Round 2 at Twang Central

[EuroAussie]

So I finally made it back to Twang Central, the best vintage shop in Australia.

 

My main objective was to see whether Im still all crazy about the 46' SJ but also to try out the other gits in vintage vault including the two Birds and some Martins.

 

Unfortunately I left my Zoom Q3 back in Prague, but I did take my Canon camera, which has a pretty average, but passible video option.

 

So I recorded one minute samples (all that it would allow me to do) of the gits I ran through. The sound is pretty crappy but good enough to hear the difference between the guitars. It was a whopping 40C in Adelaide so the A/C and humidifier was going crazy as you can hear in the background.

 

Interesting to hear the difference between the 63' and 69's Bird, with the older lady to me sounding much sweeter and necatarish, she really liked to be played hard, even with pretty old strings on both Birds. The 69'er was actually short scale while my 69'er is long scale, and has a brighter tone.

 

I was most curious in the slopeys and in the end I chose not to go for the 46' SJ. It was an amazing guitar but didnt grab me in the same way as it did first time round. I actually thought the 43' SJ might even be better on second listen.

 

However it was a wonderful introduction to how good those 40's Gibsons can sound and I was grateful for the experience.

 

I recorded the folloing guitars: 63', 69' Bird, 52's SJ (which actually sounds very close to my Aaron SJ happy to say), 57' J-45, 43', 46 SJ and a 51' Brazlian D-28

 

So here's the link to all the samples, some strummy parts for the Birds and additional picking for the slopeys to compare the Gibson 'thump'.

 

http://www.youtube.com/user/AussieEuro/videos?view=0

 

Which one sounds best to you, got a favourite ?

 

cheers,

EA

[duluthdan]

No contest. That '43 Banner SJ is heads and shoulders the best sounding to me.

[BluesKing777]

Thanks for all the informative videos, EA!

 

You did a lot of work!

 

 

 

(You're not a major shareholder in Twangers, are you?)

 

 

I am considering hiring a truck and driving to Adelaide after the cool change and getting all of them - decide on the keepers in my own time - maybe take my bolt cutters and help myself! (In Joke - I don't have any bolt cutters).

 

 

You have put us in a slight, I say very slightly slight, feeding frenzy.....I am partial to the 63 Hummingbird which I thought recorded the smoothest, but really, any of them would be sensational.

 

 

Do we get a price list - correct weight and I could be there in 7 hours in the coupe...............only room for 2 guitars, but.

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

(What was the 63 Hummingbird like to play and why did you use a capo? Was the nut a bit high?)

[flatbaroque]

Great job EA. I like both the hummers...they showed a smoother , rounder tone under the recording conditions you worked to.

Old Martin was not too shabby either.

Some of the slopes were sounding a bit bright compared to the hummers.

They all may have melted after today's temps!

[EuroAussie]

BK - I had the capo on the Bird as the passage I played was the intro to a Keith Urban song, and he capoes on the 1st, just to compare it to how his Gibby sounded when he recorded that track. The 63' Bird played nice but not as nice as my HB TV which has the wider nut width, and you can definitely feel a difference.

 

Price wise it was from what I recall

46 Sj: 8K

43SJ: 12k

51 D-28: 15k

57 J-45: 7.5k

52 SJ 10k

63 Bird 10k

69 Bird 6k

 

In other words generally way overpriced ..... but then what other shop in Oz will you get a chance to play em' all side by side ....

 

Definitely worth a trip mate, dangerous territory ....

[BluesKing777]

Thanks EA.

 

Disappointing prices - will really have to buy the bolt cutters first.

 

And I sent FB on a wild goose chase to Nambour, Queensland for a dodgy LG2 to keep him away from the Hummingbirds until I get a good look at them.....

 

 

BluesKing777.

[flatbaroque]

Thanks EA.

 

Disappointing prices - will really have to buy the bolt cutters first.

 

And I sent FB on a wild goose chase to Nambour, Queensland for a dodgy LG2 to keep him away from the Hummingbirds until I get a good look at them.....

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

haha. you b*****d you've got the old Gibsun stencil out again and done some spray painting!

[Lars68]

In your original thread you mentioned a -43 Banner J-45. I don't see it among the videos. Was that a typo and you meant to say SJ, or is the guitar still there but not one you are particularly interested in? If by any chance you do have a video of it, it would be great if you could post it too.

 

Lars

[EuroAussie]

In your original thread you mentioned a -43 Banner J-45. I don't see it among the videos. Was that a typo and you meant to say SJ, or is the guitar still there but not one you are particularly interested in? If by any chance you do have a video of it, it would be great if you could post it too.

 

Lars

 

That was my screw up Lars, I meant the 43' SJ ... which probably now on second try became my fave just beating the 46.

 

Any of them sounded good to you or similar to your 40's J-45 ?

 

That 43'SJ has a very dry, thumpy tone, while the 46's is a bit sparklier.

[Lars68]

I mainly listened to the slopes because that is where my preference is. They all sounded wonderful. I love the dry and crisp tone. I sometimes like to refer to it as "raw" but don't know if that is the correct term.

 

It is of course hard to compare the video sound coming through my computer speakers to my real life -42 J-45, but my guitar definetely has a similar "rawness" as the -43 SJ. This might sound odd, but I would not say that my guitar has a "beautiful" tone. That is a word I would associate more with a scalloped Martin rosewood dread. Instead, I would use words like raw, woody, in-your-face, distinct, edgy etc to describe it. English is my second language and my vocabulary is limiting me a bit here, but I hope you get the point. I hear the same type of tone in the -43 SJ video. I have six acoustics (3 Martins and 3 Gibsons) and the tone of the J-45 is the one that stands out as most individual in nature to me. In a blind test, I might perhaps struggle to tell some of the other apart, but I would not miss the J-45. That is why I love it so much; it sounds like nothing else I have played.

 

Lars

[ParlourMan]

Cheers for the clips EA, while less than ideal recording conditions it perfectly demonstrates why I've never actually bought a Hummingbird despite trying 3-4 times... The hummer clips were so much less appealing to me than all the other ones.

 

Happy shopping, fella. Keep us posted. Remember it's only money

[j45nick]

Would love to have been there to hear it live, as the recordings are not easy to decipher. However, I liked the '46 SJ the best, followed by the '43 and the '52, which are quite different from each other, but equally good. The '43 is a bit dry, the '52 a bit more lyrical. I think the '46 strikes the right balance.

 

The '57 J-45 lacked the "ring" of the others, perhaps because of the non-scalloped bracing.

 

The 'bird has always struck me as a good strummer, and I still see that in the examples here. To my ear, the 'hog slope J is a more versatile and adaptable instrument in a solo setting.

 

The D-28 is nice in that D-28 sort of way: great in a bluegrass/country way, with that big bass that goes so well with a mandolin and can hold its own with those funny-sounding and shrill "lollypop with strings" things, whatever it is you call them.....

[stein]

All things considered, through my laptop, it really sounds like crap. Like a bad peizio pup.

 

None the less, I couldn't resist listening to them. I actually was able to pick out one that to me was well above the rest. It had a VOICE, and a certain sustain to the notes that created a certain type of musicality. Also, seemed to have a real sweet ring to it that amazingly was able to finds it's way to me through everything wrong in the signal chain. I dare say, even brought some of the whether conditions into me conciousness.

 

You don't want to know which one it is. Hopefully, you're home now, because it's way too much money.

[jt]

Very cool! Thanks so much for sharing these videos with us.

 

It's amazing how that little golden banner adds so much to the tone. :)

[E-minor7]

Okay, so no new old guitar this time.

Will dig deeper into the collection.

Had one go already and so far the 69 Bird impressed me a bit.

As said, will revisit.

[EuroAussie]

 

 

You don't want to know which one it is. Hopefully, you're home now, because it's way too much money.

 

C'mon Stein, tell us ... would have to be the 43' SJ or 51' D-28 ...right ?

 

Dont worry, Im not planning to go back there again ... :-)

 

btw: try to put on a set of headphones, its not so bad then and you can hear the differences much better.

[stein]

C'mon Stein, tell us ... would have to be the 43' SJ or 51' D-28 ...right ?

 

Dont worry, Im not PLANNING to go back there again ... :-)

 

 

See, here's the problem. You are in extreme danger of being separated from large sums of cash.

 

GAS is contagious. It's been proven. There isn't a cure.

 

I feel bits of the symptoms in me as I listened to these axes. I recognise the disease in myself, what I hear, and I don't want to be responsible. I could definitely help you cause harm to yourself here.

 

I'm trying to be a freind here.

[j45nick]

See, here's the problem. You are in extreme danger of being separated from large sums of cash.

 

GAS is contagious. It's been proven. There isn't a cure.

 

I feel bits of the symptoms in me as I listened to these axes. I recognise the disease in myself, what I hear, and I don't want to be responsible. I could definitely help you cause harm to yourself here.

 

I'm trying to be a freind here.

 

 

Some friend, Stein. You're like the junkie who keeps all the good stuff for himself, just to "save" his friends from their own self-destruction.

 

Gimme them geetars, I need a fix!!!

[ParlourMan]

Thing is, does the man from OZ hear enough to turn three guitars into one? I'll go out on a limb and say I wouldn't do it, swap the three for one. (let's see ye call me a reductionist now, boys..... didn't think so )

 

A couple of them sounded quite cool.. but....

 

I'll go out on a further limb and say I think EA should sell the songwriter and not look for a reason to sell the songwriter at the cost of other models too. What I heard in the clips (H'birds adside, we'll deal with them in a minute) wasn't actually any better than his Aaron Lewis SJ. But that's just me....

 

Now the H'birds, these clips were a bit of a eye opener to me. I've said it before and I'll say it again, the best bird I've heard by a country mile didn't sound like this, it was an old Adj Bridge model that and in all probability a Norlinesque model. Not one of these would make me part with that type of cash. For the same difference he could add something else different but very decent or he could add something boutique. He already has plenty "Gibson tone" (and variety) with the current herd.

 

...Offload the SW and buy a small body.

[j45nick]

...Offload the SW and buy a small body.

 

 

Now your're starting to talk. It's easy to get fixated on tiny differences between similar guitars, each of which has its own charm and great tone. Go for a little variety. A good L-OO might open his eyes a bit to a guitar suited to a more intimate setting than Mark's normal bar gigs.

 

"Intimate settting", like playing at home for yourself, your wife, and some friends, instead of the tougher gig of playing second fiddle to a glass of beer and a piece of tail, as we used to say about playing in bars.

 

Playing for people who are really there to listen to you, instead of people who are drinking, talking to each other, and chasing beautiful girls (or boys, depending on your sex and proclivity)--of which Prague has many.

 

Small-body Gibson instead of another jumbo: two thumbs up.

[ParlourMan]

Small-body Gibson instead of another jumbo: two thumbs up.

 

Right let's do it, let's gang up on him.....

[dchristo]

maybe this will help

 

[EuroAussie]

Right let's do it, let's gang up on him.....

 

Dont worry boys, the SWD is on the way out as soon as our lead guitarist puts together the funds (but given his a muso it might take a while) but it was difficult to swallow the idea of getting rid of any of the other Gibbys to be honest.

[stein]

Home yet?

[EuroAussie]

Home yet?

 

Back on Wednesday, still dealing with the Aussie summer which yesterday reached 48c in my town, which I think is the hottest Ive ever experienced .... insane hot. RH: 4%