BluesKing777
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Posts posted by BluesKing777
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There are still no new model LG2s in my country, just a few Gibsons I already have!
I am researching, not buying! My second car has been at the mechanics for 3 months with nothing done - Covid problems with parts delivery and supply. It is close, he said but still wouldn't give me an approximate total cost.... hope the Guitar Fund doesn't need to go to the Car Fund!
I have a couple I want to sell and the proceeds will go to :
1. New Gibson LG2 Original 50s?
https://www.gibson.com/Guitar/ACCDYV983/50s-LG-2/Vintage-Sunburst
2. Martin CEO - 9?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CEO9--martin-ceo-9-mango-sunset-burst
3. Martin 00-28?
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/0028Y8--martin-00-28-natural
4. Martin Custom Shop 00-14?
Yep, it is more money but I would love to try a Custom Shop Sinker Mahogany:
00 size guitars are my thing, really....
So, no LG2s here of any type! (I have a 59 LG3, so...). The CEO-9 might look pretty but it is probably very similar to the CEO7...same neck! Then the 00-28 is currently sitting in a shop just up the road! Except we can't go in because of the virus! And the sinker mahogany is probably a dream too far!
I'm thinking the 00-28, never seen or played one. like to!
BluesKing777.
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8 hours ago, CJB said:
I see what you're doing, @BluesKing777, and I'm not falling for it! 🤣 I have never actually played one of the CEO7's but it's one of those guitars that I always hear people recommending. I'd love to try one some day and there's no doubt that I'd like it, and that's an interesting note about the '14-15 models and the mahogany. But if I add another, I hope it's one of the Vintage L-00's otherwise I think I need to be done with the acquisitions and even scale back the little Martin custom 017 I have.
Except for a strange little guitar that arrived yesterday. It's a Stella neck with a Barclay body. As far as I know Barclay is an inexpensive Australian brand? It's also my last name. And Stella is my Australian Cattle Dog's name, she's a good girl. And yesterday was my birthday. So the purchase seemed fitting. It sounds ok, plays ok and has an interesting story and connection to my family.
Well, don't play the CEO7 - but you have been warned!😎
Don't know about the Barclay but I have a Australian Cattle Dog x Staffy Terrier, used to have a Cattle Dog years back - very, very clever dogs - perhaps the canine chimpanzee!
BluesKing777.
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I have a few I intend to move but it is a bit tricky with the virus.......the shop I like to consign with has been struggling to get stock after being picked clean in the ‘buy guitars rush’. I assume lots of those will get sold once people realise it is actually hard work, but here we are now in some kind of lull....the musical chairs seemed to have stopped and........
BluesKing777.
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On 1/11/2021 at 11:50 AM, CJB said:
Those old ads got me looking around a few days ago. I was curious about any all mahogany Gibson L-00's out there as I had seem them but not sure what they were called or what year they were made. Well, that search brought me to an old listing at Gryphon of a 1930 L-0 12 fret:
That got me thinking about the Waterloo WL-14Mh that I've seen and played in the past that has been subtly nagging in the back of my mind as a viable option. It seemed interesting to me that the Waterloo was a direct copy of a Gibson, not Kalamazoo like the others in their series (roughly speaking). Then I started to think about one of these Mh Waterloo's I saw on Reverb. So I contacted the seller and it turns out he is only 80 miles from me in the hometown of one of my favorite old blues players, Etta Baker. So while the family was doing their own stuff I took a little drive and met the seller at a nice little open air brewery. I'm not a very good salesman but it then turned out that the seller also had a remote interest in my L-00 Studio but also had one of the L-00 Vintage models I was looking for. After playing some really nice guitars for a while on a beautiful sunny but chilly Saturday afternoon while enjoying a dark stout we struck a deal. I fell in love with the Waterloo and could tell it was what I was looking for. Some cash and my L-00 Studio and the Mh was mine.
I played her for a long while last night and today and I am very pleased with the outcome. This brown topped beauty is a nice compliment to my LG2 with it's resonant but yet fast decaying individual note tones - it sounds very smooth and also very immediate. The vintage style somewhat large V neck, fretboard and overall play ability rivals the LG2 which is top of the heap for me and my old hand pain issues don't seem to come up, like they do on skinnier necked guitars.
All that to say, thanks to all of you for the conversation and wisdom. It's all very helpful.
Back peddling to this post........
I played my black Waterloo for lunchtime and then after work, walked the dog and came back to practice for about an hour with my (2014-2015???) Martin CEO-7 and it is just a killer guitar now it seems to have broken in a bit. I mention it again because, evil me.....it could make a fantastic companion for your LG2 and Waterloo!
There was a lot of chat about them when they first came out and it has returned after a lull.....surely all those people that recommend one don’t own one? Anyway, if you have not tried one, have a look at a used early model 14-15, before they changed the mahogany and stuff - early ones were supposed to be a limited edition but people kept buying them and Martin kept making them! As you would, but at one stage they were Sipo mahogany - looks stripey.
BluesKing777.
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15 minutes ago, 62burst said:
Apologies- not feeling terribly poetic & didn't mean to make world and eyes spin, 'just conscious of OP CJB's happy announcement on finding his guitar, an all-mahogany one at that, and maybe sensing just a little bit of irony at the idea of playing authentic blues on a fancy custom built guitar. It is a looker, though. 🙂.
Well, I will have you know that acoustic blues sound sensational on the ‘fancy custom built guitar’ but I don’t play ‘authentic’ or ‘honest’, but I can play all day!
Post some of your ‘authentic blues’ on your ‘honest tonewood’ or zip it! Put your money where your mouth is...
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, CJB said:
@BluesKing777 I'm not surprised your Cargill has great playability. How would you describe the neck on it?
Both the Waterloo and the LG2 were set up about the same. The WL being used and the LG2 being new however. There are a few good luthiers around here but setting up my guitar is something I enjoy doing so I fiddle with it over several days after I get to know it. The LG2 needed some nut slot reduction and saddle tinkering . I also slotted the bridge and put some of Bob Colosi's unslotted bone pins in it. The saddle wasn't compensated so I worked on that and now the intonation is as good as I can appreciate. I also eased the edges of the fretboard a little. It didn't need much but it feels so nice now. The frets were level as they should have been right away. 3.5/64" at the 12th E.
The 'Loo is getting close to where I want it for setup. It doesn't look like it was messed with much if any from new, at least as far as I can tell. Again, nut slot reduction (very slight as not much needed) but after playing it tonight I feel that the G needs a wee bit more taken down. Intonation was just right off the bat - saddle compensated already. Saddle height lowered to 4/64" at the 12th E at the moment. I will probably take that down just a little bit on the treble side. The deep vintage V neck is much more pronounced and thicker than the LG2 but switching back and forth is seamless though I do notice it. I'll probably ease the fretboard edges a little bit as well.
Good news, then! Sounds like you know what you are doing.
I asked because many people here buy a guitar and don't know what a setup is, and also don't know a luthier....and play on in...pain?
Cargill neck...(5 piece laminated neck ala Lowden style necks), and as seen in the photo above, he has a plane in his hand, so all the neck is done like that......He says in his ad for custom guitars and he has said it to me a few times but he gets a 'high density bone' for the nut and saddle - more sustain. Well, no idea here but it works. Ebony board, bridge - more sustain. I can play a chord and it is still ringing after I come back from making a coffee! 😎 ( same with my Lowden S35!). Have to heavily damp a Lowden or Cargill for country blues playing or they can ring too much.
I had the measure for my 2002 Martin OM18V (Mod V) but all the hand work has resulted in a rounder, slightly smaller shape but it is very, very nice to play...and I jump between the Mod V, Waterloo V easily. It is low, can't tell you the measure as I am working currently and I am not sure if he tweaks everything when it is visiting him for something else, but I suspect so. Or it has more magic dust... But there is a huge emotional connection after someone builds you a guitar...though he probably doesn't give a hoot! Well, perhaps a hoot more than a Gibson salesman but not really much more - probably concerns about the stated lifetime warranty!
BluesKing777.
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On 1/12/2021 at 1:38 AM, CJB said:
@BluesKing777 EXCELLENT! Glad you took the bait. 😄 That's a real beauty. Thanks for the pics!
I meant to say how sensational the playability is on the Cargill....
How is the action on your Waterloo and Gibson LG2?
Do you have a good luthier/guitar tech or are you experienced at repairs yourself? ( I ask because even though the action was good on my Waterloos straight from the shop, my luthier doing some magic over it can get an extra bit of l-o-v-e. I thought my ladder braced was nice but he took a bit off the bass side, really good!)
BluesKing777.
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55 minutes ago, 62burst said:
You just had to ask him, didn't you? 😀. Well, BK got lucky on the composition of the 4th photo down in the panel- the plant reflections on the guitar's back- très dramatique!
and in The States, the hang tag on the case. . . we'd call that the Minnie Pearl treatment (no offense- I've done that to a Martin)
Well, I guess it needs explaining, but a Hiscox case in ivory without the hang tag is worthless to the 'Know'! True.😘
I'm also thinking the Gibson L-00 Deluxe run through the shop again and gloss black'd, Gotoh 510 gold, bone nut and saddle, no pickup....hmmm
https://www.gibson.com/Guitar/ACCBNZ601/L-00-Deluxe/Rosewood-Burst
P.S. I was reading a thread about the (2004) custom Martin EC in gloss black and the biggest complaint was fingerprints.....I can tell you that BK777's gloss black guitar has absolutely no fingerprints, ever, except purely fresh ones! 😵
BluesKing777.
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8 hours ago, CJB said:
@BluesKing777 EXCELLENT! Glad you took the bait. 😄 That's a real beauty. Thanks for the pics!
Yep, fully superb and it has changed my whole attitude to acoustics....no more dowdy old Mr Mahogany Guitar Only!
The guitar version of the custom car or the custom fitted shoes, gloves, suit? clothes, or......etc.
At first there is a feeling of total unworthiness, then later, hmmmm, what about some more, ha ha ha.
But underneath the gloss black is a seething L-00 shaped deep body with my neck preference.
BluesKing777.
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45 minutes ago, CJB said:
Yep, very true to the vintage vibe I guess! I've had these tuners on other guitars (Waterloos, Martins and have installed them on others). They seem to work pretty well for the most part. A few were finicky but most of them have worked well overall. We'll see...
Speaking of seeing, got any pics of that Cargill?
Does BK777 have a photo?
Ha ha...millions of photos of guitars and 3 landscape photos!😛
Cargill Custom 00 deep body Gabon Ebony/Italian Spruce etc..and recently, a full onboard Trinity pickup system from K&K!
BluesKing777.
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12 minutes ago, CJB said:
Thanks BK. The Lunatic Soup was awful tasty!
It's the original neck shape, not the smaller one. I was told that this guitar had the firestripe guard and the black button tuners were added at the factory as an option. The tuners are a little stiff so I might take them apart and see if I can improve them but I honestly like the cream knobs like on the vintage L-0 above so I might change them out.
Well, you get the vintage feel more with creaky tuners, eh?
Mine are good but the same model tuners on 2 other guitars I have owned were creaky (Golden Age repros). Leave ‘em for a while and if you are still deeply in love, swap them out for some fab Schallers or something that look the same.
I am not as envious now, ha! I will give my Cargill custom 00 a run in a minute......Schaller Grandtune M6 or something......real ebony buttons.....a BMW with leather steering wheel!
BluesKing777.
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Congratulations
.....And you can always blame the dark stout later on if it goes wrong! (dark stout is the nice name, Lunatic Soup is the real.)
Is that the same original neck as my Waterloos, or the newer smaller (slightly) neck that came later? Also, the mahogany one I tried had no pickguard and yours is like my ladder.
BluesKing777.
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“Balance”
Most people on this forum don’t want or buy ‘balance’...even sounds across the strings - they want more bass.
Blues fingerpickers in particularly want the old Gibson L-00 14 fretters because the bass and trebles are evenly ‘balanced’ across the strings so when you start pounding out a repetitive bass over treble notes, it doesn’t overwhelm everything......’balance’.....
The success of the Waterloo WL-14 fretters has a lot to do with this.
The big name in fingerstyle guitars, Lowden, made their name by having the large jumbo size model ‘balanced’.......it is the most peculiar thing if you are not used to it, to play a big guitar like my Lowden 022 with the ‘balance’ of a small 00....but with a huge sound!
BluesKing777.
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It is better to try the guitar live - your playing, your hands, your style....etc
Apart from the joyous blissful happiness of having lots of acoustics 😎, it is also possible to make very narrow comparisons of said guitars and their suitability for various songs and tunes.
For example, plain old ‘Railroad Bill’ fingerpicked bare fingers in cowboy C with the addition of a capo on 3 and also alternating bass........also depending a bit on player mood and the weather......but in the back of the mind we are going for a fairly traditional acoustic balanced tone, unplugged, no effects.....over the years, most of my gear has been subjected to that tune as a starter.......and the ‘balanced bass vs trebles for Railroad Bill’ winners are my 1937 Gibson L-0 and my 2 Waterloo WL-14 (X braced and ladder braced)!
Exactly the same tune and conditions, my Lowden S35 is surprisingly good but too many overlapping overtones needing concentrated right hand damping!
My Maton EBG808 (similar to Tommy Emmanuel’s guitar but mine has a custom black finish) - on open string blues in E or A is amazing but put the capo on for Railroad Bill in C, the bass has the wrong tone totally and overall too bassy (probably from the deep body configuration?)
But generally a 00 size is better, no matter the brand.
So out comes the Martin CEO7, slope shoulder 00, capo on 3 - too bassy. Same with my OM.....etc etc...
If only played Railroad Bill over and over, all the others could go! But ha ha ha hoo hoo, I play everything I can.
Moral of the story is? Play the prospective guitar in the flesh at a shop with a few different tunes and styles....don’t fall in love with ‘the look’ or price....it is just an instant yes or no in reality!
BluesKing777.
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That is fantastic, 40YP!
My mother played piano and violin very haltingly after learning when a child and revisiting later. My father played very haltingly and not much with a banjo mandolin he was given as a child. I pestered for guitar lessons for years and had bongo on the back of my acoustic down pat! Plus the riff from Smoke On The Water, Satisfaction and In-A-Garda-DaVida 😎 from the experts at school!
But mum wanted me to get their money’s worth from guitar lessons and made sure the place I went to taught music notation. It was a large class that dwindled rapidly over the first term and the teacher taught us the music notes at the same time we played the guitar.......for example, music for low 6 string E, F, G etc. Brilliantly simple, eh? You don’t get the honey until you pay the money! Later there were simple music notes in chords with chord diagrams on top. We had to buy the sheet music and play from that. The songs were woeful and pure torture. But it was organic from the very beginning - simple sight reading while playing, though others would not have called it that.
No idea what the teacher’s name is now, but thanks for a good start! The rest you teach yourself over the years as it comes up.
BluesKing777.
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Mid 2005 odd, shopping for Gibson Blues King L-00, the shop had a (new) Gibson Custom Shop Nick Lucas in a gloss charcoal, looked alive! Priced at about 5x the Blues King, didn’t want to pick it up, didn’t know anything about it at the time!
I have a few deep body 00 size 14 fret guitars...my Cargill, my Lowden S35 and my 3 Maton 808s of various woodage. The sound difference is hard to describe, except a ‘fuller’ sound for fingerpicking. I was playing my Cargill last night, the Maton 808 tonight, so tomorrow the Lowden could call! The Maton EBG808 is a very ‘definite’ sound, perfect for blues and rags - neck somewhere between my 59 LG3 and a bit like a Martin MLO........... while the Cargill and Lowden S35 are more ‘dreamy’ sounding, lush, overtone overboard!
See, it is a tough, tough thing buyin’ and tryin’, eh?
While I love my Blues King L-00, I couldn’t recommend it as a companion for CJB’s (OP) Gibson LG2 Original Series as I have a feeling it would be hard to tell them apart. Maybe not?
BluesKing777.
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21 minutes ago, Dave F said:
I had an L5 neck profile put on my full custom hand made L00 guitar. Love it.
Yep, save buying the whole shop, just get one made with what you want!
Patience, a bit of outlay, more patience, disappointment a little because a brand new made guitar is...new! But a few years down the track and it will come alive.
Trouble is you have to.........know what you want. You could fluke it, but probably need to buy and try quite a few off the shelf guitars to get an idea if you like Albanian Olivewood with recycled parts cratewood top and a massive V neck or...or..or...
And I have photos of him building it! (00 deep body in Gabon Ebony with Italian Spruce top, rounded chunky 5 piece Mahogany top, Ebony bridge, fretboard....and recently, a K&K Trinity full onboard pickup system (dual source pickup plus internal mic). I told him I wanted it to sound like my incredible Maton EBG808 plugged but with the guitar and neck I wanted. (Maton necks are great to play but more the modified low oval C with 1.736” nut, absolutely no custom size necks available!)
Mention this because finding that special expensive guitar online is pretty hopeless. Online great for research, buying, hmmm.
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, j45nick said:
The Legend was a really good price, but that's a two year old listing.
As one of the apparently few L-00 players on this forum, I have regularly looked for the Legend models mentioned and they are just not for sale. Your only hope is some poor owner dies and the wife leaves it on the front lawn! Divorce no good, they probably hit him on the head with it....
There is the 1932 version in Netherlands! If you rang them, you will find that like lots of online sellers, they don’t know how to delete a SOLD listing.
I played a J45 Legend when I first bought a Standard J45 round 2010? Guitars are way more expensive here so I went the ‘cheapie’ or should I say ‘cheaper’ option...J45 Standard..... I wasn’t experienced enough at the time but honestly didn’t really like the Legend......Adi top? Better for pickers of the plectrum variety....
I had a full custom hand made guitar with the neck I want for far less money. Just had to have....patience.....gulp. It is my best guitar, really...made just for ME!
BluesKing777.
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The first post of my thread had the track I recorded while playing as I read the music page.....whether it is any good or not doesn’t matter but I am doing it! Reading music off a ‘chart’ live while recording!
Never a mention of sheet music here, so I assume I must be the only music reader on this forum. Mistake I made in the first post is putting the photos up.
Anyway, get on it and learn some music notation - I doubt anyone would ever regret it. It is communication.....I mean, if I gave a page of guitar TAB to my old piano player or sax player to play, they would think I had lost my mind. Give them a page of music or even a Real Book song chart and away they went! Magic!
You can own guitars but you are not a musician unless you learn...ha, music notation. It opens so many doors and basic music reading is so easy. It can take a while before you do the rock opera....🙃
BluesKing777.
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The chunkier neck new Gibson L-00s are pretty slim on the ground and we seem to hear about them after someone bought one! Most recent Gibson L-00s have the same neck as your studio.
I mentioned my Waterloo WL-14s previously because they are firstly, fabulous guitars with big V neck etc, but a few used ones are around. Covid has made scarce though - Collings shut down for a long while, I believe.
Another with a few for sale used is a fab but glossy/shinier chunky neck L-00 shape guitar to consider is a used Martin CEO7, preferably from the early productions. Mine fits exactly in the same flight case as my L-00s! Mahogany/Adi, mod V neck etc, sounds like a Martin Gibson..... I had a K&K Trinity pickup system installed recently and a nice setup (I have been playing it with the high factory setup for many years and now...ha ha.......guess what? Yep, it plays great.
My luthier was in love with the guitar and kept mumbling love noises about it when I picked it up. He said, quote: ‘This is a great guitar, your best guitar, but you have lots of great guitars, don’t you?’ But when I quizzed him on what he meant, another frazzled customer came in and the moment was lost....
BluesKing777.
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‘If any of you know of one available or are willing to sell or trade yours I'd appreciate hearing from you. For trade, I have a L-00 Studio and a Martin 017 custom from 2017. ‘
It is wishful thinking that someone will trade the L.00 Vintage for your Studio and 0-17..........’Here, I’m sick of my BMW - I’ll trade it to you for your 2 little Toyotas!’
You probably need to sell those 2 and then find the next.
BluesKing777.
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48 minutes ago, Dave F said:
I used to dive into the deep end. Nowadays I hang out in the kiddie pool. Age has a way of creeping up on you.
I don’t really know, but I have a houseful of different necks and if I keep rotating around the various, I am fine but if I stick on a narrow neck for weeks and weeks, like my 59 LG3 for example, then jump to a big V, well......tendons and muscles complain and hurt! Like going away for 4 weeks and taking.....egads!!!....one guitar! And I get bored with one guitar real quick, ha ha, worldly troubles.
Moot point anyway - with lockdowns since the virus hit, haven’t been anywhere! We all got let out for a few weeks after full lockdown, but somebody spread it everywhere again......but in the short days of freedom, I went for a few scenic drives, very nice, but not far luckily because my back was aching bad...not used to long drives!
BluesKing777.
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MLO - PA necks......hmmm.....
I can cook in any kitchen, had a flat once where the front door hit the stove if you opened it too far, but you know, I had a view of the bay through green plastic curtains! But I just saw an outdoor kitchen on TV with the ‘works’ that looked incredible, easy 4 x the size of my roomy current kitchen. In the skinny kitchen, having that door open let the cooking smells out while cooking on the grill outside has the same result!
While most fingerpickers on AGF and the UMGF seem to prefer the Mod V Martin neck to the MLO standard neck, I prefer my chunky V neck Waterloos (which are exactly the same shape as my 1935 Gibson L50 Black Special but nicer to play being newer and more loved).
But if a recent used Custom Shop Martin 00-14 all Sinker Mahogany hit the sales lists, well, I can happily fingerpick on that MLO, I can assure you!!!
BluesKing777.
P.S. There will be NO delivery business from Che BK777.....
Summer here, Boss wanted outdoor lounge like her brother’s, so we went Dutch on it for Xmas.....ordered from a hardware about 5 miles away.....message that it won’t get here for Xmas - 28th! But...nothing....tracking said ‘in transit’....
5 January, my mobile rang at 10am, twice....no message left. ....2.30 pm in deep sleep in granny nap and there is a gentle tap tap on the door, so I yelled out for the Boss to get the door but by the time she got there, truck was driving off...no note, zip.
She rang them and they said it would not be back til the next day, so I went back to bed and sleep and......knock, knock, he is back.
And the 2 chairs, 2 ottomans, one table and all the cushions are in ONE gigantic box weighing about 400 pounds and the driver came alone..........
I have sprained my right wrist a bit.....and what do I do with all this wrapping and a giant torn up box?
No more Moron deliveries.
BluesKing777.
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Well, I go in phases of liking a Martin sound and being a bit bored with it - I mean, it is on just about EVERYTHING since recordings began....so had to come up with something fresh.
BUT, fantastically fresh but still Martin is my CEO7 - my fave L-00 shape bu with a great Mod V neck and wide bridge spacing etc. I had mine setup when I got a K&K Trinity installed and it is now an all round sensation....great to play, sounds good acoustically, sounds good plugged in.
So the mind started to wander towards buying a vintage 00-18 - I have some DVD lessons with a guy playing a beauty, but the early models with a fat neck are just so expensive, collector stuff, so......the mind wandered to cheaper choice.
Apart from actually playing one, haven’t, Covid lockdowns and stuff, we are agonising between a used (recent) 00-18 and a used 00-28 or the new CEO-9 (same specs as the CEO7 but made with Curly Mangowood and a few upmarket appointments.) OR a new Custom Shop 00-14 in Sinker Mahogany front and back.......
Most likely is the 00-28 with rosewood/sitka, which is why I dragged the HD28V out of the closet...rosewood, rosewood, rosewood, I prefer something less.....boring? Until you have a Martin in your hands.......ha...party over. One is at a shop I have been to once, didn’t like, years ago.....45 mins drive away but need the virus suit and a bucket of sprays and chemical deterrents.....
BluesKing777.
Looking for a L-00 'Vintage'
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
I have the AA pins in a few guitars...should have wrote a note! No idea who or where now. My luthier's fault that I love his 'high density bone' nuts, saddles and pins! Lowdens don't have pins! Pinless bridges....
Is it too early in the piece to ask how you compare the necks of your LG2/W'Loo? My W'L00s necks are very, very similar to an old '35 Gibson archtop I have. so fairly historically accurate while the new Gibsons have ...new Gibson necks! My 59 LG3 has a chunky 'C' shape but the nut is 1 11/16", so your LG2 is kind of 'made up'....😡
Which brings us to the custom Martin above - they have the MLO neck! Same for the newer 00-28...Hmmm. Why do they do it?
And then we have the CEO 9 with fat mod V, wide spacing - the CEO 7 is similar to the Waterloo WL-14 and the '9' is supposed to be similar..
BluesKing777.