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Gibson's "Trigger"


Murph

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Well on it's way to being a Gibson Trigger:

 

DSC01220.jpg

 

 

So, DanvillRob shows up at the pearly gates, with his DIF in hand. First, St. Peter say "come on in, the jam starts in five minutes". Then, Pete looks down at his ledger, and says, "hold on, I hate to tell you, but you did something REALLY bad back in 1967. You've got to spend six weeks in hell before I can let you in."

 

Bob looks at his DIF, looks at Pete, looks back at the DIF.

 

"OK," he says. "But can you hold the Doves in Flight until I get back? If I'm going to Hell, I've got to go back and get my Jubilee......." [biggrin]

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So, DanvillRob shows up at the pearly gates, with his DIF in hand. First, St. Peter say "come on in, the jam starts in five minutes". Then, Pete looks down at his ledger, and says, "hold on, I hate to tell you, but you did something REALLY bad back in 1967. You've got to spend six weeks in hell before I can let you in."

 

Bob looks at his DIF, looks at Pete, looks back at the DIF.

 

"OK," he says. "But can you hold the Doves in Flight until I get back? If I'm going to Hell, I've got to go back and get my Jubilee......." [biggrin]

 

Nick, how did you find out about the "Girl Scout Incident" back in 1967?

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This one should be the one. I'm the second owner. The first, a soldier, bought it in 1943 and took it to the war. Both the original owner and the guitar returned battle scarred but made more beautiful for it:

 

WhenJohnny1943SJNoFON.jpg

 

It's the only documented Banner Gibson war survivor. I'll be traveling with it to all of my book talks. I want as many people as possible to have the privilege of playing it.

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This one should be the one. I'm the second owner. The first, a soldier, bought it in 1943 and took it to the war. Both the original owner and the guitar returned battle scarred but made more beautiful for it:

 

WhenJohnny1943SJNoFON.jpg

 

It's the only documented Banner Gibson war survivor. I'll be traveling with it to all of my book talks. I want as many people as possible to have the privilege of playing it.

 

Great story and a beautiful guitar!

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This one should be the one. I'm the second owner. The first, a soldier, bought it in 1943 and took it to the war. Both the original owner and the guitar returned battle scarred but made more beautiful for it:

 

WhenJohnny1943SJNoFON.jpg

 

It's the only documented Banner Gibson war survivor. I'll be traveling with it to all of my book talks. I want as many people as possible to have the privilege of playing it.

 

Are you coming to Chicago area on your book tour? I'd love to get my hands on that one for a few minutes!!

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Are you coming to Chicago area on your book tour? I'd love to get my hands on that one for a few minutes!!

 

Twang,

 

I'll definitely make it to Chicago, but maybe not before I cover Lollapalooza in August for Fretboard Journal.

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When I think of Willie & Trigger, I don't just think about the condition of the guitar, but the relationship that exists between the guitar and the artist. It's almost impossible to think of Willie without thinking about Trigger and vice versa.

 

I'm sure there are other examples out there, but the first thought that came to my mind when I saw this thread was Steve Forbert and his Southern Jumbo. The Gibson shown with Joe Ely has the look, but I've seen Joe countless times now and he's typically been sporting Washburn guitars. (Although he was playing a Gibson at the best show I've ever seen him play.) As far as Steve Forbert goes, every time I've seen him, this is the guitar that he's had with him. A little worse for wear every year that passes.

 

l.jpg

 

Back when I lived in Austin, I was out visiting with the folks at Collings guitars. They actually had Forbert's SJ out there at the shop. Turns out that he was exploring a Collings, but he basically wanted it to be just like his SJ. Not kinda like it, but just exactly like it. I think they were just about pulling their hair out at the point I happened to be there. They were taking more exacting measurements of the neck, trying to shape it just so in order to get it to feel exactly like the neck on the Gibson. On top of that, Forbert had stuffed the Gibson with a bunch of foam (I suppose to cut down on feedback). And at some point in the past he had someone cut a hole in the upper bout to install some onboard electronics. I remember thinking that as good as they are at what they do, there was no way that Collings was going to be able to provide what Forbert found so appealing in that particular SJ. It was as much a part of him as his own skin.

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When I think of Willie & Trigger, I don't just think about the condition of the guitar, but the relationship that exists between the guitar and the artist. It's almost impossible to think of Willie without thinking about Trigger and vice versa.

 

I'm sure there are other examples out there, but the first thought that came to my mind when I saw this thread was Steve Forbert and his Southern Jumbo. The Gibson shown with Joe Ely has the look, but I've seen Joe countless times now and he's typically been sporting Washburn guitars. (Although he was playing a Gibson at the best show I've ever seen him play.) As far as Steve Forbert goes, every time I've seen him, this is the guitar that he's had with him. A little worse for wear every year that passes.

 

 

My thought as well.

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My thought as well.

 

Yeah, it's hard to see it any other way, eh?

 

If Trigger had belonged to just some guy down the street and you saw it in the local pawnshop window or in a craigslist ad, it would probably only merit a glance at best because the thing is such a train wreck. However, since it doesn't belong to just some guy down the street (unless you happen to be Willie's neighbor of course) it's a priceless piece of music history. On the flip side, if Willie regularly started playing out with some shiny new guitar, it would probably give one the sense that the temperature in hell had suddenly started sinking out of control.

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