BoSoxBiker

I love all those old early 20th century industrial buildings using hardwood back in the day. Imagine that these days?

Nice! You never hear that kind of difference in presence with these comparison videos. It's quite something to go back and forth between my square dreads and my SJ-200s. I stink at the pick out the tonewoods by sound game.

Those DR Rares on a 12-string should be interesting.

I've got a set of those DR 80/20's, too., that are waiting to be tried. I didn't buy them the first time around. I think their brightness speak scared me a bit. I'll be curious to know if any of those GHS strings you will try to anything for you. I've got the Rotosound Jumbo Kings waiting, too. I've not got a set of Tru Bronze. Their description says something about a scooped mid sound. That might be interesting upstairs in my little home studio.

Best thing since sliced bread and sleeves on a shirt were developed. https://www.chicagomusicexchange.com/products/acoustic-strap-secure-brass-metric-thread-525431 It's actually a smaller version made by the same guy referred to earlier. It's called Strap Secure. I have them on any of my LR Baggs end pin jacks. Words great. These fit the threads, but the original ones by Marcus were a bit bigger around. should still be fine. I have two already one waiting on my guitar to come home.

Do you recall how long the JPs used to last for your wife? I've got two sets of the Santa Cruz in my basket just waiting to get put on. They'll get their chances this Summer when HVAC season comes along.

I tried a set of GHS Vintage Bronze 85/15 Bluegrass on the Maple SJ-200 this past February and was not thrilled. My notes said something about semi-bright and uninteresting. It was after a month of John Pearse 80/20 Lights, so almost no chance they were gonna impress me. The Lights went on something soon thereafter, but didn't make it long at all due to some strangeness. Might have been something unwinding on me. I used Nickel Bronze a lot for over a year, but they did not do well with my old microphones. Screeching noises. I've since replaced the mics. I should try them again sometime. I liked them for casual playing plenty. I've got a battle of La Bella PBs going on between the Hummingbird and the D41. The Living Room has been loud this week. A friend was over playing guitars with me and the SJ-200 with these new mediums stole the session. Tonewise, yes, and has been that way since I got it. Never volume-wise, though. And no tone was sacrificed.

Man, that was sweet! Thanks. I'm looking forward to the how the finished recording(s) come out on the documentary.

My string exploration continues. I have found a new favorite string for my Historic Collection Gibson SJ-200 Prewar (Rosewood B&S). They are John Pearse 310NM 80/20 New Mediums. These are Lights with medium E-B-E strings and light G-D-A strings. (.013 .017 .024 .032 .042 .055) First thing first, these took the warmth factor up a notch. It was a paradoxical result for me at first. I expected brighter, not warmer. The more I thought about it, the more this makes sense. The E-B strings gain thickness, which means more lower end tone than with thinner strings. That changes the overall balance to be less bright and a little deeper low end. That warm bottom-end thing the SJ-200s can have is delivered by the bucket with these on there. Try this on. Imagine those old strings some folks like that lose their zingy brightness after a few months and you get to enjoy the mellow, warm tones. Now, imagine what you would have hoped those strings would have sounded like brand new. This might be where I would land with that thought. Very warm with nice, tamed, not so aggressive highs and mids. Simply stated, just plain "pleasing". These are close to my favorites for my SJ-200 Standard (Maple B&S), which are the John Pearse 80/20 lights (.012 .016 .024 .032 .042 .053). What I liked about the lights seems to be amplified with the New Mediums. I am trying these New Mediums on the SJ-200 Standard when I get this guitar back from Gibson.

Damn, that does sound nice. Really nice.

Indeed! They hopped on this without anything but class and responsiveness. It's too rare these days. Good folks so far. I'm impressed.

An Update - My Dove arrived back at the store safe and sound, got examined within a few days and sure enough, it was a faulty nut on at least 3 levels. It's now been replaced and gets shipped out to me today. He seemed pleased with the result. It's always nice to know oneself is not going totally bonkers. It was such a relief to get the call Saturday with his findings backing up what I had landed on. (phew!) Despite the limitations, I got rather hooked in the limited time I had it. Hopefully it will be good to go with the new nut. <knocking on wood>

I agree that a visit with your tech/luthier would be in order. In addition, maybe offer to pay for some additional time for a first hand lesson on how to best perform the measurements. Then you will know if something needs adjustment, making more definitive decisions on when to bring it in. Neck relief is the other factor in playability (and tone), and he'll teach you how to check that, too, and probably how to visually inspect it to make sure all the angles and parallels look good.

The pins/tones debate notwithstanding, in the very least, the Saddle will make a difference. Whether you hear that difference is dependent on how your ears are to detail. On all mine, there was a difference. That difference to me was aggressiveness in tone. Maybe some increased responsiveness. On one guitar I used to have, the bone was too much. I put the stock back in and ordered another for Summer months. Whatever you do, don't detune Round-Wound strings and re-tune them with the expectation of anything but dull sounding strings. Depending on where you live, this may be close to the perfect time of year to try a new saddle. I another month or so, I'll be switching them to my shorter saddles. I've now accrued tall and short saddles for 4/5 of my nice acoustics. Be sure to take a little mini-exploration with your picks and strings collections after changes. The nut does make a difference for me, too. Double that price above as everything's gone up. A custom made nut at Gibson R&R is something around $250. I think it's well worth it. There are three ways for tonal improvement with a nut. Just the act of replacing a nut means your guitar is set up properly. There is no guaranty, but a good tech/Luthier will likely make much better slots than a partially work is, and in too many case, it's better than even stock. Better slots, less interference, etc. Then there's the issue of playability. That can change, depending on what you and your Luthier decide. Heck, if you go with a fret leveling, you and your Luthier could have that thing playing like buttah, as they say. You may not like that tone, though. Some folks like it higher just for the sound. In closing, it is good fun for me to explore all of this. From one perspective, there is never really failure. Just different to varying degrees.

That extra 10% on guitars almost always seems so worth the effort. It's a bonus when it's something "simple". Are you going to geek out and test different washer materials? 😁

That spider looked like it fell in a dramatic manner. Make that "landed" in a dramatic nature. The picture sort of proves you didn't swing at it and bash it with your 'bird, right?

It puts the glue on it's skin!

I totally missed your pics being posted. Thassssa very nice!!! 😎

Happy NGD, Jinder! Looks like a good find. I'd look on You Tube for samples, but never making the same guitar twice...... Perhaps we'll hear it next time the creative tracking bug hits. 😎

Nice pic!

How does that big neck compare to the 1934 Jumbo? The Jumbo is around .96 - 1.01 at the 1st fret looking at several on the Wildwood site. Those have what their calling the Historic Deep V.

There were a few moments very early in the first video in which I thought of the restaurant scene in Kill Bill 2 featuring the band the 5, 6, 7 and 8s. (just before the Crazy 88 fight scene) I detected a style that one might associate with Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away". I've wondered before if that late 50's hardcore (for the era) Link Wray Rock and Roll style was a thing over there. I can get from there to Tamio Okuda's playing.

Yeah, I was wondering if that was glue on the right side and a gap on the left between the E-A and A-D strings. I'm going with optical illusion on both counts. The reason I ask, is that I see this sort of approach to a nut on many botique makers. Even ones that imitate the Gibson lineup. The top is less sloped overall instead of the steeper slopes we usually get. This sort of style seems like it would have a larger contact zone and even looks that way in this picture. The back-filing and the resultant gaps are there, though. I tried this style twice and bombed something fierce. I salvaged nicely enough and are as functional as they are ugly. I was starting to think this style was voodoo for steeper neck break angled guitars or something. The other interesting bit are the front entry points. I see some online that have nothing filed away. These look fanned out at the entry quite nicely. A little worried about below the string, but probably another shadow effect. Anyhow, sorry to derail, JCV. So rare I get good light to look at these things. You can have your thread back 🙂

I'm very curious to hear comments on the craftsmanship on the nut and fitment of nut as seen when stopping the first video at 1:12. Edit: Just to be certain everyone knows, I am not trying to set anyone up. I don't want to prejudice an answer to questions and/or thoughts I have.

We're about to go through the big Summer-air change. Getting a dose of it this week. Already feeling it. O wish I had tried the "New Mediums" a few weeks ago. I'm going to order a couple of Colosi's uncompensated saddles to match for the 2020's and sand them down to make some "Summer" saddles in about a month. I've got them for the other 3.