j45nick

That top looks extremely dry. You should try to keep the guitar in an environment between 40% and 55%, with 45%-50% being ideal. If you don't have a room with stable humidity, you should probably keep it in the case, using a humidification device. A simple wall-mounted hygrometer will allow you to track humidity in a room. Be aware that the cheaper ones are generally only accurate to about +/- 4%. The ones branded "Traceable" are the ones I use. they are sold online by a lot of dealers in laboratory and weather instruments.

If worse comes to worst, Bob Colosi will make exact reproductions for you.

Tom, those are wonderful tributes by some great musicians. Mark Bramlett has an incredible voice.

Anyone who's a fan of FZ is ok in my book, even if they are like your cranky brother in law.

That's a pretty good summary. The LG-2 was essentially the replacement for the L-OO in the Gibson line-up back around 1942-'43. It is somewhere between the L series and slope-J body size and proportions, and is a good choice for someone who likes to both strum and fingerpick, but wants a smaller-size guitar.

Well, yes, I believe he is. Percussionists will beat on anything to make a sound.

The Gospel is an unusual model because of the laminated maple arched back. It will be interesting to hear a report on the guitar.

Quite a number. I have a 1943 SJ re-issue with a 1 3/4" nut, as well as the L-OO Legend with 1 3/4" nut. There have been many, many others, even though it is not (and has not been since the late 1940's) the "standard" Gibson nut width. The more common modern Gibson Acoustic nut width is just a tick less than 1 3/4" at around 1.72". That's not a heck of a lot narrower. Probably of equal or greater importance is the string spacing width at the bridge, which varies from 2 1/8" to 2 3/8"

Leon Redbone had a lot of influence, and made great music. He certainly was an inspiration to guys like Pokey LaFarge. If he didn't get your feet moving, nothing could.

Awesome song and performance, great guitar!

The slight off-axis grain here makes no difference. Mahogany doesn't always have perfectly straight grain.

Tom, I am so sorry. Our hearts ache for you. It's a reminder to all of us to hold those we love close to us.

In the first part of this video, starting about two minutes in, Tony runs through a series of hand stretches that are really useful. Tony Polecastro hand stretches

The process is irreversible once it starts, in my experience. I've only had it happen once, on the original pickguard on a 1947 L-7. It damaged the finish on the side of the neck and the top in the area of deterioration (where the thick celluloid spacer was glued to the underside of the guard next to the side of the neck), as well as corroding fasteners and adjacent frets. It seems to be a chemical breakdown that escalates. Even after removing the guard and leaving it in open air, it continued to deteriorate. I've always suspected that the thicker celluloid pickguards of archtops makes them more vulnerable to out-gassing. I've had several vintage Gibson flat tops with celluloid guards, and haven't had the same problem. If this link works, it's probably more information than you want. http://cool.conservation-us.org/jaic/articles/jaic30-02-003.html

After reading this, logged in with my screen name, and it worked. It would have been nice if that had been pinned at the top of the thread so we'd know what to do. I had just about given up on this after three days of frustration, after being on this forum for a decade. How can you expect us to intuit that the registered user name would not be supported, as it has been for years? How counterintuitive is that? Sheesh!

For some reason, I can no longer log in and stay logged in. When I go to the existing user log in and click on it, the log-in block comes up and is populated with my email address and a password that I can't view. When I click sign in, it says user name or password invalid. If I then empty the password field and enter my last password and try to log in, it says user name or password invalid, and locks my account until I go through the password re-set protocol, which allows me to log in once, but then I have to go through this same password re-set protocol if I come back to the page later. I'm not a casual user either of the forum or of computers. I work at a computer about 10 hours a day. I have not experienced this issue anywhere else. I have tried several different browsers to see if it functions differently, but it does not. I'm primarily using Microsoft edge, but have also tried Chrome.

Can't wait to hear your new album. It's been awhile. It's a beautiful thing when you find a guitar that works for you.

Gee, I never would have guessed that from your online moniker...

Stu, those are really good examples of why the J-45 is the perfect singer's guitar. It can be as loud or subtle as you want, and it never gets in the way of your voice. It certainly goes perfectly with yours. Incidentally, a version of the song you call "I was young when I left home" was the first song my high school folk trio performed back in 1964 or so. We stole it from the PP&M recording that was popular back then. We were the archetypal "two guys and a cute blonde" group that everybody and his dog put together in the early 1960's. I like your version in open tuning (open D?) a lot, and think I will revisit it after almost 55 years. My "new" 1950 J-45 has taken over everything, and nothing else gets played. I'm in love, again.

The L-00 is a versatile guitar, great for both fingerpicking and flatpicking. Certainly great for country blues. If you don't need a pickup, look for models without one. A number of high-spec models have been built in recent years, and they can be great values as used guitars. I have an L-00 Legend--sort of the holy grail of modern L-00's--that I bought for about half the cost of a new one. And it was perfect after a little clean-up. For a small guitar, it has a surprisingly big voice. It's my favorite fingerpicker.

ES-335 '59 Historic from the Nashville Custom, Art, and Historic shop is a pretty authentic reproduction of the 1959 neck, as well as the rest of the guitar. COA says "'59 335", with an A-prefix serial number. Mine is from 2009, but they were built off and on for a few years. Nice guitars, if you can find one.

It sort of freaks me out when she talks and you realize she's Scottish. What a little powerhouse she is! Just shows how universal the music really is.

Yes, she is. Great performance of a mind-blowing song. How many popular songwriters reference the poet Dante in their lyrics? "The only thing I knew how to do was to keep on keepin' on" is right up there as well. The are so many perfect gems of couplets in those lyrics that it makes your head spin. That is Dylan at his absolute lyrical best. Freakin' genius stuff.

Really, really nice job!

That top bracing looks very similar to that in my "new" 1950 J-45. Ross Teigen, who works on my guitars, says he spends half his time on repairs undoing previous "repairs." That's why I was pleased to find this particular guitar. It needed some work, but no one had ever touched it. When I decided to buy it, the seller asked if he should have anyone fix anything before shipping--for example, the endpin was broken off, which is common. I told him not to touch anything, not to clean anything, not to let anyone else do anything. The seller was concerned because the guitar looked bad to him. In fact, all it needed cosmetically was a good cleaning, which I gave it before delivering it to the luthier. We sometimes talk about Gibson being sloppy with glue ("only a Gibson is glued enough"), but this particular guitar is surprisingly clean inside.