tpbiii

A short poem written by my sister. "Sometime I Miss Him." Last night I ran into my ex. Then I backed up and ran into him again. Sometime I miss him.

So I guess this would not be you idea of heaven? Maybe the other place. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFYTsnK_9u4 Best,-Tom

I can't quite make it happen. I can flat pick using the bumblebee if I leave the index free -- I have to hold it with the thumb and index to feel right. Then I can do 1 finger style with thumb with middle -- a lot of famous players did that. Both styles are ok -- but nether is as good as if the other wasn't there. Maybe later. Best, -Tom

We have a similar story, but for more than 60 years. Lord knows how many different styles I have tried -- I use them on guitar and banjo both. I started out in the early 60s strumming with a flat pick and finger picking bare handed. Later we went over entirely to totally acoustic music, and for many such applications bare fingers were not good enough. I started using banjo style finger picks on the guitar. I never gave up bare finger style -- we have a lot of pre war jewels that fit that approach. But for strong traditional stuff, that style gets buried. You can always plug in or play into a mic -- but that styles has no interest for us. It is not the same music. Here is what I mostly use now. You can get cheap acceptable versions of this from China if you can wait a week or two. Let's pick, -Tom

Here is a early 43 J-45. Best, -Tom

I guess we are sort of buffet people. It occurs to me that I did not really answer your question. The bridge -- which was on it when we got it -- seems to be a good quality replica replacement. I think Gibson would originally have had bridge bolts -- most modern luthiers think that is not necessary and even a bit dangerous because the distortions it may cause if/when the original glue joints fail. That guitar was sort of a rescue because someone had "fixed it" (from loose braces I think) by adding and inserting a piece of a yard stick (no joke) and pouring (yes I said pouring) glue in behind. It really did not serious damage the guitar -- but the glue had to be removed in total. Randy Wood had to remove the back, but after that could pretty easily get rid of the glue. It was a lot of work. Best, -Tom

53 -- both it and the 54 SJ don't quite top the banner hogs sonically. The 43 SJ RW is from an entirely different planet. The two go to guitars -- in different States -- are the 43 SJ and the 44 J-45, which get played a lot when not playing bluegrass. Finger picks. Both are players -- the 43 J-45 is mint, but because of that it does not go out much. Sad. Best, -Tom

Actually you actually found a mistake in my picture -- I know this is actually like telling you there is not Santa Clause, but I made a mistake. One of the SJs appeared twice instead of one (banner 43) SJ and one (banner 44) J-45. But being a sound geek, we try to not have multiple copies of individual guitars. Our SJs are 43 Mahogany, 43 RW, and 54 Mahogany -- identifiably different guitars periods and/or materials. Here are our slopes 1935-1954. Best, -Tom

I can give some experience, but you'll need a time machine. Your best bet is to buy used Gibson -- 1900-1965. But only buy them from 1970-2000. If you did that, you would have some of the best sounding instruments ever made, and now you would be pretty well off too. Let's pick, -Tom

Here is a chart I did about ten years ago. It tracked the retail prices of vintage Martins -- after inflation -- for different models from different years in 2010. Vintage Guitar Price Guide was the source of the vintage model's retail price. It is an index -- value after considering inflation (US gov numbers). So it says a 1935 Martin in 2010 is worth 109.9 times as much as the original retail price. The is REAL value increase -- corrected for inflation. I have the numbers for Gibsons too -- I'll try to find them. Best, -Tom

It is not the first batch -- it is actually the last batch that had a lot of RW B&S instruments, and the "experts" claim Feb. 1943. Pretty rare for sure, and pretty well regarded as well. I have seen asking values in the 30K range, but I can't confirm any sold for that. We paid 11K for one with a few years ago. IMO, the overall market is a bit down from then, but since this has been sort of become a "hot" item, it might well sell well. Ours is "74" -- the highest known (ASAIK) in the batch. There seems to be a bit more than 200 of them made. Here is a registry. http://www.bannergibsons.com/html-registry.html Here is an article from my blog. https://vintageacousticinsruments.blogspot.com/ Cool guitar for sure. Best, -Tom

I guess they are gone. Here is one of the first -- 1936.

Gibsons evolved quite a lot from 1942 to 1955 -- in fact all the way from 1942 to the end of the 60s. These date from 1942 to 1953. In general, the early 40s models were stronger than the late 40s, and those again were stronger than the early 50s. Th sound slope in the 50s was (IME) pretty steep, so a 54-55 guitar was quite different from a 50-51 guitar. There is a 45 LG-2 in the back right center. Its nut width is 1 3/4. Her are three SJs -- 43, 43 RW, and 54. These make look sort of similar, but they are not. The one in the center is RW -- ridiculously strong guitar that holds it own with old AJs and Herringbones. The one on the left is mahogany, and although not nearly as strong as the 30s Jumbos, still a substantive instrument. The one on the right, although strong compared to its 54 brothers and later guitars, is down a fair amount from the 1943 hog SJ. There is enough variation in this period -- both random and evolutionary -- it is always good to listen yourself. Good luck, -Tom

I bought a new J-40 as my "main guitar" in 1971. I finally had real job. At the same time my wife got a off shore wasburn dread. I also had a c 1960 LG-1 which was previously my only guitar. At that time we were recovering 60s folk musicians who bought with our eyes. But even thought it had GIBSON on the headstock, it soon became embarrassingly obvious that the Wasburn and the LG-1 were much stronger than the J-40. I used the J-40 for my mid 70s early attempts to play bluegrass -- at that time a totally inadequate musician with a totally inadequate guitar. Your experience may vary. We also had a double x 70s J-45 deluxe for awhile. It too was a dud. Let's pick, -Tom

I guess I have talked about our 1936 AJ in the past. We have collected guitars for many years and we are lucky enough to own a number that people proclaim as the best guitar they have ever touched. People's style and skill level effects what they think is the best ever. The thing I can say about the AJ is it gets more #1 votes than anything we have. Flat pickers love it, as do blues and ragtime players. Most remarkable, old line bluegrass rhythm players actually choose it ahead of prewar herringbones -- there is a miracle. I love it too of course -- very powerful and flexible guitar. http://vimeo.com/130705665 https://vimeo.com/54419930 Best, -Tom

Gruhn and Carter reports the range 820088-823830 as 1966. Those years have a few duplicate numbers, but slope shoulders is consistent with 1966. Check the headstock pitch -- 13 degrees, 65 and latter; 17 degrees 65 and older. Let's pick, -Tom

Odd because the problem is usually low humidity due to heating in the fall and winter. If that is not what is going on, then all bets are off. Good luck. -Tom

Dryer == lower. Your case sounds odd.

Without taking a position on your guitar, let me just say this. We have quite a lot of iconic old Gibsons -- the guitars that changed the world in the 1930s and (some would say) the 1940s too. Some of these are among the most desirable instruments on earth -- and the most expensive -- and most of them have some visible glue spots. I am not arguing this is right or wrong and you do have to apply your own standards, but it is historically true, for whatever that is worth. Best, -Tom

My first good guitar was a 1960 LG-1. We now have two -- one from 1942 (which does not count because it is a very rare mahogany top x-braced guitar) and a 1959. The 1959 is a rescue. They are laddered braced -- here is a picture. Demo Comparison with 46 LG-2 and 42 LG-1 Good luck, -Tom

Here is our 62. This is sort of overkill I guess, but we have been recording jam with its guitar lately -- it is a good match to our acoustic recording environment. hummingbird videos Let's pick, -Tom

I started playing harmonica at 10 years old -- I am 72 now. For the first two decades, I played straight harp -- it was great for impressing girls in the 6th grade. In the 60s, I made like Dylan with the harp around my neck. Still, I did a lot of clean, straight stuff. No one taught me, and I had no idea what I was doing -- my left brain was not involved. I wish I could play guitar like that! Anyway,I wanted to play blues harp and I puzzled over bending for maybe a decade. I play the harp backwards, which actually makes bending more difficult (oddly) but ultimately results in more power -- which is good if you play loud acoustic music. Part of the skill just involved playing single notes cleanly. When you do that the harmonica is amazing "vocal" and nuanced -- even when not bending, I love that sound. As I understand it from reading, there are two typical ways to make single notes: tongue blocking and lip blocking. Once again, I came to prefer the less common lip blocking approach. Just place the harmonica against your bottom lip, and make small adjustments in angle and lip position until you get a single note. This also has the advantage of leaving the tongue free for lots of other stuff. So then about may 35 years ago, my wife gave me the book Country & Blues Harmonica for the Musically Hopeless I learned to bend in one day -- I have been perfecting it ever since. Worked for me. I seldom play with the harmonica around my neck any more -- I find it quite limiting because it so reduces the motion options, I am not happy with the sound. My wife helped me make a holder with down pressure once -- looked like external braces! It worked by hey -- there are limits. Much of what works in 2nd position (cross harp) also works in 3rd, 4th, and 5th position for minors -- but it is more limited. Still,it can sound wonderful. Learn "House of the Rising Sun" in Am on G, D, and C harps in those positions. It may change your life, Here are a couple of examples of what I sound like so you an judge. Is a single note straight harp intro starting a 1:20 Here is a couple of improvised cross harp breaks (1:30 and 3:00) on the fiddle tune "Road to Columbus." I hope some of this helps. Best, -Tom

A, C, or D will work. You have to work different parts of the scale.

We are doing some archiving of some of our old materials --here is some stuff with a 62 Hummingbird and a greens screen. Let's pick, -Tom+\