Jinder

I rather like the D'Addario 85/15 12-54s on my J45. I've owned a few J45s and have always found 13s choke them a little, I'm not sure why. 12s always seem to sing the best and coax the best in dynamics from them. I only use 13s on my Epi Texan, tuned down to Eb. That really suits the downtuned meaty strings, with the long scale and thunderous bass response it has.

Gotoh 301s or the 510s with the smooth nickel buttons and "6 o'clock" screw hole should drop in just fine. I like the Rotomatics though. Heavy and a bit ungainly but for a gigging guitar they're bulletproof. Most reliable machineheads I've come across in 21yrs of singing to make ends meet. Much prefer them to Klusons or most open back tuners. Having said that I have a set of Waverly open backs on my Michael Messer resonator which are very good. I'll take Rotos on a touring instrument any day though.

From your description, they're D'Addario EXP PB. I use these strings on my guitars that don't like Martin 80/20s. Great strings with something of a dull, subdued brown tint and slick feel. Oddly enough I've JUST put a set on my Hummingbird which is in my lap as we speak!

Thanks FB! Way Over Yonder is one of my favourites too. BB currently plays it on electric with CJ Hillman on steel, it sounds fantastic! We just got back from the Musikhaus in Linz as it happens, we only have two dates left of this leg of the European tour and I've tracked down the J45 to Rome, where it's being shipped back to England from, so we didn't go big budget for the stopgap guitar. We bought an all-Hog Fender dread with a Fishman Presys system in it. I've never been keen on Fender acoustics previously, but this one and a couple of others we tried sound great and play very well indeed. €360 all in including a hard case! Ren is obviously doing something right at Fender. I also played a Sigma OM28VS, for around €400 I don't think there's a better acoustic out there, I was gobsmacked at how good it was. I also spent some time with an Epi Masterbilt slope which was heavy but sounded superb.

Ah Sal I only do UK and Europe with BB! What a shame as it would have been great to meet you. He uses a US based TM who he's worked with for a long time (Adie I think his name is) mainly because the logistics are so much more long-winded for US tours and I juggle TM work with my own touring so I don't have the time to do US as well as UK/Europe.

Therein hangs a tale...I'm BB's tour manager. We're currently in Austria, and two days ago the J45 that he's been playing for a long time was lost by the airline on our way to Croatia to play a festival. We're all upset about it. Currently waiting for our driver to pick us up and take us guitar shopping in Linz.

Nice sounding L-00, although I had to fast forward through the waffle at the start to minimise the time spent looking at his frankly ridiculous facial hair...and this is coming from a beard wearer of 15yrs+ 😳

This is sound advice. When I'm on Tech duty I change my artists' batteries in Baggs equipped guitars (mag or Element) every 3 months to err on the safe side, and mine every 6 months.

Great video, I could listen to Dan Erlewine talk all day! Ryan sold one of the Bucks on eBay recently, went for something insane like $50,000. My friend Glenn Sinnock of Glenn's Guitars (google it...his website is pure guitar porn and he's a GREAT guy to deal with!) sold Ryan one of the Bucks. Apparently he won't use them live anymore as an anti-Trump protest, which is a shame...Trump isn't Buck Owens' fault!

I've played a couple of the HP line. They sounded and looked very plain to me. I wouldn't say soulless, but nowhere near as much spirit to my ears and eyes. In terms of comparisons to recent Gibsons I have, I didn't hear the stoic thunder of the '41 SJ100 Reissue, the perky, big articulation of my SJ200 or the lambent, fluid prettiness of my Dove. I felt they were very transparent and the neck felt good, overall they reminded me of the short lived Gibson branded Songmaker series that came out of the old Garrison factory ten years or so back. A practical gigging instrument and studio workhorse that doesn't impart a lot of character and sounds like Acoustic Guitar™. Similar to a Taylor or one of those modern Martins with hundreds of letters in its name, like a GCLPCNCPDFJPG5 or whatever they're called. I quite like the fact that's gibson futureproofed the HP line by not putting a barn door preamp in it which will be outdated in 5yrs but won't be able to be easily replaced. The Element pickup is a good unobtrusive choice.

If you're seeking a birth year Gibson, I'd buy a Gospel. The braceless arched back and maple make for a really loud and articulate guitar. The best of all the '70s Gibsons by a mile to my ears and fingers!

I could never get behind one of their standard models with the lightning bolt bridge thing going on. Having said that, I tried one of their Retro series OMs some years ago and was very impressed with it. Really nice tone and lovely bloom to the notes when playing finger style. But ultimately it sounded like a good Martin, so I bought a good Martin instead-an OM18V. Wish I hadn't let that one go...

I had a chat with Ryan Adams years ago about his D25M, he said it was his favourite guitar but got smashed to bits in a plane hold, he had it rebuilt but it was never quite the same. I remember him saying "when it was good, songs just fell out of it". I've always liked them. Big and woody sounding, especially with old strings.

There's not much more story to tell, unfortunately...I was recording a song called 'In A Heartbeat' during my time with Sony BMG, and the label didn't like the recording of the song that I'd put down in my regular studio, so sent me and my full operation (producer, band, the lot) to RAK to spend a few days re-recording it there. I was doing some guitar tracking using my Hummingbird, but it wasn't gelling right with the rhythm part which was cut with a Martin D16RGT. We needed something bigger and brighter, so I pulled out my SJ200 but found it still wasn't quite right. It was at that point that one of Mickie's daughters, who was around during the session, brought out the legendary J200 and handed it to me...I was aware of the guitar's history but I heard several more stories as the night wore on, and was so privileged and lucky to be able to spend some time with a real piece of rock'n'roll history. After I'd finished tracking with it, I disappeared to the lounge/tea room and spent a few hours with the guitar whilst the engineer and my producer put some rough mixes together. I wrote a song, 'Memphis To Minnesota' with the J200 and was bewitched by it. It had lost its scratchplate at some point but was a beautiful golden honeyed colour and had the tone to match...one of the best sounding acoustics I have ever played. Eminor7, of course RAK was a long-time hangout for Donovan, but I couldn't say which song/songs of his were cut with MMs J200. I can say, though, that the dry, warm and honky acoustic tone on 'Hurdy Gurdy Man' is very similar to that of the J200 from RAK...could it be...? I spent some time with Donovan in 2009 when I was playing at the Midem festival in Cannes. We were sharing a bill, and hung out together for some time before I went on-what a lovely, warm and completely unpretentious guy he is. Plenty of time to chat and ask about my life and work, despite him being a legend and me being absolutely nobody in particular. His performance (solo, acoustic plugged into a Roland Jazz Chorus 120!) was incendiary too, he played with a gentle variation on the kind of fire and conviction usually reserved for teenagers in rock bands.

When I was recording a few years ago at RAK in St. John's Wood, I had the privilege of playing the late Mickie Most's '60s J200 which Jimmy Page used to double-track various acoustic parts on IV, including the fast-paced acoustic-heavy section of Stairway. That guitar was amazing-it sounded unspeakably beautiful, tune-o-matic and all.

I had a '97 Early J45. Yup, 1 3/4" nut, light as a FEATHER (I've never played a lighter dread), amazing player and it sounded sublime. The best post-'50s J45 I've ever played, it was exquisite. I sold it to Sitric, a forumer, when I was in dire financial need...he bought it for his nephew or cousin as I recall, who loved it. If you get the chance to lay your hands on an Early, I say go for it, they're unbefreakinglievable.

On both my former Birds, the only strings that ever sounded "right" were D'Addario EJ16 12-53 PBs. Ironically, my L-00 hates them, my AJ virtually spat off the set I tried, my Epi EJ200 sounds tinny with them, my former SJ200 didn't like 'em...must be a Hog thing. My former '94 "Early" J45 sounded gargantuan with EJ16s. Maybe it really is a Hog thing!

Red, I think your Maple SS AJ may be the most beautiful guitar I've ever seen in my life. What a stunner! I bet she sounds even better than she looks, too.

I played a short-scale Maple AJ in Rudy's in Manhattan back in 2006...it was stupendously good. Two years later I found a Custom Shop Maple J45 in GuitarGuitar in Glasgow, and there it was again-that gorgeous Maple slope tone. Maybe the AJ was slightly louder, but both sounded out of this world. I'm sure the shorty RW AJ is just as sweet :-)

Does your label say "Early J45"? If so, that's what you've got! Kind of a proto-TV model from '94 and '95, not hugely common but a brilliant guitar. I owned a '94 a few years back, and it was stunning. Incredibly light, and the best sounding J45 I've ever played. When times were tight I VERY reluctantly parted with it-I sold it to a forumer here, actually! If it's an "Early...", keep it-they're superb.

Here is what I use: Acoustics & Archtops: Martin PB 12-54s My 118yr old Lyon & Healy Parlour: Martin Silk & Steels Electrics: Ernie Ball 11s (for Teles, Strats etc) or Ernie Ball Skinny Top Heavy Bottoms (for Les Pauls) Classical: Dell'Arte Hard Tension Coated strings are great, but my problem is I play hard with a heavy pick, so tend to break strings before they lose tone...so, as you can imagine, I don't get the benefit from coated strings that others do...having said that, I'll slap a set of Elixirs on my Kalamazoo archtop next time I change strings, as that one gets played more gently and less frequently than my others. I'm intrigued to try those Newtone Heritage strings on my old Lyon & Healy, I reckon that could be a nice compromise between Silk & Steel and my normal strings...

An acquaintance of mine, Alyssa Bonagura, plays an incredible Jr., Brazilian back and sides and what looks to me like an Adi top, which was custom made for her mother, Kathy Bailie, back in the early '90s. The thing sounds utterly mesmerising...like dewdrops falling from diamonds. Next time I see her, I'm going to try to trade her the entirety of the UK for it.

Mark Lee, you always make me chuckle. Firstly, Gibson truss rods are adjusted using a 5/16" SOCKET, and secondly a phosphor bronze Allen Key would be about as much use as a chocolate fireguard-it'd be way too soft. In fact, I've never hear of Phos.Bronze being used for any kind of toolmaking (before I went full-time with music I was an industrial toolmaker in the Aerospace industry, and it was certainly never used there, or in the automotive sector, in which my Dad was a development engineer) KSDaddy is a highly skilled and experienced professional luthier, and he was cross-questioning you because you were/are offering homespun advice about something that, if executed wrongly, could seriously damage someone's guitar. Many people come to these forums for advice, and I would say that if you can't give it in a constructive way, with cogency and experience, then the best course of action is just to keep quiet. Just my .02, of course.

Max, right down to the machineheads your Hummer looks the doppelganger of an early '70s Kiso Suzuki Hummingbird I owned a few years back...I technically till own it, but it's on permanent loan to a good friend now. The adj. bridge looks identical, the trussrod cover etc...mine had a fine gold tranfer logo on the headstock that read "Kiso Suzuki Violin Company" and was formatted to look very similar to the Martin logo. Tone-wise, it was a KILLER guitar. My Gibson 'bird is better, but not by a huge margin. It was a real gem.