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Jinder

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Everything posted by Jinder

  1. One of the best sounding guitars I've owned, my Martin 00DB, had a Richlite board and bridge (along with entirely sustainable FSC Mahogany construction). The Richlite felt silky and fast, like a good ebony board. I have no issues with Richlite at all, as a player. We have to look to sustainable materials and think progressively going forward. The bottom line is that there are thousands of wonderful used instruments for sale with just about every combination of beautiful woods imaginable. We have the luxury of choice between older traditionally built guitars or modern, progressively specced models. What a time to be alive!
  2. BBG, eBay is awash with those fake 85/15s, I bought a stack and they were all sh*t, buzzed, intonated terribly, sounded horrendous.
  3. 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.
  4. I love the '70s Gospels, they're the best of the bunch when it comes to '70s Gibsons. A genuinely lovely guitar, not just "good for a Norlin" ☺️
  5. 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.
  6. 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!
  7. He mainly said he loved them and that it was the "ultimate acoustic", that he keeps so many around because he "hits them hard and they can take it". His favourite, and the one that he keeps for the bus rather than the stage, is a cherry burst with tulips and Maple back and sides. Sounded super sweet in his hands. He was routining a song with the chap I TM for before they played it together at a festival, and that guitar just rang out like sweet bells. Plenty of nectar at play there for sure.
  8. Fascinating! I've enjoyed his work ever since I first saw a Hummingbird, I had an early '70s Kiso Suzuki Hummingbird copy in my early teens and always lusted after the real thing as a youngster. The pickguard design always gave the Bird and Dove a sense of regal splendour in my eyes. I've been lucky enough to own three Hummingbirds and two Doves, eventually settling on my two keepers, a 1990 Hummingbird and a 2011 Dove, two of the best guitars I've ever played. I was recently chatting to Frank Turner about his love for Hummingbirds, he has a huge number of them and plays them exclusively now after moving on from his previous Patrick James Eggle acoustics.
  9. WOW!! These Bird guard alternates are musical history right in front of our eyes. Thanks so much for sharing SirNed!!
  10. Thankyou for doing the research! Is Mr Snider still with us? I agree with Em7, he should be praised for giving identity to some of the most memorable and iconic acoustic guitars ever made.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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+ 😳
  15. These look delicious. Anyone tried one out yet?
  16. 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.
  17. 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!
  18. I think Walnut has the boom and chime of Maple but with a bit less attack transients and lovely feathery overtones in the upper mids and trebles. It's very articulate and "quick" like Maple, but has more sustain and is more forgiving-I love my Maple Gibsons but it's a very exposing tonewood-misfrets or fluffed notes leap out far more noticeably than with any other tonewood. Walnut has all the good bits of Maple and none of the downsides, it's a superb tonewood in my opinion. If I was to commission a guitar, it would probably be a Dove in tobacco sunburst with Walnut back and sides.
  19. Jinder

    HP635W

    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.
  20. Wow PFH...love it in that sunburst!!😍
  21. I had a J15. I really liked it, very nicely put together guitar and fantastic tone. I parted with it because I played my '41 Reissue SJ100 and fell in love with that, and the only way to finance it was to put the J15 on the block. I don't regret it as the '41 SJ100 suits me better but I'd definitely own a J15 again if the opportunity and finances arose. Great bang for buck and mine was just as well made as any of the many Gibsons i've owned over the years.
  22. 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!
  23. 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...
  24. 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.
  25. 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.
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