Twang Gang

The new thing at the golf courses in Arizona is instead of a golf cart (for actually playing golf) they use what they call "Fat Tires", which is like a motorcycle with a small diameter but very wide set of tires. Most are two wheeled, and when you stop to hit a golf shot you generally need to put the kickstand down. They also make tricycle ones which will stand up on their own. Many stories of people losing control of them and driving into the pond etc.

The band I enjoy hearing do covers is Santana. They have done some great ones over the years, usually taking a three-minute hit song and stretching it out a little with a great guitar solo and some added percussion. Just one example is "She's Not There", which I find a lot more entertaining than the original.

I had a couple Gibson that came with those cases. I thought of the "shroud" as a little more insulation for those really cold nights to help prevent finish damage.

My guess would be that it was refinished, if in fact, it is an Iced Tea Burst. As I recall 335s back in '67 mostly were red, black, walnut, or natural finishes. Of course, I could be wrong.

Don't give up. I have 2 Hummingbirds with the VTC pickups in them. The controls are simple, a volume and a tone, they are conveniently located in the sound hole, I don't think you really need to see them to operate them. The batteries don't need changing very often. Not as often as strings need changing, so just change the battery out during a string change. Perhaps you need a different acoustic amp so you can shape the tone more to your liking? You say the guitar "Sounds great. Plays well." But you're going to get rid of it because changing the battery isn't as easy as you'd like? To me the sound and playability are way more important than how you change a battery.

I played in a lot of bar bands and always thought the name "Free Beer" would draw a bigger crowd. Flyers could say "Thursday Night at The Old Towne Pub - Free Beer from 9:00 to Midnight"

Nice guitar and really nice playing. Could have used this guy back in about 1976 when I was in band that covered this song!

Soup

Every '59 re-issue 335 on the internet has a Tune-O-Matic bridge and a stop bar. This one doesn't.

Congrats and happy playing. Let's see some photos of that Maple baby!

I have 3 Gibsons currently and they all have tapered bridges - I'd say normal and nothing to concern yourself about.

I think you can get used to either light or slightly heavier touch. In my youth I played mostly electric guitar with very light gauge strings (.09s), speed was the goal and volume and tone were taken care of by the amplifiers. A few years ago I pretty much stopped playing electric guitars and am 99% acoustic now. At first the additional force needed to play heavier gauge strings (.12s or .13s) was tiring but I adapted. A couple weeks ago I picked up my Les Paul for some fun, and didn't have the right touch for it at all. Hopefully if I played it consistently for a few days that lighter touch would return.

OK, I get it now. Cutting the slots is creating the ramp for a steeper break angle over the saddle. So, I had to check my guitars closely. My J29 has some ramp mostly on the 3 treble strings (I'm guessing because it is the oldest and the ramps are from wear). My Humingbirds have no ramps. My Collings have no ramps either, but the pins are located much closer to the saddle than on the Gibson guitars so the break angle is steeper, and the Collings came from the factory with unslotted pins. Before I take a saw to my Hummingbirds I think I will just turn the pins around so the strings don't go into the slots and see if seating them firmer to the bridge plate makes any discernable tone enhancement. And hopefully doing that will prevent bridge plate wear as well.

I get the unslotted pin vs. slotted and the increased break angle giving the strings more contact with the saddle if you lengthen the slot on the bridge. I am not clear on what part of this modification is the "ramping"?

I enjoyed them. Although a 10 minute version of Yesterday might have been carrying it a bit too far. I don't know about across the pond but here in the US there are a lot of Beatles tribute bands who try to imitate Beatles songs dressing like the Beatles did, and playing the same guitars and amps etc. But this was a different take and one I had not seen anyone else do using Beatle lyrics and setting them to blues structures. The players are high energy, skilled at playing, and a very tight live act. Refreshing.

I don't see a Songwriter Studio listed in the available guitars from Gibson. Many times the studio model is a different type of wood for the back and sides (often walnut) and the body may be slimmer in depth - but not sure about this particular model.

I had one of those for a short time in 2012 and it was a peach of a guitar. I only traded it back in when my local dealer got a Les Paul Lite in and I had to have that instead.

Glad you got a nice one and you're happy with the set up and condition. Yes, all Gibson USA models are plekked. Congratulations and enjoy!

I played with the same drummer for at least 25 years. But one time he couldn't make a gig and we found a substitute who was supposed to be a good jobber that could fill in without any rehearsal. He did OK. Toward the end of the night we were doing a sort of improv medley of Beach Boys/Chuck Berry tunes and somehow it morphed into Wipeout. When it got to the drum part, which every drummer my age learned as their first drum solo, he didn't know it!! We all had a good laugh over that - guess he was too young to have ever heard it.

Ok, I went back and actually listened to the two guitars this time. I would agree with Em7 on this comparison video, to me the 50s model was a little clearer I could hear the individual strings a little better whereas the Standard was a little mushy in comparison. Both sounded good but I preferred the definition of the 50s model.

Sorry, couldn't get past the discussion of the T-shirts in the video. But no, I don't own a J-45 and couldn't compare the 2 models discussed.

This is my entire rig for acoustic gigs - Guitar in one channel, vocal mic in the other. This little AER Compact 60 is plenty loud for medium size rooms. If I should get a gig at a big outdoor festival or such there is a line out at the back of the amp than can go to big house PA and then this little guy can be my stage monitor. The AER has a padded carry case with a shoulder strap so that goes over one shoulder with microphone in accessory pocket. Guitar case in one hand, mic stand in the other and I can usually get all I need from the car to the stage in one trip. If I want to bring my own comfy stool to sit on, then that is a second trip.

Could it be the guys on the acoustic forum are wasting a lot of time screwing around on the internet and the guys on the other forums spend more time playing the guitar?

Pick guards are pretty easily replaced so can't really go by that alone.

Not sure the one in the video has been reversed? Can't tell if it is the camera angle, but it looks to me like the left side in the video (toward the bridge) is proud of the pickguard and the other end is lower. The screw side almost looks like it is below the fretboard level. We have discussed the pickup rings on carved top ES type guitars often in the ES forum. And like you, none of us can figure out why they come from the factory with the pickups tilted so much. And for those of us that it bothers we just reverse the rings which straightens it out quite a bit. Bad Blues Player is an advocate of sanding the bottom of plastic rings so that they are flat which also corrects the big tilt. Not sure it does anything for the tone, but it certainly looks better. Here is my 356 after a ring reversal: