Let's See Your Red Guitars!

[LesB3]

All my RED guitars are GUILDS!



Top: X-350 Stratford (Korea)
Middle: SF-III Dyna (Limited Edition - Korea)
Bottom: SF-4 (USA)

[jazzgtrl4]

[SOLR]

Nothing wrong with a nice red guitar. Here are a few interesting ones. The Baker and the custom-ordered Collings both went to friends. I still have the Otwin, for now.

I swear I've seen this VB before (Custom 14?) , I recall seeing it for sale online a few years back (marketplace or Kijiji ?). Had no idea it belonged to a fellow member

S

[skiboyny]

[Danny W.]

The undisputed champion of Gibson Modern Archtops, Danny W!

I'm not so sure about that, but it does give me an opportunity to post a few I overlooked in my earlier post.

'94 Gibson ES-355

(I eventually sold this on eBay. The buyer claimed that it looked too orange although the photos on my listing looked exactly correct on my screen. I agreed to have him return it. He contacted me while it was in return transit to say he changed his mind and wanted to buy it after all. When it arrived I turned it right back to him. He got to pay for two sets of shipping charges. It was a really nice guitar that I'd never gigged because my BB King served the same purpose and would have been much easier to replace at the time)

'70s Gibson Howard Roberts Artist:

(I know it looks black, but was really a dark wine red)

'05 Gibson L-5C


(Bought in 2005; this was the last guitar I bought. I believe it was posted earlier by the current owner)


Borys B420:


(This was intended to be a blonde but Roger wasn't happy with how the wood looked as he carved it, so I agreed to have it stained red. With my permission it appeared in some of his ads. He named it "Big Red")

Danny W.

[QAman]

Gibson L5 CT - a Hutch period custom build for Tom Van Hoose and now in my collection. An incredible sounding instrument .





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[Mick-7]

I no longer own any red guitars, but here's a pic of 17-year-old me with my then brand new 1978 Gibson ES-345TD in Wine Red:

Attachment 126554

Is that the one you said was stolen?

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Gibson L5 CT - a Hutch period custom build for Tom Van Hoose and now in my collection. An incredible sounding instrument .

That’s gorgeous. The original run of those was over 4 or 5 years from about ‘58. The L5-CT was designed for George Gobel, and IIRC Gibson made about 50 of them.

[213Cobra]

That’s gorgeous. The original run of those was over 4 or 5 years from about ‘58. The L5-CT was designed for George Gobel, and IIRC Gibson made about 50 of them.

My red L-5CT, posted at top and sourced from @thatrhythmman last year, is labeled "L-5CT Acoustic," made in 2001, Hutchins label. A prior owner installed a Dearmond 1100 Reissue floater on it. That guitar is notable for its sheer dynamic range. It's responsive to light, subtle picking yielding a soft, articulate voice. Dig in, however, and it roars without losing definition. It's one of my most dynamically elastic acoustic guitars, keeping up with my 18-1/2" '51 Epiphone Emperor Regent and only shade behind its contemporary sibling 18" 2001 Super 4000. It outplays in the same sense my '44 L-7, though the latter has a specific tone and bark from an earlier era along with fat neck perfection. Whomever carved the top of my L-5CT Acoustic was having a great week and strove for tone and projection beyond reproach.

Phil

[Bob_Ross]

Is that the one you said was stolen?

Correct. Only two years after that pic was taken.

[Sleeko]

I'm playing my inexpensive Red Ibanez today, very easy on the fingers with flat wound strings and such a great neck.

Attachment 126544

I looked at this model back in the day. Love Bubinga!

[Danny W.]

Gibson L5 CT - a Hutch period custom build for Tom Van Hoose and now in my collection. An incredible sounding instrument .





Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

This reminds me that I overlooked a couple:

'60 L-5CT (original Gobel) :


'94 L-5CT (Gobel Reissue):


and a story about George's guitar that I've posted in other places:

Being a gigging musician means lots of time to trade stories about gigs and players. I mostly don’t pay much attention to these except when my big-band drummer tells them. He and his violinist wife had a 30+ year career playing broadway, and when they were between shows they played LV or toured with top-name artists, and their stories can be fascinating. About a dozen years ago while we were setting up he said he hoped I could solve a mystery that’s had been bugging him for many years.

He was working with the George Gobel Roadshow in midtown and George had been complaining to him that he needed a new case for his guitar. The drummer told him that he was heading over to 48th street to get some sticks and would be glad to see if any of the stores had a suitable case. George thought that was a good idea, so the drummer set out with George’s guitar in the old case and hit all the music stores. In each one he got the same reaction. He’d open the case and the people in the store would go nuts. He couldn’t believe how excited everyone was to see George’s old guitar, like they had never seen a guitar before. In one store he wasn’t sure that they’d let him out of them alive with it. He knew George wasn’t exactly a guitar hero and asked me if I knew what made that guitar so special.

Well, he couldn’t have found someone better to answer the question. I’d been obsessed with that model since the ’58 Gibson catalog had come out, had owned an original, a reissue and a number of modern L-5 thinlines, and knew all the lore about the model. Before answering him I had a few questions:

When did this happen? 1970ish

He’d referred to it as a Gretsch. Could it have really been a Gibson? Yes, it had been. To a drummer any instrument with a G on it would be a Gretsch, but as soon as I said Gibson he said “That’s it!”

The next question had a visual aid. I had switched over to mostly playing smaller guitars before the drummer had joined us, but for this gig I had brought this one:



I opened the case and said “Did it look like this without the pickups and knobs?” “Yes, exactly!!!”

I told him about the genesis of this model, how rare any of them were back then and how unlikely it would have been for any of those stores to have come across one, and especially to have the original in their hands. No mystery at all about why they were drooling over it.

Danny W.

[jads57]

So Danny W. When I was a teenager 17 or 18 we lived in New Orleans,Louisiana and I took lessons at Roger Filiberto’s Guitar Studio. One of the teachers Hank Mackie had an original George Gobel like the one above with full L-5CES double Humbuckers.just like the one pictured but with Gold Tuning Buttons.

Back then I wasn’t that familiar with George Gobel. But later on I found at those guitars were originally acoustic with maybe a floating pickup. And the made them in both 24&3/4” as well as 25&1/2” scale lengths.
I still kick myself for not buying a reissue in the 1990’s from Dave’s Guitars for $5K.

[Hammertone]

I swear I've seen this VB before (Custom 14?) , I recall seeing it for sale online a few years back (marketplace or Kijiji ?). Had no idea it belonged to a fellow member S

Yes. after resting in the suburbs of Toronto for awhile, it was sold to a Toronto-based player. It now resides in Annapolis MD.

[cmajor9]

Here's my contribution to "Red" (some are actually "Rot"):

Heritage Sweet 16
Tellson 10S
Soli Record
60's Seifert


"CID" (Neubauer)
Benedetto Bambino
Artinger Venetian Hollow

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

Back then I wasn’t that familiar with George Gobel. But later on I found at those guitars were originally acoustic with maybe a floating pickup. And the made them in both 24&3/4” as well as 25&1/2” scale lengths.

Gobel was about 5’ 5”. Before Gibson made the thin L5 for him, he played an S400 (!) and asked them if they could make him a smaller archtop. My parents watched his TV show when I was a kid, and I paid attention only to see his guitar - there weren’t many high end archtops in plain view on TV even back then, so seeing one was exciting to a 13 year old saving for a good guitar. I don’t recall ever seeing him with any pickup at all.

Since the Byrdland had been available in ‘56, I always wondered why they didn’t just make him an acoustic version. I assume the standard scale was his preference, but I’ve never seen anything about how a thin L5 was chosen. He used the guitar as chordal accompaniment - he wasn’t much of a player.

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I may have been wrong about Gobel as a guitarist. I still can’t find any audio or video of his playing more than chords behind vocals, and that’s all I ever saw him do. But there are a few old articles saying that he was an “accomplished guitarist” who played with several jazz groups (with no identification of any of them).

I also found a Gibson ad showing him with a Super 400 -

[charlieparker]

So Danny W. When I was a teenager 17 or 18 we lived in New Orleans,Louisiana and I took lessons at Roger Filiberto’s Guitar Studio.

Off topic, but I have Filiberto's Technic book. How was he as a player? Did he play any jazz?

[SOLR]

not mine :


Belonged to Liam Gallagher of Oasis fame up for sale at 500,000£

S

[Bob_Ross]

there weren’t many high end archtops in plain view on TV even back then, so seeing one was exciting to a 13 year old saving for a good guitar.

Oh man, I can still vividly remember the very first time I ever saw a swanky high-end Gibson archtop: It was Roy Clarke on the "Hee-Haw" television show!
(Can't remember if he was playing an S-400CES or an L-5CES)

[Danny W.]

Oh man, I can still vividly remember the very first time I ever saw a swanky high-end Gibson archtop: It was Roy Clarke on the "Hee-Haw" television show!
(Can't remember if he was playing an S-400CES or an L-5CES)

Usually a Byrdland.

Danny W.

[jads57]

Roger Filiberto had already retired when I took lessons.But I believe the teacher,jazz guitarist Hank Mackie was married to his daughter.
I never did see Mr.Filiberto at the teaching studio.

I briefly took lessons from another teacher named Les Wise,Lol!
He’s responsible for introducing me to the music of Tal Farlow,Joe Pass, Howard Roberts, and eye opening Pat Martino!
I believe he knew, and took lessons with Joe Pass, Howard Roberts.
I ran into him some ten years later,while he was a teacher at G.I.T.

[bluejaybill]

Gobel was about 5’ 5”. Before Gibson made the thin L5 for him, he played an S400 (!) and asked them if they could make him a smaller archtop. My parents watched his TV show when I was a kid, and I paid attention only to see his guitar - there weren’t many high end archtops in plain view on TV even back then, so seeing one was exciting to a 13 year old saving for a good guitar. I don’t recall ever seeing him with any pickup at all.

Since the Byrdland had been available in ‘56, I always wondered why they didn’t just make him an acoustic version. I assume the standard scale was his preference, but I’ve never seen anything about how a thin L5 was chosen. He used the guitar as chordal accompaniment - he wasn’t much of a player.

Here's a '59 L5CT that I owned for some years. It was a shorter scale. I didn't think it sounded that great, to be honest, acoustically or amplified. I was much happier with the '68 L5CES that I got shortly after I let this one go.

But it was certainly beautiful! I wish I had a shot of the back, it had beautiful deep red ribbon striping, very highly figured.

My recollection is that there were less than 40 built, so a very rare guitar. I have never seen or heard of a long scale version of this guitar from the original era.

[PMB]

My lefty '93 red Gibson 165:

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

My recollection is that there were less than 40 built, so a very rare guitar. I have never seen or heard of a long scale version of this guitar from the original era.

IIRC, there were 43 Gobels made between ‘58 and ‘62. Here it is in the 1960 catalog -