Calling Leonard McCoy / other Maple Gibson Acoustic owners

[Guth]

Hi Leonard,

You had made mention of making recordings of your Custom Shop J-180 over in the Acoustic Custom Shop thread a while back. I had posted up with an interest in hearing one or more of those recordings if possible but I'm guessing that you haven't been back to that thread since. In a nutshell, my request still stands. If you could share links to some of your recordings of that particular guitar, or post them up here, I truly would like to hear them. 

One of the things that I've always enjoyed about this forum in particular is just how active everyone has been with sharing their playing performances. Is there anyone else out there with recordings (or videos) of their maple acoustic Gibsons that would be game to share? Rather than looking through the same videos time after time  out on YouTube I'm curious to hear more of Gibson's maple sound with different body shapes/sizes. 

Much Appreciated,
Guth

[duluthdan]

Years ago I bought Ren Ferguson’s J-200.  Fingers   In the basement.  

 

[Guth]

Awesome, thanks duluthdan! There is a really nice sense of immediacy to that J-200 that belies it's size. Do you happen to recall what strings you were using in this recording?

[duluthdan]

John Pearse something or other. 

[Leonard McCoy]

I'm clueless as to what spawned such a fancy of yours, but just search the forums and you'll find a virtually endless supply of user-made recordings of maple Gibsons including some older ones of mine. Or just grab some hit records.

Edited November 3, 2019 by Leonard McCoy

[zombywoof]

We own four maple body flattops ranging from an O size Regal-made Oahu to a Kay K24 with its 17.25" lower bout.    The only Gibson though would be my wife's 1960 J200.   I generally though do not give much of a fig about body wood   Just one small variable in what makes sound come out of a guitar.   When I head out the door with something in hand I am generally more concerned about which guitar cuts though the mix better than others and makes its presence known..  And often my maple body 1955/56 Epiphone FT-79  gets the call..  It probably has less to  to do with its lumber  though than the fact it has an arched back.  Same reason the Gibson Gospel of the 1970s was a bright spot in what was generally  a somewhat uninspiring field of offerings.    

[Guth]

12 hours ago, Leonard McCoy said:

I'm clueless as to what spawned such a fancy of yours

In the Acoustic Custom Shop thread you had mentioned that your J-180 records superbly well. That combined with the fact that you fingerpick had me interested in hearing your guitar.  Not that much of a mystery, but hey no worries.

[Guth]

11 hours ago, zombywoof said:

I generally though do not give much of a fig about body wood   Just one small variable in what makes sound come out of a guitar.   When I head out the door with something in hand I am generally more concerned about which guitar cuts though the mix better than others and makes its presence known. 

Perhaps it is because I only play solo or that I still  have a good sense of hearing given my age but I do tend to notice the impact body wood can make . Cutting through the mix is not a concern but string to string clarity/note separation while fingerpicking is. My playing would seem to be the one variable that I am stuck with leading most any guitar that I might get my hands on to sound more similar than different to the others.

[62burst]

You are subtle, Guth. And so is your playing- recently while messing around with the guitar, I stumbled across some of the fingerings/chord shapes you'd used  for your instrumental tribute to your belated four-legged companion in your "Walking Nick". . . 'thought of that tune and you, immediately.  Funny, but true, although it might not differentiate itself from other tonewoods in the room, there is something about a guitar of maple back & sides that does seem to come across well in recordings. When I did a comparo a couple of dozen moon's ago between a '46 SJ, an all-mahogany Banner, and a Banner maple J-45, the maple got the nod from those kind enough to comment. Here's Russ Barenberg with his maple (and it's most likely laminate maple, too.) J-45:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cFuxnaTpY

Edited November 4, 2019 by 62burst

[Dave F]

I’m not one for making videos. 
I do like the sound of maple. 
Here’s my acoustic maples. 
L5, F5, J185, Super400

CJ165, LC, L1

The CJ-165 is rosewood and shouldn’t be in with this group  

 

Edited November 5, 2019 by Dave F

[Guth]

4 hours ago, 62burst said:

When I did a comparo a couple of dozen moon's ago between a '46 SJ, an all-mahogany Banner, and a Banner maple J-45, the maple got the nod from those kind enough to comment. Here's Russ Barenberg with his maple (and it's most likely laminate maple, too.) J-45:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cFuxnaTpY

Great minds and all that, I'm very familiar with Mr. Barenberg's tone, lol. Man I love the way that maple J45 sounds in his hands.

[EuroAussie]

Here's a couple from the volt when I put a new pickguard on my J-150 and bought the Dove.

 

 

 

 

 

[zombywoof]

9 hours ago, 62burst said:

You are subtle, Guth. And so is your playing- recently while messing around with the guitar, I stumbled across some of the fingerings/chord shapes you'd used  for your instrumental tribute to your belated four-legged companion in your "Walking Nick". . . 'thought of that tune and you, immediately.  Funny, but true, although it might not differentiate itself from other tonewoods in the room, there is something about a guitar of maple back & sides that does seem to come across well in recordings. When I did a comparo a couple of dozen moon's ago between a '46 SJ, an all-mahogany Banner, and a Banner maple J-45, the maple got the nod from those kind enough to comment. Here's Russ Barenberg with his maple (and it's most likely laminate maple, too.) J-45:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i8cFuxnaTpY

 

The only thing consistent about Banners is they were inconsistent.  You take the Gibson way of building guitars with a part being finished when it looked close enough and throw n in material shortages and untrained hands and eyes  and it is hard to say anything definitive about just what makes one stand out in a crowd.  That said,  one of the few  Gibsons  I  am still kicking myself for not buying when I had it in my hands  is a maple body Banner LG-2.  

[j45nick]

4 minutes ago, zombywoof said:

 

The only thing consistent about Banners is they were inconsistent.  You take the Gibson way of building guitars with a part being finished when it looked close enough and throw n in material shortages and untrained hands and eyes  and it is hard to say anything definitive about just what makes one stand out in a crowd.  That said,  one of the few  Gibsons  I  am still kicking myself for not buying when I had it in my hands  is a maple body Banner LG-2.  

I played a maple banner J-45 a few years ago, and it was startlingly different from any 'hog J-45 I've played from that or any other period. I wasn't a fan of the quick decay and lack of overtones, but man, it could cut through. Good guitar for a flashy flat-picker.

The only maple acoustic guitar I've owned was a 1947 L-7. It had the classic archtop honk, and once again a very quick decay which was good for big chunk-a-chunk chords. Could never quite bond with it, maybe because I was too lazy to learn how to play it properly. Ross Teigen set it up for me, and in his hands it sounded great, but he started out as an archtop player.

 

[MissouriPicker]

I think the only maple guitar I've ever owned is my Dove.  I literally always play softly with just my fingers and this song is straight into a mic about 3-4ft away.   Maple is truly a special tonewood.  To me, my Dove adjusts to whatever style or volume I need and either loud or soft the bass rings on and on.  

 

[uncle fester]

Great thread nice recordings, all of you.  EA - wouldn’t mind hear more of the j150.

Guth, got a maple clip of your own?

[Guth]

3 hours ago, billroy said:

Guth, got a maple clip of your own?

Just the same two short test recordings that I made with my maple AJ back when I first got it. For a multitude of reasons I haven't really  been playing guitar for quite a while, let alone getting around to making any recordings. But here recently I have started to do a little picking once again. In turn I've started hanging around the forum. As I've started playing a bit more I've noticed that I've had more of a temptation to pick up the maple AJ. I have no idea why at this point, but my "maple curiosity" seems to be a bit elevated as of late.

At any rate, here are my maple clips...

Maple AJ Test 01
Maple AJ Test 02

[Guth]

19 hours ago, EuroAussie said:

Here's a couple from the volt when I put a new pickguard on my J-150 and bought the Dove.

Very nice sounding guitars EA. It has been around a half dozen years since I was a regular visitor here on the forum. Perhaps I'm mistaken but I don't recall you doing  a lot of fingerpicking back then. If that is the case then you've obviously been putting some time and effort into your technique since then. Well played!

[Guth]

Wow MissouriPicker, what a cool way to honor a piece of history — one that belongs to both yourself along with the town that you grew up in. There must be others who are also  very appreciative of this effort. Thanks for sharing!

[uncle fester]

9 hours ago, Guth said:

Just the same two short test recordings that I made with my maple AJ back when I first got it. For a multitude of reasons I haven't really  been playing guitar for quite a while, let alone getting around to making any recordings. But here recently I have started to do a little picking once again. In turn I've started hanging around the forum. As I've started playing a bit more I've noticed that I've had more of a temptation to pick up the maple AJ. I have no idea why at this point, but my "maple curiosity" seems to be a bit elevated as of late.

At any rate, here are my maple clips...

Maple AJ Test 01
Maple AJ Test 02

Nice playing, you got some skills!  Guitar sounds good, not as 'chimey' as some of the other maples in this thread but really liked it.  The second one was very cool.

[EuroAussie]

6 hours ago, Guth said:

Very nice sounding guitars EA. It has been around a half dozen years since I was a regular visitor here on the forum. Perhaps I'm mistaken but I don't recall you doing  a lot of fingerpicking back then. If that is the case then you've obviously been putting some time and effort into your technique since then. Well played!

 

Thanks Guth, yes Ive been an avid fingerpicker for a few years now, so many songs to sing with the fingers. Really enjoying the journey. I do recall your vids from the past and really loved your playing with your fingers, good to see you back.

You asked for some more vids, and actually i dont have too many others, but I do have this one of my mate putting teh J-150 through its paces plugged through an AER and also one where I did a fresh string test, unplugged. 

 

 

 

[j45nick]

Mark, is that 000-41 new to you? I don't remember you having that one. That's a lovely-sounding guitar (as is the SJ).

[EuroAussie]

1 hour ago, j45nick said:

Mark, is that 000-41 new to you? I don't remember you having that one. That's a lovely-sounding guitar (as is the SJ).

 

Its actually a J-40 Nick. Had it for about 6 years. And yeah, it has a unique voice, totally unlike any Gibson. Extremely resonant, but due to the jumbo body shape quite balanced. Has that high end ‘shimmer’ that 40 series Martins exhibit.

You should hear it in dropped  D, thunderous !

[j45nick]

19 minutes ago, EuroAussie said:

 

Its actually a J-40 Nick. Had it for about 6 years. And yeah, it has a unique voice, totally unlike any Gibson. Extremely resonant, but due to the jumbo body shape quite balanced. Has that high end ‘shimmer’ that 40 series Martins exhibit.

You should hear it in dropped  D, thunderous !

I couldn't quite figure out what it was, and had to look it up. Looks like a really nice guitar.

[Guth]

Thanks for the additional videos EA! There is a whole lot of guitar goodness going on in the last video that you shared. It's fun to listen to all of those guitars back to back.