That Guitar Blog

Buying a vintage Gibson guitar- Part 1:On the hunt

admin — Sun, 02 Jan 2011 18:31:42 +0000

Just got married few months ago and my wife and I decided to go on a U.S road trip as our honeymoon. For me it was really an excuse to buy myself another acoustic guitar (honey, I hope you don’t read this). I already had two Martins and was determined to buy a vintage Gibson this time I am a folk singer song writer and have noticed that most of the old artists I admire (Bob Dylan, Cat Stevens, James Tylor, Donvan, Arthur Lee from ‘Love’ etc.) played Gibsons in their early career (with the exception of Neil Young, Joni Mitchell and Don Mclean- who played Martins) so I really wanted one. I do a lot of strumming and playing rhythm chords is the way I usually judge a good big body acoustic guitar.

I set myself a 3000$ plus budget with the thought in mind of buying a 50’s or 60’s Gibson J-50 or J-45 model which is what considered to be the classic Gibson acoustic of the era. The ones from the 50’s and 60’s have slope round shoulders which is more sought after by collectors and in my opinion has a nicer and better shape than the boxy squared shoulders of the standard dreadnought (but not a deal breaker for me). Still I tried to keep an open mind and play all kinds of acoustic guitars until I find ‘the one’.

Luckily, my wife has relatives and friends all over the U.S. so we planned to be in many places that have guitar shops including New York, Michigan, Arizona and Florida. However, I figured that my guitar hunting would really start to kick in when we rent a car and go for a two weeks trip around the south eastern states (Tenesse, Lousiana, Alabama).

In New York City I went to Rivington Vintage Guitar store in the East Village. They didn’t have what I was looking for, but I did played an awesome 60’s Gibson B-25 which had a small body and a really sweet sound for finger picking style. Who knows, maybe next time

In Sam Ash located on the infamous 48th street I played an old road worn 1967 Gibson Hummingbird. They asked 2000$ mostly because it had many issues including a nasty head stock repair. It had the “not so desired” adjustable bridge with the rosewood wooden saddle. In spite of that and the square shoulders of this model, it did have a lot of mojo, and I loved it. The sound was extremely woody, warm and dry- me like! I think a good Gibson acoustic must possess this old dry folky middy tone that not all of them have.

I also played a new Gibson Hummingbird that didn’t have anything to do with the magic that this old one had.

There were three reasons why I didn’t buy the ‘67 Hummingbird:

It had too many cracks and issues and was afraid a bit afraid of that
I felt that I had a long trip ahead of me and I must play more guitars in order to decide. There must be better ones on the way. I still hoped for a slope shouldered model at the time.
It will ruin all the fun part finding my guitar already on our first stop

To be continued…..

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The Guitar Capo- the acoustic guitar player’s best friend

admin — Sat, 31 Jul 2010 14:21:23 +0000

I heard that the old timers used to call capos “cheaters”, because they enable you to play keys with difficult chords using the simpler chord figuration. Well, I beg to differ. I am a fan of the capo, and I’m not alone– great singer / songwriters and acoustic guitar players like Paul Simon and James Taylor used it a lot.

There are several open chords that sounds great on an acoustic guitar, they ring better and easier to fret than bared chords. They also enables you to play folk-y nuances and bass shifting better than other less comfortable figurations. This open chords are usually C, G, D, A, E, Em, Am, Dm with their 6,7,9 variations. But what happens if the key of the song is different?

That’s where the capo steps in and help get those great open chords using other keys. If you are a singer you must realize that every song you play has a right key for your personal singing pitch. It’s amazing what even a minimal half step up or down can do to your singing.

When I work on a song, original or a cover the first thing I do is check the best key for me. If it doesn’t let me use enough open chords like the ones mentioned above I will use the Capo to play the same key but with different chord position. For example if the key of the song is Bb, I will be putting a capo on the third fret and play like it was the key of G (Simon & Garfunkel’s Homeward bound and Miss Robinson are good examples for that), or put it on the first fret and play it if it was the key of A, what ever works.

Another great usage of a capo is when playing along with another guitarist. This allows each one to play different chord positions in the same key and by that creating a more balanced and rich sound texture. For example have one of the player without a Capo playing the Key of A while having the other play with a capo on the second fret and play it if it was the key of G.

Another great example for that is Paul Simon and George Harrison’s TV performance from the 1976 when they played George’s song, Here comes the Sun. George played his Martin using a Capo on the 5th fret. The key is G so George plays the D chord with the nuances that create the high notes of the melody. Paul on the other hand plays his Guild without a Capo using the song key of G and takes care of the bass notes.

Listen to it! It’s a great arrangement.

In this case the capo (originally used on the Beatles recordings at the sixth fret) was used to create that special feel for the melody which is very hard to get otherwise.
So capo can also help and create rather than just help with the key. One of my favorite settings for a capo (can be done either with a special capo but also works great with all regular capos that are closed from one side only) is placing it upside down on the second fret so it blocks all the five first string but leaving the bass string open. It is like a drop D tuning but with a step up and has the advantage of not having to touch the tuners and also playing the open G chord (which is now actually A) with its bass note. (On regular drop D you can’t do that).

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All about Hollow Body Electric Guitars

admin — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 14:22:21 +0000

First a little history The first electric guitars Gibson made were completely hollow like an acoustic guitar. The ES design consisted of such hollow models like the ES-175, ES-125, etc…(Gretsch made them this way too)

Fender was the first to introduce the solid body guitar–Telecaster and Gibson followed them with the Les-Paul design. Later on Gibson introduced models that were semi-hollow, meaning that they added a center block to the ES line and created the ES-335 classic model. Gibson and the some of the other companies still continued to produce completely hollow guitars along side with the Semi-hollow. The semi-hollow guitars may look exactly like the full-hollow versions, but in my opinion, they sound and behave more like a solid-body guitar. If you want to enjoy the magic of the Gibson ES line, Epiphones, or Gretsch guitars– I say go “full-hollow”.

The reason for the success of the solid body and semi-hollow design was that they did indeed help to increase the sustain and prevent feedback at high volumes.

Why I love the full hollow electric guitar

These guitars are pretty loud when unplugged which is a fun thing to have if you just want to practice and not wake up the neighbors. They are very lite comparing to Semi-hollows and Solid Body guitars– good for the back when you stand and play for a long time.

But the main reason is that I am an acoustic guitar player and hollow bodied guitars have a more acoustic guitar feel to them. Sustain is not always a good thing especially if you are a rhythm guitar player. Chords and riffs sound so much clearer without a lot of sustain. Especially if you use percussive fast strumming like on an acoustic guitar. Also the notes and chords are “softer” and “airier” which is more pleasant to the ear than the heavy mid sounding solid and semi-hollow bodies. I mean you can actually hear the wood of the guitar rather than the pickups if that make any since. Sweet and warm.

They also have a very nice grindy rock & rollish vintage overdrive sound (good examples of this is: John Lennon’s Epiphone Casino on the “Let it Be” Album and rooftop concert or George Thorogood’s Gibson ES-125 on “Bad to the Bone”)

I recently got my hands on a 70’s, made in Japan, Epiphone EA-250. It resembles the Gibson ES line and it is a relatively cheap (around $450) full hollow body guitar. I started playing it and loved it much more than the much more expensive semi-hollow Gibsons and Rickenbackers I played before. Even my girl friend (soon to be wife) who usually can’t stand me playing and practicing in the house said that this guitar doesn’t bother her at all and as long as I play it, she won’t kick me out of the house (lucky me).

So for Gibsons I rather have the ES-125, ES-330 models or even the later ES-325 all full hollow bodies over the more expansive and known semi-hollow ES-335. For Epiphones I’d rather have the Casino model over the Reviera, Dot, or Sheraton.

But hey, that is just me…..

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Paul Simon

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:04:52 +0000

In his early career with Simon & Garfunkel Paul used a Martin D-18 Dreadnought which is considered to be the standard of the Mahogany Dreadnoughts. Simon mostly plays finger picking style using thumb picks for his thumb and for other fingers too. This provided him enough “power” to play a Dreadnought which is not so responsive for bare finger picking. In the 70’s though Simon switched to a Guild F-30 guitar which is still Mahogany and spruce top like the D-18 but has a smaller Grand Auditorium body size which considered to be more suitable for gentle finger picking and a more “intimate” sounding instrument for a ballad singer song writer. It also makes a better guitar in my opinion for this jazzy chords Simon started to implement into his music rather than the raw folksy / bluegrass sound of the D-18.

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Joni Mitchell

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:03:21 +0000

Joni Mitchell is my favorite female singer song writers and her Record Blue is in my 10 top albums for sure.
In her early career Joni used the venerable Martin D-28: The mother and standard of all dreadnaughts. During the 50’s Martin made the guitars with straight braces rather than the desirable scalloped braces of the pre war Martins. This change did result in less bass and over all resonance but made the guitar somehow more tight sounding which is great for Joni’s rhythmic playing using mostly alternative tunings. These old Rosewood dreadnaughts has the perfect balance between a dry wood and wet ringing sound.

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Cat Stevens

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:01:37 +0000

Cat Stevens has a lot of great acoustic songs and I just love his arrangements along side with his other guitarist, Alun Davis.

They both played Gibson guitars. A lot of Cat’s songs have a very tight rhythm patterns and having Alun Davis taking care of the arpeggios and licks, cats usually strummed whole chords with a pick in very percussive way. One of his favorite guitars was a black Everly Brothers model of Gibson, which is kind of a rare model and has the smaller waist of grand auditorium guitars. Old dry Mahogany, smaller than a Jumbo Gibson, although a little thin sounding. They are both great strummers (Bob Dylan used a small body Gibson Nick Lukas model in his early work besides the J-50) and have a very balanced sound with out too much bass, which is good for playing whole chords without separating the bass lines too much.

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Nick Drake

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 10:00:04 +0000

Nick drake was a par-excellence finger picker, with most of his recordings don’t have a full rhythm section. Therefore, he had no need for a large bodied guitar. He used a Guild M-20, which is all Mahogany (not only back and sides but the top too)– a small, auditorium body guitar.

Small bodied guitar are very balanced and have a very fast response which is great for finger picking. Mahogany top guitars have a very special tone (I know, I own one). Its very warm, mellow and woody but still has a crispy trait.

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Bob Dylan, Donovan, and James Taylor

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:59:27 +0000

Their main guitar for their first albums was a Gibson J-50. This guitar is similar to Gibson’s most classic model– the J-45, but with a natural blond finish rather than sunburst. It’s a basic Mahogany Jumbo guitar with rounded shoulders (later Gibson change their J models to a dreadnought design with square shoulders).

These old Gibsons have a great woody, dry tone. They have a faster lighter response than Martin’s dreadnoughts though they seem to cut less thorough the mix in a band situation. They still have enough bass which makes them very versatile instruments for both strumming and finger picking especially when separating the bass lines from the chords in Dylan’s or Donovan’s classic folk strumming.

The J-50 bass response is thump-y with a short sustain that also contributes to its warm, intimate tone and “porch-like” feel. They sound really good playing with bare hands (without a pick).

Listen to the young James Taylor playing it and watch how light his touch is-– can’t get better than that! No wonder a lot of folk singers and ballad writers use these guitars as they seem to be the ultimate troubadour instrument.

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Neil Young

admin — Mon, 31 May 2010 09:54:49 +0000

Neil is known for a very special and a unique strumming technique. It consists of hammering and pounding on the strings accompanied by palm muting the strings. He usually plays individual bass notes, separate from the other strings that make the chords. Wow…..it’s hard to explain….just watch the damn video!

All of this creates a very boom-y percussive, powerful sound.

Neil’s most commonly used acoustic (that can be seen on the video) is a Martin D-45 Rosewood Dreadnought– Martin’s most high-end model. It’s fancy with a lot of decorations (like abalone). Martin’s Rosewood Dreadnoughts (especially the old ones) have a huge, open, and resonant shimmering tone with alot of bass. Rosewood guitars usually have metallic sparkling trebles. They are perfect for Neil’s pounding technique.

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Introduction to Acoustic Guitars- Part two

admin — Wed, 19 May 2010 14:05:30 +0000

http://www.flickr.com/photos/tetsumo/ / CC BY 2.0

In this post I will reveal the weapon of choice of famous singer / songwriters from the 60’s and early 70’s. I will also explain how their favorite guitar model matched their playing style. If you read my Pt.1 post, you will have a better understanding of what the hell I’m blabbering about.

First, a few words about the major acoustic guitar companies:
The two traditional leading guitar companies of that era were Martin and Gibson with the Guild Company as the third, younger player.

Martin was mostly famous for its Dreadnoughts, and Gibson for its jumbos and smaller bodied guitars. Guild made dreadnoughts and jumbos, but was also quite famous for its smaller bodied guitars, and especially 12 string guitars.

Here are all the 60’s / 70’s musicians and the guitar and techniques they used– Famous 60’s/70’s acoustic guitar musicians

I cover the following artists:
Neil Young
Bob Dylan, Donovan, and James Taylor
Nick Drake
Cat Stevens
Joni Mitchell
Paul Simon