Johnny Smith's Guitars

**2bornot2bop** · 11-11-2015, 04:45 PM

**QAman** · 11-11-2015, 08:25 PM

Originally Posted by sgcim

Actually, John D. made the W word comment; Jimmy wanted John D. to sue Gibson. John D. was in the hospital at the time, and didn't give a schlitz.

After reading the bio, one of the main things Lin F. wanted to say was, despite what JS said, JS was a jazz guitarist, but as Mundell Lowe said, he was 'far beyond that', meaning that he felt the term 'jazz guitarist' was too restrictive to correctly describe his musicianship.

The book describes attacks on JS by jazz critics of the 1950s. They felt that he wasn't a real jazz musician because he worked as a studio musician at NBC, he wasn't black, and he didn't have the same jazz vocabulary as the other jazz guitarists.
He was also black-balled from Downbeat magazine, because he wrote a letter defending Stan Kenton against charges of racism by one of the DB critics. He accused that critic of actually fermenting racism with those comments.
The critic flatly refused to mention JS in DB after that.

These are just some of the factors that influenced JS to say that he wasn't a jazz guitarist.
Many of those factors haven't changed since then...

I did read these facts in the bio as well.

**Max405** · 11-13-2015, 06:14 PM

Just listen to the master in the background. Bad old recording but you don't see much Johnny captured on Video. Such a tasteful accompaniment. I love Johnny. His class and grace was evident in his timing and his runs. If you paid Johnny to do a job, you were gonna get your moneys worth.
I read that 2 months after this recording, Bing was gone.

There has been a hole in American Music that has gotten bigger and bigger over the past 30-40 years.
Listening to this old stuff reminds me of how great we once were.

**sgcim** · 11-13-2015, 09:37 PM

I never heard that one before. Thanks for posting that!
Listen how tasteful JS' fills are. He never conflicts with the pianist or singers, yet still plays great stuff.

**Max405** · 06-19-2016, 04:34 PM

i found this when looking up stuff. I haven't seen this before.
JD

**2bornot2bop** · 06-19-2016, 05:09 PM

Originally Posted by Joe DeNisco

i found this when looking up stuff. I haven't seen this before.
JD

is that the infamous D'A that wasn't returned?

**NSJ** · 06-19-2016, 05:25 PM

I can tell you about the guitar that Mr. Smith said was "the finest guitar I have ever played, without exception".

It belongs to my former teacher, and it was made by a good friend of his named Sam Koontz.

He and Mr. Smith, who was his lifelong friend of five decades, have The same general taste and guitars: fully carved, 17 inch, floating pick up .

**vinnyv1k** · 06-21-2016, 05:04 PM

JS and I share the same birthday...June 25th. Know wonder he sounds so much like me. :-) ...darn then I woke up.

**Greentone** · 06-21-2016, 07:47 PM

There's a side of Johnny that hasn't been captured in the thread, so far. I offer this as a true JS fan boy from the 60s.

as a musician and businessman, Johnny was never your old Uncle Fud. His nickname in the biz was "Nails," as in tough as. He always carried a gun in the string pocket of his guitar case. Nobody was going to shake down Nails Smith.

Oh, oh, and he could play better than anybody.

**ruger9** · 06-21-2016, 08:30 PM

Originally Posted by Greentone

There's a side of Johnny that hasn't been captured in the thread, so far. I offer this as a true JS fan boy from the 60s.

as a musician and businessman, Johnny was never your old Uncle Fud. His nickname in the biz was "Nails," as in tough as. He always carried a gun in the string pocket of his guitar case. Nobody was going to shake down Nails Smith.

Oh, oh, and he could play better than anybody.

As if I could like JS any MORE.....

Guitarist, Pilot, Gun guy. Like the blending of me (guitarist, gun guy) and my old man (pilot, gun guy)

**ronjazz** · 06-22-2016, 09:05 AM

Smith's studio recordings were done going direct into the board, no amp, for those looking for that "sound".

**LeGrand** · 09-14-2017, 07:18 PM

Thanks for the thread. Was searching original string gauge/style for a recent LeGrand acquisition and came across this thread in a search. D'Addario half rounds will be on my list to try. Never knew Smith wrote "Walk Don't Run" until a couple months ago, but enjoy knowing he did. A great song as evidenced by its appeal to Jazz, Country, and Surf fans.

**skiboyny** · 09-15-2017, 09:29 AM

Try pyramid nickel classic hand polished on your Legrand. For some reason these make the Legrand sing. Oddly enough, they don't sound good on a Johnny Smith! I use a wood bridge on my Legrand so your results may vary.

Originally Posted by LeGrand

Thanks for the thread. Was searching original string gauge/style for a recent LeGrand acquisition and came across this thread in a search. D'Addario half rounds will be on my list to try. Never knew Smith wrote "Walk Don't Run" until a couple months ago, but enjoy knowing he did. A great song as evidenced by its appeal to Jazz, Country, and Surf fans.

**sgcim** · 09-15-2017, 03:50 PM

Originally Posted by ronjazz

Smith's studio recordings were done going direct into the board, no amp, for those looking for that "sound".

This was only true of his solo recordings; he played through various Ampegs on the group recordings.

On some of the bootlegs of JS playing in the 70s and later, he doesn't sound as good as he did on the Roost recordings.
I thought that this was because he couldn't get the same sound live as the sound he got in the studio.

I don't think this was the case anymore. I think it was because he didn't practice as much as he did back in the 50s and 60s.

A friend of my father's lived below JS in the Bronx back then, and they said he made life hell for them by practicing day and night.

When he left NY, he didn't practice unless he had an important gig, and then he'd sound just as good as he did in the 50s.