BluesKing777

I wasn't sure if I should open the thread.... BluesKing777.

That's no good then. All the best to you. BluesKing777.

Thanks Billroy! ...there is always a catch. looks great, sounds great, great to play...for a minute....😎 BluesKing777.

The photos look so nice I had to record another track! Imagine the surprise of the person who bought the guitar in 1935 if he went to fingerpick some blues and ..lookout, it has a Schatten bridge pickup running to a Tonedexter file and another lead out to a Boss VE8 vocal/guitar apparatus with a Shure SM58 mic to sing in and recording to Garageband on the trusty iMac.... So here is a hybridy sort of fingerpicked blues and vocal to capture my mood, I hope!: BluesKing777.

It would be cool if this was my only guitar, I think sometimes - just me and the 35! But then I get a splinter off the neck and wake up to retune it... Here are some other photos: BluesKing777.

Thanks Billroy! I forgot to mention I posted other photos of the guitar before I recorded the track, under the recent thread ‘fave Gibson’ - I should probably consolidate them in this thread. BluesKing777.

I have been playing my 1935 Gibson Black Special L50 archtop with a Schatten bridge pickup, made a Tonedexter file and recorded a track direct to Garageband. My sister is about to come home from Paris after attending a course in Toulouse and a few days in Bordeaux, so I played a solo guitar version of "April In Paris" from 1932 by Yip Harburg and Vernon Duke to send to her by email. Good practice for me - I played it off the lead sheet page while recording it. Who knows, some other guitarist may have played the tune on my guitar around 1935 after they bought it new! BluesKing777.

Couldn't say really, but the one I am playing today! The oldest I own, biggest V neck, black finish 1935 Gibson Black Special L50 (it has a Schatten removable ebony bridge with a piezo embedded inside it - sounds great through my Tonedexter: (flat black for bluesier tone): got to watch for splinters! It is easy to get a 'groove' going 😠: BluesKing777.

OK, Billroy... Their summation of ‘things needed to repair’ lists among other things on the 37 L-00: Softshell case FC except could use work (neck reset, refret, some loose braces, restring and setup, etc. - sold AS-IS) Now then, the killer smack to the nose....... Step One: Soft case, forget it - you are way under budget so buy the guitar with a new Hiscox Pro II, I think the Classical Medium is the right size, need to check that. I hope your wife will be pleased with the gift! Step Two: Get the braces fixed/reglued by a decent Gibson repairer, maybe get it checked over. Step Three: Add some strings with a way fatter first string. Step Four: Tune to open G or open D and you may just have THE bottleneck slide guitar. Play it hard for a year and dcide if you want to get that neck set after all. Maybe it will be too good for slide and you go buy the sweet new thing that caches your eye! OR: forget all that mucking about and get a WaterlooWL-14 X braced or ladder braced or BOTH. Authentic on authentic 30s. Here is a little ditty in C capoed up I was doing for another freak. Before I did it and pressed record, I was thinking about taking my pay packet to the shop and blowing it on something bluesy sounding but then I went to the rack and selected the X braced WL-14. So cool! Old but IN TUNE easy. BluesKing777.

Nick's back! Which reminds me, there is a used Gibson L-00 LEGEND for sale close to BR's budget. The seller just keep s crying all the time - "This is the kind of guitar that makes you cry when you buy it and again if you ever have to sell it." Make of that what you will. It has a Fishman REB pickup installed, you may or not like it but it removes the decision to operate on a mint guitar - it has already been done. Soon swap in a K&K or such.................... https://reverb.com/item/13888918-gibson-1937-l-00-legend-model-sunburst-w-fishman-rare-earth-pickup BluesKing777.

While there will be naysayers, I have to say Elderly stand by their mini condition reports so you could buy knowing what exactly is needed. An Ebay buy could be cheaper but, you know... But the one in the link above needs ‘wear’ work and looks quite nice while others look beyond your means! Back when we allowed to import stuff from the USA and our exchange rate was better before politics got in the way, I bought 7 or 8 used guitars and a couple of new resos from Elderly. My 1944 Martin 0-17 had so many problems after they did a final inspection, that they didn’t want to send it. I OK’d it and got my luthier to look at it. So Elderly had done a neck set on a neck so bent that they had to put a large wedge under the body end of the neck, and all is great to play now but it must have been a 2” action before! Scared you off? Don’t be. My old L-0 is just fab, even if I parked it n the wall and just took photos. But it is such a learning experience. In that respect, the Nick Lucas at Elderly is a nice but safe buy, but what then? Just play it? No frayed nerves? Too easy! BluesKing777.

Elderly Instruments have a couple of interesting items... They have the full mama 1937 Gibson L-00 $1750 that you could buy and fix later....everyone here will help. https://www.elderly.com/collections/category_acoustic-guitars-used/products/gibson-l00 Of interest also is a 2014 exc con Gibson Nick Lucas Reissue $2350: https://www.elderly.com/collections/category_acoustic-guitars-used/products/gibson-nick-lucas So the first one is a way of dipping our toe in the 1937 jam without too much initial outlay. I did this and got all the work needed and got a beauty out of the trouble. The NL reissue is the same shape but that is about all - all maple back and sides, full gloss, K&K installed, ready to rock.. haven't heard of Nick Lucas - here you go, Mammmieeeeee - Nick with his black Gibson Nick Lucas, which you would be fighting me for if it was the reissue for sale above...: Hooked on NL yet? Here is some more guitar playing and singing: BluesKing777.

It sounds impressive, Jinder! German tech. Do they make any acoustics? Probably not, more in to electronics. (nothing to do with anything but my old (German) car has a horn that scares the whole town if it pressed gently , HONKKKKKKKKKKKKKKK!!!!!! LOOK OUT etc. I leaned on the horn of my newer (German) car and it goes 'beep' like you would expect from a Fiat Bambino or something!) Like you said, early days - the foibles come later. My Genz has a headphone out in the back of the amp and a switch to turn off the speakers. I wanted a sep volume control, so had to go buy a junky on e in a skinny lead and of course the vol knob is scratchy. (My old Mesa B had a vol for the headphone, know idea how many would have used it). I thought to face the amp out in front of me on L for LOUD and use my in ear monitors without blowing my head off. Oh, they don't sell H&K here....

My current watch: A tad over budget but a very, very needful Gibson L-0: http://www.folkwaymusic.com/vintage-instruments/gibson-guitars/1932-gibson-l0-0719/ Also over budget but a 44 LG2 banner!: http://www.folkwaymusic.com/vintage-instruments/gibson-guitars/1944-gibson-lg2-0819/ Under your budget!!! https://reverb.com/item/20424515-1937-gibson-l-00-black If you want the old time sound in a newer and less work needed - Waterloo X braced USED way under budget, probably get two! https://reverb.com/item/26716302-waterloo-wl-14-x-tr-sunburst-small-neck-1-3-4-2018 BluesKing777.

While everyone is listing all their amps, I thought to mention my Genz Benz 60 watt stereo. While I may have bought it just after the Vikings raided England, of interest to anyone with a K&K pickup is that the guitar input impedance is only 300 k, whereas other amps are 1 MegOhm and up to 10 or 20 MegOhm. Anyhows, the 300k makes K&K sound beautiful and no need of the K&K preamp (also a low Ohm). In a larger impedance, I found the bass goes flubbish. And the treble goes Flibish... Oh yeah, the catch - it hates Fishman undersaddles which probably need 20 MegOhm and the max. And the amp is pretty heavy for a little thing. The other great feature is the back of the cabinet is cut off so you can lean the amp back. Cool! It also has little speakers with little horns you can switch off if things get too trebly and bitey..... AND..with the stereo, I can run stereo out of the back of my Boss VE8 gadget to a channel each side...AND 2 XLR plugs out in the DI! http://www.genzbenz.com/?fa=detail&mid=1834&sid=420&cid=94 BluesKing777.

Thanks RBW! Of course, I have played the song and kept the ‘normal chords’ going, but it always seems like we are really missing the famous slide part sound...so this one is just an idea for a ‘distraction’..... if we don’t do something, the song is over in 2 verses... BluesKing777.

OK, love me 3 times....😎 Or worse! The Better Half always says: "Play Freebird" if I am strumming on the living room couch. Problem - playing solo, just acoustic chords and vocal, the song is over in seconds even repeating yourself x2. ( I learned the slide parts years ago, but the chord sound iffy in open G!) So we leave that on out too. So here is my solo version of "Freebird" by Lynard Skynard...with filler. I played my Maton 808 Messiah through the Tonedexter preamp to my Boss VE8 preamp to mix it with the vocal and then to Garageband and ..here... BluesKing777.

I had a look around for you - I doubt you will ever see one laying around, BBG. You may find a few in London if u went on a trip. Saying you would be tempted to buy a "Maton" is like saying you are buying a Gibson....there are hundreds of them. Good pickup or no, you need to like playing the guitar first. Pickup is the icing. For example I have three 808 models, which are deep body 00 size balanced tone fingerpicker mainly guitars. The first one I bought is the cheapest with matt finish cedar top over Australian blackwood back and sides. My next buy is the black monster, also matt finish, supposed to be Queensland maple with sitka top, but it is black and I can' tell what wood it really is - I think they copied and pasted TE's guitar specs for the ad.... Anyway, it looks to me, inside the guitar, like sitka over Australian Blackwood - their mistake but it sounds great, so... My next buy was the top of the production line rosewood with AAA sitka top and wooden binding, herringbone purfling etc etc all in full gloss. While these sound similar because of the shape and size of the guitar being the same, the matt finish two are ready to play sounding out of the box - while the gloss one is going to take approximately 95 years to get that top broken in with my light fingerstyle. After I bought the black one, I put the first one in Open G tuning and played slide on it - fab! Stays in Open G then. The black one is just sensation all for all kinds of blues and rags and is sort of mahogany like with some sustain but not a huge amount of overtone in the way of faster playing. The rosewood one has heaps of sustain and overtones and is better for slower chordy type tunes..jazzy, Broadway hits and also rock songs. But what I wanted it for was - DADGAD tuning...superb! And they all have the same pickup! It works perfectly for Tommy E's sound and playing and works perfectly for my playing on the first guitar and the black one...with less sustain and overtones, but the rosewood one goes gluggy...I need serious EQ work and gadgetry to try and capture the (beautiful) tones. Enter the dragon...- Tonedexter - ran a Tonedexter file with 2 different mics and that is the Bee's. (I leave the pickup on the guitar on but the internal mic OFF.) Oh yeah, a friend has a dread model with sitka over Australian blackwood, same pickup......mid range cheapy and I don't really like it, err, at all. If I was going to get a Maton dread, not,!!! but if I was, it would be a model with mahogany back...Classic or something they call them. But my friend has National slide fever and Gibson fever and Martin fever, so I was surprised to see a video of him playing in his duo with...ha ha.. the Maton dread plugged. BluesKing777.

Glad you made it! Maybe take up just singing only in someone else's gear? Hope the K&K goes well - I have read a bit about tube varieties but I have never seen one here. BluesKing777.

You must have read me wrongly, Billroy, I like the style of the song and was mentioning similar styled songs to give a listen to/assimilate to your box of paints. BluesKing777.

Well, slot some listening to that drawing board.....the beat thing you are doing probably goes back to the dawn of time and a bit of fireside entertainment clacking some bones. Slightly more recently, slaves rowed long oats to that beat and a caller, but Cash’s backing is straight from the cotton field/prison gang style. So working some more on ‘Soul Of A Man’ could help you, and more inspiration see John The Revelator by Son House.... and speaking of Son, don’t forget some wild slide to liven it up if you are in Open tuning. BluesKing777.

TE demos the pickup sound and controls in the video u posted. He ran it direct to his AER amp, no preamp. His live sound is just a lead from the back of the amp plugged to a PA. No tricks, that is the sound. I don’t like my Matons in an amp - I prefer direct to my Platinum Pro EQ and direct to my mixer. If I use my amp, I turn off the little trebly horns - Genz Benz has a switch, and run the Boss VE8 in stereo to the amp. BluesKing777.

Sorry, Billroy, but while I can get what you are trying to do with the beat and drone guitar, the vocal is way off tune. Cash version did put the fear in everyone, while honestly, your version is just scaring the kiddies. Had to tell you what I thought - I will look bad if it is a hit. Back to the drawing board, BR! BluesKing777.

TE’s Matons are made in the Custom Shop for him and they also put out a guitar supposedly exactly the same as his customs...It is called, of course, the catchily named Maton Custom Shop EBG808TE Tommy Emmanuel Personal. I played one of these Personals a few years back and it just didn’t have the same notes as his. There is also a plain jane production model Maton EBG808TE that also does not have the same notes in it. So one day I was perusing the internet guitar shops and my birthday last year was getting close and this shop just hung out a pic with a ‘custom black finish Maton EBG808 with some of TE’s specs deleted. Whatever that meant, I was on their doorstep before they hung up the phone and then I played it and then I bought it! It is a fingerpicking monster and the pickup is sensational. $2200. To celebrate, I learned a whole ot of TE tunes. You will never hear them.☹️ The same shop has just listed another TE Personal...$6,399. I may buy it. May as well throw my money on the road.... BluesKing777.

Another one gone! I hope the H&K works out and it isn't your mic or something! Anyway, do any of the previous manufacturers of junk ever get back to you and tell you what happened? You know, for future reference and all that. Too late but the manual for the Roy is out - it does have the variable input electronics I mentioned. I prefer a switch, thanks...don't want no machine deciding everything. Bet you that is what is going astray. from manual: 1.1. MIC INPUT This input is electronically balanced for XLR type connections. The new MIC/DYN channel is now conceived for any kind of signal sources. You can plug in vocal microphones. The electronics will adapt to any situation. No special action is required 1.2. INSERT This stereo jack plug enables the connection of an external device (compressor, equalizer, etc.) in series to all the outputs 1.3. 48V The amplifier’s XLR input provides 48V phantom power for use with a condenser microphone. Most condenser (and dynamic) microphones, along with some preamps, can be safely phantom powered. In certain cases however, phantom power can cause damage to a device. This tends to occur with unbalanced microphones, preamps or stompboxes that have been modified for balanced XLR use. For any doubt, please contact us to check the compatibility of your audio device before using the amplifier 1.4. GAIN This variable gain preamplifier adjusts the sensitivity level to ensure the best possible processing of the MIC signal through the channel. It is important that this input level should be set and optimised in the best way to achieve the cleanest sound possible 1.5. OVERLOAD This LED (when lit) indicates that the level of the inputsignal is too high and it might introduce distortions 1.6. HIGH, MID, LOW These controls are devoted to high, medium and low frequency regulation. Offering cut and boost of ±15dB, they allow a wide range of tonal variations to be explored. Parametrics MID regulation, offers the possibility to cut or boost a frequency range between 300Hz and 3,3kHz. When the controls are positioned centrally there is no cut or boost of the selected frequency band 1.7. MULTIEFFECT This rotary control sets the level of the selected effect on the channels 1.8. REVERB (AUX) This rotary control simultaneously sets the level of the digital reverb on the channels and the level of the signal sent to AUX OUT. 1.9. VOLUME This rotatory control regulates the channel volume Anyway, too late, sorry - could be anything. Sure you don't want to take your mic to a shop and try some amps in person? BluesKing777.