Tamio Okuda 1945 J 45

[JuanCarlosVejar]

Folks, 

Check it out :

 

Only for the Japanese market but it’s still a cool piece . 
 

I dig the burst.

JC

[scriv58]

Would like to hear someone elicit some subtlety from it apart from the constant thrashing in this instance.

[slimt]

Thats the way to break it in.      They got some Nice guitars built for that end of the planet.  

[Leonard McCoy]

Finally someone man-handling a J-45 on a promo video. I like his bold attack, though I don't know anything about him as a musician. His signature model's features are quite desirable, I find. I love me a round 50's style neck, too, even on my electrics. It gives the guitar a certain feel and relaxes your fretting hand because there is no gap when grabbing between your hand and the neck.

[JuanCarlosVejar]

41 minutes ago, Leonard McCoy said:

Finally someone man-handling a J-45 on a promo video. I like his bold attack, though I don't know anything about him as a musician. His signature model's features are quite desirable, I find. I love me a round 50's style neck, too, even on my electrics. It gives the guitar a certain feel and relaxes your fretting hand because there is no gap when grabbing between your hand and the neck.

Here’s a second video where he plays both the new one and the original :

 

If you set the video quality feature in YouTube to 1080p the sound improves quite a bit and they really sound very similar (At least in this setting).

 

Gibson is doing some pretty awesome things 

 

JC

[Leonard McCoy]

It sounds fantastic.

[duluthdan]

Love the thick baseball bat neck - hard to see, but this model may have the tapered headstock too?  The J45 Legend I have from 2006 is a similar beast, and I think has a tone all its own because of that added mass.  I think these are going to be sought after, and hard to find.

[CAMELEYE]

Wish Gibson'd put that thick baseball neck on a J-45 to be sold in the US.

[zombywoof]

Apparently Tamio is popular enough in Japan to have several signature Gibson and Epi electrics.  And I went and looked at some of his videos and as much as I could take there is no argument that he is a thrasher.   I really could not tell much about the J45 though other than it sure did not "shimmer out" which is a good thing.  But as to the decay,  tonal color and whatever nothing comes through.  

[zombywoof]

2 hours ago, CAMELEYE said:

Wish Gibson'd put that thick baseball neck on a J-45 to be sold in the US.

While it is based on what your frame of reference is, for me a neck does not fall into the "baseball bat" range until it starts heading north of maybe  a .96" depth at the 1st fret.  While necks were variable. my '42 J50 has a round C neck carve which although having a nut width a bit shy of 1 3/4" has a depth of over 1.0" at the 1st fret.    If I recall the J45 Legend clocked in at a depth of around 1.03" at the 1st fret so just a bit shy of my J50.  About the closest you will find with Gibsons are the necks on the '34 Jumbos.  They can be a handful.  But more than a few find the 1950s neck carves with a depth generally in the .91" to .93" the most user friendly which therefore makes that carve very marketable.   

Edited April 27, 2021 by zombywoof

[BoSoxBiker]

I'm very curious to hear comments on the craftsmanship on the nut and fitment of nut as seen when stopping the first video at 1:12.

Edit:  Just to be certain everyone knows, I am not trying to set anyone up. I don't want to prejudice an answer to questions and/or thoughts I have.

Edited April 27, 2021 by BoSoxBiker

[Leonard McCoy]

1 hour ago, BoSoxBiker said:

I'm very curious to hear comments on the craftsmanship on the nut and fitment of nut as seen when stopping the first video at 1:12.

Edit:  Just to be certain everyone knows, I am not trying to set anyone up. I don't want to prejudice an answer to questions and/or thoughts I have.

In this shot you are referring to the nut looks perfectly fine (disregarding whatever the whitish lines on the high E side of the fretboard kissing the nut are). In fact, it looks better than the nut of my Custom Shop J-180 probably because this one here was hand-fitted and set up extra for him. The strings are not burrowed in some deep string slots either, so I don't expect any binding issue here. The meat of the back of the nut has also been filed off and polished smooth and the string slot height seems to be set up low for easy first-frets playing.

[E-minor7]

On 4/27/2021 at 4:24 AM, scriv58 said:

Would like to hear someone elicit some subtlety from it apart from the constant thrashing in this instance.

Agree - he seems like a guy who has been playing for about a year. But his neck-theory proves that isn't true. I tend to follow him on that. 

20 hours ago, JuanCarlosVejar said:

Here’s a second video where he plays both the new one and the original

 

If you set the video quality feature in YouTube to 1080p the sound improves quite a bit and they really sound very similar (At least in this setting).

 

Gibson is doing some pretty awesome things 

Yes, they do - both guitars sound rich strong and warm. But we still need to hear them for real. 

Edited April 28, 2021 by E-minor7

[BoSoxBiker]

4 hours ago, Leonard McCoy said:

In this shot you are referring to the nut looks perfectly fine (disregarding whatever the whitish lines on the high E side of the fretboard kissing the nut are). In fact, it looks better than the nut of my Custom Shop J-180 probably because this one here was hand-fitted and set up extra for him. The strings are not burrowed in some deep string slots either, so I don't expect any binding issue here. The meat of the back of the nut has also been filed off and polished smooth and the string slot height seems to be set up low for easy first-frets playing.

Yeah, I was wondering if that was glue on the right side and a gap on the left between the E-A and A-D strings. I'm going with optical illusion on both counts.

The reason I ask, is that I see this sort of approach to a nut on many botique makers. Even ones that imitate the Gibson lineup. The top is less sloped overall instead of the steeper slopes we usually get. This sort of style seems like it would have a larger contact zone and even looks that way in this picture. The back-filing and the resultant gaps are there, though.

I tried this style twice and bombed something fierce. I salvaged nicely enough and are as functional as they are ugly. I was starting to think this style was voodoo for steeper neck break angled guitars or something.

The other interesting bit are the front entry points. I see some online that have nothing filed away. These look fanned out at the entry quite nicely. A little worried about below the string, but probably another shadow effect. 

Anyhow, sorry to derail, JCV. So rare I get good light to look at these things.  You can have your thread back 🙂

[62burst]

Juan Carlos- Yes, that's a nice 'burst. . . in the 2nd video you put up, it looks like a dark Honey burst, but the first clip. . .  Burnt Umberburst?

Scriv- yes, doubtful his guitars fall asleep. Definite opportunity there in a guitar wake-up service.

Yes, Slim- looks like Japan has been  very good for Gibson.

L. McCoy- as a maple person, it's easy for you to hear "fantastic" when you hear the "report" he's getting out of that guitar as he does his unique thing.

D. Dan- It did look like that headstock was tapered.

Cameleye- maybe the J-45 Vintage or Legend model might have the neck carve you're looking for. Also- the sig John Hiatt J-45's neck was apparently spec'ed by John to have some girth. 

Em7- glad you're hearing rich, strong, & warm out of the 2- but with so much of the sound being driven by the right hand, it's hard to hear the guitar's other voice(s).

BoSoxBkr & L. McCoy- That is a curious nut. Thx for putting up that closeup, LMcC. . . it almost looks like it was a set up post-Bozeman, for his uh, more agro style. Hard to find any info on his string gauge or set up preferences. The strings on the Sig model look fresher, but he seems to be hitting it with the same intensity/location. But the 1945 model goes smoother and sweeter, hopefully noticeable when setting up two YouTube windows, and giving a listen  between 5:52 (the vint), and 6:40 (Sig model).

Edited April 28, 2021 by 62burst

[Jinder]

How curious a player. I kind of admire the fact he hits the guitar so hard and acknowledges it as part of his way of doing business, it’s obviously his style and I can dig that. It makes it hard for us to really hear the character of the instrument in any other capacity though...I’m hearing a great deal of string, pick and fret but not as much wood as I would prefer.

One thing’s for sure though, as a big, meaty rhythm machine that guitar has a gigantic bottom end, but deep and clear, never woofy or woolly like other bass monsters such as D35s can get when walloped with a pick.

the neck profile might be a bit much for my hands, but I agree with his theory that the beefier the neck, the beefier the tone. 

 

[BoSoxBiker]

There were a few moments very early in the first video in which I thought of the restaurant scene in Kill Bill 2 featuring the band the 5, 6, 7 and 8s. (just before the Crazy 88 fight scene) I detected a style that one might associate with Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away".  I've wondered before if that late 50's hardcore (for the era) Link Wray Rock and Roll style was a thing over there. I can get from there to Tamio Okuda's playing.

[Sgt. Pepper]

2 hours ago, BoSoxBiker said:

There were a few moments very early in the first video in which I thought of the restaurant scene in Kill Bill 2 featuring the band the 5, 6, 7 and 8s. (just before the Crazy 88 fight scene) I detected a style that one might associate with Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away".  I've wondered before if that late 50's hardcore (for the era) Link Wray Rock and Roll style was a thing over there. I can get from there to Tamio Okuda's playing.

I lived in Japan for 2 years and would go back there to live in a heartbeat if I could afford it.

[Mr.Woody]

On 4/27/2021 at 9:29 AM, CAMELEYE said:

Wish Gibson'd put that thick baseball neck on a J-45 to be sold in the US.

Yeah, my newer Legend (1942) has the largest neck I've ever held. Well north of 1", though I haven't measured it. The J-45 Vintage does have a similar, though (if I remember correctly) slightly smaller neck. 

[BoSoxBiker]

How does that big neck compare to the 1934 Jumbo? The Jumbo is around .96 - 1.01 at the 1st fret looking at several on the Wildwood site. Those have what their calling the Historic Deep V.