Jump to content
Gibson Brands Forums

tpbiii

All Access
  • Posts

    1,751
  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Days Won

    8

Everything posted by tpbiii

  1. 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.
  2. Looks like my attach failed -- try this link. My link\ We are doing a show with my daughter's band -- DEAD GIRL SONGS -- at the bay Area Bluegrass Association on Saturday. Mike Fuller says he will be there. Maybe I can ask him about colors. Best, -Tom
  3. 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
  4. 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
  5. 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
  6. tpbiii

    Adi Braz

    Here are some examples of Martin BRW. 35, 38, 44, 21, 35, 39, 48, 66. Here are some late 60s BWR -- while the supply was dwindling. 1969 1968 Most of the time, it is pretty easy to tell. Best, -Tom
  7. tpbiii

    Adi Braz

    Some guitars between 1925 and 1934 used Brazilian rosewood. The L2 model from 1932 which mostly had trapeze bridge but some have (a few) pin bridges were built that way. Also 1930 through about 1934 Roy smeck radio Grande had a few with Brazilian rosewood back and side parts. Also the rw Nick Lucas from the late 20s. After that it was all East Indian rosewood back and sides. Gibson did you use Brazilian rosewood parts on bridges and fingerboards quite a lot to all those years. Some of the 1990s AJs were built with BRW -- at that time it was thought it was original. If you have and play (say) 30s AJs (and converted RSRGs) and 30s Martin D-28s, you quickly learn it is the age and not the materials that makes (both) superior. Between our 36 AJ and 35 D-28, people prefer them about equally -- but the AJ is preferred a bit more often. Let's pick, -Tom Tom
  8. So we used a different set of instruments -- less natural power more matched to the room. For this the Hummingbird excels. The other elements are a 1/4 sized 48 Kay bass and a 1924 Gibson RB-4 trapdoor banjo -- both lovely tone but without the power of their later and larger sisters. We also used a 1930 Larson -- lots of RW picking projection for our (light picking) lead guitar player. Here are a couple of examples. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sNB4XWp25QE&feature=youtu.be http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hkqr7hV9nao&feature=youtu.be Best, -Tom
  9. As many of you know I guess, we have a 62 with the plastic bridge. It sounds great IMO as it is, so I have never been tempted to change it. As many of you also know I guess, we have been collecting old guitars for a long time -- and we have a lot. Since we now play a lot of bluegrass, there has been a lot of emphasis in our lives on 30s Gibsons and Martins -- particularly our AJ and D-28s. They deserve all the accolades they get -- they are incredible tools for making strong acoustic music like traditional bluegrass. And true enough those guitars come from a whole different world than 60s Gibsons, particularly for strength -- 60s are not a good match to the louder, higher, faster creed of traditionasl bluegrass. But before we went over to the dark side in the early 70s, we were folkies -- I married a folk singer. So we still love that genre, and we play both style still -- folk circles and bluegrass jams. Those are very different things -- even totally powered up, we are only marginally adequate for bluegrass but we way overpower a folk circle -- think bull in a China shop. Because of our early love of folk revival music, we have collected 60s guitars with as much enthusiasm as 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s and earlier. To me, like Nick says, the hummingbird was a quintessential folk strummer -- full and warm and loud-but-not-too-loud. As many of you also know, we put together a system for demoing vintage guitar tone and used it to demo 100+ instruments. Our setup is a bit like the one used here, but it uses two large diaphragm condenser mic backed off about four feet. This is the advantage of removing proximity effects, but it does include room effects. Here is my demo of the 62 Hummingbird. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGisgSqe38Y&feature=youtu.be Here is us doing folk materials we learned in the 60s. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T8Y05tFm0AE&feature=youtu.be Our recording system is about perfect for its intended purpose IMO -- single guitar demos -- but it does not really work for full up bluegrass bands. The room effects are dramatic and bad -- the environment is muddied up by the old 7/8 Kay bass, prewar herringbone and mastertones. They over excite the room. But of course we would like to record some of our bluegrass materials anyway. CONTINUED IN NEXT POST Let's pick,-Tom
  10. Well if I really love a guitar -- and it works really well for me -- I would not necessarily call it a great guitar. For me to call it great, it would need to have a couple of more (sound related) properties -- it should be historically important such that its tone fits, and drives, a whole genre. And when I bring friends in to play they say "that is the best guitar I have ever played." We have a few where that is true. The two Gibsons where it happens most are our 1936 Advanced Jumbo and our 1931 L-2. But the players who say this don't usually play the same kind of music -- bluegrass and folk revival respectively. Context matters IMO. Best, Tom
  11. Here is a early 43 J-45. Best, -Tom
  12. 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
  13. 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
  14. 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
  15. 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
  16. 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
  17. Wow -- 38 D-45. There were 9 made that year -- 3 in 36 and 3 in 37. The 36 and 37 guitars would have been forward braced, as would have been some of the ones in 38 -- did you check? If not, go back and check. When dealing with Martin (trash?), that would be a good as it gets. Martins IME are all clean and fine finished inside -- Gibsons not so much. If you live in Key West and get your guitar work done in Pensacola, you have to drive 830+ miles and not leave FL -- so I would say 200 is nothing. Let's pick, -Tom
  18. 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
  19. I guess they are gone. Here is one of the first -- 1936.
  20. 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
  21. 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
  22. 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
×
×
  • Create New...