jt

Great points! Thank you.

Interesting. We do hear what we hear. I'll post another thread that links to my study of hearing preference--do we favor bass or treble frequencies--and tonewood and string preferences. Thanks for posting this.

Yup. Ain't possible. But our ears can forget how a guitar sounds. I've experienced this many times.

Think of the physics of the proposition that guitars go to sleep and then wake up when played. Guitars are composed of long-dead pieces of wood (or never alive scraps of carbon fiber). Playing them cannot change them. Really. I'm currently at work on a book about the art and science of the guitar, which will contain a chapter on the physics of the guitar (and chapters on history, the neurology of hearing, the psychology of hearing, acoustics, etc.): The Acoustic Guitar: Inside the World’s Most Popular Musical Instrument (Oxford University Press, 2024). I'll address the notion of inanimate objects falling asleep and then waking up.

Thank you, kind sir.

Thank you! It took me a long time to work that out.

I regularly gig with my vintage Gibsons. If micing the guitar is not an option (because of a noisy environment), I use an LR BAggs soundhole pickup, with the cable hanging out the soundhole. Here's a very old video of me playing my 1942 Banner LG-1 at a club in Liverpool, England:

It's a KG-11.

Ha! In truth, I am honored to know that my work has become widely accepted. The little book that changed my life!

Ha! You're right, of course.

Oh, my. There's so much wrong about this: "the plant was also deploying a platoon of “Kalamazoo Girls” (named for the location of the factory and the women who replaced the male workers) to produce upwards of 25,000 “unauthorized” guitars. When the war came to an end, Gibson denied the factory had made any guitars at all." Use my work, don't give me credit, and refer to the "gals" as "girls?" And, as I carefully point out in Kalamazoo Gals, the company produced 25,000 instruments, including the mandolin family of instruments and banjos. A minority of those 25,000 were guitars.

Ha! I should have been thinking on a larger scale!

1946 Gibson flattops are fantastic. In fact, they are nearly Good Enough. 🙂 Seriously, I spent a couple of decades buying vintage guitars with the goal of selling enough of them to cover the cost of my remaining collection with the net profit of the sales. A few years ago, I accomplished my goal. I sold about a dozen vintage Gibsons (and one Larson) and netted enough from the sales (sale price minus my purchase price of the guitars) to cover the purchase price of the guitars I kept. Yes, I've read many posts over the years that vintage guitars are overpriced compared to the price of new guitars. But, well, I now possess a "free" collection of a couple of dozen extraordinary guitars.

Ceasar, of course, has been number 2 since JC ascended to the Gibson throne in 2018. I've no idea why the decision now, but I credit both with embracing the story of the Kalamazoo Gals and appearing in my January 2022 virtual celebration of the last surviving Gals' 100th birthday (she's still going strong a year later). They appear at the 22:30 mark:

Cunningham, It's possible. My best understanding is that the Gals did not participate in making carved archtops, except to do the final sanding. But WWII Gibson is a jigsaw puzzle and I only have 1/3 of the pieces. It's a shame that someone refinished the headstock.

Yes, that's the myth. Women did most of the work building the guitars. The video flashes a photo of them (the women I've dubbed the Kalamazoo Gals), but makes no mention of their role in producing those great wartime guitars.

Thank you!

Sadly, the video repeats the disproven myth that the WWII-era guitars were built by the experienced "craftsmen" who were too old to serve in the war effort. 😞 Wrong date, too, for the J-50, which Gibson introduced in 1942, not 1950.

Fabulous songs and a fabulous performance! Thank you for sharing this with us.

That one, too. But I'm waiting until the documentary film premiers about a year from now (on the film festival circuit). Details (fairly) soon.

Don't tip your hat until you've read the thing! This is my loan book that has had a broad-ranging appeal. My next 2 books (a book for Oxford U Press about the science of the guitar and a book for Springer/Nature about child refugees) will, almost certainly, have limited appeal. Again, thanks. And I look forward to learning what you think of the book.

Thank you! I look forward to learning your thoughts about my book. I'm honored and humbled by each and every purchase.

There's a Kindle version! 🙂

Yes, I did address this in the book. This is a photo of the war effort in North Africa. That case is precisely the case Gibson would have supplied for an SJ, J-45, or J-50. (Yes, it's shaped more to fit an archtop, but that's the case you got for J-series flattop, too, if you wanted a hardshell case.)

Thank you! Some years ago, Gibson produced a limited run of copies of my personal collection (50 replicas of 4 guitars). As best I know, all had adjustable truss rods. I'd love for Gibson to produce replicas of the truss rod-less wartime Gibsons. The great luthiers in Italy, Bagnasco and Casatti, do. The guitars are wonderful. But, like Bagnasco and Casatti, Gibson should produce accurate replicas. No carbon fiber rods and improved square steel tubes, please. Gibson's wartime guitars featured maple neck reinforcements--a V-shaped wedge that ran the length of the neck. Martin used an ebony insert.