BluesKing777
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Posts posted by BluesKing777
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You could do worse than buying a used Gibson Blues King L-00 to get you started while you learn all the model millions... (I just put my BK down after playing an hour, it is absolutely great!)
Or a new L-00 Vintage:
or a new/used Gibson L-00 Studio made with walnut:
But then you have vintage L-00s!!!:
or even move to vintage LG2s!!!
And on we go!
BluesKing777.
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Well, not many guitars getting made by us...
So here are a few Gibson Montana videos to inspire some of you on and upwards...
BluesKing777.
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18 minutes ago, j45nick said:
I suppose that depends on whether or not you go in and buy it.
It's hard to believe folks are standing in line to buy expensive American guitars in your neck of the woods.
Did you ever measure the pin spacing?
Wonder if they would take my cabriolet as trade?
I haven’t been in to that shop to measure or try, but I have their listing and a couple of others bookmarked to ‘acoustic guitars for sale’ on the top lines of my iPad! Quick check of the movers and shakers now and again..... I can tell you that they have sold 2 new birds, one cherry and one tobacco, this week, 1 J45 Standard and a shed load of various Matons! For the price they want for the used Legend, I am fairly sure them Maton fellers would come to my house to measure, something, anything I wanted, then deliver!
What else I can tell you is that 99.99% of guits for sale new or used at the moment are....dreads. Only L-00 sized guits are a new BK, 2 Waterloos and about 50 Maton 808s of various varieties.
BluesKing777.
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We were probably just noise to most of the punters, and each guitar I mentioned above had big dents and dings from being knocked to the floor by bandmates! Floor pedals had been drowned beer. It was mainly to sound my best.....I did buy a cheapie after my metal Dobro had a crash, but only used it live once.
Besides, the first gig I ever did when a kid was with my Telecaster, worth more than my life!
Legend is still at the shop...will it make it past the weekend without being bought?
BluesKing777.
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6 hours ago, Guth said:
If I was going to be playing out and using a pickup I couldn't see myself picking a guitar (no pun intended) like the J-45 Legend for such an application.
But as far as sitting around playing on the couch goes (or on the front porch, or for recording in the fashion that I do for that matter) it would likely be a great choice.
Good points....
But over the years, I have played in some places I don’t think I should have taken myself let alone the Strat or Tele or Les Paul or metal Dobro.....one horrid gig being a return booking that the bass player and I almost cancelled out while parked out front! But we made it by the skin of our teeth and played our best instruments, hence sounding our best......a point FOR taking the Legend out.......
And the poor old back hadn’t let me slouch on a couch and play for many a year. Straight back chair!
BluesKing777.
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50 minutes ago, j45nick said:
JT has been spoiled by owning and/or playing the best of the best of banner Gibsons.
He may well say "there is no substitute for 75-year-old wood." I suspect he is right, but the (almost) 70-year-old wood in my "new" 1950 J-45 may be a close second.
Yes, I shouldn't have asked him a dumb question he probably would love to answer but can't because of oncoming commitments....Sorry JT!
Moving right along....I dragged out my Martin OM18 Authentic and played it for an hour - it has toasted Adi top over mahogany (plus all the lovely spacious real estate) and it does sound OLD! Cost me a mint online and the case too! It is a beautiful guitar but if any complaints from me, it is still breaking in but getting there, not as 'brittle' as it was but also very 'pretty'. You know, would sound great with fingerpicked versions of faves at the winery on Sunday afternoons....
Whereas I am thinking the J45 Legend would be a bruiser on a Saturday night bar gig....
And that leads us to the other problem - pickups, well, none. The normal soundhole pickups like Sunrise, Baggs M80 and M1A don't fit in the OM18A soundhole! And I can't bring myself to drill it for a pickup. I would be reluctant to put a pickup in the J45 Legend too....so it could be an expensive case queen.
There you go - I have talked myself out of it!
BluesKing777.
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Well. it is apparent we need a few guitar makes!
Or we are not going to have much.😨
BluesKing777.
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17 minutes ago, jt said:
I like your thinking!
Hey JT, have you played a J45 Legend?
Is so, honest impression?
BluesKing777.
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9 hours ago, jt said:
We've chatted and I've been favorably impressed by the new management. The company has a lot going on right now, but I'm confident that something will happen on this front.
In addition, Kalamazoo Gals appears destined for a dramatic adaptation for the silver screen. So, there will be opportunity for coordinated projects. 🙂
Fantastic news!
(a free JT LG1 RI with every DVD/Movie ticket for Gibson Acoustic Forum members?) 😎
BluesKing777.
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Some selfish self analysis.........why did I ask about the various Legends?
Because for my fingerpicking, I like the larger neck and real estate. My 35 Black Special has a great neck and my Waterloos have copies of that era neck. And other guitars I have....
So I would like a J45 with 1 3/4” nut and large V neck with plenty of room......but I don’t really want a new piece of Adi to break in. And we can’t import vintage models easily anymore.
I may just settle for that worn 2002 J45 with the strange bridge pin arrangement while I try and sell a body part or two to get that Legend.
BluesKing777.
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12 minutes ago, jt said:
Gibson built replicas of my SJ, J-45, and LG-1 (which Gibson dubbed an LG-2). I have no idea of how many of each model Gibson built. Original specs called for a precise replication of WWII specs, including hide glue. I've no idea if the company followed through on that commitment, though.
Hey, JT!
Maybe the new management would be interested in starting your project again?
That could get very interesting. How do you feel about that?
BluesKing777.
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If you worked at Gibson Acoustic in Montana, which job would you like to do? (apart from the Boss!).
Use current skills for something or learn new ones?
I think I could divide my time between the paint/finish and a bit of graphic art, hopefully no computer data file work!
BluesKing777.
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Oh no!
There are more models? Fullers orders?
Did they have torrefied adi tops and 1,725 nuts in 1942?
I must admit if the shop had a L-00 Legend like Nick's, my preferred guitar size, I would already have been there to at least try it out. But I have never seen one advertised here. As a matter of fact, there are no Gibson L-00 Legends advertised in the whole wide world - just checked! But I have a real 1937, so.... I better go play that!
I played the approx 2007 J45 Legend in a now defunct shop in a bout 2010 but the main impression I remember is the.....price! It was about 3x the J45 Standard then........................
BluesKing777.
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Thanks Nick and Dan!
No specs on the ad, just a politician’s type fairy floss writeup. No nut specs.
Only thing to do is get in the car, take my measuring stick and have a look and play....except it is really expensive - like about 3 used J45 Standards worth or even 6 Matons. (pay day tomorrow and the washing machine has been trying to escape our laundry during spin cycle so no new Gibson I suppose but a repair bill or new washer!)
I was just curious as I thought the J45 Legends were a limited edition, one time only thing in the mid 2000s.
BluesKing777.
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What is the difference between the first Gibson J45 Legend and a 2016 Gibson J45 1942 Legend?
Anyone know? 2016 at a shop near me....phew, heap big asking price but fat neck to attract a humble fingerpicker, depending on bridge spacing.....
BluesKing777.
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2 hours ago, Jinder said:
If a Martin is too dark for you, try a J185. Loads of dynamic range and a sweet, bright top end. A J45 is generally dark and rich and chocolatey. Gibsons aren't particularly associated with brightness-I would say that Taylors are a far brighter guitar by nature-but a J185, Dove, SJ200 or other maple Gibson will give you a big, bold bottom end and some of the treble you are looking for.
Just when you thought you could peg something, they alter it! My Taylor Grand Pacific 717E Builder's Edition V-Class is designed to be a darker, more vintage sounding Gibsony, Martiny - Taylor with a chunky neck! Still very 'clear' and defined but not 'bright' like other Taylor models. My 2005 Dove is very 'clear' as well! (And works beautifully through the supplied Baggs Anthem pickup, occasional rattle on certain notes from the control thingy). Perhaps some people don't get along with them as your playing needs to be a bit more precise with 'nowhere to hide'?
Derek still hasn't told us what his Martin is after a few have asked... unclear!
BluesKing777.
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8 hours ago, j45nick said:
The danger is when they also start making guitars out of chocolate:
An old hippie shows up to do an open mic with a hemp guitar and a chocolate guitar. Sadly, he goes home empty-handed...
Pizza!
Sorry, don’t know why I said that.
BluesKing777.
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It would be a brave, brave person to take a hemp guitar through the airport! 🤪
BluesKing777.
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Congratulations
Cool with 3 capital C’s, eh?
BluesKing777.
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Hmmm..
Pickups - my pet love/hate.
Surely, I have all of them?
K&K..works...boring. Connect it to a Tonedexter and experiment with getting some really nice sounds and then we are cooking! Just on, 1/4 turn of bass cut off, 1/4 turn of treble cut off and we get the 'sound of your guitar mic'd in a studio'. (their claim, not mine). But once you have Tonedexter, you can use all manner of pickups with it, even the dreaded Element that comes with most Gibsons.
The real beauty of a K&K, to me, my opinion and I have done this - get the guitar electrified without too much drilling and damage to a nice guitar.....jack plug needs drilling to 1/4 and the pickup is stuck to the bridge plate with super glue preferably, but tape can be used.
BluesKing777.
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Before you take it for drastic ski hump surgery, I would put some nice mediums back on and leave for 3 or 4 weeks to let the guitar settle after its journey.
If previous owner thought it was good, it could be the change of air or movement from travel. I wouldn't mind a dollar for every forumite that gets home with a new purchase, changes the saddle, strings, tuners, fretboard, bridge, case??? and then the guitar is buzzing!
BluesKing777.
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I think a good place to start would be a used 2000+ era J45.
Then get friendly with a Gibson repair tech and get everything up to par....
If that guitar suits you, all good, but hang around this forum and you know.......start tapping in wall hangers for the birds and small units! Plus!
BluesKing777.
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Cutting a very long story short......I played in electric blues bands for many years...at one stage I took 4 guitars to gigs - Strat, Tele, Les Paul Custom, metal body Dobro for acoustic slide sets. (the Les weighed approx 3 tons!, Dobro 5 tons!).
I was looking to extend my acoustic set by using the Dobro in standard tuning instead of open tunings and I did a lot of playing and singing at home and it was becoming obvious that re-tuning all the time was a problem that just would not work on stage for me. I started looking for another acoustic, ended up with a Martin 15 series cutaway with pickup. Now we were reading about my same guitar online one day and it was ...gulp.... a forum! Now, while everyone exclaimed the worth of my 15 series on this forum, the word was that a Gibson L-00 was even better for acoustic blues!
So I started researching Gibson L-00s online and the forum verdicts were that the 30s L-00 were the bees, but quite expensive and here...none! So I added my local shops to the search and found an inner city shop that carried a guitar called a Gibson Blues King L-00. I played it in the shop and bought it! And not too long after I joined the Gibson Acoustic Forum! (where lots of people had a low opinion of the Gibson Blues King L-00).
Nevertheless, I still have the Blues King nearly 10 years later and it is superb! My friend who used to sing in a band I was in loved it so much after playing it that he searched these shores for another....
(Mine on right of photo)
BluesKing777.
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Well, my J45 story isn’t so good......it is long gone.
I had a 2011 J45 and a Martin OM28 Marquis that I had to sell to get some cash when a dog we rescued tried to kill this other dog we walked towards on a path. The vet bill for the other dog was $12,500+ with $5000 payable immediately! The J45 sold straight away but the Martin, worth $6K+ took ages to sell. Anyway, it got me out of trouble.
So no J45 in this house of mine full of guitars ......I am currently looking at a few options, used, new....
BluesKing777.
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Pickup piezo aura question ...
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
You won't want to hear this but here goes...
My 2005 Gibson Dove came with the full Baggs Anthem and I really like it. I put the mic near to full, backed up a little, volume to full then backed a little and it sounds very good plugged to my Boss VE8, no extra stuff. The 'TruMic' part gives it the 'air' or 'realism'. Now, a short disclaimer - my Boss VE8 has magic fairies inside that make a lot of pickups I have tried sound really nice and when I put the same pickup through my amp or mixer - yuk! It must be some electronica that automatically adjusts for a certain pickup. Basically, I don't know but like it.....
BluesKing777.