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Interesting site, old Gibson catalogues, advertising, history....


onewilyfool

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Interesting that the SG shape began as a style of Les Paul.

 

 

In the 1918-1919 catalog they depict a mandobass, but there is no commentary on it. I've never seen what appears to be an arm rest on it. The player frets / stops, like a bass, then reaches way below the high flying sound hole to pluck. There is an arm rest of sleeve guard below the sound hole to keep the sleeve and arm away from the strings... I guess. Interesting...

 

I do wish, however there was better resolution. Much of the text is illegible.

 

 

The other interesting thing I noticed is that many of the old banjos all had finger rests suspended above the drum head. One would think this would be an asset. I've never seen one. Always thought a finger rest would be a good idea. These are the first I've seen.

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That site belongs to Paul Fox, a luthier near the Boston area and a vintage Gibson afficionado. He is also a member here (pfox)who posts occassionally on the Vintage pages. Great site, well researched, lots of fun and fascinating photos and facts. I especially like the information on "other" Gibson brands, many of which I had not heard of before, or didn't realize Gibson made. Thanks Paul for a great site and all your hard work putting it together.

 

By the way, if any of you are not checking out the Vintage section, you should stop in once in a while. Lots of electric stuff, which I'm personally not interested in, but good stuff on Gibson acoustics too.

 

Dennis

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Nice museum – reassurring to watch. That first30ties bass banjo is mindblowing.

 

The 53 J-185, very convincing, but no Hummingbird 'till 64 ?? , , a bit strange and it must have been shown on other pages earlier on.

 

The totally different 66 and 68 covers are my favorites. Allready have the latter in my archive.

 

And how about that 62 Barney Kessel, , , whouuu !

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The article "A Talk About Tone" by Lloyd Loar was an interesting look into Loar's understanding of tone. Fairly obtuse,

but the man's work speaks for itself. How in the world was he able to quantify & assign attributes to each of the"sections" of overtones, given the technology of the time. Difficult to wade through at any resolution, but here's a slightly more legible reprint:

 

http://www.mugwumps.com/tone.html

 

Wonder what his thoughts would have been regarding the ToneRite ?

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  • 2 years later...

stumbled across this old thread via Google - looking for a vintage catalog.

 

I love the catalog page. I disagree with the blanket disparagement of the Sonex. Two of the models were lame. One was whacky. One was amazingly good (the custom).

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