Gorgeous sounds of Henry Johnson, his heritage and packing tape

**musart** · 11-13-2020, 12:41 AM

Originally Posted by jzucker

he's one of the nicest guys you'll ever meet too but unfortunately was chased off of this and other forums by the hobbyists who knew better.

I've been on this site for a long time, but stay away from the forums because of the people with 50k worth of guitars, and have read a lot of jazz biographies. I've played professionally most of my life and I am now 60, and just love playing and learning. It has never been a contest to me. So sorry Henry got treated like that. Hobbyist is funny but true

**steve burchfield** · 11-14-2020, 11:36 PM

I saw him in Nashville at the Exit Inn with The Ramsey Lewis Quartet and was quite impressed with his performance.

**Hammertone** · 12-07-2020, 03:48 AM

I've seen a bunch of Heritage archtops that are similar to the Henry Johnson model, but are not labelled as such, with very minor differences, such as the GE for sale right now on this forum, here:
Heritage 2005 Golden Eagle Florentine

Here's one from 2015 with a "Brockburst" finish, with very HJ features and a pile of custom touches, but labelled as a GE, recently snapped up by an astute forum member. Sort of like a thinline HJ, or a long-scale Byrdland, or a thinline L-5CES:

**Marty Grass** · 12-07-2020, 10:09 AM

Originally Posted by dmorash

Lovely playing and tone. There doesn't seem to be many of these model guitars for sale though.

Hammertone mentioned I have one listed for sale that is very similar to his guitar. It's 3" deep instead of 3.25" and is a single pickup but it is built by the same people and has the same neck pickup, which is what he uses for jazz.

**Hammertone** · 12-07-2020, 01:45 PM

Originally Posted by Marty Grass

Hammertone mentioned I have one listed for sale that is very similar to his guitar. It's 3" deep instead of 3.25" and is a single pickup but it is built by the same people and has the same neck pickup, which is what he uses for jazz.

When I got the Super Patrick from the good doctor, I spent some time poking around the internet and found quite a few 17" Florentine cutaway Heritage archtops, mostly with darker finishes - sort of a little niche within the range of Heritage carved archtops. Most of them are not official HJ models, despite the obvious design connection.

I'm tempted to change the tailpiece/pickguard/knobs on my most recent thinline Brockburst folly, to get it a bit closer to this 17" thinline, formerly owned by Danny W. I would have grabbed this one in a heartbeat, but it did not have the required big boy neck. Still gorgeous, though:

**2bornot2bop** · 12-07-2020, 06:54 PM

Originally Posted by Hammertone

When I got the Super Patrick from the good doctor, I spent some time poking around the internet and found quite a few 17" Florentine cutaway Heritage archtops, mostly with darker finishes - sort of a little niche within the range of Heritage carved archtops. Most of them are not official HJ models, despite the obvious design connection. I'm tempted to change the tailpiece/pickguard/knobs on my most recent thinline folly, to get it a bit closer to this one, formerly owned by Danny W. I would have grabbed it in a heartbeat, but it did not have the required big boy neck. Still gorgeous, though:

Don’t touch that tailpiece. Patrick chose it. Leave well enough alone.

**Hammertone** · 12-07-2020, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop

Don’t touch that tailpiece. Patrick chose it. Leave well enough alone.

The tailpiece on the Super Patrick is an ABM 1281. It stays. I'm talking about the tailpiece on the GE-CES thinline - a Fingers doohicky, possibly from ABM. I may replace it with an ABM-made Byrdland tailpiece.