Gibson Artist

Ok, i've been away for a long time so please forgive me if i have not read any recent updates. My mother lives close by and visits often, so i am desperately trying not to get this virus as she is in her late 70s and the last thing i want is to get her sick with something her immune system may not handle well due to age. There are a couple made in China guitars i am currently interested in and i was wondering does anyone know how long the virus can survive on cardboard, and in guitar wood, strings and paper? Can't believe i even i am even asking this but i have thought about purchasing the git and putting it in a closet for two weeks? Would that be an adequate amount of time to kill the virus? Has Gibson or any other major guitar manufacturer discussed this scenario?

First time back in awhile and i was looking at some Gibsons on Sweetwater and they seemed to be cheaper than the last couple years, especially the acoustics! I swear the j200s were well over 5k and now i look on Sweetwater and they're 4500 and i dont see any special kind of sale, so they lower the 2020 models?

I used to gravitate towards rosewoods because of the volume, especially great for fingerpickin. My Taylor and Martin both have rosewood, tons of volume, tho admittedly more on D-28, but the 214 is shockingly good for a laminate and the profile of the cutaway is extremely comfortable. Ive heard people say Maple is a bright sounding tonewood, but the Dove does not sound bright to my ears, not at all. It sounds mellow, smooth, and balanced. When i said blows away, i meant for my particular taste. Ive been really missing my j-50, the guy who had it drilled a hole in it and when i asked to trade it back, wanted my bass amp, my les paul special, and wanted my taylor. When i had sold it to him for only 1k, he wanted 2500 worth of gear back, and this was after he drilled a hole in it!

While i am not a fan of the tobacco colour, the sound of that Dove blows the Bird away here. Sure, the bird is loud and a cannon, but the subtle beauty of the Dove and its smooth, mellow feel just sounds like heaven to my ears.

They fudged up a number of acoustics. I love the slim necks tho, it sucks because today you gotta pay a small fortune to get a vintage reissue for a slim neck. Everything gibson today in acoustics is 1.725 nut width, the 70s had 11/16th slim necks and they played like butter to me. Today, i have to pay thousands to get a neck a like in the Gibson brand.

I have heard people on Craigslist swear the 90s Gibsons are 10x better than today and the quality control was much better then, on the rhode island and mass CL 90s gibsons have a Cult like following, people say dont buy new! Well, i bought es 335 new and it was flawless, i even had a friend in a band try it. He loved it, and said it was perfect. The 2010 goldtop i got was played by the guitar guy in the beaver brown band, he said that its a very good one, he loved it. So, maybe sometimes quality control isnt great, and i know Gibson did some mistakes on their acoustics of the 70s, like they always cracked because of something to do with when they sprayed the nitro over the pickguard or something. Still, if i see a gibson of 70s or modern day, i play it, look at the neck, if its straight, i dont feel any dead frets its usually a keeper to me. I try to judge each guitar on its own merits, rather than disdain an entire era.

Ive played about 6 norlin era instruments, to be honest, only had 1 bad experience and it was on a country western acoustic that needed a neck reset. The les pauls, (deluxe and custom) both played flawless, and the sg i played looked and sounded great also and i owned a j-50 was spectacular and like a dummy i sold that when i needed cash and not my taylor ugh. Am i missing something here? Ive heard the quality control was very poor those days and that gibson was trying to save money, but nearly every example ive played be it electric or acoustic was great save the one git that needed a reset. Is there any chance these may be collectible one day? So is all the norlin era a little overstated? Will collectors ever come back around on them?

I got me 2004 Martin D-28 and i believe it has a Bone nut, but couldnt find on the spec sheets what the Saddle is made of? I dont feel like joining a Martin forum just for one question, seems kind of silly. Was wondering if anyone here knows? I think its plastic and i believe some kind of bone saddle should be in its place. Also wondered do the nut and saddle need to be the same bone material? Id like to get the most out of my high end git, and tho ive never replaced a saddle on a guitar, this is probably the one time i would. Here is a picture.

Hey fz, the Natural one is actually pretty sweet looking. Btw, i tried a 1970 d28, holy @#$% that thing was a cannon! i made an offer to the guy but so far hes keeping it, but told me if he ever wanted to sell i was first in line.

Those are Canadian right? Ive seen a few on Craigslist, never actually played one but i tried a Cedar Seagull and it was actually pretty nice.

Rob Chapman said Duesenberg and PRS are so technically overengined they seemed almost lifeless in his hands. They were so precise there was no give/take and bend or variation, he actually didnt like it. I wouldnt know, ive never tried either brand. But i would like to try a prs sometime.

Greco made literally tons of guitars, the early 70s ones probably werent great. But in the late 70s, they made some gems. This is only a middle of the road Greco i owned a year ago, not even a high end one, and it was pretty killer for what i paid.

Im not old enough to have seen what people played in the 70s, i wasnt a musician then, i was a toddler lol. But if you say they stopped using them by 1980 i believe you. People probably used them because they were cost efficient, well made clones that did the job and other then some wiring or pot issues, usually played very well for the price they paid. Not surprised people went back to Gibson when they could afford it, but Greco and Tokia and Ibanez really had some sweet numbers back then. Those are my three favorite, but Orville gets snubbed by American players too and a surprising amount of Gibby players dont even realize that was orville gibson making them. The orville les paul custom was the best les paul ive ever owned, hands down.

I bought a chinese Tokai by accident a year and half ago. Biggest mistake of my life, they were HORRIBLE quality, i mean awful. they have sharp edges on the frets, buzzing strings, dead spots in the frets and ive seen a couple of the other made in china tokai and all 3 had blemishes in the finish. Epiphone offers much better quality for the same price as what some clowns on eflay charge. So being made in china hardly makes it a good guitar any more than made in japan. there were plenty of duds coming out of japan in the 70s, but none as bad as many of the china/indonesia junk. But, i maintain that the people who claim japanese guitars werent great, most of them never played a good super real or reborn.

I am 46 years old, i lived thru the lawsuit era, tho i did not learn guitar until 1983 at camp. SO good will never be a part? Anyone who says that has never tried the higher end Ibanez or the Super Real or Reborn Series, this is someone who most likely tried the cheapest clones and assumed they were all crap. I am a massive trader, have played and owned many of these and i can say with absolute certainty that some of those clones were in fact better. In fact, a couple of the 59 clones are still HIGHLY sought after collectible items. Plus, the norlin era guitars had many design flaws like on my j50, i havnt seen many that didnt have a giant crack right up the middle! and their QC wasnt great then either. But, i dont care, i like oddballs regardless.

Let's not forget ibanez made Gibson copies so good that Gibson sued them. In fact, some of their copies were flat out better than the real thing in that era. Friend of mine runs a guitar store and he has sold ibanez les pauls from that time for 3k each. The japan factories have made some great guitars thru the years and we yanks snub our noses at them, well some of us lol. the same could be said for mexi guitars, but ask yourself this. Do you like mim Fenders? I have never felt the urge to buy an American Strat or Tele, (tho i have traded for one) mainly because the mexican ones were made so fantastic. Still, trade valuewise, people will snub their nose at them. It is something to consider if you trade a lot which i do, but i cant see me selling my taylor right now.

Takamine, Epiphone and ibanez. They have some of the best guitars going and people often pass em by. Overrated? Martin. I know many here may disagree but read why and you will understand. On the high end sure Martin has some great tones. On the low to middle well, their guitars really undperform. In fact, if you spend 1500 on a Gibson j15 or even 1200 on a Taylor 214ce like mine, they completely dust em. Martin uses cheap mats on their under 2k gits, you dont even get real wood fretboards and their cutaways are just awful, i mean BAD BAD BAD! I had a pair i recieved in trades, a omcpa4 and a dcpa4, both underwhelmed in comparsion to my Taylor and Gibsons i have owned. My Taylor has real ebony fingerboard and bridge at 1200 bucks, plays chords, fingerpicks and has the most comfortable neck ive ever played on an acoustic, the only neck close is on my j50. Several guys i know raved about the 15 series martin, i tried one. One trick pony, could pick but couldnt strum, my Taylor completely owns it and so did my j15. You literally have to spend thousands on a Martin to get a top quality sound, that to me screams overrated. Taylor impresses me, they put ebony on many affordable models and they play like butter. When i looked at baby taylor and lil martin i knew the taylor would dust it just from the specs sheet, still i gave it a chance and i wasnt wrong. Taylor owns martin all the way up to 2000 dollar models. Imo you really have to get a D28 before martin starts to even compete with Taylor and Gibson. I just traded away a DCPA4 Martin, it just couldnt do a decent F bar chord, i couldnt justify keeping it so traded it for a J50 and am very happy since.