jt
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Posts posted by jt
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9 minutes ago, Dave F said:
She gets a lot of sound out of the hog top LG1!
And plays it well, sings it beautifully, and writes a deeply meaningful song.
I love mahogany-topped Banners. That guitar is extraordinary and I'm humbled and honored to be able to put it in Mae's hands.
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57 minutes ago, MorristownSal said:
Simply terrific John… I love your LG-2 burst AND natural especially. Can you speak to their neck profiles?
Thanks for the kind words.
The necks are nearly identical on all three. A nice, full, rounded C. Not as big as the 1944 necks that didn't have metal trussrods.
The LG-2 is the oldest known Banner. It's the second guitar from the first batch of Banners. A young US soldier took it to the Pacific theater during WWII. The LG-3 is my fave of the 3, usually. Also purchased by a young US soldier in 1943, but he left it at home, under a bed. minty. Not a hint of freeware. It's 1 of 130 Banner LG-3s ever shipped.
But I also love the LG-1. 1 of 139 of those Banner, X-braced LG-1s ever shipped. As some folks know, I often loan my guitars. The LG-2 has been in the hands of the wonderful Mia Byrne for 6 months, or so. The equally wonderful Mae Valeria has had my LG-1 for a similar amount of time. She's just been named a finalist in NPR's Tiny Desk Contest for her entry that she played on the guitar:
So, I'll be playing the LG-3 tonight! 🙂
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I'm an LG fanatic! Gibson based the guitar on its classical guitar body, making it the equivalent of a Martin 00-sized guitar.
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A beautiful instrument! Congratulations.
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I've long wondered about this. When I was in Bozeman touring the factory, I asked this precise question while standing in front of the CNC machine that was cutting necks. My tour guide responded, "We just can't do that." But the CNC could easily have been programmed to taper the headstock. Certainly, it wasn't a question of sufficient wood. The machine spits out necks with non-tapered headstocks. Tapering would simply have involved a bit of programming and the shaving off a bit of wood from the necks the machine was ejecting.
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2 hours ago, zombywoof said:
What eludes me is how this issue could have gone unnoticed for some five months. Unless you happen to be a lefty, it would have been staring you right in the kisser every time you picked the guitar up.
Yet another reason why I question the authenticity of the photo.
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11 hours ago, zombywoof said:
What fingerboard binding? What I see is the tang and end of the crown maybe not protruding but even with thew side of the board. If guess though, I simply label it fret sprout.
The fingerboard is bound in wood. It's possible, I suppose, that Gibson cut the fret slots with a router and didn't cut all the way through to the edges of the fingerboard. But the grain (in a very grainy photo) appears wrong for that. It looks to me like a fingerboard bound in wood.
But regardless, that's not fret sprout. The tang on the offending fret has not been cut back so as not to protrude to the edge of the fingerboard.
Again, I suspect the photo. It seems nearly impossible that the guitar left the factory like that.
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41 minutes ago, zombywoof said:
But it looks like a case of fret sprout to me.
The fret "sprouted" cleanly through the fingerboard binding? I don't think so.
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This is pathetic quality control (if the post and pic are legit). A bound fingerboard and someone hammers one fret through the fingerboard binding? Frankly, unbelievable.
I would not even consider keeping the guitar.
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2 hours ago, Lars68 said:
John, I'm so sorry to hear about your battle with cancer. I had no idea. I hope the worst is behind you, and wish you all the best. I know all too well what a terrible desease it is. My mother died from it, aged only 59, after being ill for only four months, and my significant other had a serious battle just recently with an agressive type of breast cancer. It leaves not only deep physical scares, but mental ones as well, both for those with the desease and for the ones close by.
Lars
Thank you, my friend.
It has been a fascinating, 4-year journey. There are interesting times ahead of me. I will live every moment to my fullest. And, yeah, I'll play my Gibsons as often as I can.
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8 hours ago, cayine said:
I just finished the book and walked right in here to post this. Great job John. When I'm performing, I know that I'm doing it right if I can make someone laugh, or if I see a tear rising to someone's eye. That is what this whole story telling gig is about, telling a story in a way that lets people feel the things experienced by your characters. Well this book made me laugh out loud a number of times and I choked up a few times as well. I'll say it again... Great Job ! I have a couple almost Gibsons... a 1940 Carson J Robison Recording King, and a 1938 Gibson built Washburn Solo, but now I guess I'm gonna have to find myself a banner J45. BTW add this to your collection of Gibson trivia. The 1938 Washburn has a 5 piece laminated maple neck, with a non adjustable metal truss rod, that was originally built for an archtop. You can tell because there's a big old wedge down either side of the heel which was used to lessen the neck angle from arch top to flat-top. There was some other thread here awhile back that showed a number of late 30's Gibson flat-tops with these wedged neck heels. I'll post a link if I can find it. Did you mention that your guitar has one of these archtop necks?
Thank you for the kind words!
That's a cool guitar that you have!
One of my Banners has a laminated neck. It's my went-to-WWII SJ:
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I've owned a lot of lovely Gibsons. I still do. My current Gibsons include a 1930 Nick Lucas, 5 Banner/WWII-era Gibson, and a 1904 A Mandolin and 1936 A-Century mandolin.
A few years ago I sold about a dozen 1920s and 1930s Gibsons (every version of the L-body: L-00, L-0, L-1, L-2, L-Century). I don't miss them. They went to good homes to great people (mainly in Japan).
One I sometimes miss? (Which sold to a collector in Japan within minutes of me posting it for sale.) This Robert Johnson-era, 1928 L-1:
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27 minutes ago, Dave F said:
John,
Wishing you the best and enjoy every day. One of my older brothers is on that journey too.
Dave
Thanks, Dave! It's been a privilege to be your virtual friend.
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1 hour ago, dhanners623 said:
I always meant to write this sooner, but didn’t. It is unfortunate that the OP couldn’t get into the book, because it is an excellent history not only of something that fascinates us — Gibson guitars — but about how life went on on the American homefront during wartime. ...
Oh, my. Thank you for the kind words.
Frankly, I feel honored that the OP took the time to post about my book. It still stuns me that folks care enough about the little book that changed my life to discuss it publicly.
Of course, I'm pleased that guitar geeks, especially Gibson guitar geeks (I plead guilty to both charges!), have liked my book. But historians, women's history academics, and, most important to me, regular folks who enjoy learning about history have praised my book. Heck, a Spanish website devoted to women in science has done a deep dive into the book: Mujeres con Ciencia
Kalamazoo Gals motivated Oxford University Press to commission me to write a "KalamazooGals-ification" of the science and art of the acoustic guitar. In my world, OUP is the pinnacle of publishers. I've nearly completed that manuscript (at about 400 pages of manuscript at this point). Look for The Acoustic Guitar: Inside the World’s Most Popular Musical Instrument (Oxford University Press) in a bookstore near you in, well, probably about a year.
Mostly though, because I'm on a 4-year journey with cancer, I've been thinking about my legacy. Finding the Kalamazoo Gals story was one of the luckiest moments of my life. I know that I will have left a positive footprint on this planet, however small. What a privilege.
John
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1 hour ago, PrairieDog said:
Hey, JT congratulations on a great accomplishment. I did not put two and two together that it was your book. Writing book length technical reports for a living, (some run 400 pages plus) I am well aware just how difficult it is to create a popular work people want to actually read. We are known for at least creating better than average tech docs, probably because we take an effort to emphasize the social history that is relevant to interpret the otherwise dry data we collect. It has been on my list, but I’m going to grab it sooner now, for sure.
I’m really fascinated by the women who managed to do all “the men’s work” while the boys were away, and then just got swept aside when they came back home. My ex MIL was one of the gals who flew the planes between bases, and my current (late) grand MIL worked in the ship yards, among other tasks.
She lived in Nevada after the war and used to see the atomic test flashes out her kitchen window. Out of seven children only two have survived into their 70s. Most died terribly prematurely of illnesses that could be associated with radiation exposure. I’ll just leave that there.
Anyway, both women couldn’t find good paying jobs after the war, because “they didn’t have any experience.” Omg.
Thank you for the kind words and for telling the story of your ex-MIL.
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A huge loss to the guitar community.
I never met Frank, but spoke with him by phone several times. He was knowledgeable, genuine, and humble. A wonderful human being.
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It's always good to hear from my good buddy, Mark Stutman.
I have a Nick Lucas of the same vintage. It's a fine as acoustic steel string guitars get.
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54 minutes ago, BluesKing777 said:
Would Gibson Acoustic be brave enough to release a replica of something like my 1937 gibson L-0? Unlikely! 😁:.
Or my 1929 Nick Lucas that spent over a half-century in a shed in Tasmania sans case:
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Why exclude the LG-3? 🙂
I have the full set:
I use phosphor bronze lights on all of them.
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6 hours ago, zombywoof said:
Do not have a clue. But the second-generation luthier who fixed up my 1942 J50 described it as having a low end which would send a pre-War Martin D28 Herringbone running for cover. Said his father used to call guitars like these "once in a blue moon Gibsons."
Oh, my. I'm confident that luthier has never played a pre-war herringbone. Every one that I've played has had an astonishing bass response. So much so that I found the guitars not useful for my playing.
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In my very humble opinion, the bassiest Gibson acoustic is the very rare FON 910 1943 rosewood back and sides SJ. My comparison of a FON 910 1943 rosewood SJ with a FON 2735 1944 mahogany SJ:
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If there's a market for aged acoustics, then Gibson should participate.
As far as the propriety of abusing a new guitar to make it look old, seems OK to me. The folks who like pristine guitars are not the folks who want a relicked guitar. This gives Gibson the opportunity to serve a portion of the market they have not previously served.
I love vintage guitars. No, I don't believe that all vintage guitars are better than modern guitars. I just like the feel of the guitar and the ability to imagine who has played it (I do know for some of my guitars: I own 3 WWII Banner Gibsons bought by US soldiers in 1942 and 1943). If someone wants to pay a talented few folks to make his/her/their guitar look and feel old, why not?
I've not played one of these Murphy-ized acoustics. But I suspect I would like it.
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Nicely done! Thanks for sharing with us.
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19 hours ago, PrairieDog said:
Okay, but this doesn’t explain how my DIGITAL tuner is simply “mishearing” the sharpness? I’m not basing any of this on my hearing. it’s a high quality, non-headstock tuner, using the physics of sound-waves, detecting the out-of-tune states that is reporting. Once I scrapped tuning right off the stand, the “problem” was solved. My guitar goes in tune once I work it for a minute or two.
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Interesting! All I can do is quote my children, who now long into adulthood still proclaim, "When in doubt, bet against dad. He's almost always wrong." 🙂
I suppose that the friction caused by vibrations raises the temperature of the wood and guitar.
Thanks so much for posting this.
Tell me about...........
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
Thank you for the very kind words.
What a privilege it has been for me to own these things. I have lent them far and wide. Emily Saliers (of the Indigo Girs) had one of my Banner SJs for a year. Jenniffer Nettles (of Sugarland) had the LG-1 for a year. My went-to-WWII SJ spent over a year in a museum. And on and on.
I'm a lucky fellow, especially given my personal challenges.
OK, off to play that Banner LG-3!