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NGD - Moderne


Hydra26

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Congrats, Henky!

And also congrats Hydra.

The natural one looks great too, took me a long time to decide which one i wanted.

I have to say the Moderne plays and sounds top, a Gibson in every aspect.

 

I was somewhat alarmed when i heard stories of it being unplayable because of strings popping out.

But after one week of intense playing no sign of such problems at all.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pQXy8JcPxOw

 

Oh and one thing for people who wondered about it, this guitar is perfectly in balance.

It stays on your knee even without touching it.

I know the 80's reissue with the larger/heavier gumby headstock did tumble.

 

moderne_balance.jpg

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I just did a pep rally for a charity event yesterday with mine. I'll try and get some photos, I saw someone walking aorund with a camera. The main event is this Friday night. I might not have any pics until after that. I do love the guitar though. Great pups, fairly comfortable shape. Good neck. Very loght and the toggle is out of the way.

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Okay, I did the actual event htis past weekend. No such problems with the strings popping out. Gotta be an isolated incident. I almost got the impression the guy was trying intentionally to do that or at least it happened before he started filiming so he expected it. I wailed away pretty hard on my gutiar and didn't have that happen. I did break a string during reharsal which shocked the heck out of me because I change strings fairly frequently and havent had that happen in quite some time. Then again, I WAS playing pretty hard. Some pics of the Moderne on stage. Ignore the ugly schlub operating it. Even made up a special strap but it was a bear trying to avoid gouging the heck out the guitar with it. I do not recommend, haha. Oh also, Ignore the light up maraca I taped to the back of the headstock for the show. Not my phtotos but I hope the photographer doesn't mind since they are of me.

 

 

moderne.jpg

 

moderne2.jpg

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I wonder if Ray Dietrich, the original designer of the Moderne, would have ever guessed it would make a come back 50 years later. I doubt it.

This information has been showing up lately on some forums, and everything I've read indicates that Ray Dietrich designed the Firebird guitar and the Thunderbird bass, which came out in 1963. The "Modernistic" series (Flying V, Explorer, Moderne) were designed a few years earlier--I'm assuming around 1957, as the V and the Explorer came out in '58--apparently Ted McCarty and the design team at Gibson came up with those. I think most of us know that, although the Moderne is shown on the same patent application as the V and Explorer, no authenticated '50's Modernes have ever surfaced, and that's despite a decades-long standing offer by a Japanese industrialist of a million dollars for one. Gibson didn't actually produce any Modernes until 1982 (and, of course, now). As far as I can tell. Dietrich had nothing to do with the '57-'58 "Modernistic" models, although he had to have seen an Explorer while he was coming up with the Firebird--they're just too similar.

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These are suprisingly well balanced...

 

A couple of weeks ago on the Italian section of the forum we were discussing about this matter. A guy that never played a Moderne, told that, considering the strap buttons position, the Moderne could have been the most unbalanced guitar ever. So...can you confirm that's not true?

Thanks in advance

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A couple of weeks ago on the Italian section of the forum we were discussing about this matter. A guy that never played a Moderne, told that, considering the strap buttons position, the Moderne could have been the most unbalanced guitar ever. So...can you confirm that's not true?

Thanks in advance

 

Not true at all. The strap I use is slightly slippery and the guitar stays where I put it. It also sits decently on the leg. Its a surprisingly light, well balanced and functional design, if not "pretty" by conventional standards. The controls even stay out of the way during wild strumming. I like it a lot and have trouble finding fault with it. It seems to have the benefits of both the flying v (fret access, lightness) and the explorer (balance, good control placement) without struggling against the small drawbacks (as long as the looks don't turn you off).

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Not true at all. The strap I use is slightly slippery and the guitar stays where I put it. It also sits decently on the leg. Its a surprisingly light, well balanced and functional design, if not "pretty" by conventional standards. The controls even stay out of the way during wild strumming. I like it a lot and have trouble finding fault with it. It seems to have the benefits of both the flying v (fret access, lightness) and the explorer (balance, good control placement) without struggling against the small drawbacks (as long as the looks don't turn you off).

 

Thank you Hydra. Nice to know is such a good guitar.

I really would like to try a Moderne since the day i've seen one in the hands of the guy in my avatar [thumbup] . Hope some shop here in Rome will take one soon.

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  • 3 months later...
  • 2 weeks later...

Dunno if I missed the boat already but they're real. I just got in from a 4 hour round trip drive after work.

 

2012-03-12_21-58-43_182.jpg

 

Congrat!!! You are a lucky man.

 

 

Playing my new Gibson Moderne...

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XGJ9tZTjh4w

 

Awesome video of a cool guitar.What is the Moderne behind you?

 

The new Modernes look sweet.I have to go to Guitar Center and see if they have one.

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Hahaha, I'm kind of that way with explorers.. well heck, pointy guitars in general

DSC00589s.jpg

That's a great collection you got there, love them all.

Is that the original trem on the explorer on the right?

I'll bet every guitar in your collection has a story, would love to hear them :)

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