thegreatgumbino

Ha! Good point. 6 months or so since I've been to Fuller's. That place is a guitar wonderland and great people. I love talking with Mike Fuller. Such a nice guy.

I stopped into Fuller's last Friday on my way home from a doctor appointment. I haven't been in almost 6 months. Got to play several nice Gibsons, including a custom 40's J45 Mike had made with a baseball bat neck. They have several Murphy Lab guitars on the wall that looked great. Nothing that caught me off guard until I found this mint used 2021 Dove in the Martin room and fell in love at first strum. Came home and couldn't stop thinking about it over the weekend. Went back today thinking I had overplayed the sound, but alas it was better than I remembered, so I brought it home with me today. I've not had a lot of experience with Doves. I've probably played one or two at Fuller's over the last 10 years. This thing is a canon. Thunderous is the word that keeps coming to mind. It vibrates like crazy and has sustain for days.

There was a related thread not too long ago, in which I posted my thoughts. I have long scale and short scale guitars all setup for D standard tuning. I love it. FWIW, I probably strum 60 % and finger pick 40% of the time. I play folk, country, and rock.

There really aren't any other Gibsons that grab my fancy right now. Lots of nice ones, but none that I feel would add greatly to my current three. The Doves or USA Frontiers are great, but I'm not going to spend the money on one right now. Realistically, I was looking at the Epi Frontier to replace my Yamaha FG820 for a kick around / camping guitar. I don't baby my Gibsons, but don't want to take them to the beach or camping. I like having a polyurethane guitar for times when bug spray or sunscreen will be used. I've owned a Martin D18 & D28 in the past and let them go. I finally played a Martin 000-15SM at Fuller's that sounded fantastic, but I can't get past the ugly stain and don't want to subject the slotted headstock to abuse. I have always wanted to love smaller guitars (and have owned several), but continually find I'm drawn to the richness of dreads/jumbos. I'm intrigued with what I'm hearing from the Yamaha FG5 and would love to try a 12 fret Larrivee 000 or 00. I ordered one of the mini Enya 36" carbon fiber travel guitars off of Amazon out of curiosity as the 24" scale caught my interest. I've owned GS Mini's and a McPherson Touring in the past. The GS Mini has never pleased my ear and I was never able to make the Touring's short scale work with my preferred standard D tuning. I was curious to see if the 24" scale made a difference, but fully expected to promptly return it since the specs list it as a 1-5/8" nut. It arrived yesterday and sounds very good at first blush (very reminiscent of the McPherson Touring). I was surprised the width at the zero fret is actually 1-23/32". String spacing at the nut is 1.44" out to out. String spacing at the bridge is 2.178". It has a zero fret, which the larger 41" X4 Pro does not appear to have. The scale isn't actually 24" as stated. Measurement from the center of the zero fret to the center of the 12th fret is actually 11 27/32". Times two equals a scale length of 23.6875" D profile neck. Nice hard case. It's a great guitar for what it is. Love the look of it. The neck is very nice. Wish it wasn't a zero fret and they offered a version without electronics. I'm interested in trying the full size guitar now, but they're out of stock till their upgraded version ships in May.

Agreed. I owned an Epi IBG 'Bird prior to getting my Vintage 'Bird. It was a great but redundant guitar, so I sold it. I'm not drawn to the Excellante and the IBG J200 would be redundant as well. The Frontier filled a gap being a square, full scale, maple b&s (and I love that pick guard and the ice tea burst). While I would love a Gibson Dove or USA Frontier, I can't justify the money & the Frontier presented an affordable option.

To be fair, I should probably re-record with fresh strings on the 'Bird. The DR Rares on there now were installed on December 1,2022, so they're pretty dead (I like my strings without sparkle). The Retros on the J200 were installed on 11/23/21! One of the reasons I love the Monels is they last for ever and the sparkle fades after 24 hours on the ToneRite.

Thanks for being a sounding board, folks. I returned it this afternoon. I don't think a guitar costing that much should require major intervention on something so simple, and it would have bothered me in the long run. Funnily enough, the manager wanted to argue there wasn't anything wrong with it and that he owns numerous guitars with the same issue. I had to bite my tongue and not tell him he has some janky gear.

The string broke at the tuning peg. However, what made me think about the E string grabbing it is the way the end of the E string unwound. The clippers I use to trim string ends definitely don't leave a snaggle tooth like that. Here's a quick and dirty comparison of the Frontier, Hummingbird Vintage and J200. All standard D tuning. Frontier and J200 have Martin Retro mediums and Hummingbird has DR Rare mediums. Recorded on iPhone 11 Pro.

Well that's interesting. I've seen something like that before and looked for it yesterday to no avail. I like this one since it replaces the truss rod cover.

Good idea. I hadn’t thought about that. I’ll have to pull it out of the trash when I get home. Still have the ‘Bird and love it! I’ll do short comparison later.

My apologies if I offended you. It wasn’t clear from your original post that you realized they’re different guitars.

That is the $4,500 USA Bozeman handmade Frontier. It has a different headstock (and much better looking IMO) entirely. The Masterbilt version is the $899 Indonesian version with the slim headstock. Check it out below. It has the same issue with the E/A interference. Mine is probably more evident since it has 13's on it instead of 12's. https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/EMTFITAGH--epiphone-masterbilt-frontier-iced-tea-aged-gloss The spacing from the edge of the headstock to the E & E tuners match, so it's not like they installed the low E tuner in the wrong spot. It's a shame because there's plenty of room to move them closer to the headstock and avoid the issue all together.

Good morning, folks. I picked up a new Epiphone Frontier Masterbilt from Fuller's Guitar on Monday. I love the look and the sound. After getting it home and changing the strings, the following became evident. The goofy way they laid out the tuning pegs results in the A string interfering with the E string & post. I found a post where another guy had this same issue and returned it. From all the pics I've found online, it appears they are all laid out this way, so I'm unsure that returning and trying another will make any difference. The weird thing is I didn't notice the issue until I had the A string break upon tuning it up. I keep my guitars all tuned a whole step down to D standard, so the A string was being brought up to G in this configuration. From what I can piece together, the cut "E" string end was actually pointing straight out rather than angled up as seen in the pics below. I think it "grabbed the A" string and caused it to stretch and break between the E & A tuning posts. I know this sounds weird, but I've never broken an "A" string before and can only speculate on how this occurred. What would you guys do in this situation? Is this worth worrying about? If my theory on how the string broke is correct, it would require some awareness when retuning in the future. Will the interference affect tuning stability? Ultimately, I'm trying to decide if this is a big enough deal to return it or keep it and move on. Thanks in advance.

I love D Standard tuning. Around 6-7 years ago I read this article by Andy Ellis around that time, and it encouraged me to try it out. All my guitars (J45, Hummingbird & J200) are setup this way from day one. https://web.archive.org/web/20100110211252/https://theguitarshow.wordpress.com/2009/12/29/the-case-for-d-standard-guitar-tuning/ Shortly after trying it, I found this article by Laurence Juber where he discusses his string gauge preferences. Not much more info than the above, but sharing none the less. https://web.archive.org/web/20180915065207/https://www.martinguitar.com/media/6155/laurence-jubers-string-theory.pdf Some of the reasons I like it: I like to use alternate tunings (DADgad, Open C, DADf#ad, drop D, double drop D), and D Standard setup reduces the number string adjustments from one tuning to the next. Although I upsize the strings to the highest gauge available to keep enough tension on the top and reduce floppiness, it still results in slightly less string tension which I prefer. Can capo to standard tuning if needed. Works well for me when learning the vocals to new songs. Sometimes I am more comfortable in D Standard vocally (initially), but sometimes it allows me to work up to standard tuning vocally. I started out the process with Martin Retro LJ's and then moved up to Retro Mediums for the increased tension it created. About two years ago I moved to DR Rare Mediums (.13-.56).

Sal- Do you know the thickness on these? I've looked at them several times, but haven't pulled the trigger because I think the medium is probably too thick for my liking. In my experience with casein, it's fairly brittle when less than 1.0mm thick, and I prefer around .75mm.

Beautiful, beautiful guitars, Dave. I especially like the herringbone on the M2M. I'm admittedly ignorant to the NL models. They have a deeper body, smaller waist and upper bought than the LG-2, correct? What is the scale length (I'm seeing differing info in my limited searches). How do they strum compared to other small bodies and your jumbos? I'm in love with the idea of a smaller guitar & 12 fret, but struggle with the shallow/boxy sound of most I've tried (never tried a NL). I'm a 60/40 strummer/finger picker, and find the sound of a jumbo/dread to be so pleasing. I know a smaller body will never recreate this large body sound, but figure there have to be better options available. Currently, I have a J200, J45 Vintage & Hummingbird Vintage, all of which I love and all tuned to standard D with mediums to suit my singing range on some songs and capo up as needed. I owned a McPherson Touring (22 3/4" scale) and a Taylor GS Mini (23 1/2" scale) for a while and the size was great, but the scalewas too short for standard D with mediums. Never could get enough string tension to move the tops the way I wanted.

First time I've seen a LG-2 12 fret, and I'm intrigued. I have gas for 1) a small bodied acoustic for the couch/travel and 2) a 12 fret. Can't find anything online about these, so it may have been a custom M2M order. Sounds pretty solid to me. Kinda looks like an Adi top. I'd prefer mahogany, but the RW bass and 12 fret might add some depth the mahogany wouldn't have.

That was fantastic! Thanks for sharing, Pete.

I had the same issue with my old snarks. Epoxied them and they worked, but the deteriorating plastic sucked. I have a unitune and a Peterson clip on now. LOVE the Peterson!

Have you seen this one? https://www.mandolincafe.com/ads/188034#188034

This is a step in the right direction though, IMO. Nice to see them pull something different out. Must be a Fuller's custom order as I don't see it listed on Gibson's site. I've always loved the star inlays.

Check it out. There were three on the website when I saw these last night. Only two remain. https://www.fullersguitar.com/gibson-j-180-with-double-tortoiseshell-pi-50085811.html

I've owned a couple different versions including a SCSJ Supreme, J50 and currently a 2018 J45 Vintage with thermally aged Adirondack top. I've spent a lot of time thinking about the what the perfect combo would be for me. My pick would be: Banner headstock Three on a plate tuners with white buttons Chunky neck, preferably like the Vintage, 50's version or Legend Thermally aged Sitka top - I own the aged Adirondack, but prefer Sitka Thermally aged mahogany back, sides and neck - I played a Fuller's 1942 Legend a few years ago with this combo and it was phenomenal. Fire stripe pick guard Regular, non cut through saddle Hide glue throughout No pickup

Congratulations! That's a real stunner. Love the herringbone.

Great job! Welcome. Hope to hear more from you.