JohnnyB

Sometimes it's not the loss of weight itself, but where that weight is. For neck-diving instruments, some people hang a bag of shot or washers from the bottom strap button to balance the instrument better. That's why tuners and tuner buttons can make such a difference--the leverage inherent in their position at the headstock.

That's a good start, but speaking of wide, padded Levy's, I have two of these, and they really distribute the weight. I have two collapsed discs in my lower neck, and I can play bass with these for hours.

This is how I feel as well. I can barre chord all night with a deep neck (boat or not) and not get hand cramps. It's the best neck for lots of rhythm playing. Yet, for solo work I don't find it obstructive at all. I have an Ibanez AS-180 (MIJ 335-type). It's a nice instrument and wonderfully finished, but the neck is Ibanez-thin, and my hand gets tired quicker when chording than on my Anniversary and Newport, which have more substantial necks. I've played old acoustics with boat carve necks (e.g., a 1905 Washburn parlor guitar), and while they feel thick when you start out, you soon find that they are very comfortable to play, and neck stability provides better intonation.

Not his guitar really - he plays a Gibson LP Goldtop. Suspect a good chunk of the problem is with his signal chain - a ten pedal board wired in series routed thru a generic multi-effects pedal into a SS Marshall combo (MG50 or some such). Yikes! I'm glad you listed his signal chain, because that much tone suckage is at the root of the problem. Ten pedals in series flattens the dynamic range and adds to the noise floor. He may think that raising the gain will help, but it just makes it worse. The multi-effects pedal makes it even more worser because it digitizes that noisy flattened signal, runs it through digital effects, and then converts it back into an analog signal just before feeding the amp. He needs to learn to walk before he runs--learn the basics of rhythm guitar coordinated with his singing before he messes with the signal for special effect. If he hides behind the processors he may never learn to play well.

My theory: A special production run between Gibson and a vendor (e.g., Guitar Center) in 1977 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the Les Paul guitar. If silverburst didn't come out in Gibson's product line for another year or two, maybe--if this was a special order limited production run--the silverburst on this guitar was a proof-of-concept run. Gretsch/GC did something like this in 2010, when GC had an exclusive run of orange single cutaway hollowbody 5120-style Electromatic basses. They were really off the grid--they weren't on Gretsch's or GC's websites. The only way to find out about it was to stumble onto a discussion on a bass or Gretsch forum. The only way you could find one was to go to a GC and see if they had one in stock. If they did, you bought it and took it home. If they had already sold one, they probably wouldn't be able to get another one unless it was trans-shipped from another GC. A year or two after that run was over, Gretsch came out with a similar bass, but it was more expensive, had different pickups (the first version had USA-made TV Jones Thunder 'trons), fret markers (from half-moon to clouds), and the scale was changed from 32" (which was awesome) to 34". Here was my special edition GC version: And here's the version once Gretsch decided to productize it: So I'm wondering if this silver anniversary LP was an off-the-grid special production (therefore not documented in the normal way) that resulted in silverbursts showing up on other things for awhile.

They look great on amps! ... and chickens.

That's why I listen to music--to drive'em out!

Ernest is not on this one, but Ecue: Ritmos Cubanos is a collaboration of Louie Bellson & big band legends with several Cuban masters. I picked it up a couple of months ago.

Told'ja. This is exactly the caliber of classical guitar luthier I was thinking of--makes it look like it never happened and the guitar comes out sounding as good as--or better than--it was before. Enjoy!

HardHeartedBill posted this picture on Facebook, soliciting captions: It inspired me to pull out my LP of this album and give it a couple of spins: It was recorded by an American recording team in 1962 in the USSR at the height of the Cold War, which is what the "First Time Ever" banner is referring to. This orchestra is comprised of Russian folk instruments and has been around since 1919. You wouldn't believe the virtuosity of the players, nor the range that can be coaxed from these 3-string balalaikas. The LP I have was remastered 40 years later from the original 3-track tapes, supervised by Wilma Cozart Fine, who oversaw the original mixdowns and mastering in 1962-3. You wouldn't believe how good a 51-yr-old recording can sound, and the music and performances transcend genre.

The early stereo recordings were true labors of love. Both RCA Living Stereo and Mercury Living Presence recorded with 3 mics (left, center, right) on 1/2" tape running at 30 ips. The 3 channels were mixed down to 2 for stereo. Everest went a step further, recording on special-made Westrex recorders using 35 mm with a magnetic coating. Assuming a 24 fps speed, that'd be a little faster than 24 ips, but the 3 channels were spread over 36 mm (about 1-1/2 inches) of width. The original Everest incarnation only recorded this way from 1958 to 1961, after which Mercury picked up one of the machines to do some of their Living Presence recordings, and Command picked up the other. Our own TomTerrific has mastered from one of these machines. By using a trio of farfield omnidirectional mics, these recordings picked up the performance from an audience perspective and provide the proper natural mix of hall ambience, putting you right there at the performance on a good playback system.

This pressing of the 1960 recording of Fritz Reiner & Chicago Symphony doing Rimsky-Korsakov's Scherazade. Everything about this recording is superb--the music, the conducting, the playing, the acoustics, the recording, the mastering, and the pressing. It was recorded with just 3 microphones on 1/2" tape running at 30 ips, so the dynamic and frequency ranges still keep up with today's technology. Also an original LP of Frank Sinatra and the Count Basie Orchestra, arranged and conducted by Quincy Jones. This is the album that his famous "Fly Me to the Moon" came from. It's on Reprise, the label Frank created for himself and fellow rat-packers before later signing Jimi Hendrix, Joni Mitchell, Gordon Lightfoot, and others.

Shouldn't all the writers of 12-bar I-IV-I-IV-I-V-IV-I blues songs sue each other?

I've seen cronyism ruin a company this way before. In Silicon Valley I worked for the company that first ported Unix to a microprocessor, dramatically bringing the cost of a Unix machine down by 90%. Various high level guys went on to found or co-found several other influential companies, including the VP of mfg. who went on to co-found Sun Microsystems. After the company got on its feet, the primary venture capitalist fired all the founders--which is why they went on to found other more successful and innovative Unix-based companies--and then brought in a fat cat from National Semiconductor to be CEO. He in turn brought in a bunch of clueless cronies from NatSem, handed out big stock options for them, and (after going public and making fortunes) proceeded to drive the company into the ground with their clueless, hamfisted management. When I started there, stock was trading at around $19/share. By the time I left, exactly a year later, it was down to $2/share and never recovered. It closed down about a year after I left. What genius thought it would be a good idea to pluck an executive from a drowning company like GC to try to "save" FMIC? It's a pity, actually, given the courage exhibited by Fender employees in 1985 when they put their resources together and got financial backing to shake loose from CBS Musical Instruments after 20 years of their hamfisted mishandling, not only of Fender, but of Rogers Drums, Steinway Pianos, and other companies under the CBS Musical Instruments umbrella.

Now, if I could just get a flight to Cremona for Saturday. According to Gorch's link, Rolf Lislevand (the first player) and others are playing this guitar in recital in Cremona, Italy this Saturday. Lislevand is also a killer lutenist and mandolinist. Based on hearing him on the radio about a year ago, I bought this collection of his lute and mandolin works of Vivaldi compositions. I have various recordings of the Vivaldi guitar concertos, but a lute in the hands of a skilled lutenist brings subtlety and nuanced expression to those pieces that I'd never heard in the 42 years I've been listening to them.

It was baby-boomers who were buying up the guitars of their dreams in the '80s-'90s when they had the discretionary income to do so. Now 36 million baby boomers are age 60-68, entering retirement, and selling off their collections. There will be 4 million+ boomers entering age 60 and above every year for the next ten years and they will be doing the same. Supply and demand are the plate tectonics of an economy. Lots of older guys who grew up on guitar are ready to sell their collections to generations raised on synth-pop and DJ-scratch hip-hop. However, our resident Hamer USA luthiers have mad skills, and there is always a niche market for finely crafted instruments. They belong in a craft/luthier environment, not a factory.

It's about business models, economy of scale relative to the business model, etc. Example, at the height of the comeback of vinyl records, Panasonic discontinued production of their SL12x0 direct drive turntable line. Why would they do this when Rega, Music Hall, Pro-ject, and others continue to expand their lines and make money, when more and more new album releases are coming out on vinyl? Because the Technics turntable was only viable as long as Panasonic could make many thousands of them per year. And they had done so for a very long time. The original version came out in 1972, and continued as the Mk II version until 2010. It's the best-selling turntable of all time at over 3 million units sold. But eventually market conditions changed, and without that high economy of scale, the Technics SL12x0 series was no longer viable. Why put millions of dollars into upgrading a $500-1000 turntable that requires microscopic machining tolerances when they can stamp out millions of $89 Blu-ray players? Likewise, Guild has always been a bit problematic, a premium also-ran, a guitarist's guitar, but without the name brand recognition of Gibson, Martin, Ovation (for awhile), and Taylor. For it to work with Fender as owner, it probably needs to hit sales numbers it just can't hit. But for the new owner, it may be a real feather in its cap, a real boost in name brand recognition. Whereas, to Fender, Guild is just another semi-premium brand name, for the new owner it could be the flagship. something they lavish attention and marketing on. If it pays off, Guild survives. If not, it's passed onto the next idealistic sucker prospect. Guild guitars are something like old MG and Triumph sports cars--those who want them want them really bad, but there aren't that many of those people. And let's not forget that pop music's focus has drifted from guitar-based rock to pop-synth diva pop and rap/hip-hop. The guitar just doesn't occupy the same position of prominence it once did, and in a shrinking market there's room for only so many players. Even less encouraging, Guild's heyday harkens back to the transition from hootenanny/folk to folk rock, which is about 50 years ago. Guid may have a better shot with the new owners, though it was never a strong contender.

I've developed an addiction for LPs cut at 45 rpm. I recently picked up a few BINs on eBay, and I've been spinning them as they arrive. They are particularly good for large scale orchestral works, as the faster speed spreads out the details and keeps them more clear. I got a lot of four with free shipping that includes Stravinsky's Firebird Suite, a Poulenec concerto I'm not familiar with yet, some Ravel things, and the prize, a 3-disc set of all six of Bach's Brandenburg Concertos, by the LA Chamber Orchestra in 1980 when it was led by Gerard Schwarz, who later became the maestro at Seattle Symphony for 26 seasons (that's a lot). I own a CD and four other LP copies of the Brandenburgs. I've been listening to them since my brother brought home a 2-LP set 44 years ago. I have heard them played live on a few occasions. But when I dropped the needle on these Angel 45s, I heard melody lines that I didn't know were in there until now. This is a rendition that is clear and precise, well played, and musically very satisfying as well. I also picked up a Sonic Series compilation of Johann Strauss waltzes and again, what these 45s do for big orchestral works is fantastic. Many of the recordings are superb performances by great conductors and appropriate orchestras. The Ravel, for example, is performed by Jean Martinon and the Orchestre de Paris. I have some Andre Previn and Herbert Von Karajan on the way too.

Pristine 3-LP box set I just picked up for 99 cents plus another LP for the same price, perfect for puttering around the house on a Saturday:

HA! LOVE IT! Me too! +1 zilliion Desperate times call for desperate measures.

We should dub this the "Skin-of-the-Teeth Standard," arriving three days after the factory was shut down. At leat they went out with a bang (this gorgeous instrument) instead of a whimper. Great work to the very end, guys. I may never part with my 2000 Newport after this.

GuildPilotJacoad.jpg There's even a court case between them around 1951: http://www.leagle.com/decision/1951832279AD553_5678 Maybe it was the strike that resulted in Epiphone employees moving to Guild in Hoboken. Yep. Brain fart. I meant Epiphone.

Epiphone was made in New York, but then a protracted strike in 1951 prompted Epi to move to Philadelphia. Guild was founded in Manhattan in 1952 by Aflred Dronge, music store owner/guitarist and George Mann former Gibson Exec. Gibson didn't buy Epiphone until 1957. There may have been some migration to Guild at that time, but Guild was five years old by then.

Watch for a USA Ovation blowout?

I was thinking that Guild's and Hamer's endorsement strategies were very very similar - one aging 'has-been', and one current semi-obscure (Richie Havens/Rick Nielsen, Kim Thayil/Tom Dumont). Hey! Don't forget Tommy Smothers!