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where do the duds end up ?


blindboygrunt

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Yeppers, I've always felt the main reason for this guitar equivalent of "MaryAnn VS Ginger" is because "beauty is in the eye of the beholder.".

In this case, In Your Ear! Our hearing apparatus are all different. Some of us hear lows better. So we are attracted to different guitars than those who hear highs better. And, of course, some of us hear better and don't need cannons. And, then "taste" enters in to overlay that second dynamic - some of us prefer louder. So, the people attracted to the Taylor sound want the sound their urban, quiche filled ears appreciate. We here, on the other hand, have the equivalent of EuroAussies 'socks ' in our ears I guess. Or our sound holes or both. This would explain why he only has two Bozeman's: . Two ears. Two socks.

Of course, I love Taylor's and Taylor owners. This is only meant to be tongue in cheek. Or, if you prefer, tongue in ear.

EA must not have done his laundry for a while then.

 

I think he got more Bozeman's than orifices these days.

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So, lets here them.

This forum is FULL of these types of things, and some darned good stuff, too.

 

EUROASSIE has, and often does, post vids of guitars he gets, just so we can hear them. And, some of his gig's as well. And a lot of it is pretty darned good.

 

We used to get Sunday's with BUC. BUC MCMASTER I thing is the handle.

 

There's a thread, "Walk the Walk and Talk the Talk", or something like that. All kinds of stuff in there, of all sorts.

 

And, there is one about "Your Acooustic Performances", or something like that.

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Me, Gibsons, socks .... where did that come from ??

 

Actually, all my Gibsons are Bozemans except two ..... and I em' all !

So what is that? 5? 6?

 

You must have used that 'sock in your ear' analogy at some point when you were describing the 'wet noodle' sound.

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So what is that? 5? 6?

 

You must have used that 'sock in your ear' analogy at some point when you were describing the 'wet noodle' sound.

 

I think its Nick mentioning my comment about socks in Gibsons on the AGF thread ..... which of course was me taking the peeeeeeess ;-)

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I have a theory of partially why the "warmness" of Gibsons or other brands might be shunned by some

 

I've been a recording engineer for over 30 years and have witnessed the death of high fidelity. Music now is overly bright, compressed to oblivion and some even distorted in the interest of being loud and in your face. Don't get me wrong there's some wonderful sounding new music that is being released but for every one of those cd's there's 100 that sound like nails on a chalkboard. Now we have a whole generation of players who've never really heard quality recordings on a quality system. They listen on mp3players with earbuds or streaming over sites like youtube through small crappy computer speakers. When you listen under these conditions there's frequencies missing and artifacts in the sound but you won't hear them on a inferior speaker but I can hear the results loud and clear through my studio monitors. One day I piped my tv through my studio speakers and couldn't even listen because everything was so over compressed and it sounded awful. Through my little tv speaker or even a sub par stereo you don't notice it but put it through a system that's truthful and Ouch you can hear what's really going on

 

All the above stated is the benchmark that a lot of people use now so it makes sense to me that it's carried over into the selection of instruments and sounds. I've even recorded young vocalists who have incorporated auto tune sound into their vocal technique without even knowing it

 

Whew! Much of what you write should be carved in stone.

What a lamentable devolution.

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It's easy to get rid of a dud guitar. Most people who want to actually buy an expensive used guitar, have convinced themselves already that, say, a Gibson is the best guitar in the world. ( It's a Gibson! )...yea right. All you need to do is tell them that it is. Just like the Guitar salesmen did to you when you bought the dud guitar new.. Let them play it, tell them how good it sounds as they strum and pick it. Sooner, rather than later, a sucker will come by and buy it believing they have bought a magnificent guitar...instead of your dud. That's why the used guitar market thrives. Sad, but true.

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The kind of thing I'm referring to could be picked up over a phone. It's not hard to hear. This forum does have some nice recordings, but it is an extremely small representation of the number of people who participate on this forum let alone the people who buy Gibsons overall.

 

I've mentioned the "one mans garbage is another mans treasure" concept plenty of times in the past and I'm sure that applies here.

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I have a theory of partially why the "warmness" of Gibsons or other brands might be shunned by some

 

I've been a recording engineer for over 30 years and have witnessed the death of high fidelity. Music now is overly bright, compressed to oblivion and some even distorted in the interest of being loud and in your face. Don't get me wrong there's some wonderful sounding new music that is being released but for every one of those cd's there's 100 that sound like nails on a chalkboard. Now we have a whole generation of players who've never really heard quality recordings on a quality system. They listen on mp3players with earbuds or streaming over sites like youtube through small crappy computer speakers. When you listen under these conditions there's frequencies missing and artifacts in the sound but you won't hear them on a inferior speaker but I can hear the results loud and clear through my studio monitors. One day I piped my tv through my studio speakers and couldn't even listen because everything was so over compressed and it sounded awful. Through my little tv speaker or even a sub par stereo you don't notice it but put it through a system that's truthful and Ouch you can hear what's really going on

 

All the above stated is the benchmark that a lot of people use now so it makes sense to me that it's carried over into the selection of instruments and sounds. I've even recorded young vocalists who have incorporated auto tune sound into their vocal technique without even knowing it

 

 

I think you are onto something big-time. Most of the musical formatting we listen to today is so compressed that you can't possibly experience anything approaching a reasonable level of fidelity. All subtlety is gone and the "real" sound of any instrument or voice is only remotely related to the over-processed garbage that comes out of the speakers or earbuds.

 

By the way, I can't even listen to music through earbuds. You might as well just read the lyrics and musical score on the page, and imagine it in your head.

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The gist of the Gibson "dud" post is summed up by Mountainpicker. The sound created by Gibson acoustics is a subjective like or dislike- and it is unmistakenable. There are no "duds"....there are individual sound preferences, and these are what make the owners decide if their acoustic is a keeper or not. Like Mountainpicker, I too will be getting more Gibsons in the future...and a few others too boot! But the Gibson "growl" is my favorite sound. J.D.

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I have to admit though, I have played some crappy Gibsons in my time.

 

Im defintitely in the camp of try before you buy, if you can. I bought several unplayed however but took quite a few precautions to try evaluate as best as I can unplayed (mainly sound samples). So far Ive hit a nail on the head each time.

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By the way, I can't even listen to music through earbuds. You might as well just read the lyrics and musical score on the page, and imagine it in your head.

 

I don't do earbuds either but I'm such a freak when I rip my cd's to computer I keep them wave files.

 

Most people who want to actually buy an expensive used guitar, have convinced themselves already that, say, a Gibson is the best guitar in the world. ( It's a Gibson! )...yea right. All you need to do is tell them that it is. Just like the Guitar salesmen did to you when you bought the dud guitar new.. Let them play it, tell them how good it sounds as they strum and pick it. Sooner, rather than later, a sucker will come by and buy it believing they have bought a magnificent guitar...instead of your dud. That's why the used guitar market thrives. Sad, but true.

 

I don't doubt that but my experience was the opposite. I was in the market for a Martin but stumbled upon a J45 and was instantly taken in by the tone. I tried to talk myself out of the Gibson for 2 weeks after I brought her home because it wasn't even on my radar but all it took was a few strums to reel me back in. :)

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Lets hear them.

 

When I stop by my local 5-star dealer, I'll check out just about every single Gibson on display. Lots of them aren't even worth taking down off of the wall — I'll strum my thumb across each open string and the strings sound like rubber bands instead of steel strings, especially the low-E string. Total crap, just a muted thud of mud, no edge to the note, no ring to it at all. I might spend more time with the examples that don't exhibit this trait and still most of them sound fairly lifeless and muted ("stuffed with socks like"). Most every other guitar on display that I check out doesn't do these things so I don't buy into excuses like the strings are too old or it needs a setup or the room humidity wasn't right.

 

I notice that most people are quick to post picures of their guitars but very few post sound clips. Digital recorders can be had now for prices in line with cameras, phones, etc. so that shouldn't be an issue for anyone who can afford the kind of guitars we're talking about here. Even videos would work.

 

Wouldn't have to be anything fancy, but should be something other than strumming a few cowboy chords so that we can hear each string separately be it single note runs, some fingerpicking or simply picking across each string individually through a chord progression. Some chords/notes played higher up the neck in any fashion would be good too. Nothing fancy at all, but something that gives a good sonic representation of the guitars overall sonic traits.

 

So, lets here them.

 

 

Let's pick,

 

-Tom

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I don't do earbuds either but I'm such a freak when I rip my cd's to computer I keep them wave files.

 

Likewise. I only convert to mp3 for use on a pocket player. Since I priamrily use my ipod for listening on an airplane, the compression loss from going mp3 is almost insignificant compared to the ambient noise issue, even with high-quality noise-cancelling headphones.

 

Everything is a compromise once you move out of the studio or away from a quality home set-up.

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Good thing your name is RICH!!!

 

Name only! I couldn't bring myself to pay 20, or even 10 for a guitar, no matter what. But that $20K HD28 sure was sweet. I wonder what it costs now?

 

Poor Richard

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not only does Gibson sell every acoustic guitar they make, CRAIG'S LIST sells every Gibson acoustic I see in our area!!!! That includes double X-braced, 1 9/16" nut sized Norlin era's finest!!! This includes vintage Gibsons to 1940 (which I have seen), EVERY GIBSON GETS SOLD!!!!! For every ear, there is a great sounding Gibson Acoustic, even if it doesn't suit YOUR ear......There are no "Duds", a dud is in the ear of the beholder. One man's dud, is another man's treasure!!! And so on , and so forth......

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not only does Gibson sell every acoustic guitar they make, CRAIG'S LIST sells every Gibson acoustic I see in our area!!!! That includes double X-braced, 1 9/16" nut sized Norlin era's finest!!! This includes vintage Gibsons to 1940 (which I have seen), EVERY GIBSON GETS SOLD!!!!! For every ear, there is a great sounding Gibson Acoustic, even if it doesn't suit YOUR ear......There are no "Duds", a dud is in the ear of the beholder. One man's dud, is another man's treasure!!! And so on , and so forth......

 

OWF ,

 

I agree but we can also look at this from another angle ... a good player can make a not so good guitar sound great ... a bad player can't even make the best guitar sound good .

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

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OWF ,

 

I agree but we can also look at this from another angle ... a good player can make a not so good guitar sound great ... a bad player can't even make the best guitar sound good .

 

 

 

 

 

 

JC

JC...I would learn to play left handed just to get at some of your guitars!!!!....lol

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