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Thanks, folks. I've now heard the WAV file from the matched Neumanns. Stunning. At some point soon, I'll have that recording synched up with the pro video. I'll be sure to share the results here.

Heritage has moved to an adjacent building on the Gibson compound. Heritage will move back into its original space, in the basement of the central building, when renovation concludes. This is a cool project.

Thanks, all. Yes, Nick, more fun than teaching law students. This was a stunning experience. Noted mandolin pro Scott Napier composed the song for the occasion (and I worked up the fingerstyle accompaniment). Scott, his wife (equally talented mandolist Lauren Price Napier), filmmaker David Massar, and I were the only people in the building ... for 2.5 hours. This hasn't happened before and most likely will never happen again. The renovation process will begin soon and that visually sad but sonically astonishing space will transform into a Hard Rock Hotel (a very cool thing, imho). Thanks, again.

Lars, Sure. We'll be filming over the summer. We've already recorded our interview with the last surviving Gal and with some of the children of the Gals who have died since I began the project. Of course, we filmed extensively in the old factory building and around Kalamazoo. We'll also be filming some guitar players you know playing Banner Gibsons. We're using the documentary to prepare/research our ultimate goal: a dramatic movie adaptation.

Thanks, folks! It was a moving experience. We (Scott, his wife, the filmmaker, and me) were the only people in the building for 2.5 hours. Last evening I received the WAV file of the audio from the Neumanns. The sound is glorious.

Hello, all. Last Saturday I had the privilege of recording a song in the old factory. I’m playing my 1944 SJ and the composer, Scott Napier, is playing his 1939 Mandolin that didn’t ship until 1941 (the next day I introduced him to the last surviving Kalamazoo Gal, who is 99 years old and was in the building when his mandolin and my guitar were there). This is a simple iPhone recording of a song that will feature in the upcoming Kalamazoo Gals documentary. We also, of course, recorded off that matched pair of Neumanns and with pro-video gear. Scott composed the piece for the occasion.

What's 5 years among friends? 🙂 I have always loved Lightnin's music. I've done my best to steal a lick or three, but I have no capacity to approach his coolness. Anyway, here's my attempt to "return the favor." SRV copped a bunch of Lightnin's licks. Here I try to play an SRV tune as Lightnin' might have played it:

Lars, Wonderful! You definitely are worthy of that guitar.

Thanks for chiming in, Dave. Yes, 139 originals shipped. I only know of 3 or 4 in existence. As for that reissue, as I recall, the neck was substantial but significantly smaller than my original's neck. IMHO, that reissue is a very nice guitar. I was glad to see it go to a friend.

Well, if you don't think that you're capable of sanding a bone blank to match the radius of your fingerboard, for $16.37, StewMac will sell you a bone saddle sanded to match the Gibson fingerboard. But, I've no interest in arguing the issue. We love our Gibsons, regardless of whether we carve our saddles. 🙂

Do consider making your own somewhere down the road. SteMac sells bone saddle blanks for $7.84, so the investment is modest. Filing/sanding them down is not rocket science. Plus, once you're comfortable getting the radius right, you can custom intonate your saddle. Here's the intonation I did last week on the saddle of my "new" 1942 LG-2.

Got a file or some sandpaper? Saddle blanks are cheap (StewMac is my go to). It will take but a few minutes to shape a bone saddle blank to the radius of your fingerboard.

I love the tennis lingo. I've been playing the guitar too much to take many photos. I'll rectify that. For now, I offer this:

Thanks, Lars! Alas, the ledgers do not list the FONs of shipped guitars. The only way to know when a guitar shipped is to approximated when the original purchaser purchased it and from which retailer. The ledgers just list model number and the retailer to whom it was shipped. Yours is a beautiful J-45!

Though you can’t see in the YouTube video, the entire finish is crazed. Plus, both top and back feature a few (well-prepared) cracks. Of course, most old Gibsons exhibit these features. Still, that humidity and the journey to and from the Pacific could not have helped. 🙂

Thanks, again, all!

Thanks, all. Next stop will be the digital X-ray machine and CT-scanner.

Hello, all. Some of you may appreciate this. I recently acquired the earliest known guitar by the Kalamazoo Gals: a 1942 LG-2 that shipped August 24, 1942. The FON is 7080H-2. Batch 7080H is the first-known batch f Banner Gibsons. The Banner Registry contains another guitar from this batch, but it is the eighth guitar in the batch. This is the second in the batch and likely the second Banner Gibson that the Gals made. Cooler is that a US soldier took this guitar to the WWII Pacific battlefront. It is also one of the finest sounding guitars that I’ve had the privilege to play. A video recording of the guitar.

Thanks!

My 1929 Nick also has the wood side reinforcement strips. As you point out, Gibson seemed to jump from wood to cloth and back again from the 1920s through the 1950s.

Yes, as best I know, all of the 13 fretters had floating bridges. Good luck with the sale!

I love vintage ladder braced guitars. I'm not referencing Gibsons, but the Oscar Schmidt-built Stellas and Sovereigns of the 1920s and 1930s. A picker can buy these for less than the price of the Collings' copies. Fabulous.

In my not remotely humble opinion, there are no guitars better than early Nick Lucases. I prefer the 12-fret versions, and love my 1929 Nick But this is a lovely example. And here's some ragged playing on my quite ragged 1929 Nick:

Thanks for posting this. I love the sound of James's playing on those early records. It's a good lesson for a fellow like me who claims that a Gibson with an adjustable bridge can't possibly be any good. Yeah, a lot of the tone is in James's hands. But a great sounding guitar is a great sounding guitar, regardless of its woods, bridge configuration, and any other details. I confess to getting lost way too often is those meaningless details. This video is a great reminder to listen with my ears, not my eyes. Again, thanks for posting this.

A pair of 1936 firestripes. OK, you can only see the one pickguard, but I like the photo. 🙂