An older majesty was singing. . .

[E-minor7]

Just returned from a trip to London. Saw old hero Donovan in the Royal Albert Hall. First set was okay and growing, the second really came together. He had approx. 40 musicians and friends with him during the evening and at some point J. Page walked on stage. Those 2 cats together plus the enthusiastic audience blew the roof off the building – magnificent.

 

No acoustic Gs involved – the '64 J-45 got stolen in the early 70s, as some of you might know, and he nowadays plays a hand-built green-topped guitar nicknamed Kelly.

 

Of course I visited every store in Denmark Street – 6 maybe 7 ?? can't remember. Was lucky to try a Hummingbird 50^th anniversary, a Hummingbird Standard, a very interesting no so deep bodied sunburst Dove something with cutaway, a '55 Southern Jumbo, a handful vintage J-45s, a '65 Epiphone Texan, a little LG-? and about 6 Martins.

Won't go into details about these, but instead tell you that the most amazing guitar I met was the last : A well-kept J-200 from 68. I am not a maple-person, but this yellow-hued-sunburst-golden-tulip elephant definitely had it - especially on the bass-side ! What a pleasure to witness. But such a shame it also had the much too narrow 1 9/16 width. I could fumble and hear, but not play the beauty – .

Gotta say the sales people in general were open minded and generous. Still about half of them didn't know enough about the jewelery they were dealing. Hard to understand, , , I mean this little passage is the suppose to be one of the guitar hot-zones on the planet isn't it.

 

Let's be positive – It's worth goin' there – You might find your diamond, , , or at least a couple of 'timeless hours'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[j45nick]

Won't go into details about these, but instead tell you that the most amazing guitar I met was the last : A well-kept J-200 from 68. I am not a maple-person, but this yellow-hued-sunburst-golden-tulip elephant definitely had it - especially on the bass-side ! What a pleasure to witness. But such a shame it also had the much too narrow 1 9/16 width. I could fumble and hear, but not play the beauty – .

Gotta say the sales people in general were open minded and generous. Still about half of them didn't know enough about the jewelery they were dealing. Hard to understand, , , I mean this little passage is the suppose to be one of the guitar hot-zones on the planet isn't it.

 

Let's be positive – It's worth goin' there – You might find your diamond, , , or at least a couple of 'timeless hours'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The narrow nut width does take some adjustment. I have two Gibsons with it, and that 1/8" less (compared to my other Gibson) is very noticeable. Then, of course, my 000-28 EC has a 1 3/4" nut, which really confuses things, not to mention my Prisloe classical with a 2"+ nut and 25 1/2" scale. You can move between them, but I don't think you would want to do it during a performance unless you have a lot more self-confidence than I do. Muscle memory is funny stuff. Believe it or not, you actually do adjust to the narrow nut, although it may change some of your barre chord fingerings. It also puts a premium on left-hand technique that is not so critical with slightly wider nuts, at least in the case of my clumsy fingers.

[E-minor7]

I can narrow in to 1- 5/8, that's the limit. By the way I wonder why the most of the vintage guitars were kept with older than old strings. Okay, it gives the customer the possibility to judge the guitar and the guitar only, but some of those precious vintage ones just seemed too dead. It made me blossom with joy when I got back home and grabbed my own – they sounded like flowers.

 

Nursing your instruments by playing them regularly can't be overestimated. Teaching your guitars your personal ways'n'vibes isn't a bad idea either.

 

[albertjohn]

Good to hear that Denmark St has a good selection of G acoustics. It certainly was not the case over the couple of years for new stuff at least. Don't get down there too much since I started a new job I'm January, sadly.

[E-minor7]

Good to hear that Denmark St has a good selection of G acoustics.

 

Well, the place isn't exploding with Gibsons, but there are quite a few.You'll have to count in a shop around the corner, down Charing Cross Road (I think it is). They should be the main importer and connected to a store in D. Street and have a handful of new ones in the window and the cellar - good.

I also highly recommend Vintage and Rare – cool location with plenty of candy and a top staff – which is basically what you need to get things flyin'. Then opposite that the larger Wunjo Guitars where you'll find mighty fine stuff and a generous atmosphere. The golden J-200 though, was hanging in a third store (same side as V&R) – Can't remember the name.