BluesKing777
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Posts posted by BluesKing777
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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.
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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.
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If I was paying $185,000 plus for his guitar builds, I would expect lots of overthinking!
Superb guitars.
BluesKing777.
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I think a new bone saddle can take a while to ‘break in’ and the guitar tone to smooth out.....
BluesKing777.
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Ha!
Or...you can have ...."Four Seasons"!
BluesKing777.
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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.
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1 hour ago, Jalex said:
I've had a couple 2003 and 2012 models. I would like to get another at some point. I love the natural finish and batwing pickguard.
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.
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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.
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7 hours ago, Murph said:
You'll be an old man when that Maton opens up.......
A good point to bring up at this point in the thread!
A number of acoustics these days are advertised with ‘thinner finish for quicker breaking in and older tone’ etc. So it stands to reason that the acoustics with big globs of gloss will take longer to open up! (but the ad will probably never mention that).
A couple of 20 year old standard model Martins, full gloss, I have played sound and feel new still.
So how will the ‘thin finish’’ models look and sound in 20 years? 50 years? 80?
The finish on some vintage 80 year old acoustics has disappeared........if it wasn’t for the ‘leave it as it is’ opinion, they would get a new paint job! Will the new acoustics with little finish need paint in a few years?
BluesKing777.
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5 hours ago, zombywoof said:
The un-scalloped bracing Gibson went to in 1955 not only did not add any more mass to the top but was actually a bit lighter than their earlier scalloped bracing. They stuck with it until towards the end of the 1960s when they started to bulk it up.
When t comes to the "thump" I always assumed it was the result not of a "dead" low end but of one which had a quicker decay.
While I have not measured the 59 LG3 top, it ‘feels’ a bit thicker than other guits, even thicker than close relative - my 52 LG1.
Combined with the un-scalloped braces, I really like that I can ‘dig in’.....hard! The top has had 63 years to break in and my guess is that new, brand new, it would have been a real pig! Not now....
It is hard to know personally any of these things if you just had....yikes.....one guitar since starting to play! But I just jumped from the un-scalloped top of the 59 LG3 sitka/mahogany to my 3 or 4 year old Maton Messiah 808, premium grade rosewood and AAA sitka top, deep body 00 with scalloped bracing and everything full gloss and probably could look new forever! The only thing the same with these two guits is they have strings. But both got my version of a couple of Chet style fingerpicking some Elvis! From thumpy to....??? ‘full sustainish Kerrrangadangie full tone everything....
BluesKing777.
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Another suggestion for ya.....
As I rotate around wonderful guitars I own, today I have been playing my 1959 Gibson LG3 and it has a lot of the features you may like, mainly a very dry tone with a thumpy dead bass string sound and crystal clear treble, rings like a bell on some notes! I put this down to the late 50s (55-59?) slightly thicker un-scalloped braced sitka top over mahogany back and sides...nice 50s style neck......
There is one like mine for sale on Reverb.com (not mine) - here:
https://reverb.com/item/63961986-a-rare-beauty-1959-gibson-lg-3
Similar (1958):
BluesKing777.
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I have the dangerous habit of liking all of them!😃
And to pause for a second and think: ‘Which one (of my collection) will I play today? Old, new, blue?’ ...is a joy!
And while my preference is 1 3/4” nut, fat V neck, 2 3/8” bridge spacing......00, OM, 000 size.....that can be a rare and very, very expensive set of specs for ....vintage acoustics! And some of that vintage wood took 3000 years or so to grow, and mostly cut for things other than guitars........gone. But, I have Irish and Australian guitars built from Australian Blackwood and guess what? They sound like........guitars! And while my preference use to be mahogany/sitka....now it is......anything I get to try! It is obvious now that the builder is more important than the woods.
BluesKing777.
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24 minutes ago, babydaddymusic said:
I think I’m going to keep it. I’ll post pictures when I get it back
Good plan!
The vintage Gibsons are hard come by, you already have it? Maybe try some different types of strings....Elixir PB coated, Martin Retros (monels - often mentioned by people who like woody old tones).., low tension Santa Cruz .......
Yep, that ebony will dull it.
BluesKing777.
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I finished reading it last week and gave it to my luthier to read over Christmas.........if he gets time! He has a workshop at home as well as his normal workplace/office and has some customs on the boil.....
I was struggling to think of a guitar geek nearby that would want to read it......guitar wood traced back to it origin......hmm, better half and my relatives rolled their eyes, declined......😃
BluesKing777.
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Some of the singer songwriter types hanging out here are dribbling at the chance to steal your 1966 Gibson J45.......
Keep it!
It is supposed to be THE classic singer songwriter acoustic, or so we are told here.
It may need a full reno by an experienced Gibson tech.
Are there photos, back and front...etc? Soundclip?
BluesKing777.
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This is great!
https://books.google.com.au/books/about/The_Guitar.html?id=LtzczQEACAAJ&redir_esc=y
BluesKing777.
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Happy Holidays!
I have a gift voucher for a guitar shop, oh no, capos? Case? Hat? Guitar shirt?
And another voucher for an online bookseller. A few years back, if anyone asked, I said to get me the book voucher and I have used the seller as a kind of book broker - their bot will search and destroy any book from anywhere, really. So I have been getting some fabulous reads and some great fingerpicking books....
Decisions, decisions, decisions, I love that!
Now, I need new reading glasses!😁
BluesKing777.
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It is certainly a long involved process!
I assume there were glue drying days as well.
He looks so confident!
BluesKing777.
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I saw this very interesting video of a classical guitar being made from scratch.
BluesKing777.
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If you really want tone, you may have to pony up for a newer (used?) National Reso...and I would go for a wood body of some description. Wood body Resorocket, M14, El Trovador.....
I have played and friends have owned most of the cheapies....then they play mine and go: ‘AHA! It has bottom end!’
As mentioned earlier, I have a National M14 and that is to die for! National is one of the few companies that make better guitars than the old ones!
BluesKing777.
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I also have taken to playing a standard guitar in open tuning for bottleneck......different sound but a way lighter guitar.
I have a National Tricone that has to be close to 10lbs, but a National wood body mahogany M14 that is a bit over 5lbs.....and since your thread on bottlenecks, I have dragged out the Redhouse slide and played the M14. Made for each other.
BluesKing777.
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5 hours ago, saltybrian said:
Hi again,
I tried taking the pickup out (it is indeed a Rare Earth) but if that makes a difference it's more subtle than these ears can detect.
I play with a pick so while I found the fingerstyle stuff interesting I can't pass comment. Genre wise, I play a blend of Scottish tunes and songs, sometimes flat-picking the melody, sometimes accompaniment in a swingy kind of style. The guitar suits the chord work especially well.
I've ordered a tusq replacement saddle, will see what that does, and leave the bridge itself and pick guard for now. It's playing a bit sharp from fret 1 so a trip to the tech is due anyway - that's a 4hr ferry + 6hr drive of a round trip and overnight stay away, so hopefully worthwhile...
Thanks all.
Yep, but it IS best to try a few things that you can do before going to the mechanic, say, and look dopey as you tell him your car is ....'broken', 'not working'....which can give them carte blanche to put in new motor and gearbox......
Same with luthiers! (But we need them!)
Let us know what happens.
BluesKing777.
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Maybe add some L-00 models to the Historic Collection, please?
BluesKing777.
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Well that brings up another tip.....
Just get a couple of sets of plain Jane Dunlop white plastic thumbpick and fingerpicks - you can buy them pretty much anywhere and the white ones are easy to find if you drop them!
I have a tin of the various thumbpick ‘failures’ - the Failure Tin!
For resophonic, exchange the white plastic for the Dunlop metal fingerpicks, maybe......
BluesKing777.
Why down tune your guitar?
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
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.