BluesKing777 Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 I was gassing for one of those Waterloos that copy the Kalamazoos and I thought to myself: "Why?" So I grabbed the anti-gasser finger buster 1935 Gibson Black Special #4 archtop...like an L50 except painted black and has a flat back. Gas gone and I recorded a version of "Key To THe Highway" nothing like Big Bill B's. (Guitar pickup run to Tonedexter and vocal in my Neumann mic like previous tracks). https://soundcloud.com/bk7-3/l50-key-td77 BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 That's just about perfect, and it's the right guitar for the job. As I recall, you pick with bare fingers. If so, you must have some pretty serious calluses on your picking fingers to get that sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 Thanks Nick! You made me examine my fingertips and while my left hand middle and ring fingers have a hard callous, my right picking hand fingertips seem soft as a baby’s xxx. I use to have a very hard ridge on the contact side of my thumb but I had a cut and a bandaid made it go soft and fall off...yikes. It would be different if I played this beast more...I will try and get some close ups of the neck, back and front. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 Right, some photos. Very hard to get a photo of the black finish.... "Err, What Ya Doing, Boss?" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 More photos: Hard to catch on camera, but the finish on the fretboard is worn off on strings 6-3 and has been pounded with 4 note Freddie Green chords for most of its life..... The V neck has a V! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Seriously cool guitar. Sort of reminds me of my old J-45 when I bought it back in 1966. It was less than 20 years old, but had fret and fretboard wear that looked like 50 years of hard work in a Mississippi honky tonk (which is pretty much where I found it). A jack hole in the side, loose back and top braces. Rode hard and put away wet, if put away at all. Plenty of stories in these old boxes! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 Yep, this a seriously cool guitar! Apart from the fairly typecast music styles, it is surprisingly nice for plunking out a few song faves, anything really, but it has the great Gibson archtop growl in even a simple D chord, for example. Words fail really. And it smells like an old cigar box. On the history front, I was reading a piece by an owner of the smaller L30 style Black Special and don’t know if it is true or applies to my guitar but the article said Gibson made, and called, these L50s in black finish during 1935-6 as budget models along the lines of a Kalamazoo but with truss rod, larger F holes, larger adjustable bridge.........my guess is they could have been botched sunbursts! Oh well, paint it black.... then from 1937-40, Gibson produced the Black Specials as ‘non catalog specials’ to dealers. My guitar has the Schatten floating ebony bridge with a piezo pickup inside it - the original bridge is plain awful but lives in the case still. The recording above is the bridge pickup run to a Tonedexter file I made a few weeks back. Old and the new! And it is way nicer than the Waterloo I was talking about....they said they sound old....hmm, maybe but the ladder braced one I played sounded like....ahem ....a brand new out of the box guitar! And my Black Special sounds....ancient. BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Proclaimer888 Posted March 26, 2018 Share Posted March 26, 2018 Great post....nice pics, nice tune, cool dog and history lesson. Thanks! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 26, 2018 Author Share Posted March 26, 2018 Great post....nice pics, nice tune, cool dog and history lesson. Thanks! Thanks Proclaimer! Don't rely on my history lessons! Only repeating what I read. When I bought the guitar years back, the only details were: Black Finish Gibson L50 Archtop For Sale. Doggy - if you look at the 2nd and 3rd photos, the dog has crept into the back right side of the photos - with an item of clothing too! The head part is OK but the tail is not allowed near guitars! BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Murph Posted March 27, 2018 Share Posted March 27, 2018 Awesome ! (even the dog....) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted March 27, 2018 Author Share Posted March 27, 2018 Awesome ! (even the dog....) Thanks Murph! (The Bad Guitar Player) BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.