I met this guy the other day, a professional photographer and great guitarist. He owns approximately 30 (t h i r t y !!!) historic gibsons, including an ORIGINAL 56 goldtop owned by muddy waters, the MAN!!!!
Couldn't believe it when I picked it up. Light as a feather, what a tone!
I's two in the morning and I've just stopped jamming some endless blues with him. I wouldn't let him go!
People always told me that my LP custom was a great guitar, well they never heard the real thing!
Gotta say that my little Ampeg Jet ain't no SVT, but, shit, you know that sound? You know what I mean?
I've played a '58 Standard and a '60. One was amazing...just as you describe the experience. The other was shit ! Age and "vintage" don't make great guitars...fate and chance do. The right bit of tree turned up more often in those days..but not all the time !
[mate of mine is top tech and luthier, one of the few who gets to see and work on the real crown jewels on a regular basis...that's how I occasionally get my humble paws on them.]
ChrisM Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > By the way, why are you here telling us about it > when you should be playing it!?!?!?
I played the thing non stop from 9 pm to 3 am!!!
Still a couple of minutes here in the office and on we go with round two.
liddas Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > ChrisM Wrote: > -------------------------------------------------- > ----- > > By the way, why are you here telling us about > it > > when you should be playing it!?!?!? > > I played the thing non stop from 9 pm to 3 am!!! > > Still a couple of minutes here in the office and > on we go with round two. > > Problem is ... how can I go back to real life? > > > C
I feel your pain Liddas. It's difficult to drink rot gut when you tasted Dom Perignon! Any chance that you could post a pic of said guitar?
Spud Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > I've played a '58 Standard and a '60. One was > amazing...just as you describe the experience. The > other was shit ! Age and "vintage" don't make > great guitars...fate and chance do. The right bit > of tree turned up more often in those days..but > not all the time ! > >
Spud--curious, which one was great and which one was as you so colorfully described "shit"? I would guess the '58 was amazing. If I remember correctly in '60 Gibson went to a much thinner neck which a lot of people did not care for.
That said, I believe the LP that Clapton loved (and had stolen), used on the Bluesbreakers record was a '60 LP Std. That guitar had AMAZING tone.
It was actually the '60 that was killer. The differences in necks and frets etc are really just matters of taste. The inherent life and response in a guitar is not ;^)
open-g Wrote: ------------------------------------------------------- > Thats an amazing collection - you have been lucky > to put your hands on them. > > btw, The Prinz is by Hohner, not Höfner - but I > had the right picture in my head. > Did he say Prince actually owned it?
The truth as Spud said is that all old Gibsons aren´t that good. I own two perfect ones, a ´56 junior and one of Mick Ronsons late sixties gold tops with P.A.F humbuckers. But Ì´ve played and owned several old Gibsons that have looked good but sounded like shit! The best one was a '58 gold top and definitly the worst was a 1960 sunburst. And if we are talking about juniors and specials I think the big thing was when they moved the stable in 1957 to get the great middle sound. Tommy