BluesKing777

Yeah, still a light trace of scribble there - the luthier said he could take it down further but it would start to eat in to the clear finish. I took it to him to get a nice setup and bone saddle and asked if it was possible to get any more of the scribble off (guy at a shop where I bought it said he spent 12 hours rubbing it off). I told my luthier I was mainly concerned with sound and playability, don’t spend too long on the scribble. When everything was done, he called me and said he a nice surprise for me. But main thing.....it plays and sounds...sensational! I joked that I should get a bright paisley shirt and a bandana to wear while playing this guitar........then I thought that may have been the problem! Scribble says: One Love!!! then a drawn peace symbol, ban the bomb? Incognito (in hand drawn banner) Blues. It is the name of a song played by a band. Looks good now - he also did a touch up on the spots where it had been left and marked on a cheapie guitar stand - fear of forumites! He fixed some strange needle marks and removed some rubber stuff stuck to the sides, probably also from guitar stand. Someone had filed the saddle way too low on the high E string side. Made clunk noises on frets 7- BluesKing777.

Well, it was cheap for here in the badland! It is a matter of 'presentation'.......Someone had written all over it with texta, it was covered in dirt and dust and just about unplayable with a bad setup, crooked nut slots, plastic saddle filed too low by an amateur....and it sat there for sale and anyone who picked it up to try thought.....yuk (nice word for the forum). I have scored quite a few guitars at the same shop and taken to my luthier eventually to get 'up to speed'. He has a bag of magic dust he waves on it and it comes back....'better than a new guitar', to me, because it is older wood. And then it sports a wonderful setup and action. And he has guitar polish he bought from the Elves - shiny! Delighted! The luthier/tech quoted me a guess on the value, just in conversation and it is now 3 times plus what I paid. Except.............I ain't sellin' 😁😁😁 BluesKing777.

Setup, new bone saddle and some fretboard and cosmetic repairs - all done...and it plays and sounds great. GREAT!I got the 2005 Gibson Dove from a secondhand/pawn shop place in 2018 - someone had written all over the top. Mostly gone now - any more rubbing and it would go through the clear coat, I was told.The saddle was tusq or plastic, now bone!!! Cost them a bit too!May have been their children writing on it, perhaps?Anway, the eagle-eyed will notice there were some marks on the upper bout edges - someone had left the guitar on a guitar stand too long and melted it in to the guitar...Rubber bits now removed and a touch up of red finish in the holes....Strange little divots along the edge of the fretboard fixed.And...the most wonderful setup - fairly horrible home setup before!And...my pet peeb, why oh why do they build a beautiful guitar and put plastic saddles on them.It came with the full Baggs Anthem someone had put in it - it is road warrior ready. Before: Now: BluesKing777.

I think you mean T-Bone Burnett.....music producer enlisted at the beginning with high aims of giving the show some ‘authentic’ country......which he did! But then they went soap, Dallas sort of style with foofy drama and I don’t know but T-Bone was probably long gone...... I have seen a few old movies with the Bluebird in it, but can’t find anything about them. The other famous movie was ‘Thing called love’ with Rivet Phoenix, Sandra Bullock and a whole cast of musos... BluesKing777.

Here is a video trailer of the Bluebird movie - should give the idea of the famous cafe: BluesKing777.

Gibson Montana began putting Baggs Element undersaddle pickups in the Standard Series acoustics about 2008 - the J45 Standard, Blues King L-00, Hummingbird Standard and various others. If the guitar you are looking at has no pickup, you could just get a tech to install a K&K, a far nicer pickup....my opinion. BluesKing777.

Playing solo through a mic, I would do Gravity, then Tribe. BluesKing777.

Cheap and cheerful or maximum price, the L-00 doesn’t get included in Gibson plans, other than re-named Blues Kings....which I already have! Since 2007 or so. Really, I am interested in the Custom Historic Series getting the L-00, I mean the 30s models are pretty famous. It is probably good they don’t make one, because I already have a music room full of L-00 shaped objects of different makes! BUT, how hard is it to put a Historic model L-00 up.....better wood, more attention to old detail, torrefied adi top, what? And no I don’t want a Made To Measure before everyone says it. BluesKing777.

Wonder why Gibson has forgotten to make a 'Custom Shop Historic L-00' or a 'Faded Series L-00'? And if they read this, make the model like a early 30s neck and 1 3.4" nut, please! 😁 BluesKing777.

Zombi, you probably saw it but here is a 5 odd page thread on AGF entitled 'How did you know when you finally had enough guitars?' https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=665081 A large percentage say they have given up buying guitars as they have got old and lost their marbles! 😁 I can feel a big buy coming along here for Zombi, and ME! ....Before the dam busts, so to speak! Some big custom....or a big vintage number....hmmm....there is a vintage 00 Martin for sale close by...hmm....No, stop. NO. BluesKing777.

I didn't do any of it! But someone played my 1935 gibson Black Special #4 for many, many, many years with many, many Jazz chords on the 4 bass strings ala Freddie Green from Count basie etc see the bass side lost its finish but not the treble!: BluesKing777.

Look for 'Home>Welcome>Forum Feedback and there is a sticky - 'how to post photos' BluesKing777.

I thought down tuning would be more popular with blues players that bend the strings all over the place.........hard to do on tight acoustic strings, easier on electrics! I have seen Buddy Guy bend the high strings up to the top of the bass string side - on acoustic in standard tuning would be fairly unlikely......then Lightnin’ Hopkins tuned his guitar right down to......Z and did some serious bends! (possibly an early influence on Buddy!). But originally blues guitarists bent strings to sort of get the sound of a bottleneck sliding on the strings. And after all that I have my Martin EC short scale in stock standard tuning and it ‘feels’ the same as some of my tuned down (short scale Gibson type) guitars....so it does depend on the guitar build, not just scale length. Have to try it! BluesKing777.

As above! Also....are the string ball ends right up snug in their slots on the tailpiece....not loose either? Probably a trip to the luthier for a look would be nice...give a full checkup and ease your mind as well..... BluesKing777.

Ha! This is the 3rd version of this thread I have seen...AGF, UMGF and now....GAF! The Gibson people will say Gibson LG2, the Martin people Martin CEO7 and the AGF.....err, not sure.... You dn’t say what guitar you play now. My opinion.....new Gibsons and Martins sound ‘wet’..., new! For 10-15 years. The best acoustic guitar of the last decade for the vintage sound, to me, is my Waterloo WL-14L (ladder braced). I have said many times on this very forum that it sounds older than my old guitars! BluesKing777.

No help with the Helix but I have seen a lot of people talking about the Mojotone....various models. I haven’t seen one yet. BluesKing777.

This ^^^^^^^^ Depending on what guitar/s you own, some like downtuning more than others. A Lowden with a five piece neck is popular for multi tuning players, wheras a short scale guitar like an EC Martin 000 will get a bit ‘flappy string’ and need a tweak. A long scale OM is made for it! But it depends a lot on the guitar setup. Guitarists that played alone and tuned without some kind of reference like a pitch pipe, tuning fork or a tuner probably invented downtuning! Some old bloozers are tuned to X and 1/2! BluesKing777.

Nick is back! Where have you been? Doing OK? Glad you still enjoy your L-00 Legend. (I played a J45 Legend in a shop years back and watched and watched hoping they got the L-00 Legend....but nothing...ever.) If you can't get hold of a L-00 Legend, pretty scarce - try out a Waterloo WL-14X - X braced. Here is Mark Stutman's write up on one from Folkways Music (and I totally agree - mine is sensational): Picking up an X-braced Waterloo is the closest any of us will ever come to experiencing what it must have been like to play a new Gibson L-00 back in the 1930's. We tip our collective hats to the people at Collings who've created these fine guitars after carefully studying those great 1930's originals. They've really did a remarkable job of capturing the details of an original L-00.The guitar is built with protein-based fish glue, un-scalloped braces, a wide-angle X, tiny and thin maple bridgeplate, and a spruce top. Looking inside the guitar, it's not too different than a 30's L-00 under the hood, except it's built with Collings' incredible attention to detail. The guitar has a beautiful spruce top, mahogany back and sides, ivoroid top binding, and an unbound back; comfortable slimed and rounded V shaped neck, rosewood fingerboard, adjustable truss rod, and simple dot markers. The headstock features open-geared tuners, silk-screened logo, and an ebony nut. Ebony bridge and pins, bone saddle, firestripe pickguard, and ivoroid-bound soundhole complete the top. The WL-14x is finished in a very 1930's Kalamazoo sunburst, with period brown back and sides. The neck measures 1-3/4” at the nut, pin spread at the bridge is 2-3/8”, and the scale length is 24-3/4”.Talk about an exciting guitar. Not only does the Waterloo WL-14x capture the looks and feel of a 1930's L-00, it's got the sound to back it up. The Waterloos are the only new guitars we've played that really does the L-00 thing right. The mids are punchy, strong, and up front, and are very well supported by an underlying warmth and rich overtone presence. Trebles are round and thick, and the bass is present and well defined. BluesKing777.

Gibson Montana made lots of acoustic just for Japan special orders in the early 2000s. I have 2 - my 2002 J50 and my 2005 Dove cherry burst. I don’ t believe Gibson were selling these guitars anywhere else at the time. I got mine from a pawn shop, and had them repaired, but the original owner travelled to Japan for business a lot and bought any Gibsons that caught his eye, I was told. BluesKing777.

If I was paying $185,000 plus for his guitar builds, I would expect lots of overthinking! Superb guitars. BluesKing777.

I think a new bone saddle can take a while to ‘break in’ and the guitar tone to smooth out..... BluesKing777.

Ha! Or...you can have ...."Four Seasons"! BluesKing777.

I often wonder what the thinking was with Ren and co in Montana when they went for the 1.725” nut and 2 3/16” bridge space on most modern models? Where there other acoustic guitar brands with that arrangement at the time? Or some other reason? BluesKing777.

A few years ago I bought a 2002 J50 from a pawn shop, had it repaired by my tech/luthier, Anthem installed....fabulous. I think the 2002 models are streets ahead of the later ones, so I highly recommend you look for a ....2002! And now I am going to play it! BluesKing777.

Happy New Year! Not a lot to report here....I spoke on the phone with my brother interstate earlier in the day and we were laughing about (comedian) Billy Connolly....saw him live around mid 90s.....sitting in the opera house of all places, laughing until you cry and your whole body turns to jelly!😄 Aha, I thought, drag out the old Billy C Live collections and watch them NYE! Had 2 Wild T bourbon and cokes from pre-mix cans with dinner, no smokes for years. So the Boss and I sat giggling and laughing till we cried and we turned to jelly, hysterical, hard to breathe, eyes running, noses running.....what a funny, funny man just talking of whatever enters his head.... meanwhile all around us all the local nitwits were trying to blow their hands and face off with fireworks and for a while there it sounded like the London Blitz or something. And I put the next Billy C live in the player.... I use to gig most NYE and while fun, it is lots of hard work and driving home from wherever was deadly with drunk drivers. I do miss it but would probably play somewhere with accommodation! Or buy a campervan. (of course one year when in my early 20s, I played at a gig (rock band) across from the ocean beach, got smashed, found a girl, woke up face in the sand on the beach head ka-thumping with the sun coming up.....and then had to pack up PA and ride home in the band van......ouch. BluesKing777.