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AMAZING experience....I can't believe this.


Jinder

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I am currently sitting in RAK studios in St.John's Wood, London. I've been recording here all day with my band, and have been sitting for the last few hours playing the late Mickie Most's 60s J200! It is blonde, has a tune-o-matic bridge and a metal nut (!) but sounds absolutely, unspeakably wonderful. It is strung with 13s and tuned down a half-step, and is in brilliant structural, tonal and playing condition.

 

I can't believe I am sitting here with the guitar that Jimmy Page recorded the intro to Stairway To Heaven on my lap!

 

Pics will follow in the next couple of days.

 

The serial # is 520779, does anyone know the exact year of it?

 

I would trade an internal organ for this guitar. It is a piece of history and the best acoustic guitar I've ever picked up.

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Magic moments.....

 

If that is the J-200 that Pagey used in the studio during recording of Led Zeppelin I, it belonged to Big Jim Sullivan, who loaned it to Little Jim for the duration.....

 

Hope the recording goes well. Let us know how it pans out.

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I DID play Stairway...and it was bang on!

 

It wasn't the guitar Page used for I, it was lent to Jimmy by Mickie Most during the recording of IV, and subsequently used on Stairway. It is probably elsewhere on the album too, but that is obviously the most notable usage of it!

 

It was an amazing guitar, what tone! I think it helped that it had been used constantly for it's entire 46yr life, or thereabouts, in the studio. It was curiously notable for it's absence of a scratchplate, and it's solid moustache bridge with pearl inlays rather than cutout sections-classically 60s.

 

It is honey blonde, and has gorgeous lacquer checking that, when held up to the light, resembled curling fern leaves. Delicious!

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Nylon saddles or metal in the tune-o-matic?

 

It surprises me that Gibson has never done a reissue with a Tune-o-Matic (or have they and I don't know about it). They've been branded as "tone-killers" but when you look into it, guys like Townshend, Harrison, and apparently Page - all made great records using J-200's with Tune-o-Matics.

 

Stick a Neumann U67 in front of that baby and hit the record button!

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Not sure about the J-200's, but I think they did recently put the Tune~O~Matic back in the Dove for a limited version.

 

I had one on my Dove back in the 70's. Didn't seem to kill any tone to me. The guitar sounded heavenly.

I did have to turn the upper E string saddle backwards in order to get the correct intonation though.

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"stick a U67 in front of that baby..." is exactly what I did yesterday! It recorded really, really well and is all over a track which is being considered for a future single, 'In A Heartbeat'.

 

There have been several reissues with the Tune-O bridges, the 60s Custom SJ200s and Doves have them. I really like the tone those guitars have, they are a little less overtonic and more fundamental tonally, with the added bonus (especially for someone with bat-ears like me, who can't bear tuning issues) of being able to be set up with absolutely perfect intonation by adjusting each saddle.

 

In fact, my favourite Dove of all time is the 60s RI with the Tune-O. Stunning tone.

 

Mickie's J200 had metal saddles. Also, it had a metal nut, with scalloping between the string slots. I had never seen one of these in an acoustic before, does anyone know anything about these?

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