jt
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Posts posted by jt
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13 hours ago, Mossimo said:
My apologies jt for referring you as "All Access" but as a first time poster I didn't notice your name up on top.
I will post the LG-2 when it arrives.
In the mean time here are pics of my 2015 custom "Special Mahogany" Banner.
All mahogany and Its sound is more like a Steinway Piano sound.
I was able to download "The Water is Wide" tabs from Musicnotes arranged by Ed Gerhard.
Cheers
Mossimo
No worries. I hadn't before notice that I have all access! 🙂
I suspect that Ed Gerhard's arrangement is quite different. I'll check it out.
I love all-mahogany Banners! Here's my 1943 LG-1:
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5 hours ago, Mossimo said:
All access, that is a beatiful composition that you played. Can I have thebTabs? Can't get it out of my head. I am receiving an lg-2 history banner on tuesday and looking forward to play your piece on it.
I'm not sure if you're referring to me as "All Access." In any event, I don't have TABs for anything that I play.
Please post us pics and videos of your LG-2! As I posted, I'm LG-obsessed.
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3 hours ago, E-minor7 said:
Please do ^ thanx for sharing
I'm looking for it!
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I got to spend some time with David when I spent several weeks on tour with Jackson Browne while writing a Fretboard Journal cover story about Jackson. Three memories of David stand out.
David was always playing. Always. He didn’t even dine with the band so that he could play more. One afternoon just before soundcheck, David was playing an oud. “Want to play it, John?” David asked. I responded that I didn’t even know how the instrument was tuned. “Oh, it’s easy,” said David. These three strings are tuned like [some instrument I’d never heard of] and these three are tuned like [another instrument I’d never heard of].” No thanks, I said, afraid of embarrassing myself.
How I wish I’d taken up David’s offer of a lesson.
Another day, I spent an hour, or so, passing a 1943 Banner Gibson SJ back and forth with David and Jackson. What a thrill. Somewhere, I’ve got a recording of that hour. I’ll search for it.
Finally, on the last night of my hang with David and Jackson, I was walking and talking with Jackson after that night’s show. Jackson and I walked past David’s dressing room. Yep, at nearly midnight, after playing one instrument or another all day and after a 2-hour concert with Jackson and band, David was in his dressing room, still playing. “If you want to be like David,” Jackson said, “that’s what you have to do.”
What a loss.
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1 hour ago, Murph said:
Because capitalism rocks!
And consumer demand! 🙂
During WWII, Gibson president Guy Hart testified before the War Production Board that the company was having difficulty keeping up with the demand from soldiers to purchase guitars.
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Thanks for taking the time to read and post about my book! I truly appreciate it.
One correction: the company manufactured almost 25,000 musical instruments during WWII, Including about 9,100 "Banner" flattops.
Thanks, again!
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Congratulations!
I'm Banner LG obsessed:
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Lovely. Thank you for sharing with us.
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10 hours ago, Dave F said:
FWIW, I don't record but what I've read on this forum and elsewhere, maple guitars record well. John Thomas produced an album of Banner J's and documented which guitar was used on each track. If we wanted to, he had us listen and then pick our favorite sounding instrument before he revealed which guitar. I picked the maple.
Wonderful project and well worth listening to. Pick your favorite sound then lookup what was used.
Thanks, Dave! What great fun that project was.
Information soon on the in-production Kalamazoo Gals feature length documentary film.
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2 hours ago, kidblast said:
Jeff Beck sitting a few feet away, nope.. not just another performance. It's like a whole new slant on naked and afraid.
Ha! Perfectly expressed.
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12 minutes ago, kidblast said:
Nicely done JT. Thanks for sharing the two clips. I watched the beck show before, but I liked watching your performance as well
Talk about trying to not let the moment get too big! That had to be the hardest part.
Thanks!
Yes, I had to keep reminding myself: this is just another guitar performance. Sure. 🙂
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9 hours ago, Tman said:
Nicely written and nicely played jt.
Thank you!
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2 hours ago, Jinder said:
Beautiful piece, JT. The world is a poorer place without Jeff Beck in it.
Thank you!
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2 hours ago, Lars68 said:
A worthy, well written piece, John.
Lars
Thanks, Lars.
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Thanks, Dave.
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My remembrance of Jeff Beck for Fretboard Journal:
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Immeasurably sad.
I'm stunned that Jeff Beck has died (after “suddenly contracting bacterial meningitis”). A brilliant musician and lovely human being who paid me the great honor of coming to my gig at Ronnie Scott’s some years ago, sitting in the front row, and complementing me afterward. He and I spent the remainder of the evening passing my 1943 Banner Gibson SJ back and forth, playing songs. Today is a very sad day for me.
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I love vintage guitars, especially vintage Gibsons. I much prefer them to modern Gibsons.
Do I think that they are always better guitars than their modern counterparts? No. But I love playing a well-worn guitar that I know has played songs for decades before I acquired it. Doing so brings me joy. I have 2 Gibson flattops that US soldiers took to WWII. I feel so privileged to be their current caretaker.
And to be crass about the economics, no other asset that I've owned and sold have appreciated like vintage guitars. Yeah, timing is everything. Still ...
Play what you like, of course, and what you can afford, of course. If the guitar makes you happy, it's a great instrument. Old guitars make me happy.
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There was a time when I thought J-45s and other Gibsons with the 2 1/8 string spacing at the bridge were not at their best fingerpicked. That was because I did most of my playing--I only fingerpick, including on electric--on 1930s and 1920s Gibsons and Larsons with wider string spacing at the bridge.
But ... even at my age, my hands and brain can adapt. 🙂 I switch back and forth nearly daily between my Gibsons with 2 1/8 spacing at the bridge and my Gibsons, Larsons, and other guitars with wider spacing. I now have no preference.
Here's my 1943 SJ, a gussied-up J-45, fingerpicked. Yeah, I think it works beautifully.
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Thanks for posting the update about your wonderful guitar!
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I love that Martin goes way outside the box for anniversary guitars and other celebratory guitars.
The company, compared to Gibson, has consistently been aesthetically conservative. But for these special guitars ...
No, I don't want one, especially at the price. But my goodness, I love that the company does this.
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47 minutes ago, rustystrings said:
That said, does that indicate the top on this one is likely to be Sitka, being post-CMI acquisition? I'm not accustomed to seeing Adirondack Red Spruce tops with grain and silking like that one.
I am hoping the OP posts a soundfile of some sort when it returns from repair!
Yes. And it looks like Sika to me, too.
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2 hours ago, LesB3 said:
Thanks JT! For sure it is a special guitar (to me), but your book has made it all the more interesting, not to mention a fun intellectual pursuit for me these past few weeks. Once I get her back, I'll add to your online registry (some of the guitars on there already seem to have similar / the same FON).
There was quite a bit of material in the case (lesson books, etc.), I'll see if I'm lucky enough to have a receipt!
A receipt would be amazing! Please keep us posted.
I'll update the registry over the holidays. You can send pics to me at johnthomasguitar at gmail.
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Congratulations on acquiring that beautiful Kalamazoo Gals-made guitar!
The maple J-45s date to 1944 and 1945. As you already know, they are rare and wonderful guitars.
The ledgers aren't available online. As a condition to being allowed to view them, I promised Gibson that I would not share them.
This said, they don't provide much information. They only list the instrument models and the retailer to whom they were shipped. They do not list Factory Order Numbers (FONs) of the instruments. As a result, the only way to track a specific guitar through the ledgers is to know when and where it was purchased. (The ledgers do list serial numbers, but Gibson only gave serial numbers t
o expensive archtops and a few flattop models like the Nick Lucas).
A wonderful guitar.
Thanks for the kind words about my book.
Again, congratulations!
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Kalamazoo Gals
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
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.