Guth

Very interesting guitar. Out of all the TV's that I've been able to get my hands on the real standouts to my ear have all been sitka-topped. But those have all come from the early runs (2007, 2008). I don't mention this to add to your disappointment and will note that as nice as that top looks I prefer the cherryburst on the Hummingbirds even though I'm not a big cherryburst fan. Not sure how to explain it but some models just don't look right to me without the 'burst such as the J-45 and the Advanced Jumbo. When it comes to a guitar like the J200 on the other hand I find myself torn between the natural top and the 'burst.

Provided you have a signed record of what work was authorized (and therefore also what was not authorized) then it would seem fair for the repair person to purchase the guitar from you for the average value of what these guitars in the same condition as yours have been selling for minus the cost of the approved repair. This seems fair and is what I would propose if I were in your situation. The repair person could then choose to keep the guitar, sell it as, is or try to buff the top back to a gloss finish before selling it.

I"m really sorry to learn that this happened to you Rambler. Unbelievable. I can't imagine why anyone who knows guitars would think this would be okay. It has me wondering if the matte respray was carried out to cover up something else that developed as part of a botched job.

Awesome, simply awesome. I love how that turned out. As far as the first clip is concerned — all I can say is that for every one of my recordings that I've shared here, I probably attempted to record at least a half dozen times and likely more before managing to capture a copy I could stomach sharing with others. The irony is that they are my own tunes. You'd think that since I'm the one who created them that I could play them without error every single time. Sadly for me that is almost never the case. I love playing the guitar but proficient I am not. Your original post reminds me of an experience many years ago when I visited a friend who lives in the Bay Area. Scouring the live music listings I noticed that there was a blues club not too far from where my buddy lived called JJ's and Joe Lewis Walker was going to be playing there. I wanted to get a good seat so I convince my buddy to get there plenty early. We arrived to find a sign taped to the door indicating that Joe Lewis Walker would not be playing that night. I was disappointed until I realized that instead they were going to have Junior Wells playing who I had seen a few times previously. Waiting at the bar for beers I realized that the guy next to me talking to me about whatever and ordering doubles was Junior Wells himself. He was already somewhat incoherent by that point in time so the conversation was fairly awkward. After sitting back down I told my friend that I wasn't sure how the performance was going to turn out. By the time he got up on stage to perform it was obvious that Junior definitely had consumed far too much. This place wasn't all that big but it did have this little runway off of the front of the stage where the performers could stroll down and back while singing/playing. Junior was using the runway during one of his tunes and about the time he was right in front of us he forgot the words to his own song. He just stopped and started yelling obscenities at himself. My buddy and I noticed that the guy and his date sitting on the other side of the runway from us looked terrified . They ended up leaving after just a short period of time. The funny thing was that when it came to playing the harmonica Junior didn't miss a beat. Overall the performance was a bust and honestly more than a bit depressing. But his solos were amazing and I marveled at the fact that while he could still pull them off flawlessly.

No, most definitely not. Regardless of the gear involved, the behavior is almost always the same. A person reads about and fixates on a particular piece of gear. Next they test out that piece of gear and report back how wonderful it is. Then they purchase the piece of gear and write at length about just how amazing (perhaps even how perfect) it is. After that they are sure to bring up just how happy they are with said new piece of gear in numerous other threads. After some period of time they happen to read about another piece of gear. All of a sudden the once amazing piece of gear previously purchased doesn't seem to be enough. A new piece of gear is added to the mix with another glowing review. That is followed by much discussion of this latest item in other threads. The person might begin to accumulate numerous items or they might start churning through one piece of gear after another. A few individuals might actually stick with that original piece of gear for many years. It is entirely likely that they are the ones who are the happiest with their gear. You can watch this play out on countless forums. Guitar forums are no exception of course. This is the kind of thing that I seriously doubt happened very much before the Internet made it's presence felt in the lives of so many.

I'm guessing that back before the Internet people in general tended to live contentedly with far fewer things. Now with forums like this you can surround yourself with a virtual community of like-minded individuals. In this case many of these individuals own more than one guitar (or many, many more). All of a sudden such behavior becomes normalized (even though most people would not consider it normal). That is not to say that there haven't always been people with a tendency to collect things. In addition people buying guitars more than 25 years ago or so were probably far less likely to discuss so often and in such detail things such as the impact of tonewoods, size and construction. This doesn't just apply to guitars but all kinds of different things: cameras, hifi gear, motorcycles, cars, you name it. For a lot of people I believe such information leads to less contentment with what is already owned and more desire for what is not — rinse, wash and repeat. In the end I believe that the perfect guitar has less to do with the guitar itself and more to do with the outlook of the individual playing it.

Nice! I have the older PCM-D50. I can't even recall how long I've owned my Sony but it's a fun little device. Have you posted any of your recordings made with the PCM-D100 yet?

While in Bethlehem, PA where we had travelled for a wedding, my wife and I were hanging out downtown with some friends. One of them pointed out a storefront to me that we both got a kick out of. The name of the place was Guth’s — I think it was something like a clothing store, shoe store, etc.. The reason it struck us a funny is because my last name is Guthrie and to us Guth’s sounded like just the right name for me and my tavern were I ever to own one. “Hey Guth, set me up with another...” While Guth’s Corner Tap never came to be, I hung on to the handle and have been using it online, here and elsewhere, for longer than I can remember.

To me a holy grail is not only about subjective performance (to which most all of us are drawn) but also about rarity. Holy Grail (courtesy of Merriam-Webster): something that you want very much but that is very hard to get or achieve For me this rules out all of the better sellers in the Gibson lineup.

I won’t make any guesses as to the transition, but if this performance is any indication I’d say that Buc is feeling right at home in the new digs. Very nice!

The answer that immediately comes to mind for me would be an Advanced Jumbo from the original run. That would not be my personal choice as far as a holy grail Gibson acoustic goes (I personally prefer mahogany guitars) but I’ve seen the original AJ noted for this distinction so many times now I suppose that it is just sort of tattooed on my brain. My personal favorite Gibson acoustic as far as pure tone goes has long been Russ Barenberg’s banner-era maple J-45 (perhaps the most mahogany-like maple guitar I have ever heard). I believe that particular guitar even has laminated back & sides. The reality is that Russ is much more responsible for that particular tone than the guitar itself, but I just like that pairing. The most memorable Gibson I have ever encountered personally was back in the 90’s when I was on the hunt for a 30’s L-00. It was a 13 fret model that had undergone a left-hand conversion at some point in it’s life. That ruled it out for a purchase by me. But that guitar simply stunned me even just based on the crude noodling I was able to pull off with it. I continue to hold steady with my 2008 J-45 TV as the last guitar I’ll likely part with so I guess maybe that’s my personal holy grail Gibson. Unfortunately, it is my own tone that comes across most clearly regardless of what guitar I happen to be playing.

Well I lasted just one night (simply an open mic spot at that) for each year that you gigged with your buddy, lol. My instrumental tunes aren’t the sort of thing that demand attention let alone capture the hearts of an audience. Not a big deal really as I only chose to perform in front of a group of people in order to confront my discomfort over such an experience. I was truly curious as to whether or not I could even remember how to play the guitar while up on a stage. Aside from that I’ve always had periods of time where I’ve just stopped playing “. Maybe a few weeks, maybe a few months or even longer. But I eventually always seem to find my way back to noodling around with a guitar simply for the stress relief that it brings. The past few years I’ve dealt with a personal crisis that has impacted more than just my guitar playing. In addition, my nails that have worn like iron my entire life and were such a big part of my tone and playing style just began to fall apart (literally). I’ve now managed to put my personal issues to rest for the most part and even my nails have started to return to health. But I’ve been rather slow to re-enter the world of guitar playing. There is no particular reason for this, that’s just how it goes sometimes. No point putting any more pressure on myself I suppose. Good luck in figuring out what is the right move for you going forward.

I wanted to thank Gibcaster000 for resurrecting this thread. Having spent a decent chunk of my life in Texas I count myself fortunate to have seen most of these artists many times. I even have tucked away in a box somewhere a very small piece of art that Townes and Guy drew for my wife and I while sitting at the bar in Gruene Hall. Yet somehow in all of this time I had never heard of Heartworn Highways until this very thread popped up. I've been watching clips from the film out on YouTube as a result and will eventually try to locate the documentary in it's entirety.

From living in a sea of boxes to living by the sea, sounds like you already have a new song in the making to go along with the new chapter in your life. I'm glad to know that the guitars will be accompanying you (as well as the wife and all the other stuff of course). I hope to be around here on the forum to enjoy a video of your first performance on the new front porch. Enjoy!

I had the exact same feeling when it came to my maple AJ when I first played it. But I tend to run mediums on almost every guitar I've ever owned with the exception of the smaller-bodied guitars. I also seemingly have the action set a bit higher on my guitars than many people do as I tend to dig in a bit more than maybe I should at times with my right hand when I'm fingerpicking and the extra action helps with that. As noted above I acquired my maple AJ over seven years ago and I have been running mediums on the guitar ever since taking ownership without issue. (I'm using mediums on my rosewood AJ as well. I understand that maple as a tonewood isn't for everyone. But I've found that for me this guitar provides a unique voice as compared to any other guitar I've ever owned and at times that can be a nice motivation for changing things up a bit. I hope that you end up enjoying yours.

I own 2 Advanced Jumbos and they both have 1 3/4” nut widths. One was from a Custom Shop run of maple AJ’s built in 2007. The other as far as I’m aware is a standard issue Rosewood AJ built in 2008.

Thanks 'burst. Funny I was just thinking about Nick yesterday as I so often do since we have a photo of him hanging up in our house. Man I miss that dog.

Hello Buc, I love the sound of a good mahogany slope-shouldered Gibson and still have my J45. So versatile with a great woody tone. I find these guitars especially appropriate when paired with a gifted singer songwriter like yourself. I've been reminded of this a few times recently when attending the shows of a couple of musicians that I really enjoy: Jeffrey Foucault who plays an incredible sounding old J45 and Slaid Cleaves who I just saw last week playing his tried and true J-50. Interestingly, I first met Slaid back in the 90's and told him how much I enjoyed his music and that I really liked his guitar. He informed me that it used to be his Dad's guitar which I thought was incredibly cool. As you might imagine I was glad to learn last week that he and that guitar are still together after all this time. I hope that you and your best buddy enjoy a long musical partnership together as well. All the best, Guth p.s. I just discovered the message you left for me some three years go. A very belated thank you for the note. Sadly the video that you linked to was no longer available. I will say that I'm really happy to learn that you are still making music with a guitar in your hands.

Hello Jinder, It's been a few years since I last stepped (virtual) foot in this place. Not sure if you'll remember this (or me), but I landed a maple AJ a bit over seven years ago. I still have that guitar and I haven't bought or traded for another guitar since. I bring this up because when I wrote about the guitar here on the forum you made some comments in your post on that thread that seem worth repeating at this point in time. I'm glad to learn that the stars were in alignment when you landed a maple AJ of your own. All the best, Guth

Sounds good Pickax. Best of luck salvaging the original pickguard in that case.

Hi Pickax, Here is what I posted back when I first completed the job: It wasn't really all that hard. As a reference, I've never done anything like this before — just took my time and tried to stay patient with the process. I read up on some posts here and elsewhere on the web and came up with my plan. The very tip of my pickguard was already starting to lift just a tiny bit so getting started was easy enough. I warmed the guard up with a hairdryer set to low. I covered up the guitar finish with some bath towels so that only the pickguard was exposed to the heat, for the most part anyway. I warmed it up just slightly a bit at a time and I used some dental floss that I soaked in naptha to work my way underneath the pickguard. I followed this approach for quite a while, working my way down the length of the guard until I was done. I did not "pull up" on the guard at all as I wanted to re-use it once I got if off and didn't want to bend it. Getting the old adhesive off of the guitar's finish took a long time. I used some naptha and a cotten cloth to do so, once again working slowly and removing just a bit at a time. I purhased some double sided adhesive sheets from Stewart MacDonald and used that to stick the pickguard back down in its new location.This part was a bit tricky, if you don't nail it, you'll need to repeat the above process all over again. I have no idea how many chances you get with the factory pickguard before it shows signs of wear from doing this. As far as the shaping is concerned, I just used some sandpaper to smooth the arc of the pickguard that was to sit flush to the outside of the rosette rings. I wanted the two to match up as perfectly as possible. It didn't take much sanding at all, really just smoothing things up a bit. I should also point out that there is a bit of a "glue shadow" left in the finish from where the guard had originaly been placed. This might possibly work itself out with time, at any rate, I'm guessing that the sooner you do this job, the better. You could certainly mess your guitar up doing this, so take that for what it's worth and of course proceed with caution if you do decide to attempt this. I wish you the best of luck if you decide to take this on. I only went for it because the factory placement was truly disappointing to me, even to the point I was willing to risk a "less-than-perfect" outcome.

I used a sheet of the Stew-Mac stuff when I decided to re-position the guard on my J-45 TV. It worked great and was easy to use.

Congratulations, I'm glad to hear that the guitar worked out for you. Enjoy! Guth

I certainly wouldn't doubt that. The point that I was trying to make was that the guitar sounded really good despite the "dreaded adjustable bridge". Might it have sounded better without the adj. bridge? Maybe, maybe not, but the fact was it sounded plenty good with it in place and I'm sure a number of the older ones do too. Sometimes there is no explaining what makes a good sounding guitar sound so good. People can go on and on about tonewoods, bracing types, bracing sizes, bridge types, glue types, etc., etc.. But there are plenty of great sounding guitars out there that from a construction standpoint don't come close to meeting the standard of what should sound good "in theory", yet despite that, they do in fact sound good. Sometimes very good. That's part of the beauty of it all to me. All the best, Guth