Jack White at Yale

[SJ200Fan]

So the other night I spent two hours in a room with Jack White (THE Jack White) listening to him chat about what black American blues guitarists from the early 1900s influenced him most. Seriously. Link to audio recording below.

No, I'm not Jack's neighbor. Rather, he was part of a panel discussion "Exploring the Rise and Fall of Paramount Records", held at Yale University, New Haven, CT on 10/28/2014. Each panel member selected two songs from the Paramount collection during the event, commented about each piece and then played the full recording. Jack chose Blind Blake’s ‘Diddy Wah Diddy’ and Charley Patton’s ‘Spoonful Blues.’ He explains why in the audio.

 

Audio quality isn't great (call it "Paramount quality") but if you turn up the volume high, it's ok, and it gets a bit better as the audio plays.

 

[62burst]

That's nice. And nice of you to check in. So... how's the SJ-200 12 fret treating you? I had just recently posted the video of Stan Jay playing your guitar in a Mandolin Bros demo, as there was a thread about Stan as his health was in decline.

 

Have you had a chance to compare the 12 fret SJ-200 to any other guitars, especially other SJ-200's? It would be great to hear your observations on it, as you've been able to get to know it a little better. Thx.

[Bozz]

Man, that sounds like a cool evening. Thanks for sharing. For anyone is interested in background influences on Jack White's music (also Jimmy Page and The Edge), I would recommend the documentary' "It Might Get Loud".

[zombywoof]

Did anybody mention H.C. Spier? He pretty much served as a "talent scout" for Paramount and others and was the guy who arranged for Charlie Patton, Skip James and others to record. He is also the guy who recorded Robert Johnson's "audition" recordings in his studio on the floor above his Jackson, MS music shop. The site of his first shop is gone but the building where he had is second store still stands.

[SJ200Fan]

There was quite a bit of discussion about how Paramount sent scouts to the south, but I don't recall mention of a specific scout: they very well may have mentioned one. THere is an audio of the entire presentation on Youtube at this link (over two hours)

 

 

My 12 fret is super. Thanks for asking. Love it. I have not played another model SJ 200 in years, so no, I haven't done a back to back comparison between my 12 fret and a regular neck SJ200. The shorter neck is very, very noticeable from the moment you pick up the guitar, which I notice when I switch to another guitar.