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Howard Roberts Oval Hole


luvgibson

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Posted

Hi Guys,

Where have all these wonderfull guitars gone????

 

Thanks George

They have gone the way of most inventions whose designs are predicated more on form than on function.

 

J/W

[confused]

Posted

Ouch!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Kindly explain your point of view

 

 

I think they are wonderfull and would like to buy one.

 

Thanks George

 

Well, if you like them and can find one that meets your expectations in terms of condition and price, who am I to argue?

 

I just found that they used to feed back easily, and that the pickup was not too versatile. Otherwise, it's an ES 165 with a different top, IMO.

 

But it is not really a topic I wish to debate at length. It's just another flash-in-the-pan signature guitar to me that never caught on, IMO. YMMV

 

[i can't get my links to work, but just Google [u]Howard Roberts' Guitars[/u] and you will get plenty of good hits...]

 

Regards,

B)

J/W

Posted

If I'm not mistaken Epiphone made Howard Roberts Models way before Gibson ever did. I remember playing guitar with an older gentleman back in middle 70's and he had a Epiphone Howard Roberts Guitar.

Posted

If I'm not mistaken Epiphone made Howard Roberts Models way before Gibson ever did. I remember playing guitar with an older gentleman back in middle 70's and he had a Epiphone Howard Roberts Guitar.

 

That is correct, but I believe they were being made at the Gibson factory in Kalamazoo, nonetheless.

 

Regards,

J/W

B)

Posted

After a series of foolish sales and bad trades in '69 I ended up with one, an Epiphone HR Std in natural with a walnut back. Easy player, as noted above prone to feed back. Kind of a plain Jane of a guitar, but very adequate for what it was intended to do. The Epiphone HR Custom was much more ornate, had a longer scale, etc. I got an L5 a few months later and sold the HR to a buddy who basically used it as an amplified folk guitar & loved it.

  • 1 year later...
Posted

The "Gibson" 1975 catalog shows the guitar in question.

 

Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but I had to say that this is misleading information. There is a huge, huge difference between the solid wood, carved top Epiphone HR's, which I believe were discontinued in 1967 or '69, and the laminated guitar that Gibson made after that.

 

It is true that Epi HR's were only made for a few years and that at some point Gibson bought Epiphone and began manufacturing those guitars in their factory, but they are not the same at all as the later "Gibson" branded HR's.

 

Btw, related to another post I read here, the pickup on the Epi HR's is a Johnny Smith mini-HB, a pretty well-regarded pup imho.

Posted

Sorry to dredge up such an old thread, but I had to say that this is misleading information. There is a huge, huge difference between the solid wood, carved top Epiphone HR's, which I believe were discontinued in 1967 or '69, and the laminated guitar that Gibson made after that.

 

It is true that Epi HR's were only made for a few years and that at some point Gibson bought Epiphone and began manufacturing those guitars in their factory, but they are not the same at all as the later "Gibson" branded HR's.

 

Btw, related to another post I read here, the pickup on the Epi HR's is a Johnny Smith mini-HB, a pretty well-regarded pup imho.

 

Gibson bought Epi in 1957--100% of the Howard Roberts models were manufactured by Gibson, regardless of the name on the headstock.

 

Danny W.

Posted

Howard Alden and Gray Sargeant thought pretty highly of them.

 

Alden made some pretty good albums with them before going seven string.

 

DG

Posted

Howard Alden and Gray Sargeant thought pretty highly of them.

 

Alden made some pretty good albums with them before going seven string.

 

DG

Good knowledge, Dave. I enjoyed both of those players when they were recording for Concord. Sargent in particular never got the acclaim he deserved, imo, although he certainly landed on his feet getting the gig with Tony Bennett. Have to say, though... I was never a big fan of the tone that either of them got with those HR models, but that's just personal taste.

Posted

I would agree in the case of Sargeant but Alden's use of the HR always produced a pleasing sound whether recorded or Live.

 

I was at Brecon when the Braff/Alden concert was recorded and got a sense of the acoustic and electric qualities from the "front row" seats.

 

He remains one of my favourites.

 

DG

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