Jinder

That’s a beauty...as has been mentioned, some service work at the machineheads isn’t a bad idea. the adjustable bridge, despite what you might read on some forums, isn’t actually a bad thing at all. Some folks convert them to a traditional fixed bridge by way of a rosewood insert to take a bone saddle, but I wouldn’t bother. I DID bother with my ‘67 J45, but it made very little difference in terms of tonal quality or response. The beauty of the adjustable bridges is that you can play with the tone by swapping out the various compounds available-I’ve come across rosewood, ceramic, rosewood with bone insert, bone and tusq. The Tusq one was the best sounding of the lot on my J45 but your mileage may vary. It’s a fun experiment!

Hey, Gary! I feel your pain (or absence thereof!) with the hands issue. I was in hospital for a couple of months at the end of last year (one as an inpatient, one as an outpatient) with endocarditis and a blood infection, which caused three brain abscesses. Came out of the other end of the treatment as cured as I’m ever going to be, but with terrible joint pain due to connective tissue damage, and no feeling in my fingertips due to septic emboli. I’ve had to re-learn a lot of my playing as the abscesses kaiboshed my short-to-medium term memory too. A very odd experience after playing for a living for 23yrs! I was just getting back in the pocket as a player when I ventured out without my stick three weeks ago...an after effect of the brain thing is that I’m a little unsteady on my feet, and I managed to fall over in spectacular fashion and break my right foot and right wrist. Back to square one! I’m inspired by the fact that you’ve found a twelve string easiest to get on with, that’s very cool. I have a Hummingbird twelve string which is basically the same as yours (square shoulder, short scale, spruce over mahogany dreadnought 12), which is one of my favourite guitars. I’ve not played it a great deal since my illness but you’ve inspired me to get it out of the case as soon as the wrist allows! Enjoy your B45 in good health, my friend, and welcome to a great forum!

I like the comfort of a short scale neck, but can find them a little tight space wise for my large hands. All of my Gibsons are long scale, with the exception of my ‘67 J45 which also has the skinny ‘60s nut width. That one takes a spot of adjusting to, but I can play it no problem. I still lean towards long scale at every opportunity though.

I had an AE for a while, really lovely little guitar. I bought it used from a guy who told me “I really wanted to like this guitar, but I actively dislike everything about it, I don’t know why anyone would want anything other than a Martin, Gibsons are soooo overrated” etc etc. Quite a sales pitch! It made me both chip him in price outrageously, and fall in love with the guitar before I even played it. What a tool. I really did enjoy the guitar. Lovely compact thing for couch noodling and writing, recorded well and was a nice lightweight guitar to sling onstage. In a moment of GAS I traded it away for a J180, which I subsequently traded for my Dove, which is possibly my favourite of all the guitars I’ve ever owned, so all’s well that ends well, but I’d love another LG2 one day.

Oh the Sheryl squares are GREAT! I borrowed one some years ago from Gibson for a tour whilst my SJ200 was being refretted, and I didn’t want to give it back...I offered them MSRP for it but they don’t sell their loaners. Absolutely brilliant guitar. And yes, that is her handwriting on the label!!

They didn’t work for me (not on my SJ200 at least...although, having said that, six months on and they’re still on it!) but I’m glad you’re enjoying them! Like all things guitar, it’s all subjective, which is what makes this stuff so interesting to discuss 🙂

The great Phil Beer, formerly of The Albion Band and now of Show of Hands...a folk legend! I’ve had a few good chats about gear with Phil when we’ve shared festival bills etc, his David Oddy OOO/OM guitars are exquisite. He has great live tone and I expected him to use multi-source pickup systems, but it’s all done with a Rare Earth humbucker. Superb player!

How are you getting on with the Optimas? I used mediums on my J180 for a while and liked them well enough, although I went back to 12-54 Martin SPs eventually. Worth a try!

I’ve owned a few Martins. Three (OM18V, 00DB Jeff Tweedy, D18GE) really got their claws into me. The Tweedy in particular was glorious, absolutely nothing that didn’t please me about that little thing. However, one thing all my Martins have in common is that they aren’t here anymore. I’ve always had Gibson acoustics, but Martins have come and gone. A Dove, AJ or SJ200 is home to me in a way that no Martin has ever been. I have always liked Martins a great deal, but I’ve never loved one the way that I’ve loved my best Gibsons.

How unusual-a birdsbeak fretboard end on a Dove! Despite the obvious avian connection, I’ve never seen that on a Dove before, only an SJ200. Lovely touch. Cool that he has done the SJBE tutorial, I have never been able to figure that song out!

Ah I didn’t consider it being due to the torrefication. I would imagine it brings out waxes/oils from the wood which make it harder to finish. I don’t have a major issue with it, I’m just curious about it as I’ve seen it a lot over the last year or so.

You may find mediums (13-56) a gigantic step backwards in terms of playability unless you have the guitar set up for them right off the bat. If it’s currently set up for 10s, you will find that (at the very least) the neck relief will need to be adjusted to compensate for the huge change in string tension etc. A setup for 10s will have fairly high amounts of relief and action, which is required to minimise buzzing and fretting out when playing hard. 13s are the opposite-they need a much straighter neck to compensate for the extra tension, and can be dialled in for lower action as they are less prone to buzzing and flapping about. With your current setup I wouldn’t advise to use heavier strings than 12s. Certain strings such as Martins have a thicker core, and accordingly more string tension and stiffness, when compared with strings such as D’addarios, so if you’re absolutely sure you want to use 13s, it’s worth taking the gauge of strings you want to your luthier along with the guitar and asking him/her to set it up for them. It’s not a lengthy job (truss rod tweak, maybe a hair of height off the saddle) but is best done professionally as you’re moving up from a gauge of string which is fairly uncommon in acoustic guitar use.

I use 12-53 on mine. Usually D’Addario EXPs but they have discontinued those. Recently I’ve very much enjoyed Martin Tommy Emmanuel signature flexible core strings, a set of 12-54 Tommies would sound great on your SJ200. 10s are quite light for such a big guitar.

Very distinctive and visible coating...those are Elixir Polywebs, the original ones. Judging by the colour, 80/20 bronze. And judging by the fact the bottom E is a shade narrower than the incumbent set of 12-53s on your guitar, I’d say 11-52s. Problem solved! 🙂

The FHLDs sound and look terrific...love the ‘70s style bridge, just like the one on my ‘95 (I have no idea why mine has one, but I love it). The one in the vid seems to be a really sweet and dynamic instrument. Sounds remarkably similar to mine but without the width and depth of tone that 26yrs has brought. I’ve owned three Doves, the first two had their merits but my current one is just glorious...I bought it on a day when I auditioned a ton of other guitars that a dealer friend of mine had for sale. A lot of really beautiful instruments, and a day spent in hog heaven playing my way through them all. The Dove was very special, though. It made everything else, however exquisite they were, sound...well...ordinary. I was so lucky to find it when I did. It’s been all over my last two albums in terms of recording and writing, and is a great live guitar too.

At the risk of sounding like Captain Obvious, have you tried a fresh battery in the preamp? In my experience, low output and distorted signal from an active pickup usually equates to a battery issue. I apologise if this is something you’ve already explored! Other than that, I would look at the volume/tone pots to check neither is contaminated with any muck/dust/gig sweat and gone high resistance...it could be a problem with the piezo strip itself, but these rarely fail in my experience.

Ohh the spectre of the Fox returns! There’s a name that stirs some memories of a few years back. 🙀

Unless it had been professionally repaired and was 100% stable, never. Even then, I would have to be head over heels in love with the guitar in question. I need my guitars to be 100% dependable as they’re working instruments...I’ve never bought a guitar with a cracked anything, and I don’t think I ever would. Feels too much like buying potential trouble.

I’ve got Martin Retros on my ‘67 J45 at present. A little bright at the moment but will fade. Personally I really like round core strings on old wood. DR Sunbeams or Newtone Masterclass are two of my favourites.

Sounds gorgeous, Sal...these have intrigued me. Likewise the Frontier and Excellente reissues...particularly the Frontier as I’ve lusted after one for 20yrs+ after playing an original one. I recently played the Sigma Hummingbird which was exceptional. I considered it, but ended up with the little Sigma CF-100 copy which is a great instrument too, and was a little more what I was after size wise. I think it’s fantastic that Epi have created the IBG range, if they bring out an L-00, LG or J185 I will be first in the queue!

Al, you owe it to yourself to try a Dove. I swear my ‘95 is one of the best recording guitars I’ve ever played. Goes down to tape like butter on hot toast!

It’s funny, y’know. How different is what Neil is doing here to what any of us do? Guitar playing is solid, unflashy, perhaps a touch congested in places. Vocal is tremulous, unconventional, perhaps less than great in the orthodox sense. The song is a fairly straightforward folky piece in G with some well structured lyrics, but not complex or showy in any way. Yet, somehow, as a whole it’s mesmerising, almost otherworldly and heartstopping. I’m a huge Neil fan and been for 27yrs or so. I love his work, even the lesser stuff is far better than most artists could dream of creating, but I’m still absolutely perplexed as to how the component parts combine to make such a magisterial whole. Magic, or the closest thing there is to it, I guess. Thankyou for posting, Lars!

Ah this is beautiful...so good to hear you again! One of my favourite songs, too. Great way to start the weekend!

Anne, this totally caught me off guard this morning and I’m unashamed to say I shed a tear or two. A beautiful rendition, really tender and heartfelt. I miss JP immensely, and was really torn up by his passing. His music has soundtracked so much of my life and his beauty and elegant economy as a writer has been something I have striven for since I first started putting songs together. The L-00 sounds great too!

I played a show in Glasgow in late 2019 with JJ Gilmour, who played one of these on the night. He let me play it for a while backstage, what a gem! So even and balanced, lovely snap to it but with a bloom to every note and wonderful, detailed overtones. As KB said, that’s a lifetime guitar. Enjoy!