Don’t need another guitar, but I am going to get me a J200 soon. Don’t know if it will be a Standard or something fancier. I just know it will be a J200. So, I guess I do need another guitar.

He’s about as real as you can get. His music is gritty and a slice of life. He is who he is and he doesn’t need to be anyone else. It’s sad how so many people are wrapped-up with the garbage on mainstream radio and have no clue who Ray Wylie Hubbard is.

I’ve posted on this site for years and have started quite-a-few threads on subjects I was interested in.. Sometimes I get lots of responses, sometimes a few, and there have been times I got none. Everyone is different. What’s important to me or you is not necessarily important or even interesting to someone else. I don’t comment on every thread. Some I don’t even read, because the title doesn’t interest me. For example——threads about strings, bridges, fret wear, and tuners I often just pass-them-by. Not because I’m trying to be rude or don’t like the person who started the thread, but because I’m usually not interested.>.......Anyway, if you haven’t yet, try posting in the “Acoustic” section. Lots of folks hang-around there.......This is a good site. Keep posting and commenting on threads.

Nicely said, Jaxson! The "snapshot" analogy is very accurate. For all of us, our lives are a snapshot or if we're lucky, a newsreel.

Too many variables to consider when picking the best/greatest guitar player of an era. The 60s certainly had its share of great pickers. Benson was one. You also had guys like Roy Clark, Glen Campbell, Jimmy Page, and Tony Tadesco, among others. These guys (and others) could play anything, anytime, anywhere. I wasn't into George Benson's particular genre of music, but I was aware of who he was and of his skill as a guitar player. Don't know if I could pick just one or two as "the greatest." Chet, Roy, George, Glen, etc were all great and astouding players. A lot of it boils-down to the kind of music the listener loves. Some pickers are incredibly fast. Others make the guitar literally speak to our souls. I'm mainly listening for something I can identify with, something that soothes me when I'm worried or reves-me-up when I'm down.

I've only owned one Taylor. Kept it a few months (never could get myself to wear the free Roman Toga they gave with it) and sold it........Seriously, Taylor makes great instruments, but for me, they simply are not "me." They're beautiful, pristine guitars, with a clean and bright sound. I'm not beautiful, pristine, clean, and certainly not very bright. Guitars are a very personal instrument and I feel that Gibsons are an extension of who I am---it's the sound, it's the look, it's the feel, it's the names of those who have added to the Gibson legend.. I can bond with Gibsons in a manner that I can't with Taylors and most other brands. There might be a couple Martins or Guilds still around, but aside from that I'm only interested in Gibsons. Am I missing-out on some great guitars? Yeah, likely so, but we buy what we like..

Awesome guitar! Makes me want a J35..........that one in particular..,,,,lol.....That is truly a "vintage" guitar to my eyes and ears.