drathbun

Annie has been a good neighbour of my wife and I for 30 years. She's a big Cat Stevens fan. She's had a hard year and I wanted to brighten her mood a bit so I said "This one is for Annie" and started playing "Where Do The Children Play?" and her expression is closer to tearing up a bit than an actual smile. 🙂 Thanks, kidblast. Sometimes a connection with a guitar is kismet. I was not planning or intending or in a position to need, want or look for a new guitar. I had a wonderful Taylor 12 string that served all my 12 string needs. Then one day I was chatting with my son in the acoustic room at Long and McQuade (he works there in charge of store operations and I retired four years ago) and I turned and saw the back of the headstock of this 12 string with a custom shop decal and gold tuners and said to my son, WTF is that??? Having two children employed at this store (my daughter is in the band department and band instrument repair) and being a former salesperson there, I tend to know everyone and everything that happens with people and with stock - especially in the acoustic room and most especially with Gibson acoustics! How a custom shop 12 string Hummingbird got by me, I'll never know. It had been in stock in the store for months and was marked down. I picked it up and even with DAF (dead as f***) strings on it, it was amazing. Within seconds I calculated in my head... this discount, my son's employee pricing, selling my Taylor GA12... hmmm gets me in the ballpark for a killer deal. The guitar manager made an even better price for me (great guy) and I bought it. It took about six months and a couple of guitar doctor surgeries to get it playing properly but now it is not only amazing looking but it will make your heart soar when you strum a full G chord on it! My guitar tech had discovered that the guitar had been build incorrectly at the factory with the scale length off by about 1mm and had the nut end of the fingerboard reduced by those 2mm and the nut moved, again at the factory, which caused the intonation to be off by some huge amounts. He reshaped the saddle and now it plays perfectly. Long story but that's what makes a very special guitar in my opinion. 🙂 You can see the gap between the nut and the headstock face plate in this close up:

Thanks, Cougar. She's a beauty!

I limited myself to just the 12 string. That of course, did NOT stop a friend from requesting almost all of my James Taylor and Jim Croce fingerstyle songs! I even played the lead solo to "Til There Was You" on the 12 string. What a workout! OMG of course! I can't hold my 12 string without playing Lightfoot. I played "Early Morning Rain" (capo 2, drop D)

The Hummingbird 12 string got a rare outing in the sunshine yesterday at our annual BBQ with friends. In spite of playing "Even in the Quietest Moments" and "Hotel California", I received NO cease and desist orders from copywrite lawyers of either SuperTramp or The Eagles. Here I am playing "Where Do The Children Play?" for my friend Annie who is a big Cat fan.

Welcome, fellow Albertan! 🙂

I'm playing the Hummingbird 12 this weekend and it was in need of a string change. So I thought I'd do a YouTube video of the process.

Frank Ford has a page where he shows a four ribbon SJ200 bridge with string ramps cut into the pearl. Frank Ford on Saddles

DIF Hummingbirds are incredible looking guitars. Even the tuner buttons have intricate engraving.

For the price, this one better last well past my expiry date!

If that thing rests against both E string posts, it becomes another source of above the nut buzzing. Besides, it is ugly AF! Good thing they are sold out. 😉

Since he's using IMGUR it is easier than that. I use IMGUR for all my forum posting and if you click on your image in IMGUR it will take you to a page like this where you just click the "copy" button next to the type of link you want (BBCode for this forum) and then go into your forum message and hit CTRL-V (Command-V mac) and voila! You can even create linked thumbnails in the bottom "sizes" section. I like the four ribbon bridge on that J200!

Nice guitar. You might want to check on the humidification of the guitar when you receive it. It looks like it has a separation crack from the bridge to the tail along the centre top join. If it is just a finish crack, you're fine but if it goes into the wood, it will need some attention. I have a Custom Shop Hummingbird 12 string and is glorious. I can only imagine what the Dove sounds like with all that maple! Jingle Jangle!

Beauty! Welcome to the club!

THIS is the way you do it!

Looks like the D35 went for $1.095M and the Black Strat went for $3.975M. The whole collection went for $21 million in total.

I expect this is the result of an over-eager sunburst spray painter. https://www.aliexpress.com/item/32868913962.html?spm=a2g0o.productlist.0.0.3a351c51yy6k4q&algo_pvid=04cc3099-0a5f-469e-8a23-c9169ad73efc&algo_expid=04cc3099-0a5f-469e-8a23-c9169ad73efc-56&btsid=9052f44b-12c2-4bf1-8e41-609885991bb4&ws_ab_test=searchweb0_0%2Csearchweb201602_10%2Csearchweb201603_53

The auction is on right now. David's 1969 Martin D35 went for $900,000. Strat 0001 and the Black Strat will be well over a million.

I'm surprised at the prices of some of these guitars. I'm guessing those are starting bids? I mean, Strat #0001 for $150K? The beautiful Taylor 716ce he played "Shine On You Crazy Diamond" live and solo in concert is only $3000? Crikey! And where is the Lewis 24 fret? Edit: I found the Jedsen lap steel!

I was heartbroken when he got rid of his blonde J200 in the late 70's. When he picked one up again around 10 years I ago I thought... you can take the Gibson out of the hands but never out of your heart.

Thanks, MP! 🙂

Father's Day again and I still miss him every day.

I'm truly impressed by how Jerry coaxed this abused old '53 SJ200 back to life and beauty. It was a sad looking guitar and when he plays it at the end of part 2, it is just miraculous. Battle scars and all, this old SJ200 is a beauty! I love that sculpted saddle. Great work.

Here is Part 2:

It does look a bit off but it might be the lighting. Could you post a close-up photo of that mustache bridge? In the photo is look very squared-off without any rounding over. If that is true, it is Chinese. The pickguard and the sunburst look odd as well but again that might be the lighting.

This was awesome. I watched the entire video non-stop. This gentleman has oodles of experience and it was fascinating watching his problem solving and solution processes. I can't wait for part two!