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That's a particularized list! I, too, like the truss rod-less Banners. I'm not sure that Gibson produced a guitar matching your preferences. Peruse our (Willi Henkes did all the heavy lifting) Banner Gibson Registry. You're looking for 2p M top (2-piece mahogany) and 3p mpl/V or 5p mpl/V (3 or 5 piece maple neck with maple V-shaped reinforcement instead of tr, truss rod).

I echo the sentiments other, wiser forum members have offered, roughly: what pleases your hands and ears, pleases your hands and ears. My own hands and ears, which have suffered the corruption of history (I met some of the women who built the first J-45s) and personal experience (I view the Banner era through rose-colored, Honduran Mahogany-accented glasses), point me toward the first year issue of the Banner models, including the J-45. The early Banner models featured multi-ply purflings top and back and fancy rosettes. They also featured my favorite-ever, mass-produced, acoustic guitar neck carve. The necks feature 1 3/4 nuts and 2 1/8 string spacing at the bridge (both on the narrow side for my preferences) and, for my hands, perfectly-executed shoulders. I've been, uh, privileged to work "with" Gibson on producing a limited run of reproductions of my personal collection of Banner Gibsons. IMVHO, the closer Gibson got to the 1942 specs, the better the guitars sounded (and, to my hands, played).

I'll hope that Tom chimes in. He knows much more than I about the use of vintage guitars in various forms of music and about acoustics. I have CT-scanned and X-rayed Gibson flattops from the late 1930s through the late 1940s (and dozens of other brands and eras vintage guitars). Based on measurements of plate (top, back, and sides) and bracing thickness, the Banner era guitars were statistically significantly thinner ( P = 0.05). What that says about tone I leave to your (and Tom's) ears. I'm now collaborating with an engineering school in Massachusetts, USA and the mathematics and physics departments at a university in Sao Paolo, Brazil on this continuing project. (Much) More information soon.

A lovely guitar! Thanks, Lars, for flagging this for us.

Nobody knows more than Willi about vintage Gibsons, Martins, and Larsons. He's also a lovely fellow. IMHO, Antique Acoustics are THE best bridge pins available: light and very hard. IMHO, again, weight is not your friend in bridge pins (read: bone or brass).

Just making sure!

I certainly didn't mean to criticize Tommy or his gear choices! He sounds fabulous, even when he's playing one of my guitars with me: Tommy has also been quite good to me, sitting for a long interview for the upcoming Kalamazoo Gals documentary and providing a video for the virtual celebration of the 100th birthday of the last surviving Kalamazoo Gal.

TE sounds great through the AER ... but he certainly doesn't talk or sing through it. 🙂 If I had a house PA system, I'd also use the AER and run a line out of it into the PA. Another 🙂 Yeah, SRV. Saw him a couple of times. What a privilege.

My Fishman SA 220 drowned in a basement flood. My homeowner's insurance upgraded me to an SA 330 (well, I had to contribute some cash). I like the 330 with the dedicated 4-channel mixer (that allows use of the 2 channels on the fish stick, resulting in 6 channels). Initially, I thought that I might also purchase the companion subwoofer, but I've decided that the system produces more than adequate bass as-is. I also have an AER Compact 60, which is nice, but not, to my ears, in league with the Fishman for solo gigs. As for donating gear to struggling, young musicians ... Years ago, back in my law practicing days, a young man who worked in our mail room came to me one day and handed me a Stratocaster. He'd just bought it and asked me to show him how to tune it. Really. I showed him. ONE MONTH later, he returned to my office, Strat in hand, and played for me ever note on SRV's first album. Ever note, every chord. He had no idea of the chord names. He and I became jamming buddies. He had a sad, tiny, solid state amp. I had a 1957 Fender Champ. Best amp ever. One afternoon as we unplugged after our session (and my Champ had cooled), I handed him the Champ. It's still in his much more deserving hands.

Thanks, Lars! This is the sort of work (and Willi the sort of luthier) to which I was alluding.

Perhaps so. And I apologize for any arrogance I exhibited. But, well, the repair just isn't well executed.

A stunningly bad result. This fellow should seek consultation with a few of the great vintage guitar repair folks who take great pains to match the grain of patches with the grain of the repaired guitar and who can also so skillfully match the guitar finish as to nearly make the patch disappear.

Well, well, well. I now know where Stefan got that riff. Thank you! William "the ragtime barber" Moore is one of my heroes. Not sure how I missed this recording. Again, thank you!

Thanks, BK! That tune, which I accurately call my Mediocre Ditty, began life as Stefan Grossman's "Stompin' on the Tappahannock." What's left of that arrangement is in the first 12 bars. I made up what follows. I've tried few modern Gibsons. I should remedy that. The best I can offer is this comparison of my original Banner LG-1 and Gibson's replica of it (at Gibson's request, some years ago I sent 4 guitars from my personal collection to Montana for Gibson to produce a limited run of 50 replicas of each):

Did someone mention LG-3s? 🙂 My current favorite guitar.

I last visited the Ernest Tubb shop last September when I was in Nashville to premier the trailer for the Kalamazoo Gals documentary at AmericanaFest. I'm sad to say that I was the only customer in the shop during my visit (I'm happy to report that the shop carried my book, 🙂 ). The closing is fueled, of course, by the changing ways that we listen to music, but also by the value of real estate in downtown Nashville. My bet is that the property sells and quickly, the building is demolished, and some glitzy franchised hotel/bar takes it rightful place in the new Nashville. 😞 As for Nashville changing ... When I was there in September the most common sight on the roads were party busses, truck, and those pedal carts on which the pedals suck beer from rubber hoses, all filled with young women. WTF? I asked someone who lives in Nashville. "Oh, didn't you know, Nashville is Bachelorette Party Capital." Really. Sigh.

Congrats, Murph! Thanks, all, for sharing your stories. I'm still working at 67 and still enjoy my job. I plan on retiring at 70. That will give me the time I so desperately need for all of my non-job the projects. 🙂

Finally, a state government exhibits proper priorities! Yesterday, the Michigan governor and state legislature honored Irene Stearns and the other Kalamazoo Gals.

Well done. Best Mexican beer? Negro Modelo.

Thank you, kind sir!

Thanks, all. Your kind words mean a lot.

Thank you, Anne! What a gift the Gals gave me.

Hello, all. I'm baaaack. 🙂 Yesterday I assembled and posted to my YouTube channel what I'm facetiously calling the "director's cut" of the virtual celebration of the 100th Birthday of the Last Surviving of the "Kalamazoo Gals" who built Gibson's Guitars during WWII. What a privilege it has been for me to play my small role in this story. This version contains all 100+ video tributes offered by musicians from a dozen countries around the globe. Have I mentioned what a privilege it has been for me facilitate this event? Contributors include Rosanne Cash, Tommy Emmanuel, Waddy Wachtel, Jennifer Nettles, Emily Saliers, John Jorgenson, and, as you'll see, many very cool folks. Coolest for our forum may be that Gibson CEO and Brand President, JC” Curleigh and Cesar Gueikian, contributed a heartfelt video. Anyway, here it is. You'll see several forum members among the wonderful folks who contributed. If you submitted a video and I omitted you (it's been a wild scramble!), please let me know and I'll splice you in. Thanks to all who contributed.

Outstanding in every respect! Thank you for sharing this with us.

Here is my comparison and discussion of WWII-era, Banner LGs: