Someone Ought To Write a Book

[duluthdan]

Most regulars of this section of the Gibson Guitar Forum know that tpbiii (Tom Barnwell) has a collection, ok, an incredible collection, of vintage stringed instruments. He is revered here (and on that other forum) for his historical knowledge, wisdom, insight and wit. If you have not had a chance to read the abridged version of how he got started, you owe a visit to his short story,

http://users.ece.gatech.edu/~barnwell/Why.html

...and if someone can wrestle his whole story out of him and write a book, I'd be the first in line to buy a copy.

[Salfromchatham]

What a great bio - thanks for sharing that Dan. I'd buy the book too!

[trvlr]

I'd call that guitar p*** again, but last time I did all my posted messages for the day got 86'd into the bit bucket.... but indeed a nice collection.

[E-minor7]

▲ Some people know how and have the luck to play the good hand of existence ♠ ♦ ♣ ♥ - I'm more of a roller-coaster type

[sjl200]

A great love story .

[tpbiii]

...and if someone can wrestle his whole story out of him and write a book, I'd be the first in line to buy a copy.

 

You know, most people who know us think we are sort of weird.

 

I remember we were in a jam session far from home -- at a small gathering at an old schoolhouse in Cape Briton Nova Scotia. We met a woman there, about our age, with a wonderful traditional voice who knew many of the old songs. Her voice was in just the right range for us to do the harmony, and we played and sang with her for several hours. When it was time to go, she smiled, winked at us and said "so I wonder what the normal people are doing." That seems like words to live by.

 

In any case, thanks for all the nice comments.

 

All the best,

 

-Tom

[Motherofpearl]

You know, most people who know us think we are sort of weird.

 

I remember we were in a jam session far from home -- at a small gathering at an old schoolhouse in Cape Briton Nova Scotia. We met a woman there, about our age, with a wonderful traditional voice who knew many of the old songs. Her voice was in just the right range for us to do the harmony, and we played and sang with her for several hours. When it was time to go, she smiled, winked at us and said "so I wonder what the normal people are doing." That seems like words to live by.

 

In any case, thanks for all the nice comments.

 

All the best,

 

-Tom

 

Tom your the man great bio

[onewilyfool]

Tom has made many a man drool on this forum!!!

[blindboygrunt]

Tom has made many a man drool on this forum!!!

 

i dont think its right to talk about his private life here wily :)

[Del Nilppeznaf]

I also enjoyed your story TOM

 

seems you've led a lucky..and interesting life

 

and seems you made some wise decisions concerning when to start your collection..at the right time

 

Do you have any plans as what to do with the collection when its time to pass it on ??????

 

I would be willing to help :)

 

Hope you and your kin have many a more year playing and enjoying them.

[tpbiii]

seems you've led a lucky..and interesting life

 

and seems you made some wise decisions concerning when to start your collection..at the right time

 

Many of the things that have seemed the most successful in retrospect looked pretty much like disasters while they were happening. We certainly had our "what are we doing with all these instrument?" moments. " Are we nuts?" And you must remember most of the world would agree we are nuts. And there is something a bit slimy about being admired for something we bought -- yes sir, I bought it myself!

 

Do you have any plans as what to do with the collection when its time to pass it on ??????

 

I would be willing to help

 

When my daughter went by to pick up one of our guitars from being worked on by Randy Wood a couple of years ago, she got two marriage proposals while she was paying the bill. Just last week, a couple of people on that other forum offered themselves up for adoption.

 

We are actually beginning to plan the future of the instruments. During my last ten years at Georgia Tech, I ran an engineering education research center -- The Arbutus Center for Distributed Engineering Education. Even though the focus of the research center was on "engineering" education, I also got involved with local education issues too -- both in Atlanta and rural Georgia. As part of that, I met some very successful Georgia Tech Alums who were creating centers that combined science and cultural museums with serious education goals. I would really like to find a place for the instruments that allows their use for both actual musical and research goals while also preserving them as historic artifacts for the future. We are still thinking.

 

One of my heroes in this regard is Wayne Henderson. Of course he is a great luthier and musician, but that is not what I am talking about. He also loves vintage guitars and he is a very nice person, but that is not it either. What is special about Wayne is that he creates his guitars at far below market value so they can stay in the hands of people in his community and he has a major commitment to local music education -- putting quality instruments in the hands of young people who could get them in not other way. Now that is a hero.

 

Hope you and your kin have many a more year playing and enjoying them.

 

Thanks,

 

-Tom

[Stubee]

Nice story in many ways, Tom. Thanks.

[E-minor7]

Nuts !? – don't bother a second. It seems you and your wife had a lifesize passion for guitars and spent a good time searching and gathering the impressing herd.

That's the opposite of nuts in my book.

It could have been so many others things/themes – a garden/park with trees and plants, vintage cars, figurines from the Battle of Alamo, Presley singles.

Guess you are aware how many couples are unable to share a co-interest and becomes a half weird pairs on that account – almost semi foreigners.

You are in another luckier boat, so keep sailing. That's of course what you do.

 

Btw. your knowledge 'bout the instruments must need just about as much room as the guitars themselves.

 

[zombywoof]

Ya gotta love it, that is a great story.

 

For many of us geezers though talking about guitars brings up the same feeling we get when we watch that Barrett Jackson Auto auction and our stomachs turn over when we think of the countless hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of Detroit iron we literally gave or traded away. Every time a bunch of us get together the conversation often comes around to the 1930s and 1940s Gibsons and 1950s Fenders we snagged and then let go of. Back in the 1960s and well into the 1970s we grabbed these old guitars not really knowing what they were (there was not a whole lot of information out there at the time) but because they sounded good and, with a few exceptions like a pre-War Martin D-28, were often cheaper than buying new. There was never any reason to think you could not replace your 1930s Gibson J-35 or Blackguard Tele any time you wanted. Not sure if this is one of those better to have loved and lost than never loved at all things.

[BluesKing777]

Even without the wonderful stories, just a photo coffee table book of the instruments would be fantastic! I hope there a proper photo catalogues of these instruments.

 

I am astounded by the logistics of it all - in Tom's videos there are also banjos and mandolins and basses and lots of cupboards and filing cabinets. I have a few guitars that seem to take up a whole room with their cases and other implements! Your house must have a music room 9000 feet long? I think you would need a large hotel trolley and a porter to lug....I guess that is called a 'roadie'.

 

Please Tom, tell us the story of you getting, for example, a emergency phone call to ask you to play at a gig tonight, say - and the mental process of selecting which instruments you are going to take to this gig - and even how you get the gear to the gigs - I imagine you wouldn't drive a little Honda!

 

Hee Hee -sorry Tom but here is a pic:

 

"I bought a couple more guitars, dear!"

 

http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_XU9x8G7khv0/SjFdxDOhUdI/AAAAAAAAFwI/yFXTa_DBa8k/s400/vehicles_55-2_overloaded.jpg

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[tpbiii]

Even without the wonderful stories, just a photo coffee table book of the instruments would be fantastic! I hope there a proper photo catalogues of these instruments.

 

Sure. We keep a separate file of hi res (16.5M) photos that fully documents each instrument and any associated documents and case candy. Pictures include all angles, closeups of all visible parts of the instrument, plus mirror pictures of the inside bracing. We also have a separate photo gallery which is currently being updated that just contains a front and back shot of each instruments. None of the full res stuff is on the internet, but we are slowing putting the portraits up on photobucket. Here for example is the portrait of one of our 1943 J-45 players.

 

 

 

I am astounded by the logistics of it all - in Tom's videos there are also banjos and mandolins and basses and lots of cupboards and filing cabinets. I have a few guitars that seem to take up a whole room with their cases and other implements! Your house must have a music room 9000 feet long? I think you would need a large hotel trolley and a porter to lug....I guess that is called a 'roadie'.

 

This may sound outlandish (I told you we are considered to be nuts), but the stuff you see in the banjo room isn't really part of our main storage. We love those old banjos, and we keep them ready to play for old time stuff, but they don't get played much -- they are sort of decoration for the studio work space. That area also contains the audio/video recording setup we use for our various videos, which is always set up and ready to go. The room also contains the sound equipment -- we can field 2400 watt of main power and 600 watts of monitor power if need be, as well as 12 mic positions (although we mostly use single condenser mics when we can now), but we don't do too much of that now. All the equipment is stored in travel containers and indexed and color coded. When we need to use it, we just load and go. Then when we put it away, we make sure it is ready for next time -- even if that my be months or even years away. We are all acoustic, so we (almost) never plug in.

 

The main instrument storage is all pretty well organize -- remember I am a geek. Our main instrument storage room has steel reinforced walls, steel doors, total climate control and its own separate alarm system with wireless access to the outside world. The rest of the house has another 13 separate alarming video cameras and a bunch of other sensors. This has all been built up over a long time. The storage room has three racks that can each hold 33 normal sized acoustic instrument cases plus another 25 case storage positions on other shelving. Instruments are stored by brand, size, and year of manufacturer, This makes them all instantly findable -- I may forget my children's names or birthdays, but not the instrument brands, sizes and dates. So I always know where they are.

 

Please Tom, tell us the story of you getting, for example, a emergency phone call to ask you to play at a gig tonight, say - and the mental process of selecting which instruments you are going to take to this gig

 

We are generally always ready for at least the kind of gigs we normally get. We have another locked storage facility away from the main storage (two closets) that contains instruments on ready alert plus the cases for the instruments we currently have out. Our living room has stands for 14 instruments (not cases) -- these hold the instruments we are currently using in some way. Either on stands on in the closet, we always have at least: one prewar dread for bluegrass, one fingerstyle guitar for me, my wife's BG rhythm guitar, my wife's fingerstyle folk guitar, a BG banjo (prewar Mastertone), a clawhammer banjo (usually an old Vega) and my wife's Kay bass. An embarrassing fact is that I also play harmonica, and I have a small case containing 36 harmonicas and many other essentials -- tuners, extra capos, etc. -- that always come along. All our cases contain an extra set of strings and a capo. So we have a capo collection too.

 

So if it is a gig, we are generally out the door in ten minutes if we don't do sound and half an hour if we do. Of course that does not count the required two hours for my wife to dress -- gives ME plenty of time to load equipment. She will generally help to unload.

 

The more interesting (and more common) dilemma is when we go out to some kind of jam session or mixed jam show. Here is the chance to try our instruments in many different environments and situations -- the spice of life. Here, we often have to guess what might be most interesting and most appropriate. We need to worry about climate and safety issues too, and logistics often limits what we can take. Normally if we do a single arrival event, a bass fiddle and a couple of guitar/banjos is all we can carry. We often do several of these a week (5 this week) -- some familiar and some not. Planning equipment for these outings is part of the fun.

 

and even how you get the gear to the gigs - I imagine you wouldn't drive a little Honda!

 

Hee Hee -sorry Tom but here is a pic:

 

"I bought a couple more guitars, dear!"

 

You are a lot closer than you might think -- in several ways.

 

Here is our travel/festival rig:

 

 

 

We upgraded to that rig when I retired. The cargo door in the back forms a separate storage area from the main trailer that can be accessed from inside and outside and that can contain the bass fiddle plus about 12 other instruments. This is home base for our bluegrass hobby, and we pretty well jam continually when not performing, eating or sleeping.

 

 

We use a travel trailer (as opposed to a 5th wheel) so we can use a topper on the truck. That is actually our old truck -- we have a new dually, but it is basically the same rig. While traveling with trailer, we can unhook and wander -- when not, it is overkill for any musical equipment and band transportation needs.

 

But it seldom gets used in town. Remember that my vehicle is a dually truck -- very manly. We use my wife's car, shown below. Not as big as a Honda I think but it is all doors! My wife always goes car shopping with a standup bass! That car can carry a standup bass, both of us and 8 instruments or 4 instruments and a side man. Embarrassing, but it goes about three time as far on a gallon of fuel as the you know what.

 

 

If you want great instruments, a few sacrifices are required[thumbup].

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[BluesKing777]

Thanks for the reply, Tom.

 

 

That is all truly staggering!

 

 

You may have to put your own book together - "Travels with....."

 

 

Now for the tough million dollar question, Tom:

 

 

"If you could only keep one guitar only for all gig and playing duties, which one would it be?"

 

 

Be truthful -don't worry if it is not a 'G".

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

 

 

 

EDIT: I like your Cube Car! There is a little black unit for tinted windows for sale locally.

[duluthdan]

So after reading all of these snippets, I am even more convinced that there's a book somewhere in all of this. What a wonderful story.

[jt]

Thanks for sharing all of this with us,Tom. As great as the instruments are, the stories are even better.

[tpbiii]

Now for the tough million dollar question, Tom:

 

 

"If you could only keep one guitar only for all gig and playing duties, which one would it be?"

 

 

Be truthful -don't worry if it is not a 'G".

 

Well, my first thought is "what a silly question." I can see where maybe we don't need as much as 200-300 instruments, but how can anyone live with less than, say, 75. Remember the old saying "A Journey of 500 trillion light years begins with a single, simple 1 billion light year time-space jump."

 

But I will actually try to give you a considered answer.

 

Instruments for us are tools for living, and they play so many roles. Our instuments largely don't overlap all that much in terms of functionality -- sound quality, history, beauty, durability, power, and value. They are sort of a giant mosaic, and if some of them get removed, the picture is no longer complete. So it would have to be triage for sure.

 

For us, playing with (and for) other people is what we do. Our primary musical skill, such as it is, is to be able to sit down with people we have never met and make music -- often on songs we have never heard before. Not all music of course, but music from the traditional, bluegrass, and folk revival genres that are our focus. We aspire to be part of the most extreme form of this music -- power traditional bluegrass. This would be the most missed element of our musical life, even though it is not the most common. So it would have to be a guitar which would excell in this role. This would exclude some of our most beautiful and well loved instruments -- anything smaller than a dread or Jumbo for example. This is cutting deep, and it would be painful, but instrumentally you can't take a knife to a gun fight.

 

It would also have to be old. The primary unique tonal features of aged instruments is clarity -- you can find all other tonal features in new instruments, but not clarity. The functional effect of clarity is to make the instruments more audible in a complex sound field -- like a bluegrass jam. This one property of old instruments is the reason we (and others of course) collect them -- if it wasn't for that, we would not own them.

 

Of course our bias in music does also bias our guitar choice. If old time or folk revival music topped the list on the triage, the choice would be very different.

 

Up until about ten years ago, I would say that the above triage would remove all Gibsons from the candidate list -- we totally loved (love) our many small bodied Gibsons from the 30s and our banners, but in my experience they do not have the power for traditional bluegrass. Martins are generally unbalanced with a full, broad, wide midrange. This is critical for serious bluegrass rhythm. All the Gibsons have a more sparse percussive midrange, which to my hear just does not match the needs of power bluegrass. It is perfect for old time rhythm and the banners are really great for the ragtime/gospel finger styles I use (with finger picks). For a couple of decades, I kept trying to make our Gibsons work in bluegrass jams, but I could not. I did (do) take a banner on stage in a bluegrass set and play a few into the mic -- that works fine -- but not in the parking lot where our hearts reside.

 

But then in the final phase of our obsession, we began to acquire mid 30s J Gibsons. These are quite rare, so they are not easy to come by. Our 5 mid '30s Js are shown in the picture at the start of this thread -- '35 Jumbo, '35 RSRG (renecked conversion), '36 RSSD (conversion), '36 Jumb35, and '36 AJ.

 

A couple of these are truly iconic -- certainly the AJ and also the Jumbo35. The Jumbo35 is iconic because it is in EXC original condition, and it is 960-12 -- the only Trojan in the shipping records with a known FON.

 

All of these guitars make the list on power, but the Trojan and the RSSD get dropped on tonal quality -- they are a bit too raw for BG rhythm. The Jumbo ought to have the same issue, but it does not. The reason I believe is because of the many repairs it has suffered -- we call it "Kindling" because of all the top crack repairs, and it has had some top restoration. To my ear, this has taken just enough of the edge off to turn all that rawness into just the right amount of midrange power.

 

So there are now eight guitars on my triage list -- the AJ, the Jumbo, RSRG, three D-28s ('35, '39, and '44) and two D-18s ('38 and '35). All of these would handle the power bluegrass requirements -- some better than others -- but all well. The RW guitars, with their RW roar, are as good as it gets for a pure rhythm role, but they can be problematic in a mic. So maybe it is time to compromise. I would also have to exclude the iconic guitars -- all original or near original irreplaceable historic artifacts. I could just not take them where I need to go -- the '35 bone and the AJ seldom leave protected spaces. This is too bad, because the AJ would probably win -- only the Gibsons on the list will also work for my style of fingerpicking, and the I judge the AJ to be in the same class as the bones for bluegrass rhythm. The best guitar for pure rhythm is the '39 bone, but that big midrange kills it for my finger style -- you need a bit more sparsity. The '38 D-18 has tone to die for, as does the '35 D-18 in a different way -- but both have that midrange issue (which is no issue at all if BG is all you want to do). The 12 fret neck on the RSRG is also a tie breaker -- sometimes you need those two frets. This is like eating your own children.

 

So the AJ and '35 bone are gone because they are to expensive to actually use. Actually, the RSRG too.

 

Now if I add the extra requirements -- more flexibility for other uses in bluegrass, onstage, and other genres -- the winner is (would you believe) the '35 Jumbo.

 

If you are interested,here is the story of acquiring the '35 Jumbo three years ago.

 

About six months after I got the Jumbo, I took it out to the the "Bear on the Square" festival -- I also had the '44 bone. There was heavy BG here, as well as BG light and serious old time. Gradualy I realized I prefered the Jumbo over the bone -- not just for old time and BG light, but for power BG as well. I kept trying to prove it was not true -- but by Sunday, I would regularly put the bone away and get the Jumbo.

 

I've always had opinions -- mostly no one wants to know them. I am still thinking that this is like a disease, and I will get over it, but not yet.

 

So that is it I guess. The Jumbo is as good a rhythm BG instrument as I have ever touched. It also works for fingerstyle (for me), and flatpickers drool over it (Kenny Smith and Tim Stafford). It is a player which can go with us everywhere. Of course, I am convinced it is not a real '35 Jumbo -- that would sound like the Trojan and be too raw. This is an instrument transformed by time, repairs and history from an (relatively) raw ugly duckling into a swan.

 

t.

 

Here it is on stage at last spring's Armuchee Bluegrass Festival -- oldest in Georgia. It is a safe bet it is the only Gibson guitar in the whole facility -- lots of Gibson banjos and mandolins of course.

 

 

We were backing up "Dead Girl Songs," on that set and my daughter singing partner in the duo, Kelly Moore, was playing our '43 00-17 -- the first vintage Martin we ever found. We still have it and use it of course[rolleyes].

 

 

Here is a picture of the whole band:

 

 

The two side men on the ends are both very accomplished individuals and musicians -- so much so that you often forget they are both legally blind. Kelly Moore has MD, and moves about using that wonderful robotic wheelchair. She and my daughter have a raw traditional singing style that really lights up that serious hillbilly crowd -- which is all the more remarkable I think when you realize they both have Ph.D.s and teach at the University of Houston. I think it is a safe bet that they are the best hillbilly singing group on the faculty at U of H.

 

You know, you can't make this stuff up -- no one would believe you!

 

I'll pick one more thing here that relates to this now rambling tale. This is a performance by Dr. Kelly Moore and Dead Girl Songs at a jam show at the Osprey Arts Center in Shelburne NS Canada in 2011 that includes my now famous '35 Jumbo[thumbup]. Many of the band members had only met less than 24 hours earlier, and the 2 1/2 hour show had only lightly been rehearsed once -- just to make sure it was not likely to explode. I am playing the '35 Jumbo. Kelly is playing a '43 J-45 (banner) and the lead guitarist, Tony Watt, is playing a 1937 D-18. The mandolin player is Michael Alaine of Moncton NB, and the fiddle player is NS South Shore folk musician Robbie Smith -- who doesn't really play bluegrass. Good or bad, such show are once in a life time.

 

Hard Times

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

[BluesKing777]

It is Saturday Morning here in Aust., so everything is a bit blurry and fuzzy and I need to go on a computer again like I need relatives visiting, but after your tremendous reply I felt I had to respond.

 

What a great, considered choice and a great story! Thanks very much.

 

Now all you need is one music stand, a spare set of strings and tuner, grab the '35 Jumbo and head off in the Nissan Cube! Look at all the time and effort I have saved you..............and I am sure there would be a stampede of interested parties to pick through your rummage sale items.

 

So I have examined my own collection of guitars, which is not in the league you live in, but a few very nice guitars I have all the same, so if you can narrow yours down to one, I thought I better respond. I usually have a 'back to basic blues picking' type of practice on a Saturday morning before doing other stuff, and this morning I grabbed the oldest guitar I have - my '35 Gibson Black Special (L-50) and played a while, and I immediately thought: "Just keep this one? Mmmm" While it is great for blues fingerpicking, and also great plugged in as a rockier sound, it is not very good for backing up a vocal - the maple makes it a bit too strident? I could do it, but would have to change my right hand strumming style quite a bit and play up closer to the neck, and then I need to put heavier strings and adjust the guitar.... and then what about my Blues King and my J45 and my LG3 and my Dobro, and, and.......

 

Sorry Tom, I can't seem to do it - I like to change guitars like I change my mind!

 

I will get back to you later.

 

 

BluesKing777.

[tpbiii]

Sorry Tom, I can't seem to do it - I like to change guitars like I change my mind!

 

I will get back to you later.

 

See, I told you it was a silly question.

 

On second thought, maybe I should keep the CA -- at least that one I can play in the shower.

 

Best,

 

-Tom

[Lars68]

Tom, great story!

 

I live vicariously through you and others who share stories like this of the old guitars they love. My own interest in guitars picked up about fifteen years ago. I live in Sweden and have played ONE, and one only, vintage guitar during this time, the 1942 Banner J-45 I bought last year. Having an opportunity to actually try other legendary guitars from the past would be like a dream come true.

 

I actually went to college in the small town of Milledgeville in Georgia in the early 90’s (odd place to find a guy from Sweden, right?). This was before my interest in guitars developed. It has been a long time now since my last visit back, but I know I will eventually return to visit friends in Atlanta. When I do, I will make sure to visit one of these festivals you describe.

 

Tom, it would be very interesting to hear a little more about what instrumens you feel are best suited for particular styles of music and why. Personally I am a mediocre couch player who sings and strums simple songs in the basement when the rest of the house is asleep. In your opinion, which type of guitar in your collection do you feel is best suited for this kind of solo playing and singing?

 

Lars

[Murph]

"We wanted something that didn't have anything to do with technology"

 

How brilliant is that........

 

Very, very cool.