tpbiii
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Posts posted by tpbiii
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I have a 1962 Hummingbird that for my late wife and I was almost exclusively a studio guitar for the past 20 years. But mine is basically an odd case. We had (I still have) a pretty large collection of vintage guitars which we acquired over the last 45+ years as a retirement investment. This includes about 50 vintage Gibsons and a similar set of Martins. From an objective viewpoint, the heart of the collection was/is older than the Hummingbird -- Herringbones, an AJ, a Trojan, several Banners, etc. We became bluegrass nuts in the late 70s, and we jammed and performed a lot of bluegrass and mountain traditional for about 45 years. Here is a picture of our prewar dreads -- you may have seen it before. These are all 1930s
These are all the Gibson Js, all the way up to the 62 Hummingbird and 65 Dove.
Well the Hummingbird is no bluegrass guitar, but our other earlier music passion was folk revival music -- and it is IMHO perfect for that. Starting in about 2008, I designed an acoustic studio in my basement that can create totally faithful recordings (that sound exactly like you are standing in the room) to demo the tone of vintage guitars. This has no moving parts -- you just sit in the right place and play a single guitar, and the magic happens.
Well once that studio existed, there was a great temptation to use it for other stuff -- so we did. It was really a practice tool to see what we sounded like -- not really for distribution. But we used it a lot -- there are 1200+ video/audio recordings on line.
Well because of room issues, you could not really run a traditional bluegrass group in full cry and have it work -- the loud standup bass and other loud instruments muddied up the room. To use it for that, we had to cut the acoustic volume down in the room. So we did the same stuff, but we used less powerful instruments -- 1/4 Kay bass, 1924 RB-4 Gibson trapdoor banjo and -- the Hummingbird. It worked like a champ!
Here it is as a folk guitar.
And some bluegrass light.
So there you have -- my 1962 Hummingbird is my most used studio guitar -- go figure.😎
Best,
-Tom
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QuoteI would wonder if the Jumbo meeting its demise due to lack of popularity has to do with the neck which has a depth at the 1st fret just shy or above 1.0". These days that is a carve which would probably not be high on the list of desirable specs for more than a few. It figures because for me the fat neck would be that model's biggest selling point.
Gibson necks in the 20s and early 30s had a relatively deep V profile -- that was true with the Jumbo and the 36 Jumbo35 (Trojan). However, the 36 Advanced Jumbo had a more modern profile.
Quotehave never been able to get why Bozeman has refused to go with the three tone bars in either the Jumbo or J35. Even Collings incorporates that feature in their CJ35. As it does not seem like something which would appreciably increase cost, I have to think it's about what Gibson thinks would and would not appeal to modern ears.
Here is the bracing on the 36 Jumbo 35, which is the same as the Jumbo. Three unscalloped tone bars.
Here is y 36 AJ -- three scalloped tone bars. By the way -- this is very rare. Most all AJs have two scalloped tone bars. Gibson did a lot of different stuff in the early days.
Best,
-Tom
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Quote
Thanks for posting that comparison. I listened on some monitor speakers as opposed to just the phone, in order to really hear the difference.
I may be in the minority, but I much prefer the Gibson (though the Martin exhibits a lot of character and raw power).
As you've pointed out, the Martin would certainly excel in a Bluegrass setting as its powerful midrange would not get lost in the mix of other instruments. But if I was accompanying myself with just guitar or especially in a modern setting, the more complex tone of the Gibson and its distictive, powerful bass would be my preference.
You are blessed to have both and so many more historically significant instruments. Thank you for the forsight and preseverance to gather them over the years, the excellent results of your efforts to accurately document their sound, and for making your many videos accessible to all of us.
Red 333
I don't disagree with any of that. They are both great flatpickers -- although a bit different. They will also both work well for bluegrass string band rhythm, but the totally best for that role are still the old D-28 Herringbones. However, I find the 35 Jumbo to be a much more flexible instrument -- working well for a broader class of music. I particularly love it for alternating thumb ragtime and gospel -- I find the D-18's extreme midrange problematic. Arguably that is a problem with my playing and no the guitar. So the Jumbo goes out a lot -- at least it did before covid. They are both player grade, so that is not an issue with either.
All the best,
-Tom
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4 hours ago, 1934jumbo said:
I am drawn to the 1934 Gibson Jumbo more as time goes on because, mainly it seems like the underdog?? With its two year beginning, and all the reissues through the years. Yes I will get one if for no other reason than stated, and I will play very old school barroom bluegrass, cause thats what I love best! 1934jumbo
Yea, me too! I have a lot of videos recorded with my "faithful reproduction" recording system. Here is one that compares the 35 Jumbo and its 35 competitor, 35 D-18. It is not great playing, but you can clearly hear that sparser tone of the Jumbo.
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I generally only talk about history with regard to Gibson reissues of vintage guitars. I have two old guitars that are a bit relevant. a 1935 Jumbo and a 1936 Jumbo35 (Trojan). The Trojan replaced to Jumbo in 1936 -- essentially the same guitar except for trim. Both have three tone bars.
Both of these guitars have a huge sort of raw sound. Historically the best known musical pioneer AFAIK who used one was Charlie Monroe when he played with brother Bill as the Monroe Brothers -- who had a huge raw sound. In 1935 their competition appeared c 1935 == D-28 and D-18. These had a huge sound too but fuller and less raw. Mine is an excellent bluegrass guitar -- the Trojan not so much, Too raw.
I have played two of the new ones. I must say they did not sound at all like the original. They had a fuller more mellow sound and were not too powerful. I only ever played those two.
Best,
-Tom
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Yea -- B-15
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2 hours ago, Sgt. Pepper said:
I thought Japan had all the vintage guitars, but apparently you do.
Well my late wife and I collected them because we loved their history and sound, but it was also a retirement investment for more than 30 years -- otherwise there was no way we could have afforded them. They were indeed a good -- but not great -- investment. We always bought guitars that were different from one another -- never two of the same model. If you did not know the detailed history of the models, you well might not know where the dividing line was.
We were competing with the Japanese -- they would pay good wholesale prices at the shows, and the bought everything. They were generally more interested in electrics however.
40s Gibson are a bit of a step down from the Golden Era guitars -- mostly in the 1930s.
l-r 26, 39, 38, 36, 37, 36, 35, 35, 34, 31, 35
Let's pick,
-Tom
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On 1/8/2023 at 1:22 PM, Dave F said:
The Legend I had (on the left) did not have that dark of a burst. Burst looks more like the vintage one I had (on the right)
The one on the right is early. The one Elvis is hold is later. The way you can tell is by looking at where the tuners are compared to the head stock decal. Early means (approx) up to 43 -- late means after that. Original pick guards will also have the black finish on part of the guard.
Let' pick,
-Tom
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Here are some period guitars for comparison. 43, 43, 42, 43, 46, 44, 53 l-r
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Best,
-Tom
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The one on the left is a Kalamazoo (thus Gibson) 1936 KGT-14. This basically would have the same specs as the KG-14 and a later LG -- ladder braced (tenor)-- If one exists. BTW, I recently saw a c 1934 KGT-11 -- I did not know they existed. The middle two are a pair of 0-18T Martins (41 and 55) and an old harmony.
Best,
-Tom
Best,
-Tom
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Here are a couple of my old ones.: 1934 HG-Century conversion and 1939 L-Century. In true intense traditional music, maple flat tops have a reputation of not cutting well in a intense acoustic string bands. They are great solo players and they sound like they should cut -- but they don't. Here is my favorite story about an old L-Century. John Arnold -- the famous luthier -- said he had one he traded to Norman Blake that was extraordinary. He ask Norman if we wanted to try it, and Norman said he did not play furniture -- which was sort of my experience. However Norman played it, traded for it, and now won't let it go. He has recorded and performed with it.
In 2005, I made a couple of trips to Norman home to trade guitars and I got to play it -- it was unexpectedly wonderful. Go figure -- another outlier Gibson.
Let's pick,
-Tom
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IMO, the best 12-fret RW slope I have ever found is my Gibson 1935 converted RSRG.
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I went to two of the best picking parties of the year, and neither involved alcohol. Not forbidden but not served, which meant AFAIK not at all. It has been moving in this direction for a couple of decades. The emphasis -- as it always is -- was on jamming music. It happened both New Year Eve and New Year Eve Eve -- two parties. Party #1 (at my house) had two of the top flat pickers anywhere (many awards and contest won) in addition to my old band mates (mandolin, fiddle, and one of the best bass (standup) players around. All could sing, and all knew the parts and rules for bluegrass harmony while covering all the parts. Three had played the Grand Ole Opry. And me -- I was the weak link. This was bluegrass, but relatively civilized. Night two -- not so much. The current members of the hot local band that won the state championships (band and banjo) for both GA and AL were there and a couple of my friends my a-list friends: Tony Watt, Mark Bramlett (national champion on banjo and band a couple of years in the 1980s) , and fiddle player extraordinary Mark Squires. Three GOO veterans here too. This mostly "Katie bar the door," with young fingers.
I played guitar, harmonica (embarrassing, but the only instrument on which I can hang in at warp speed), and sung some lead and harmony.
On Friday, I played my 36 AJ (I was at home, so why not) and on Saturday my 39 D-28 -- I would hope everyone could experience both of those guitars playing rhythm in a flat out traditional bluegrass session.
This was in GA, and the muted TV was on for the GA Ohio State game. A couple of us were Georgia Tech guys -- but hey, when in Rome. They noticed that GA did better on fast songs. Just before midnight, GA needed a long last second drive to win. So .. for several minutes we played Sally Goodin at light speed. As it went around and around several times, GA marched down the field and -- almost exactly at midnight -- they scored. You could not make this stuff up!
I did not drink anything, even water -- I barely got up to go to the rest room. This does happen often and I did not want to waste a second!
Happy New Year to all,
-Tom
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Here is an example of the Martin competition from 1934 -- this particular 00-40H was made famous by Norman Blake;
https://vimeo.com/groups/532471
Best,
-Tom
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I have what may be the worlds only faithful acoustic recording system in my basement -- listen on the correct headphones, the same science we used for audio standards was used to create this. And it has not changed since it was created in about 2010. So I have several thousand video == about 1300 on line which rigorously comparable. on vimeo
I did not create them for public consumption -- although most can be seen freely. I have demos by me, demos by more expert friends, jams, practices, and a few live shows recorded elsewhere.
I have them organized into album and groups on interesting topic and people. So here is a group dedicated to a 1936 AJ and 1936 Jumbo 35 Trojan. If you know your Gibson history that is the year and the models that really started the modern era. The two players are accomplished flatpickers -- both of whom will be here to jam tonight! YEA! HAPPY NEW YEARS!
https://vimeo.com/groups/576897
Best,
-Tom
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I am a big fan of pre 1955 Gibsons -- and I have quite a few. But my late wife and I were folk revival fans in the 60s, so I have some late 50s and early 60s too. They were a good match to the milder music of the folk revival -- here are a couple of example. 1962 Hummingbird and 1956 LG-1 (about what I played in the 60s).
Best,
-Tom
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14 hours ago, Larsongs said:
Which 2 Gibsons & which 2 Martins do you play the most?
1935 Jumbo and right now, 1940 RW J-55. These two are both spectacular flat picked and fingerpicked with picks as well. The RW J-55 is very like the 36 AJ but not so valuable.
1939 D-28 and 1935 D-18, mostly for bluegrass.
Tone is not the only issue -- some don't go out because their cost/condition are too high.
Best,
Tom
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I don't know how this will play here. Let me give you some long tern perspective from the vintage world. I have over 50 old GIBSONs (c 1900 - 1965) and 50 old Martins (1893-1969).
First the actual golden era instruments (mid 20s to early 40s) truly deserve all the hype, but they are rare, expensive now,, and harder to maintain than more modern instruments. The wartime Gibsons (banners) are definitely a step down in power and tone, but have their own unique sound qualities and are loved by many -- including me. From there power ramped down sort of continually until about 1970, which was a low point for Gibson and Martin both. For many, 1945-1950 was still very desirable, 1950 -1955 still had pretty good stuff, 1956-1965 noticeably diminished , 1966-1970 falling quickly. There can be exceptions in every period, and also your style is very important in what works for you. But this general perspective should provide some context.
All the best,
-Tom
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It is Christmas again -- I may have posted this before. If so, please forgive me -- it is Christmas.
Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas
-Tom
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On 11/19/2022 at 3:14 PM, E-minor7 said:
That's special. Guess one can say that the king of acoustic collectors don't go for the king of acoustic flattops.
Well my late wife and I started accumulating old guitars maybe 40 years ago -- it was a careful investment of retirement funds , or we could not have afforded to do it. That was just the $$ part, which had to be done right of course. But our collecting goals were not monetary -- we just hoped to also save for retirement. We aspired to be pure acoustic musicians who blended instruments and voices in the traditions of the first 60 years of the 20th century. For us that was folk revival music of the 1960s and later traditional mountain and bluegrass music from the 1920-1970. We hoped to own the flat top guitars and 5-string banjos that drove our genres, and that did not include Super Jumbos. And we sort of pulled it off.
A lot of these are Gibsons, but a lot are Martins and other iconic brands. I guess I sort of became a minor leader in discovering golden era RW J Gibsons for bluegrass -- I also have their contemporary Martin competition.
The weird thing is that people did not forget the old instruments, but they came the driving force of the modern flat top guitars and (to a lesser but significant degree) banjo market. In the old days, I would say we were weird -- now it is everyone else.
Christmas time is coming but let me end this lecture with an original Christmas song. -- the Cold Rain Deer. It would be of no interest except because I am not a blues player, but it is played on a 1926 Gibson L-1 -- Just like Robert Johnson.🙂 Scale lenght -- 24 2/4
Seasons Greetings,
-Tom
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3 hours ago, E-minor7 said:14 hours ago, tpbiii said:
I don't have any SUPER JUMBOs
Which is a bit of a mystery, , , and probably has a serious & qualified reason. 👂
Well they don't match the genres I aspire to -- I seldom channel Emmy Lou or Little Jimmy Dickens. When I do, I use this -- $25 CAN at a garage sale some years ago. It is actually a remarkably good guitar with some actual fans out there. It came with that pickguard and although I had it worked on to make it playable, it did not seem worth it to remove it. I don't know its scale length.
5 hours ago, Murph said:
Those are lovely little instruments -- my daughter does not play them because of the short scale, but what do kids know?
Gibson has several very short scale guitars too. I think the ones in this pictures are the shortest I have come across. 1935 L-00 3/4 and Kalamazoo SPORT MODEL😎
Here is my daughter playing that Kalamazoo mandolin -- a relative of yours I would say -- in a jam show in 2012. Her buddy Kelly is actually playing a 1943 Gibson J-45.
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35-62 Js. Only the AJ (back center) is long scale. I don't have any SUPER JUMBOs
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This is a dobro 1978 -- so Gibson. I id a round neck which historically done back and forth.
Best,
-Tom
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As was noted above, the 1949-1962 LG-2 3/4 is a bit misleading because LG-2s were generally x-braced and these were ladder braced. There is an early version that was x-braced (mid 30s) -- the L-00 3/4. Then there was the Kalamazoo SPORT MODEL from c 1942 on which had the same body shape as the L-00 3/4 and LG-2 3/4, but like the LG-2 3/4 it was ladder braced. The L-00 3/4 was really rare (about 35 has been estimated) and there seemed to be maybe 200 SPORT MODELs. Here is a picture if a 36(?) L-00 3/4 and a 1942 SPORT MODEL.
Here is a comparison -- 51 5-18 Martin, 42 SPORT MODEL, 35 L-00 3/4, 34 KG-11 (CARSON ROBESON), 33 0-18 Martin
Best,
-Tom
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There is an "acoustic in your head" perfect guitar after all...
in Gibson Acoustic
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Indeed -- and that is exactly why it worked so well as a folk revival instrument. Historically my late wife and I had two great musical interests -- the rural acoustic revolution in the 1930s kerosene circuit period (before widespread sound reinforcement was available), which basked in the new power of the Dreads and Js; and the incredibly mild and inclusive urban "folk revival" in the 1960s, where everybody strummed and played along. After c. 1940, both Martin and Gibson began a long slide toward less powerful guitars, but Gibson dropped faster. For the former, the cutoff for Gibsons was 1955 -- for Martin it was the late 60s. So really no HBs or Doves made that cut at all -- the tunematic bridge and plywood maple B&Ss of the Dove was not a formula for a strong guitar. The HB on the other hand is solid wood and has a big blended and (surprisingly) strong tone excellent for singalongs in the 60s. Depends on what you are after.
In the 1960s, I played a late 50s LG-1 -- here is sort of what it sounded like. You would never take that to a bluegrass or other strong traditional session.
The right tool for every job.😎
Best,
-Tom