django49

Yes to that. One conclusion is that he "sold out". I think not. Here is what I gather. Ron has been successful, even loved by a lot of owners. My limited interaction with him was amazing. What a nice guy! A friend who lives near him has has more direct experience and reports the same, times 3. Ron ran his own show for MANY years. Made a LOT of people very happy. But it is a grind running a business. Maybe even more so in SoCal. For a long time, he worked with his father. And, as good as Ron is with the inlays and such, apparently his father was better. Well, his father died a while ago, and things changed. The grind of running a business, meeting payroll (for a small number of employees) and actually HAVING A LIFE became more difficult. Maybe less fun. He had been doing a lot of work for the FCS, so this seemed like a natural progression to actually having a life. The downside to such as myself is that grabbing his "artistry" through FCS probably doubles the price.DAMN! BTW, the Artisan above just MIGHT be the second best Thorn, I have played. There was actually one followup to that series of 5, since he had enough of that spectacular finish left over for ONE more. As much as I love the "hifi" tone of that FAT BRW neck, the one with korina (black limba) body (chambered) and neck, one piece (You would not believe the depth!) quilt top and abalone reminiscent of the Artist Ultimate model. MIGHT be better than the one pictured above. I will just leave this by saying it MIGHT have the most luscious sustain of any guitar I have ever played..... .

While I am fessin' up....I did not exactly buy this one. A buddy got this one,. but hankered for a certain high end guitar I had, so he shipped it and a fair amount of cash in trade. This one does not show up in Ron's gallery. Apparently it was "work in progress" when he signed on with FCS and completed shortly thereafter. Korina neck and the same ThroBak pickups as on the Artisan (above). But it is a whole different animal. Hard to imagine too much better of a (slightly) "downsized" semi-hollow. All the praise offered up here for the Grantura model is confirmed in spades. Color changes with the light! ETA.....This is G-031, where only those up to G-025 (and some other specials) show up on the Thorn site. There is at least one after this one (I have that from a good source) so maybe they are slightly less scarce than they appear. I am not sure if it is a long term keeper, only because.......

I am still very much in the downsize mode. but sometimes you have to move on something special or regret it....... Ron Thorn has a real talent for guitar building, and a great touch for inlays. Part of a series of 5 created 6 months or so before he went with the Fender Custom Shop. Autumn Leaves theme. A great "sunset" burst really highlight the quilted top. Not to mention a solid Brazilian rosewood neck. And the ThroBak pickups work beautifully. Something about the wrap tail too.....

Harmonica player? Start there.

Guess I am late to the party. Anyone up for a THIRTY EIGHT CD set that has EVERYTHING including stage banter, for the whole experience? Sounds a bit like some of Elvis' later live albums. And ONLY $800! (Apparently missing only about 3 mysterious tracks for which they cold not get licensing). I am not sure there are enough drugs to get me in the mood for nearly an hour of Dark Star/Turn On Your Lovelight. Which I am given to believe Garcia never wanted to release because they played so poorly. But maybe i heard that wrong. But at least it might answer the question about who (not Who) some of those people on stage were. Sorry, count me out......But guess what, apparently long since sold out.....What was it P.T. Barnum said? https://www.rhino.com/article/woodstock-back-to-the-garden-the-definitive-50th-anniversary-archive-tracklist

And, I dare say, much better in person. That one really is killer.

This looks like fun!

SOMEDAY I will want a bass. But it would have to be fretless........That sorta narrows my avenue a good deal.

Maybe they could license their designs to Epiphone. Oh, wait.......

I am pretty sure that there is some game playing. I will watch things I am moderately interested in. I have received several notices...."Buy now before you lose out. Someone else has it in their cart!" I dunno. May be the seller's buddy. And yet the item is still for sale 3 weeks later. I did put one item in my cart a month or so ago. I am NOT in need of anything. There was something special and it was just beyond my self-imposed limit. Oh, WTH! Then I saw it would be $350 on top of that. Forget it! I am outta here! I have nothing listed on Reverb, so I do not know from the SELLER's side. I WILL confess that there was something that looked like a good buy. I did see the extra couple hundred to be added and walked away. For better or worse, the seller was anxious enough to sell that he dropped the price 2 more times over the next week. At which point it was within my budget. Long term keeper? I dunno. If I decide to sell, you will see it here first. VERY nice semi-hollow...... Note that some folks list in multiple places. For example, TGP AND Reverb........With "A discount for my fellow TGPers".