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Some fooling around on the 39 J-55


RichG

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It works just great. Nice pickin', and how cool is that guitar? ? Love the pickguard; the crisp edge to the light/dark areas is something they just can't get with the modern repro's. 'Looks like you and this guitar are old friends- is it the one that gets most of your guitar time?

 

Nicely done.

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Thanks guys. I never learned the correct Travis picking pattern and ended up using only my thumb and one finger most of the time. That results in fewer "embellishment notes". And now I'm at the old dog stage with no ambition to learn new tricks. The guy who picks the way I wish I could is Jim Kweskin. It's just pure, if that makes any sense. Others may be flashier but Jim's right hand is like a machine. It works great for ragtime stuff.

 

When I was in college in Boston in the sixties there was a guy who advertised finger style lessons. I think he was Rolf Kahn. Jim says he learned from him.

 

But, like all of us, im having fun, which is why we do this.

 

Rich

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It works just great. Nice pickin', and how cool is that guitar? ? Love the pickguard; the crisp edge to the light/dark areas is something they just can't get with the modern repro's. 'Looks like you and this guitar are old friends- is it the one that gets most of your guitar time?

 

Nicely done.

 

62, thanks. The guitar has been refinished way back. I'm not sure when, but the guy I bought it from got it that way and he had it for a long time. I recently had it appraised by Gruhn and they said it had been "professionally refinished some time ago". Everything else except the tuner buttons appear to be original.

 

It is nice to play. The neck carve is comfortable, not quite as big as the "banner" guitars as far as I can tell, though I never owned one.

 

Rich

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Yes, Sal, it's the same one. The guy who played that day was kind of beating on it with a flat pick also, I don't know what strings were on it then but I have John Pearce 13's on it now. It sounds best finger picked with bare fingers but I like to play with picks.

 

I tend to use a thin flat pick when I strum and that makes everything sound "thin". More and more I keep my finger picks on and strum with my thumb pick and come back up with the fingers if appropriate.

 

Rich

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