brannon67 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Is the Blues King model really named after BB King? Thats what I heard. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 No its named as such to lure in the small bodied blues guitar lovers while offering a more modern 14-frets clear access, as a 'best of both world' scenarios. I've never heard of any BB King association at all and would add that 'BB King' would likely sell more units than 'Blues King' due to the his status, it seems unlikely to have any link to BB King yet opt not to use his name, this is the part the artists get paid for, the use of their name. ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pfox14 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 No, it was not named after B.B. King. The Gibson L-00 style guitar from the 1930s has always been a favorite of blues players, so that's where the name came from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Wish they made this model in real mahogany rather than bubinga, with a modern-profile non-V 14-fret neck and no electronics. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brannon67 Posted February 10, 2012 Author Share Posted February 10, 2012 Well some brilliant person on Ebay had one for sale, and claimed that it was named after BB. I was just wondering. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 I think though the first "Lucille" was a Gibson L-30 with a pickup added to it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Wish they made this model in real mahogany rather than bubinga, with a modern-profile non-V 14-fret neck and no electronics. The new ones are mahogany. A pretty modern neck too. It does have electronics though. Custom order one! :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest J-Doug Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 One thing I do think is a shame about the latest Blues King is the fact that it comes in a gig bag. Why not a hardshell case? Seems pretty cheap to me for a nice guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j45nick Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 One thing I do think is a shame about the latest Blues King is the fact that it comes in a gig bag. Why not a hardshell case? Seems pretty cheap to me for a nice guitar. You are correct: it is pretty cheap. Every guitar of this value should come with a hard case that fits and protects it properly. Now, it's like the old days at Gibson, where you had to buy the chipboard case, the standard hard case, or the upgraded case separate from the guitar. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Del Nilppeznaf Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 You are correct: it is pretty cheap. Every guitar of this value should come with a hard case that fits and protects it properly. Now, it's like the old days at Gibson, where you had to buy the chipbaord case, the standard hard case, or the upgraded case separate from the guitar. Now there's tradition right there for ya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BluesKing777 Posted February 10, 2012 Share Posted February 10, 2012 Now there's tradition right there for ya Yes, I have a few useless bags and cases from my Blues King, LG1, Lg0, B25-12N that are taking up cupboard space. Probably some kind of test to see if you really want the guitar? BB King was featured in the earlier ads for the Gibson Blues King: BluesKing777. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
retrorod Posted February 11, 2012 Share Posted February 11, 2012 If it truly were named after BB King....It would be the Blues Boy King model..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hogeye Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 No its named as such to lure in the small bodied blues guitar lovers while offering a more modern 14-frets clear access, as a 'best of both world' scenarios. I've never heard of any BB King association at all and would add that 'BB King' would likely sell more units than 'Blues King' due to the his status, it seems unlikely to have any link to BB King yet opt not to use his name, this is the part the artists get paid for, the use of their name. ;) Interesting speculation but not quite true. In 1993 Gibson did a promotion with B.B. King. He was touring and If a dealer bought one of the first 25 L-00 Blues King guitars he would get a backstage pass to one of B.B's concerts. There were T-shirts and posters as well as straps associated with the promo. The first 25 guitars had the pickguard signed by B.B. in a gold color. This is the first time Gibson/Montana used the term Blues King for any guitar. After that they started calling almost every guitar they had Blues King. In 1994 they had the Blues King Special,The Blues King Electro, and the Blues King L-00. They used the term BLues King to sort of name tag with B.B. and not have to pay him. 1993 was the only time B.B. worked with Montana. He learned fast. The Blues King Electro lasted until 1998. In 1998 Gibson actually made a WM-L-00 and called it the BLues Bender. No one knows the origin of that name. The Blues Bender lasted one year and then in 1999 it was renamed mercifully the Working Musician L-00. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted February 12, 2012 Share Posted February 12, 2012 BB or no BB, the Blues King is a superb guitar. I was playing mine for an hour or so this afternoon and really enjoying it. The gig bag deal is cheap though. When I bought mine, I was so shocked at being sold a £1500 guitar in a gig bag that I refused to leave the shop until they'd put it in a fitted hard case. As luck would have it, they had an SKB case a customer had ordered for a Republic Miniolian parlour reso (and never picked up), which fitted the Blues King like a dream. I left with a free hard case and the apologies of the staff, who agreed that it was silly to sell a Gibson acoustic guitar in a gig bag. I personally think the term "gig bag" is a paradox, does anyone actually ever take a Gibson to a gig in a bag? To me that's like saying "let's not strap our toddler into the baby car seat for this journey, let's stand her on her head in the passenger's footwell"! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jerry K Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I agree if you really like your Blues King L-00, you end up finding a case because the included gig bag is just not enough protection. They should just provide a case. Has anyone played the latest version of the Blues King, reputed to be back to mahogany? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 BB or no BB, the Blues King is a superb guitar. I was playing mine for an hour or so this afternoon and really enjoying it. The gig bag deal is cheap though. When I bought mine, I was so shocked at being sold a £1500 guitar in a gig bag that I refused to leave the shop until they'd put it in a fitted hard case. As luck would have it, they had an SKB case a customer had ordered for a Republic Miniolian parlour reso (and never picked up), which fitted the Blues King like a dream. I left with a free hard case and the apologies of the staff, who agreed that it was silly to sell a Gibson acoustic guitar in a gig bag. I personally think the term "gig bag" is a paradox, does anyone actually ever take a Gibson to a gig in a bag? To me that's like saying "let's not strap our toddler into the baby car seat for this journey, let's stand her on her head in the passenger's footwell"! i've came home from a gig with my head in the passenger footwell Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I agree it should come with a case. I also know serious players who DO use gig bags to take expensive guitars to gigs. Check out Reunion Blues. There is a whole market out there. Just 2 sides Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I played a new hog blues king. I thought it was a nice guitar. I liked the bubinga version, but these are better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
onewilyfool Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I played the Keb'mo....nice but not $3000 nice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sandro Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I played the Keb'mo....nice but not $3000 nice +1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 Interesting speculation but not quite true. In 1993 Gibson did a promotion with B.B. King. He was touring and If a dealer bought one of the first 25 L-00 Blues King guitars he would get a backstage pass to one of B.B's concerts. There were T-shirts and posters as well as straps associated with the promo. The first 25 guitars had the pickguard signed by B.B. in a gold color. This is the first time Gibson/Montana used the term Blues King for any guitar. After that they started calling almost every guitar they had Blues King. In 1994 they had the Blues King Special,The Blues King Electro, and the Blues King L-00. They used the term BLues King to sort of name tag with B.B. and not have to pay him. 1993 was the only time B.B. worked with Montana. He learned fast. The Blues King Electro lasted until 1998. In 1998 Gibson actually made a WM-L-00 and called it the BLues Bender. No one knows the origin of that name. The Blues Bender lasted one year and then in 1999 it was renamed mercifully the Working Musician L-00. I apologise for my mis-education on these, I really had never heard any of that... interesting tactic on the naming convention given that BB is a bigger name than a lot of the other artists who have an artist model named after them. Curious turn of events. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ParlourMan Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 I played the Keb'mo....nice but not $3000 nice I have one of these OWF, I've played more expensive small bodied guitars I liked less.... what I will say is that right from the off, they're a little tight, but a few months of playing will loosen them off and get that top moving properly... I'm enjoying mine a lot more now that I did in the first few weeks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guth Posted February 13, 2012 Share Posted February 13, 2012 There is a BB King autographed Blues King for sale on our local craigslist. It's been listed for months now as the seller continues to drop the price, which I think started around $3K. Currently listed at $1700. It comes with a pink-lined hard case. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jdd707 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I agree if you really like your Blues King L-00, you end up finding a case because the included gig bag is just not enough protection. They should just provide a case. Has anyone played the latest version of the Blues King, reputed to be back to mahogany? I missed this thread the first time around. My new one is the hog version and it is exactly what it advertises to be ..... raw on the high end and not that rumblin' Gibson low end ... nice middles ...... not all that loud .....an excellent fingerpicker ... great for blues. Don't try to play a country song on it ... especially using a pick. As for the case, well if you have a great salesperson, they will see that it comes with a hard case .... right modoc? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
modoc_333 Posted March 2, 2012 Share Posted March 2, 2012 I missed this thread the first time around. My new one is the hog version and it is exactly what it advertises to be ..... raw on the high end and not that rumblin' Gibson low end ... nice middles ...... not all that loud .....an excellent fingerpicker ... great for blues. Don't try to play a country song on it ... especially using a pick. As for the case, well if you have a great salesperson, they will see that it comes with a hard case .... right modoc? of course! ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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