1961 Hummingbird

[E-minor7]

Seldom have we seen something so old that new

Sounds pretty good too

 

[E-minor7]

No, , , it isn't the best recording or demonstration seen/heard on the web - and the guitar deserves more. But still, , , the potential is there for sure. . 

Edited June 6, 2020 by E-minor7

[62burst]

Scary-good condition. . . and those saturated colors . . . 'even got red onto the braces (t=6:23). Makes one wonder if the recipe for Iced Tea (burst) has time-in-service as an ingredient.

Looks like skinny frets from here, but a curvy fretboard radius. Sorry if the  ADJ comes across as thin, compared to fixed, but considered as it's own animal, it's kinda cool.

 

[BoSoxBiker]

Am I the only one who cringed very time that headstock came within 2 inches of the shelf? Yikes! Pretty cool to see and hear.

 

[slimt]

I have a 61 ( 4 digit) with a P90 at the end of the board.

[E-minor7]

59 minutes ago, PatriotsBiker said:

Am I the only one who cringed very time that headstock came within 2 inches of the shelf? Yikes! Pretty cool to see and hear.

 

Thought the same thing - tight corridor to work in. 

1 hour ago, 62burst said:

Scary-good condition. . . and those saturated colors . . . 'even got red onto the braces (t=6:23). Makes one wonder if the recipe for Iced Tea (burst) has time-in-service as an ingredient.

Looks like skinny frets from here, but a curvy fretboard radius. Sorry if the  ADJ comes across as thin, compared to fixed, but considered as it's own animal, it's kinda cool.

This guitar should be recorded'n'heard with faded strings - then we would get true colours, , , balance, bass and rounded highs - not to mention amount of nectar. And apropos colours I played a just as mint 1960 H-bird a few years ago. The neck was thinner than thin, but to sit with that instrument and that burst (especially the browny red shoulders) was awe-generating. Didn't however sound as good as the also ceramic saddled 1965 I encountered in my basement last year. It had a plain faded matt cherry, but man, , , the sound coming from that creature. .

[EuroAussie]

Looks great, sounds pretty average to be honest.

[Holiday Hoser]

Well the acoustics in the back room are not the greatest I'm sure. Personally I love the sound of the ADJ. My 64 Bird is a beater but, oh my, sounds like heaven! 

[j45nick]

To my ear, despite the mediocre recording, that sounds just like a ceramic-saddled early  'bird should sound.  Shades of the early Stones, etc.

Like Em7 says, I'd like to hear it with mellowed-in strings, and maybe a fat "soft" pick like a Blue Chip or a Red Bear.

[E-minor7]

1 hour ago, j45nick said:

To my ear, despite the mediocre recording, that sounds just like a ceramic-saddled early  'bird should sound.  Shades of the early Stones, etc.

Like Em7 says, I'd like to hear it with mellowed-in strings, and maybe a fat "soft" pick like a Blue Chip or a Red Bear.

One of the big Qs about old guitars in this condition is whether the lack of full-blown day to day use can be heard in the level of 'openness'. The1963 SJ A/B'ed with my own from the same year a couple some 24 months ago definitely wasn't as broken in as mine, , , obviously never that played either.  

[tpbiii]

I love the sound of my 62 -- its full sweet tone in my opinion make its my best guitar for strumming old folk songs.  I is the iconic sound of the folk revival music of my youth. 

 

http://vintageacousticinsruments.blogspot.com/
http://www.vimeo.com/tpbiii

Also a great recording guitar where other loud vintage stuff would overpower the environment.

 

Let's pick,

-Tom

 

[62burst]

6 hours ago, Holiday Hoser said:

Well the acoustics in the back room are not the greatest I'm sure. . . 

 

13 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

Thought the same thing - tight corridor to work in. 

. . .  the also ceramic saddled 1965 I encountered in my basement last year. . .

Strange dimensions and room treatments (deep traps to hold guitar cases) to make a recording in, for sure. And- just how high is that ceiling? Have a look at the height of the red ladder at t=1:41. Maybe the room tamed the ceramic some, but not the strings. 

 

1 hour ago, E-minor7 said:

One of the big Qs about old guitars in this condition is whether the lack of full-blown day to day use can be heard in the level of 'openness'. 

Often said when this question comes 'round is the hypothetical "what if you could travel back to when it was new, and hear it then, and now?" Just bring a similar set of strings with you.

[E-minor7]

2 hours ago, 62burst said:

Often said when this question comes 'round is the hypothetical "what if you could travel back to when it was new, and hear it then, and now?" Just bring a similar set of strings with you.

 

Well, that's what we do when listening to records, isn't it. Problem is that (almost) none of the old goldies are used by their owners anymore, , , Stones, Donovan, Dylan, Taylor, Stevens. Macca has his Texan - but with 'fixed' saddle. 

Then there is C S N & Y - especially the first and last still swing their D-45s. Thing is that you can't really sense the nuances we're talking about in authorized recordings, , , certainly not live -recordings or performances. . 

[Sgt. Pepper]

3 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

 

Well, that's what we do when listening to records, isn't it. Problem is that (almost) none of the old goldies are used by their owners anymore, , , Stones, Donovan, Dylan, Taylor, Stevens. Macca has his Texan - but with 'fixed' saddle. 

Then there is C S N & Y - especially the first and last still swing their D-45s. Thing is that you can't really sense the nuances we're talking about in authorized recordings, , , certainly not live -recordings or performances. . 

Croz and Stills and Young still own and play theirs they bought before Woodstock. Croz sold a '39 Martin for drugs. Stupid people suffer.

[tpbiii]

IME, very few recordings ever actually sounded like the acoustic guitar -- that takes a lot of work and has almost no commercial value. 

[Holiday Hoser]

Plus Jen's SLR camera uses an external mic for only the finest in audio and video quality. Sorry Jen :) Love you honey

As an old sound guy on porno shoots I know a thing or two about getting decent sound in less than ideal locations.

 ( I wrote and directed "Ravaging Ron and the Plight of Virtue" starring Ron Jeremy and Angelica Sin if you are so inclined to look into this type of "art" film)

[EuroAussie]

22 hours ago, j45nick said:

To my ear, despite the mediocre recording, that sounds just like a ceramic-saddled early  'bird should sound.  Shades of the early Stones, etc.

Like Em7 says, I'd like to hear it with mellowed-in strings, and maybe a fat "soft" pick like a Blue Chip or a Red Bear.

 

Ive recently discovered how my HB TV sounds so much fuller and deeper with a thicker pick. Normally I play with a midium thicked pick around .75mm, but my Bird really responds positively with a 1.33mm pick. Fuller, richer, both strummed and when picked individually.  It makes sense as the guitar has that fundamentally flatish tone, and a good, hard pick with some bite can really bring that tone and volume out.

[j45nick]

19 minutes ago, EuroAussie said:

 

Ive recently discovered how my HB TV sounds so much fuller and deeper with a thicker pick. Normally I play with a midium thicked pick around .75mm, but my Bird really responds positively with a 1.33mm pick. Fuller, richer, both strummed and when picked individually.  It makes sense as the guitar has that fundamentally flatish tone, and a good, hard pick with some bite can really bring that tone and volume out.

A lot of people underestimate the tonal difference created by different types of picks. Of course, if you fingerpick the know the difference between the sound of your fingers alone vs finger and nails vs fingerpicks.

Matching strings, picks, and playing style to the guitar, of course, is a first-world problem may of us have due to an embarrassment  of riches when it comes to guitar ownership.

[Sgt. Pepper]

4 hours ago, Holiday Hoser said:

Plus Jen's SLR camera uses an external mic for only the finest in audio and video quality. Sorry Jen 🙂 Love you honey

As an old sound guy on porno shoots I know a thing or two about getting decent sound in less than ideal locations.

 ( I wrote and directed "Ravaging Ron and the Plight of Virtue" starring Ron Jeremy and Angelica Sin if you are so inclined to look into this type of "art" film)

Hey Ron, we need to do that scene over the sound was not right when your painted Angie's face.

Edited June 7, 2020 by Sgt. Pepper

[E-minor7]

Let's end this weekend with one of Birds (Bird-sounds) that made the model a legend. This track is not often taken forward as an exampel.   

 

 

A nize re-listen, yes ? , , , you hopeless old rye rockers. . 

[BoSoxBiker]

Hard to imagine hearing this and not picking up my bird. I just played this a few days ago. Just doesn't get old for me. heh! I was 2.

[fortyearspickn]

Gee.  It's been too long since I heard that one.  Brings back memories.   The 60's were a time or turmoil.    '68 was probably the peak.   Sometimes a song like this - the lyrics are for all men and all times.  Not a 'protest' song.  A  'thinking'  song.  

[E-minor7]

29 minutes ago, fortyearspickn said:

Gee.  It's been too long since I heard that one.  Brings back memories.   The 60's were a time or turmoil.    '68 was probably the peak.   Sometimes a song like this - the lyrics are for all men and all times.  Not a 'protest' song.  A  'thinking'  song.  

Yes, and this a 68er (the tune, not the Bird - we probably hear a 1965 H-bird and Jones on his ? J-200).

The 60s, , , as I said to my good friend the other day :

Don't forget we* see them as a  blooming time with increasing comfort everywhere where they were much complicated and tough fx in the States. 

*I live in Northern Europe

[BoSoxBiker]

Jones on slide, supposedly. Don't know which acoustic he used for it, though.

I was mistaken earlier. I don't know why I always think 1967 when I think of this album.

One thing has always puzzled me about this and some of the other great tracks that are not thought of as part of their biggest hits list. Did songs like this ever get any air time, or did you miss out entirely unless you had the album. (We didn't even get a good Rock FM station where I was raised until maybe 1980. We did have cable the prior year, though, which back then, allowed me to pickup stations in Boston and NY.) 

[E-minor7]

2 hours ago, PatriotsBiker said:

Jones on slide, supposedly. Don't know which acoustic he used for it, though.

I was mistaken earlier. I don't know why I always think 1967 when I think of this album.

One thing has always puzzled me about this and some of the other great tracks that are not thought of as part of their biggest hits list. Did songs like this ever get any air time, or did you miss out entirely unless you had the album. (We didn't even get a good Rock FM station where I was raised until maybe 1980. We did have cable the prior year, though, which back then, allowed me to pickup stations in Boston and NY.) 

 

My idea of Jones behind a J-200 comes from the well-known Godard-clips seen on these pages many times. This footage was taken during the recording of the BB-album. 

I believe the so called progressive stations played a lot less poppy material back then - including Stones. Those radios lived for and survived by sending the barb-wire in the air. .