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Post by John E. on Nov 7, 2018 9:15:46 GMT -7
My best friend/SteelyFace's other guitarist Bronson is one of the most talented musicians I've ever played with. We hadn't hung out outside of band situations since I joined so we've been making it a point to get closer and he's become one of the best friends I've ever had. We always either go bowling or hang out at my house but late last week I ended up going over to his place. And what I found still shocks me... It's a 1952 Gibson L-5 or L-50 (?), Bronson is the second owner, he has the original bill of sale from the original owner! His mom bought it for him when he was 11 in 2008. I was almost offended he had never even MENTIONED the guitar, he knows how much I love vintage guitars and Gibsons! And this is a VINTAGE GIBSON! He was so nonchalant about it! I was doing a setup on his Tele and his LP in his Dining Room and I saw a 3rd case. So naturally I ask what guitar is in it and he tells me it's his first guitar. Figuring it'd be some cheap old acoustic I didn't give it much thought until he says "Wait, have I never shown it to you before??" and I told him no so he pulls that out and my jaw dropped! It's so light! The paint is settled into the wood grain just right, the checking is beautiful, the buttons on the tuners weren't crumbling! Nothing was rusted, there were a few dings but that's normal for a 66 year old guitar. The strings obviously hadn't been changed in a few years (cause he never plays it??!?!) but it still sounded bright and IMO is a perfect guitar! What blew me away was thinking about how it was all handcrafted. The bridge is wooden and carved to perfect intonation, and it was! The intonation was superb! There's some buzz up by the 12th fret and higher but we're gonna take it to Guitar Technical Services in Tulsa (Brad does all the maintenance on the guitars from the Woody Guthrie museum so we trust him on old guitars).
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Post by southmusic70 on Nov 7, 2018 10:36:17 GMT -7
There is guitar-making, and there is luthierie.
This is an example of the latter.
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Post by John E. on Nov 7, 2018 11:15:13 GMT -7
There is guitar-making, and there is luthierie. This is an example of the latter. Agreed! Playing this guitar made me realize what people mean when they say Gibson isn't "Gibson" anymore.
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Post by southmusic70 on Nov 7, 2018 17:50:51 GMT -7
I have a Gibson ES330 that I bought in 1968; it was my first “good” guitar; I still play it on jobs, and am playing it this Friday on a job through my ‘67 Fender Vibrolux Reverb. It still sounds good.
Last night I played my ‘94 Heritage Golden Eagle at a big band job through my Polytone Brute at a big band concert.
These two guitars are of the ”luthierie” genre.
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Post by Maddog on Nov 7, 2018 18:11:03 GMT -7
I kinda like old Gibsons and Fenders too....(and Chevy's)....
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Post by j4gitr (John) on Nov 7, 2018 20:28:01 GMT -7
That is a classic Rock n' Roll picture, Lee.
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Post by John E. on Nov 8, 2018 10:23:57 GMT -7
I kinda like old Gibsons and Fenders too....(and Chevy's)....
I wanna be you when I grow up!! That guitar into that amp is my dream rig! And I will say that even though I'm usually a Ford guy, I'd happily trade in mine for that Chevy
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