Another Gibson J45 joins the family

[E-minor7]

Hail for a great contribution - no doubt you have been there since square 1. Guess I started same place, perhaps a hair later.

Remember him bein' on black'n'white TV here with Little Tin soldier - impressing, ,

and definitely how cool it was to actually get, if not the lyrical, then the musical vibe when Atlantis and Susan hit the charge on the radio.

Been listening and playing his stuff ever since. Always with joy.

 

Must have been extremely frustrating for him not to be able to send Sunshine S out in UK when it came from the pressing.

So up-front is was, , , a genuine envelope-pusher, , , then held back by signed paper.

 

Fortunately he compensated for that in time - not least by the relatively recent Sunshine Supershow in Royal Albert (not many holes there that night).

 

Well, , , how can I pong this ball back.

By posting a link to the small SS-article I wrote for the national library a few years ago, , , naarhh, , no one would understand the language.

Instead I set up a clip from the big evening in London. Watch out - you can hear my harp salute the troubadour welcome to second set at 1:05 >

 

 

 

 

2011 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFAyXF_XpVE

 

Apart from that, it could be interesting to know what you think of the half forgotten shade-sheep Open Road. I'm sure you have thoughts there. . .

[mojoworking]

Hail for a great contribution - no doubt you have been there since square 1. Guess I started same place, perhaps a hair later.

Remember him bein' on black'n'white TV here with Little Tin soldier - impressing, ,

and definitely how cool it was to actually get, if not the lyrical, then the musical vibe when Atlantis and Susan hit the charge on the radio.

Been listening and playing his stuff ever since. Always with joy.

 

Must have been extremely frustrating for him not to be able to send Sunshine S out in UK when it came from the pressing.

So up-front is was, , , a genuine envelope-pusher, , , then held back by signed paper.

 

Fortunately he compensated for that in time - not least by the relatively recent Sunshine Supershow in Royal Albert (not many holes there that night).

 

Well, , , how can I pong this ball back.

By posting a link to the small SS-article I wrote for the national library a few years ago, , , naarhh, , no one would understand the language.

Instead I set up a clip from the big evening in London. Watch out - you can hear my harp salute the troubadour welcome to second set at 1:05 >

 

 

 

 

2011 ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFAyXF_XpVE

 

Apart from that, it could be interesting to know what you think of the half forgotten shade-sheep Open Road. I'm sure you have thoughts there. . .

 

Nice! You can buy the full concert on DVD now. I got an autographed copy direct from Donovan's website. My son was also at the RAH concert that night, so things have come full circle, you might say.

 

Open Road. I remember being unsure of it at first because it seemed so stripped back and raw compared to the run of pop/psych albums Don had released before it, but I soon grew to love it and now it's right up there with my favourites.

[E-minor7]

My autographed ex of SS is from the Hall.

 

Nice! You can buy the full concert on DVD now. I got an autographed copy direct from Donovan's website. My son was also at the RAH concert that night, so things have come full circle, you might say.

 

Open Road. I remember being unsure of it at first because it seemed so stripped back and raw compared to the run of pop/psych albums Don had released before it, but I soon grew to love it and now it's right up there with my favourites.

 

Agree - felt the same way.

The album may not have the M. Most-Cameron-magik, but offers something else.

An untamed autonomy, which reflects exactly the times when it was released, , , and didn't it introduce Celtic-rock. .

 

Another enchanting record is 'in Concert' from the Indian-summer of lOVE (out 1 year later).

Again a spearhead into a new genre. Some kind of flux-hippy-grassy-easy-trippy-thing.

 

 

Hurdy Gurdy will remain unmentioned here. Deserves a thread of its own, , ;-)

[mojoworking]

Going back the OP and the great plastic bridge with adjustable saddle debate. I grew up in the 60s playing Gibsons with these features and never gave it a second thought. But when I started reading up on vintage guitars it was a different story.

 

The generally excellent Vintage Guitar Info website has this to say about J-45s for example:

 

By the late 1950s and 1960s the J-45 went through some changes, unfortunately none of them good. The worse thing Gibson did to the J-45 was to make the J-45ADJ (a J-45 with an adjustable bridge). The adjustable bridge sucked the life and tone from the J-45, and really killed the model (at least in my eye). Yes you can convert the adjustable bridge to a non-adjustable, but then it's not original any more. A "catch 22" at least to me, so I generally avoid the J-45 ADJ models.

 

and this:

 

1963 J-45 specs: Plastic bolt-on bridge replaces the rosewood bridge (this style bridge was probably Gibson's worst idea ever! Because of this, many plastic bridge models have bridges replaced with a standard rosewood glued bridge).

 

I think the Vintage Guitar guy may be overstating the case a little here, but even so I've read this kind of thing elsewhere. Is it any wonder we '63/64 J-45 owners feel a little marginalised?

[E-minor7]

I think the Vintage Guitar guy may be overstating the case a little here, but even so I've read this kind of thing elsewhere. Is it any wonder we '63/64 J-45 owners feel a little marginalised?

Excuse, , , but I have to chime in here too.

 

I think statements such as the ones above created huge misunderstandings, which grew to be some kind of consensus.

The adjustable saddle doesn't suck tone - they are different and offer a very funky 'modern' Gibson-voice. The bass-timbre fx is sublime.

Someone here, can't remember who, had the idea they added an almost reverbish extra. Not sure I'll subscribe, but know what he meant.

 

The wooden version is extremely mellow like a counterpoint to the white clay we just talked about. I have a few that isn't used. Might record with them at some point.

But there are ceramics in two of my 60's SJ's and they like it a lot. So do I. Also put the nuts back inside the 63'er to dampen it a bit down.

This is not just about making the guitars as light as possible. Trick is you have to fine-adjust these oldies with all available possibilities. Slammm, , , then suddenly you have that sound.

 

The plast-bridge is more controversial and I haven't met enough to talk about them. But the rumor says even they once in a while got the thing.

And don't forget both Yesterday and certain Stones tunes were made with the plast/ceramic combo.

 

Look forward to hear you A/B the faded cherry pair. There might be a treat waiting.