tpbiii

I have three -- 1942 LG-1, 1946 LG-2, and 1959 LG-1. They are quite different instruments. http://vintageacousticinsruments.blogspot.com/ http://www.vimeo.com/tpbiii Let's pick, -Tom

I play harp quite a lot-- embarrassing but true. I bonded to Hohner Special 20s long ago -- the Lee Oscars are a little to soft for strong acoustic string band music. Because I play a lot of bluegrass where any key is legal, I get them in sets of 12. Hohners have gotten pretty pricey, so I have searched for years for reasonable performing alternative. I have found two : Easttop and SX Blues. The first cost about 1/2 the cost of Special 20s and the other is quite cheap. I have auditions literally 100s of these over 40+ years, and these are all I have found that do it for me. Here is an example of how I play. http://vintageacousticinsruments.blogspot.com/ http://www.vimeo.com/tpbiii Let's pick, -Tom

I have a 53 J-45 and a 54 SJ. There is a major change in the bracing in 1955 -- no longer scalloped. IME, the earlier ones are better. The 40s are better yet. Best, -Tom

Right

c. 1923 TB4 I'll check the serial numbers -- they are documented pretty well. Here is my 5-string RB-4 and GB-4 from the same period. They redesigned the whole line in 1925 -- the mastertone. Yours is not too valuable -- the matertones from the 1930s can be very valuable fot bluegrass. From Gruhn and Carter The only serial number data I have ust says 1922-frb 1925 Best, -Tom

I can't see the attachment. If I can see a picture, chances are I can tell you a lot. Best, -Tom

Thanks so much -- I was afraid that might be true. I will add a cut and paste now. All the best, -Tom

I wrote this story on the vintage Gibson FB page. I am trying to share it here because it is largely about old Gibsons. This is a test -- it may well not work. https://www.facebook.com/groups/348092885373223/?multi_permalinks=1797113067137857&notif_id=1624893754628708&notif_t=feedback_reaction_generic&ref=notif IT CLEARLY DID NOT WORK -- HERE IS A COPY OF THE POST.

I have a 39. Here is a video demo and a comparison the four other 12-fret 1930s guitars -- Martins 34 00-40H and 30 00-18H AND Gibson 31 L-2, 34 HG-C and 39 HG-00. Best, -Tom

Well this is an area I have thought about a lot -- and as arguably a 50 year acoustic string band musician (mostly bluegrass now, but historically folk revival, old time and traditional mountain styles) and vintage guitar collector, I currently own quite a few iconic power flat tops. As a matter of personal choice, my late wife and I avoid all forms of electrified instruments except when forced by circumstance. I own several banner, late 40s and early 50s J-45s and SJs, and as much as I love them for folk, gospel, blues and ragtime, none of them IME have the kick to adequately perform in a strong traditional string band. I actually love a few old Gibsons for this role, but they are rare -- mostly I historically used old herringbones (D-28) ad for lighter sessions old D-18s for this role. The four Gibsons I have are a 36 AJ, 35 RSRG, 43 SI RW (rare) and my latest 40 J-55 RW (super rare). I talk about this on my blog -- https://vintageacousticinsruments.blogspot.com/2015/12/1934-1943-rosewood-gibson-j-guitars-for.html?fbclid=IwAR3SFYnvToVEolsw47OvLbLrsW1Ctnyio6PbSeOK7nkPWGlN86-MNvYuE70 Best, -Tom

Late L-00s had some odd features -- many very similar to Kalamazoo models. The banjo world refers to that period as the floor sweep period -- a lot of stuff created oddly from parts that were lying around. Best, -Tom

1939 1936 So probably white went to gold sometime between these two guitars. Best, -Tom

I thought this might interest some of you. During the pandemic, I have sometimes visited ZOOM song circles. As many of you know, I have jamulus working for bluegrass and other jamming, but ZOOM circles are basically different. First because of delay issues, you basically have to do solo pieces -- not generally my thing, But hey -- it is a pandemic. You can use any acoustic front end you want, but in this case I just used the same "faithful reproduction" system I have used for more than a decade to demo my vintage guitars. That only tells you the quality of the input but -- ZOOM can (and does) change the audio using their on rules, which vary according to the internet situation in which it finds itself. When it is just me, my voice, and a strummed backup, I actually prefer my later less powerful guitars. The two I used last night were my 1954 SJ and 1962 HB. http://vintageacousticinsruments.blogspot.com/ http://www.vimeo.com/tpbiii This is just one example -- any other time, it might sound different. Best, -Tom

I guess this was the historical turning point. This is a c. 1920 Gibson F-4 -- a "Lloyd Loar" F4. Lloyd Loar famously introduced the adjustable truss rod when he arrived in 1921. At that time, there were a number of inlaid double pot F4 necks already on the bench. Lloyd had them routed and a truss rod installed. Opinions vary whether on balance this was a good idea for those instruments. 😵 Let's pick, -Tom

I have a lot of old Gibsons which I use for other stuff. In a general way, I think of participating in historically different acoustic genres -- a major deciding line for me was sort of the historic traditional genres and the folk revival genre. Many of the former are power genres -- particularly traditional bluegrass but also other traditional string band genres as well. In comparison, the folk revival stuff is usually much milder. Now my late wife and I loved both genres, but for us they were not the same and required different instruments. The 30s Gibsons (and Martins) often had amazing power -- both started to lose strength about 1940. Gibson power arguably dropped of quicker, but both dropped off. I can easily notice a difference between 1940-1945, 1945-1950 and 1950-1954. After that, none of them work for me for the traditional side of the line. However they did work well for the folk revival. Here are (most of) my Js. I have four J-45s (43, 44, 45, 53) and two mahogany SJs (43, 54) -- which are basically the same series of guitars if you ignore decoration. For those guitars, I basically lost interest in guitars that had the bat wing pickguards J-45/SJ -- not because of the pickguard but because 1954 was the last year with scalloped braces -- It is easy to hear the difference. I own later Gibsons, but I consider them to be different guitars and we used then for different stuff. I hope this helps. Best, -Tom

OK then. Here is a good demo. First two J-45s -- 44 and 45 -- and a bare finger 67 Martin D-35 to keep it grounded. Here is a 59 LG-1 (also followed by a 46 LG-2 and 42 LG-1) doing the same song. You should be able to hear it. Best, -Tom

Looks like an early 40s 000-18 she was playing.

Some time ago I put a series of pictures together called good and evil twins. I just illustrated different period competitors using my collection -- so instruments with which I have first had personal experience. There are a lot -- I will start with three and see if that causes any interest. 00-18 and L-1 c. 1917 0-18K and L-1 -- c 1925/6 00-18 and L-2 -- 1931/32 Best, -Tom

At the beginning of the pandemic I had an equal number of vintage Martins and Gibsons -- 50 each. This year I bought 3 old instruments -- 28 000-18, 38 RB-00 and 40 J-55 RW. So gibsons are now ahead by 1.

Hmm -- he doesn't seem to know it is signed and dated on the inside top.

This is as close as I have -- forward braced 1938. Lets pick, -Tom

My grandmother sang that song. I love those old songs. Thanks for posting. -Tom

Here is a 1937 -- they made a few round hole examples with Nick Lucas finger boards c. 1936-1937.

Hey, I can be very boring on this subject. This is because I have aspired to several different flatpicking and fingerpicking genres, and I have always wanted to mix them on the fly. I flatpick and play lead and rhythm in bluegrass -- flatpicking bluegrass (fiddle tunes) often involves a lot of fast eighth notes played fast and loud. That requires alternating up/down strokes. I also play bluegrass banjo with a thumb pick and two metal fingerpicks -- Scruggs style banjo uses a lot of syncopated triplets -- one finger or thumb on each note, so you can go fast. This same technique with a flatpick on guitar is called crosspicking, and the flatpick has to do all three eighth notes on different strings. That is VERY HARD to do fast. I use the same fingerpick setup on ragtime/gospel guitar. Bluegrass rhythm is almost aerobic, trying to pull that off with a free thumbpick would be really challenging for that. Well I have a pretty good solution. Here is what it involves. It starts out with a BLACK MOUNTAIN thumbpick -- Herco or Bumble Bee and several others will do, but I like that spring. A major problem is that the flatpick shape, thickness, and composition is a big deal. I solve that by clipping the end off the thumbpick and installing the pick of my choice with double sticky tape. Easy, stable, and even easily changed. The one you see uses a 1.4 tortoise -- I have a few of those carved from old hair brushes, combs, and mirrors, but a new bluechip would certainly work. For flatpicking and heavy BG rhythm, I use the position in the middle picture. The fingerpicks are curled out of the way, and the flatpick is gripped in the usual way between the thumb and index finger. For me it works pretty much as well as if I had no fingerpicks. Now I can play ordinary full up BG rhythm and flatpick (I can't really flatpick cleanly beyond maybe 110) and then step up and play a ragtime lead break and some really fast crosspicking using three fingers. Of course it works for folk finger style, which it is where it all started. W finally have on-line bluegrass jamming going on line -- I'll use it in one of those jams and collect a video. I am still a modest player -- just a more flexible one. Let's pick, -Tom

I cut my teeth on a c 1960 LG-1. Here is a demo of a 1959 LG- 1 1959 LG-1 Demo 59 LG-1, 46 LG-2, 42 LG-1 All LG recordings. I have about 20 on vimeo over the years. https://vimeo.com/groups/709774 The other guitar you might look at is the CF-100 -- sort of a cutaway LG-2. Best, -Tom