James T talks guitars, , , and takes the J-50

[E-minor7]

"It was such a step up. . "

 

[jedzep]

Thanks for that, brother. I've been ignoring my J50 of late, and it's a perfect reminder to drop it back into my lap on the new year's first day.

[E-minor7]

20 minutes ago, jedzep said:

Thanks for that, brother. I've been ignoring my J50 of late, and it's a perfect reminder to drop it back into my lap on the new year's first day.
 

Good idea - it looks tempting, , , , , and actually as if it would like a little lOVE'n'attention. . 

[duluthdan]

Just sold my 1957 J-50. Sounded just like that. Wish I could keep em all. 

[j45nick]

That was interesting. The J-50 is pretty clearly mid 60s. For some reason, I  thought it had an adj bridge back then, but if it did,  it doesn't anymore.

I tried to find a photo of the guitar that would be definitive about this, but haven't had any success.

[JuanCarlosVejar]

1 hour ago, j45nick said:

That was interesting. The J-50 is pretty clearly mid 60s. For some reason, I  thought it had an adj bridge back then, but if it did,  it doesn't anymore.

I tried to find a photo of the guitar that would be definitive about this, but haven't had any success.

Nick,
Here you go:

you can see the bridge clearly at around the 10 second mark.

 

 

JC

[JuanCarlosVejar]

2 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

"It was such a step up. . "

 

Thanks  Em7 !!!

 

JT is one  of my idols for sure.

While I don’t like Beatles music a whole lot ... I do think each member are mystical figures individually. And to step into a room with 2 of them would be a religious experience almost .Good to see him still treating his old friend well .

 

JC

[jedzep]

Could these be two different guitars? 

[TomG76]

3 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

"It was such a step up. . "

 

Thanks so much for posting this, E-minor7.

I bought a J-50 last year in no small part because my love for James Taylor made me fall in love with them.

Before I could afford it I did a LOT of research trying to find a different guitar that sounded like a Gibson Jumbo. They don't exist.

I'm so glad the luthier was able to rescue the JT one!

I like my batwing pickguard but they do look great without.

I'm all but certain that JT has only owned one J-50, by the way.

 

[TomG76]

I'm a huge James Taylor fan. I once told a musician friend that "As far as I'm concerned, Paul McCartney is the bloke who played bass on Carolina In My Mind."

Fortunately he loves JT too and he grinned broadly.

[j45nick]

16 hours ago, JuanCarlosVejar said:

Nick,
Here you go:

you can see the bridge clearly at around the 10 second mark.

 

 

JC

Thanks for that, JC! So the adj has been removed. I wonder if it is a completely new bridge? In the newer video, he talks about someone ruining the guitar with some modifications involving a type of pickup I am unfamiliar with, and having to have work done on the guitar to remedy that.

Edited January 2, 2021 by j45nick
correction

[E-minor7]

Well, , , as mentioned many many times here, the original 50 had the adjustable bridge w. the mellow rosewood insert and that's what we hear on all the classics.                                                                                   Taylor himself seems to again and again neglect or suppress this fact, which is quite remarkable and un-serious for a normally serious acoustic man.

The missing p-guard at the other hand, may never have been there or removed from square 1. You still owe us the full story, Mister T.  

     

Actually mailed his site with a couple of Qs 6-7-8 years ago.  My inbox remains silent.                                                 

[E-minor7]

Whether it's the original bridge with a replacement insert is hard to see/say, but we must realize the sonic difference between now and then is huge. 

Edit > Watching  the intro in slow-mo shows the bridge/saddle has been modified twice. Still unclear if it's a 'new' bridge. 

Edited January 2, 2021 by E-minor7

[jt]

8 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

"It was such a step up. . " ...

 

Thanks for posting this.

I love the sound of James's playing on those early records. It's a good lesson for a fellow like me who claims that a Gibson with an adjustable bridge can't possibly be any good. Yeah, a lot of the tone is in James's hands. But a great sounding guitar is a great sounding guitar, regardless of its woods, bridge configuration, and any other details. I confess to getting lost way too often is those meaningless details. This video is a great reminder to listen with my ears, not my eyes.

Again, thanks for posting this.

[QuestionMark]

Great to see/hear him play that J-50 again, even if it was for only a few seconds.  And, great to see he still has it and thinks fondly of it.

 

QM aka ""Jazzman"  Jeff

[zombywoof]

I bought the first two JT LPs when thy came out but none after that and never went to see him perform.  I think I just had to come to grips that I was not the sensitive singer/songwriter type.  But I never associated him with any particular guitar because it seemed immaterial.  The guy who did make me sit up and pay attention to the J50 was Jorma who played the same late-1950s guitar with the Airplane and initially Hot Tuna.   With him it was all about the guitar because lets face it his voice was not going to sell many records. 

[Sgt. Pepper]

22 hours ago, JuanCarlosVejar said:

Thanks  Em7 !!!

 

JT is one  of my idols for sure.

While I don’t like Beatles music a whole lot ... I do think each member are mystical figures individually. And to step into a room with 2 of them would be a religious experience almost .Good to see him still treating his old friend well .

 

JC

You don't like their music a whole lot, but being in a room with them would be a religious experiance (almost)? Satan is a mythical figure, John, Paul, George and Ringo were all guys from Liverpool who made really good music.

Edited January 2, 2021 by Sgt. Pepper

[j45nick]

16 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

Whether it's the original bridge with a replacement insert is hard to see/say, but we must realize the sonic difference between now and then is huge. 

Edit > Watching  the intro in slow-mo shows the bridge/saddle has been modified twice. Still unclear if it's a 'new' bridge. 

Looking at this bridge carefully in the new video, plus JCV's video from 1970, it seems likely that is the original bridge, filled and re-routed for a fixed saddle. The one adj bridge I have is the belly-down version, so the set-up is slightly different. In the new video, there are two filled holes in the bridge wings that I don't understand. They may be related to the pickup arrangement that JT implied had ruined the guitar. In any case, if you had replaced the bridge, it would probably not have those filled holes in it.

Before you ask, JCV's video is not high resolution enough to say definitively if those holes were there in 1970. They are not exactly where the adjusting screws for the adj saddle would have been, at least compared to my adj bridge.

[dhanners623]

Just listening on my phone (in a noisy house) I didn’t catch the name of the bad pickup that screwed up  the guitar. What was it? (And heaven knows that era was filled with bad pickups....)

Also, as a happy J-35 owner, someone sell me on the J-50. Not that I need another guitar, but I’ve looked at some online at Sweetwater. What, if anything, does the J-50 offer that a J-45 (or J-35) doesn’t? Fill me in.

[BoSoxBiker]

8 minutes ago, dhanners623 said:

Just listening on my phone (in a noisy house) I didn’t catch the name of the bad pickup that screwed up  the guitar. What was it? (And heaven knows that era was filled with bad pickups....)

Also, as a happy J-35 owner, someone sell me on the J-50. Not that I need another guitar, but I’ve looked at some online at Sweetwater. What, if anything, does the J-50 offer that a J-45 (or J-35) doesn’t? Fill me in.

Hop Dots? The close caption on You Tube suggests that as well.

[dhanners623]

Looked it up. Barcus-Berry Hot Dots:

https://reverb.com/item/26246090-barcus-berry-hot-dot-transducer

[E-minor7]

16 hours ago, j45nick said:

Looking at this bridge carefully in the new video, plus JCV's video from 1970, it seems likely that is the original bridge, filled and re-routed for a fixed saddle. The one adj bridge I have is the belly-down version, so the set-up is slightly different. In the new video, there are two filled holes in the bridge wings that I don't understand. They may be related to the pickup arrangement that JT implied had ruined the guitar. In any case, if you had replaced the bridge, it would probably not have those filled holes in it.

Before you ask, JCV's video is not high resolution enough to say definitively if those holes were there in 1970. They are not exactly where the adjusting screws for the adj saddle would have been, at least compared to my adj bridge.

Yes, it almost looks as if the bridge was routed for an all-through-saddle at some point - and then fixed again for the ordinary solution we see, , ,                                                                                                                                  which has nothing what-so-ever to do with the classic T-sound. 

15 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

Just listening on my phone (in a noisy house) I didn’t catch the name of the bad pickup that screwed up  the guitar. What was it? (And heaven knows that era was filled with bad pickups....)

Also, as a happy J-35 owner, someone sell me on the J-50. Not that I need another guitar, but I’ve looked at some online at Sweetwater. What, if anything, does the J-50 offer that a J-45 (or J-35) doesn’t? Fill me in.

As you probably know the 45/50 difference is the burst/natural top. 
 

15 hours ago, dhanners623 said:

Looked it up. Barcus-Berry Hot Dots:

https://reverb.com/item/26246090-barcus-berry-hot-dot-transducer

Here's another Hot Dot Transducer from around the same period when T ruined and ditched his legendary guitar. 

https://reverb.com/item/22110462-1970-s-ibanez-vintage-hot-dot-acoustic-pickup-transducer-classical-acoustic-mandolin-violin

[j45nick]

2 hours ago, E-minor7 said:

 

Here's another Hot Dot Transducer from around the same period when T ruined and ditched his legendary guitar. 

https://reverb.com/item/22110462-1970-s-ibanez-vintage-hot-dot-acoustic-pickup-transducer-classical-acoustic-mandolin-violin

Barcus Berry apparently did/does a lot of variations on this pickup concept for any number of types of instruments, including cellos, violins, etc.   This is just based on a short internet search, I have no experience with them.

I have not looked at the actual mechanics of the installation to understand how they might have "damaged" JT's J50