The Jazz Guitar Chord Dictionary
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  1. #26

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hammertone
    May as well revive this thread:

    A very well proportioned instrument with a beautiful recurve - and Rossmeissl like f-holes. I like it a lot.

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  3. #27

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    Two souls alas! are dwelling in my breast.

    I must confess that although I feel myself close at the intersection of being a jazz fan and guitarist, player and owner of Lang and other guitars, a (former) violin enthusiast, definitely a member of people interested in the story, the design and construction methods of archtop guitars and their derivation from the century-old instruments of the violin family… all this is not sufficient to report here in detail on the ideas of Artur Lang and his archtop guitars.

    On the one hand, his instruments and incredible sensitivity against even the smallest construction details deserve far more attention by both the players and the luthiers. It is more than significant that, so far, attempts to copy Lang guitars (since the early 1960s), have more or less failed in practice, like only direct comparisons can reveal. Something that many of the world best violinists are claiming of Stradivari or Guarneri instruments…

    On the other hand, it is my belief that there is the aggravating circumstance of the different mother tongue on web fora, in addition something like the burden of the incommunicable when it comes to the subtleties of musical instruments, maybe even "something indecent in words" and in recording clips. I tried to spread some basic Lang information on a very small, now defunct, forum and felt like failing miserably - the remarks often got misunderstood and were queried by folks who neither did know something meaningful about general archtop and violin construction, nor Lang guitars, nor the specific contemporary events that were influencing not only Lang himself but the entire germanophone archtop guitar making scene since the late 1920s. I know exactly the same would happen here, since many could feel like getting attacked by someone who is inclined to ideas that do not originate from Gibson but from the old violin masters.

    So, by now, it’s sad to say that Lang guitars are a matter for personal exchange among, at best, a handful of men - in private.
    Artur Lang had virtually almost never to advertize his instruments, nor was he interested in the international market. This is why I sometimes come out with 100% faked Lang ads...

    Artur Lang Archtop-lang-artur-ad-all-me-jpg
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 06-19-2016 at 09:32 AM.

  4. #28

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    In other words… Artur Lang made fabulous acoustic archtop guitars.
    There is a reasonable amount of information about him on the web for those who are interested.
    I think that leading the horse to water is all that one can do.

    While I have an interest in these instruments, the times in which they were made and the historical and cultural influences on their development, I am also lucky enough to be able to play some of them. Only the experience of playing these guitars can communicate what they are, and most jazz guitarists will never have that opportunity. This applies not only to instruments by Lang and a few other German builders, but also to old American instruments by D'Angelico, D'Aquisto, Epiphone, Gibson, Stromberg and more, as well as to instruments by some modern builders.

    Anyone who is really interested can always find a way to play them.
    Last edited by Hammertone; 06-20-2016 at 04:20 AM.

  5. #29

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    Quote Originally Posted by Bluedawg
    Very cool

    And Garmisch Partenkirchen is one of the most beautiful places in Germany .. and the world

    Just remember if you go there that Zugspitze doesn't mean spitting on trains.

    Well, some geezers would say the best times for a stay in Garmisch-Partenkirchen were the 1950s and 60s.
    If someone is interested, here some information (only indirectly related to Lang's work) I published years ago:


    Artur Lang Archtop-garmisch-1-2-jpgArtur Lang Archtop-garmisch-3-jpgArtur Lang Archtop-garmisch-4-jpgArtur Lang Archtop-garmisch-4a-5-jpg

  6. #30

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    How World War II and Allied forces‘ aerial raids helped to make outstanding guitars


    Narratives about life are always welcome, the more if they get a reflection in the music or musical instrument making.
    Here‘s a lengthy story about Artur Lang – dedicated to the happy owners of Lang guitars in the hope that they will enjoy the story as much as I did myself during the researching.


    After WW II Germany lay in ruins. Munich‘s historic city was destroyed by c. 90%, the whole city area by 50%. 27,111 tons of bombs had been dropped over Munich in 74 air raids; more than 66% were performed by the USAAF, the rest by the RAF Bomber Command.
    The Munich Cathedral of Our Dear Lady suffered severe damage during these raids. The roof collapsed, one of the towers was hit and a lion‘s share of the immensely precious interior from all centuries since the foundation was lost. The cathedral had been - still is - a landmark and is considered a symbol of the Bavarian capital city. Although called "Münchner Dom" (Munich Cathedral), the church is always referred to as "Frauenkirche" by locals. The church towers are widely visible because of local height limits: the city administration prohibits buildings with a height exceeding the height of the Frauenkirche in the city.

    Artur Lang Archtop-munich-cathedral-1946-after-allied-bombing-1944-today-jpg


    The cathedral construction began in 1468. Since the cash resources were exhausted in 1479, Pope Sixtus IV granted an indulgence. I have to add that because shortly thereafter Martin Luther, the controversial schism man and seminal figure in the Protestant Reformation, proposed an academic discussion of the practise and efficacy of indulgences in his Nintey-Five Theses 500 years ago. Apropos, Luther… he regarded music, in analogy to theology, to be of the utmost importance for the soul‘s souls because it was "contrary to the devils and unbearable to them" and could "achieve… peace and a joyous mind". Youth should always be accustomed to this art, "for it makes very smart people". Luther himself was a practised singer, lutenist and composer.


    The cathedral building is said to having had capacity to house 20,000 standing people (church benches for ordinary people were a later introduction). This is quite remarkable for a town that, besides from having had another (first) parish church, did count 13,000 inhabitants only at the end of the 15th century and for a church that was erected to serve but a modest (and second) city parish, merely replacing an earlier, yet significantly smaller construction.
    The truss work started in 1477, a groundbreaking construction under the direction of the master carpenter Heinrich von Straubing. While the nearby Old Court (imperial residence) got its original first invention of a laying chair truss in 1425 (attracting architectural historians and truss experts from all over the world), the Cathedral got a standing chair timber roof truss. The corresponding German terms "Liegender Dachstuhl" and "Stehender Dachstuhl" are used in America to this day.


    Only for the cathedral truss construction a total of 630 cubic meters wood was necessary (dry weight 271 tons). The church registers prove that the wood (mainly spruce) was cut near Lenggries, a small Alpine village south of Munich, and rafted on the Isar river to the capital city. The records also tell that a total of 147 rafts were necessary, among them 92 scheduled for the truss. The records further show that the usual length for the rafts of almost 12 meters had more than to be doubled for this task. The spruce giants have been starting growing in the 12th century at an altitude of over 1000 meters above sea-level.
    The church was consecrated in 1494, and the truss was never changed until WW II.


    The post-war situation in Germany was miserable: in the larger cities about 50% of the housings were completely destroyed, the sheer number of traumatized people, orphans, widows, etc. was disturbing, and the number of evacuees and expellees from lost German areas was high – to average about 25%. All things of daily life including firewood were in short supply or not available. Still in the "starvation winter" 1946/47 several hundred thousands of Germans died of starvation and exhaustion.


    The families of the Schönbach stringed instruments makers were expelled in 1946 - later on, these Sudeten-Germans in Bavaria became "the fourth tribe". Most of the men had served in the German war service or the Wehrmacht, and many of them got Soviet war prisoners, returning home broken or in critical health condition. One of them was Artur Lang who was able to return from Siberia in 1948, first to Mittenwald, before, one year later, he was placed with his family to Garmisch-Partenkirchen (Ga-Pa). Both alpine towns are situated south of Munich near the Austrian border.


    Another violin maker and tonewood dealer from Schönbach was Franz Fuchs (1899 – 1975). While the family name Fuchs was frequent among the Schönbach luthiers, especially among the tonewood providers, I‘ve never found Franz Fuchs on any Schönbach list. Yet, his wife Elisabeth and two children were listed as expellees under the train transport number 34285 on October 15, 1946, with the destination Erlangen.
    In the turmoil of the post-war years, the Schönbach luthiers were divided into several transport groups for the destinations Erlangen, Mittenwald, Ga-Pa, Nauheim, and some more places.

    Franz Fuchs was accepted to stay in the Ga-Pa area, which, being an old, lovely situated German military location, soon got one collective point for the evacuees and expellees from the Bohemian Forest and the Egerland. In total, every third person there was a new inhabitant.

    One of the huge pre-war barracks in Ga-Pa, the Krafft-von-Delmensingen-Kaserne, later on known as Artillerie-Kaserne (English: Artillery Barracks), had been used after the war as a hospital for internees by the US forces. Under the pressure of indigent expellees and the local Authorities and natives, the US military passed back the Artillery Barracks to the local German Refugee Administration. The latter decided that the Block 4 (IV) was reserved for the Schönbach luthiers after October 9, 1948. Over 1,000 expelled people had found a temporary new home in these large blocks. That part of Ga-Pa was known as Breitenau; later it was largely shaped by the former expellees.

    Artur Lang Archtop-garmisch-partenkirchen-krafft-v-delmensingen-kaserne-artillerie-kaserne-1940-left-jpg


    Cont.
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 08-24-2017 at 06:26 PM.

  7. #31

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    It was in the Artillery Barracks, where Lang and Fuchs met after the war. Notably Lang was severely hit, probably by posttraumatic stress disorder. Both men and their families depended fully on the US forces, the benevolence of the locals and the Administration. In 1947 Fuchs, having returned from Siberia, decided to make violins again. But where to get the necessary seasoned tonewoods - when even stealing or black market activities of commodities of the daily life was the rule?


    From the former Schönbach makers the first man to start out again his own business in West Germany was Arnold Hoyer. He had been able to convince the US forces they had to help him to transport (by US truck) most of his father‘s workshop, including the tools and tonewoods, to the West. The last US soldiers left Schönbach at the end of 1945, leaving the Germans still residing there to the arbitrariness of the Czechs and Soviets.
    Even Wenzel Rossmeisl, the most active and probably sliest of the guitarmakers in that post-war Germany period, had to work for Hoyer in 1945, and it was the scarcity of appropriate tonewood at that time why he was turning to the development of German carve guitars.


    When Artur Lang felt ready to make guitars again, archtop guitars after 1951, like his brother-in-law and guitarist had him suggested, the question is where did this almost penniless man get acoustically superior, long-seasoned spruce wood from for the carving of guitar tops?
    The answer is simple: from his barracks-mate, compatriot and collegue Franz Fuchs!

    Once Fuchs told the story about how he had scoured parts of Southern Bavaria for tonewoods. One day, he had found his way in the vestry of the remains of the Munich Cathedral. There the 12th century whitewashed timbers lay on the floor, some scorched or splintered after the air raids. In addition, most of the wood was not very well suitable for making fine archtop bellies due to cracking, the wrong cut, wood faults or wormholes – but some of the larger beams looked phantastic and promising. Fuchs insisted to get the permission from the "metropolitan ministry" to obtain "some wood" for himself. The ministry succumbed, but only "in exchange of usable construction wood or corresponding wood ratio cards".


    Fuchs was the only violin maker known to get wood from that holy pile.

    He happily created some 50 violins, viols and celli from that historic spruce between 1947 and 1955. These "Cathedral violins" are said to sound great, were sold overseas and are now played worldwide. The son of Mr. Fuchs would be glad to learn more about their whereabouts and about their players.


    Yet, for some reason, Fuchs had to stop making violins in 1955. According to Fuchs, "a cooperation on a larger scale with professional collegues did not come about due to competition thinking or fear of new; the tonewood dealers also refused to buy cathedral wood for various reasons." The truth might be that many violin makers hesitate to work around what they regard as construction wood (they often believe - we're really walking on a religious field here - in December "full moon spruce", and other frolics), and that the cathedral wood could show some minor (did I say minor?) visual flaws.


    After all, Fuchs was the man to supply Artur Lang with this exceptional spruce wood. It is very likely that, when Fuchs came to the end of his violin making biz around 1954/55, Lang, a perfectionist, had been selecting the best of Fuchs‘ wood stock for his guitar tops. Around 1954/55, when Lang was getting much appreciation and admiration for his work - among the knowing guitarists‘ circles, of course - , he was able to quit making archtops for resellers like Alosa, Prämus (Schmidt) or Mastro Arturo (Zöphel).

    Artur Lang Archtop-fuchs-franz-lang-artur-both-resided-breitenau-2-block-4-jpg


    Many, maybe all of the earlier Lang guitars were made by using cathedral wood. It‘s not only acoustically, but also visually different to the spruce to which he had to resort to at a later time – the difference is often noticeable, at least for the experienced. In my possession is also a later Super model (big body, different "improved" construction, Venetian cutaway) that sports that historic wood, so it is obvious that Lang used that wood until he ran out of it, still after 1957 – though he might just have used it in some special cases after 1957. Really good archtop makers often have sort of a religious relation to their tonewood stocks, some even go through their stock daily...


    Later on, Lang ordered his spruce from other former Schönbach expellees, the Fuchs Brothers Company in Mittenwald (not related to Franz Fuchs). They soon became the industry leaders, and still in 1975 they claimed in their catalog the arguable fact they would supply two-thirds of the world demand of stringed instruments‘ tonewoods.
    It is reported that Lang took painstakingly time to select his spruce at the Fuchs Brothers facility – not surprising, if one considers that Lang had been used to work around wood cut before 1477, at a time when Columbus had still not reached the Americas…



    There are several additional stories around the Munich Cathedral wood. I cannot cover all of them here – just two examples.


    The first is about imprecations uttered by an old woman, as told by Franz Fuchs. When he had loaded his wagon with nice looking timber, an old woman accused the violin maker of thinking only of himself and of taking away the desperately needed firewood from the distressed Munich population. The memory of that curse of the allegedly evil deed never let Fuchs and his family loose. As a matter of fact, Fuchs stopped using the wood after only a couple of years.

    Artur Lang, certainly a catholic like most of the former Schönbach folks, was an extremely humble man. He never thought about converting his historic wood using to more cash; all he wanted was to create the best sounding instruments. Naturally, unlike most other manufacturers, Lang hardly ever used different wood qualities for, let‘s say, a blonde or a colored finished guitar. It is possible that he was aware from Fuchs of that old woman‘s spell and decided to keep that secret for himself. Yet, his brother-in-law knew about the story, and Herbert Rittinger, t h e Lang expert, confirmed that Adele Lang, Artur‘s widow, told him that her husband had used extraordinary old wood with its origin several hundred years ago.



    The second story around the cathedral wood is about the woodworm infestation of the truss roof. Usually, worms don‘t stop eating wood – but not so in that church. About the reasons for the worms to stop can be speculated. There could be religious ones ("God‘s will") or chemical ones (the Frankincense). Most plausible to me are physical reasons: the music performed in the church, in particular the heavy ringing of the ten bells. The biggest bell, called Susanna or the Salve Regina bell from 1490, has a weight of eight tons – and is still ringing. Woodworms don‘t like heavy vibrations in their housings, and that bell alone has some boom!


    In fact, when playing such old Langs and being asked about their most outstanding sound quality, I‘ve always expressed a subtle comparison to a silver bell - and not a small one! Ok, I could be biased by the sound of sterling silver saxophones… Anyway, even a religious nonbeliever could be tempted to suspect that the earlier Langs must have absorbed some "holiness" from the historic cathedral wood.


    We cannot be grateful about the Allied forces' air raids and the subsequent terrible misery, but in this particular case, they helped to bring out wonderful guitars.


    What still could be done is the discussion in the guitar world about really old and "acoustically superior" wood (agreed, Mr. Scharpach!). The factors playing a role could be the hemicellulose, the crystallization, the heavy vibration setting (here by the bells), the wood liming (one of the old Cremonese procedures) - that all could result in a higher speed velocity in the wood, a faster response, more liveliness and resonance, and a nicer modulation. The latter is a special quality, almost a trait for evoking emotions in a particular stringed instrument, hardly ever mentioned in the guitar world. It is what many old master instruments makes different to this day. In the search of suitable words, the term "to flare like a burning candle" is sometimes used.
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 08-24-2017 at 06:52 PM.

  8. #32

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    Very interesting insight. Keep it coming.

  9. #33

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
    Apropos, Luther… he regarded music, in analogy to theology, to be of the utmost importance for the soul‘s souls because it was "contrary to the devils and unbearable to them" and could "achieve… peace and a joyous mind". Youth should always be accustomed to this art, "for it makes very smart people". Luther himself was a practised singer, lutenist and composer.
    Just wonderful.

  10. #34

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  11. #35

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    Quote Originally Posted by Drifter
    Presumably built for a George Barnes fan.

  12. #36

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hammertone
    Presumably built for a George Barnes fan.

    Definitely, yes! You can count me among the George Barnes fans, he was an incredible talent.

    Allegedly not even 20 Guild George Barnes Acousti-Lectric models were built between 1964 and 1967 (GUILD GEORGE BARNES ACOUSTI-LECTRIC electric guitars ), so Lang must have been aware of what was going on at Alfred Dronge's plant across the pond. Or perhaps, who knows, it was vice versa, similar to some Gretsch and Roger features.


    HR checked this Lang without f- or split-holes acoustically and has reported that there would be no perceivable tonal difference to other big Langs, not even the general loudness would be affected. However, the look on these two oblong holes cut in the top and the pickups' attachment could be a bit disturbing.

    There are few high-quality recordings of Acousti-Electric models, but I tend to believe that they sound a bit more punchy than the regular 17" Guild archtops of the late 50's to mid 60's, the JS Award models.




    At first glance people might think there could be more than a few general constructional matches - call it the "German" element - between the Guild and the Lang archtops, not only that special PU attachment on the Acousti-Lectrics in this case, but Lang was known to have been a maverick among the few high-quality "custom" archtop builders of his period.
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 10-03-2017 at 08:00 AM.

  13. #37

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    Alfred Dronge used lots of European components for Guild guitars, including:
    -tailpieces from ABM
    -metal bridges from ABM
    -wood bridges from Teller
    -tuners from Van Gent and Kolb

  14. #38

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    Check out the wonderful W.G. Barker in the background of the video, I would love to hear it...

  15. #39

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    After doing some web research on the Guild George Barnes Acousti-Lectric guitars I stand a bit corrected.

    George Barnes:
    "I designed that guitar back in 1961. When I first saw it, it was a piece of wood from Norway. My guitar is made from the finest woods. The pickups are suspended and the sound comes out of the body from the cut-out area of the top around the pickups. The guitar’s sound works much the same way as a round-hole’s, except my sound comes out of two enlarged rectangular holes around the pickups. I knew that if I had a live top with suspended pickups, I’d get a better sound. I realized a long time ago that f-holes cause feedback. Both George Van Eps and I discovered that about the same time. We did a concert together in Aspen, Colorado and we both started laughing when we saw each other’s guitar. He had put foam rubber in his f-holes to cut out the feedback, and I had taped mine over." (Ivor – George Barnes | Gypsy Jazz UK )

    In the words of George's daughter, Alexandra Barnes Leh, "Al Dronge, the president of Guild Guitars, courted Dad at the suggestion of Guild player Carl Kress. Dad said he’d go with Guild if they’d build two guitars according to his designs: the Guitar in F (so he could write guitar parts as if he were writing for a horn section) and the George Barnes Acousti-Lectric (so he could play one guitar acoustically and electrically)."


    The Italo-American master luthier Carlo Greco (1926 - 2015) made the George Barnes signature prototype for Guild in 1961. The top and back of that guitar were hand carved; it was 17" wide and 3" deep, had a scale length of 24 3/4 " and sported a bit plainer looking headstock. It was used by George until his (untimely) death.
    According to Carlo Greco he made not more than eleven George Barnes models - due to the very high manufacturing cost. The retail price for a Acousti-Lectric was $895.00 in 1961 - more than Gibson asked for their flagship archtops Johnny Smith ($795) and Super 400 ($825) at that time. Guild claimed that it would tie up their production. The last one, #11, left the Guild factory unfinished.

    So it is evident that Greco had made his first George Barnes guitars - build on the superstructure of the Guild A-350 - four years before Lang made two of his Venetian cutaway models (17.5") in the Guild "Acousti-Lectric" style for an unknown George Barnes fan/guitarist in Germany. Back then, Lang asked between 1,000 and 1,100 Deutschmark for a regular model - converted not more than $275, due to the fixed $ to DM currency exchange rate! The rationale, the point where even the musical biz is firmly tied to the political world, is: never start, never lose a war because it will keep the economics of a nation down for a long time - and almost no one on the global market is willing to pay a lot of dough even for decent products of a low-respected nation!
    Not that a lack of demand had affected Lang's work. After the mid 50's the back order time for his archtops was always about two years, even in the late 60's and early 70's, when most manufacturers had to cut down their archtop production considerably.


    A member at the Guild Forum who owned an original Acousti-Lectric model for about a year in the 70's stated that the owner of such a guitar will "gonna have a blast", but also that these models "do feed back, yup, they surely do" (George Barnes Acousti-Lectric model and Carlo Greco ).
    The latter statement is plausible since the feedback tendency of an archtop can indeed get a bit tamed down by closing (or leaving out) the sound holes, but other constructional factors like the plates' stiffness distribution and the main top/back resonances should matter more.
    Lang was extraordinarily knowledgeable in this field; after the two examples he never made further acoustic-electric archtops without f-holes.
    Whereas Greco followed up on the George Barnes concept and made some more "Acousti-Lectric" models until late in his career, no longer working for Guild (after the fatal aircraft crash of Al Dronge); guitars where you can see this master's lovely and strong Italian influence: Carlo Greco Jazz Sunburst Guitar | Reverb .


    Btw., Carlo fully supported Lang's basic state of mind, i.e., that the acoustical and structural - not only visual - importance of the wood material is crucial in the making of fine guitars. When asked what he would consider being the most important part of making a guitar, his answer was in 2005: " ...more important than everything is the material that you use. Si ha fatto, collecting wood, ever since I came on this continent in 1958, and the wood[s] have to be very well seasoned." (Carlo Greco | Oral Histories | NAMM.org ).


    As a side note from the mentioned links, on George Barnes' interesting musical approach...
    It is said Barnes had originally wanted to be a horn player, and his approach to melody and arranging retained that sensibility. He was best known for single-note melody lines that related closely to the actual tune being played, and a style of tremolos that he learned from watching violinists, where he would begin with relatively slow hammer-ons and then increase the speed and attack as the sympathetic harmonics started to bloom. But no matter how jazzy the music, he often found ways to incorporate string bends and bluesy licks that would start in one position and glide up to resolve at the next octave with a flourish of vibrato.


    ... and his special picking technique:
    "You get a better sound from the guitar by using only down strokes. Your leverage just isn’t as good when you up-pick. Therefore, I use as many down strokes as possible. I developed a technique of quick picking, using only down-strokes. But sometimes, for very rapid phrasing, I have to use alternating up and down strokes. I also hold the pick in an unusual manner-with my thumb, index, and middle finger. By picking this way, all I do to change the dynamics and volume is tighten or loosen my grip on the pick. I don’t have to pick harder and my wrist remains loose."
    Perhaps it was Barnes’ unconventional "3 finger" pick grip that added that "special something" to his sound. Having one extra finger in contact with the pick does impart a very subtle tonal inflection. It also has a more dramatic physical effect when playing down stokes.
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 10-17-2017 at 05:06 AM.

  16. #40

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    ... bummed by the horrible fire of the Notre-Dame cathedral ...

    We are pleased to hear and confident that our French friends will rebuild the cathedral to its former glory; start to collect ...


    From the historico-cultural POV it makes not much difference if a cathedral is destroyed by bombing or unintentional fire (Vergessene Momente: Der Dom zu Unserer Lieben Frau in Munchen (die Frauenkirche ;-) nach den Luftangriffen 1944 ).
    If it happens that another Artur Lang should be in or around Paris at this moment (compare my posts # 35 and 36 above), he/she'll know what to do best with some reusable remains.



    Btw., the fog around Lang's acitivity in the Breitenau, where he devised virtually all the important innovations in his guitars in a few years until 1957, has largely cleared up. But even after his move, he remained closely associated with the Breitenau in terms of craftmanship and relation.
    Yesterday, another Super de Luxe model changed hands, like so often after being offered for less than 24 hours.
    Put a DeArmond pickup on, and the correct bridge and tailpiece, and you're ready to keep up with any other high-class archtop on any stage of this planet:

    Artur Lang Archtop-lang-artur-super-dl-trussrod-blonde-d-jpg
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 04-16-2019 at 07:10 AM.

  17. #41

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
    ....Yesterday, another Super de Luxe model changed hands, like so often after being offered for less than 24 hours. Put a DeArmond pickup on, and the correct bridge and tailpiece, and you're ready to keep up with any other high-class archtop on any stage of this planet:

    Artur Lang Archtop-lang-artur-super-dl-trussrod-blonde-d-jpg
    That's a familiar-looking painting in the background.
    Coincidentally, here's another recent sale. One might imagine that it's the same guitar, but for the clear differences in the colouring of the spruce on the top. Perhaps Lang built a group of these equipped with Bigsbys, and the one you posted has been converted to a conventional bridge/tailpiece arrangement (using a Roger Junior tailpiece). Or not.
    Attached Images Attached Images Artur Lang Archtop-lang-super-63-1-jpg 

  18. #42

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    Yum - nice bearclaw Alpine spruce! The best spruce available for large archtops - tonewise. Though this was not yielded by Lang from the Munich cathedral, it often came from the oldest spruce trees in the mountains with the best stiffness-weight relation.

    Lang would have shot the client out of his workshop, if asked to mount a Bigsby on one of his hollow-body guitars.
    Lang archtops sporting a Bigsby and a metal bridge, etc., are a consequence of horde behaviour in the Rock'n'Roll era.
    In and around Munich, the "German Bill Haley", Paul Würges (1932 - 2017), was the main protagonist. The Langs, and some other valuable guitars, suffered considerably by this fad: https://www.stadtmagazin-muenchen24....ernhalle/5.JPG

    In general, I don't know any other country where carved archtop guitars were so severly abused by later owners than Germany. Maybe it was the same in some Eastern European countries, though I don't know of any fine carved vintage guitars originating from these countries.

    Except for few special or unique models Lang used to build in batches by six guitars.
    And, no, I don't think that painting in the background is original ...

  19. #43

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
    Lang would have shot the client out of his workshop, if asked to mount a Bigsby on one of his hollow-body guitars.
    Hah! So much for that idea.

    Quote Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
    Btw., the fog around Lang's acitivity in the Breitenau, where he devised virtually all the important innovations in his guitars in a few years until 1957, has largely cleared up. But even after his move, he remained closely associated with the Breitenau in terms of craftmanship and relation.

    Ooh...interesting. Tell us more!

  20. #44

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hammertone
    Ooh...interesting. Tell us more!

    It will come - HR is working hard, and I do not envy him at the moment.
    It's a labor of love, and sometimes he'll wonder what all the years of research and restoration work, the months of sorting and publishing were good for in hindsight - except that a few more guys would believe they could peddle the knowledge around.

    My own contribution for the Lang report is nada, zilch, limited to approving or head-shaking, or making confusing or useless comments (I'm pretty good at this, meanwhile!), or to provide something like an English translation for the two or three internationally interested folks. Never felt competent to do translations, my old brain cells are reluctant to continue verbalizing the English language. Perhaps emotions deeply hidden in the guts block the cells' rest, due to all these actual US administrating, UK hard-brexiteering, and whatever issues. The disproportionately low participation of German side here would point to this … Google translate could do it also, and is more unemotional.

    Of course, if a real friend is asking me for help, I'll give the shirt off my back.

  21. #45

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    Ol' Fret :

    Thank you for taking the time to share your considerable knowledge of Artur Lang archtops.

    I've found your posts to be very informative, as well as an interesting read.


    Cheers

  22. #46

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    Quote Originally Posted by redcap
    Ol' Fret :

    Thank you for taking the time to share your considerable knowledge of Artur Lang archtops.

    I've found your posts to be very informative, as well as an interesting read.


    Cheers

    Redcap, thanks for your kind words!


    Just let me say that I'm interested in (almost) all archtop guitar things.
    Lang's work, IMO, is outstanding because he had a start more or less as a copy cat (Roger-Hirsch Super Special, resp. Glassl Solist), but in lightning speed elaborated the whole archtop idea like crazy, and painstakingly made his guitars according to his thinking. Fifty years after his death, he left (almost) no room for us to improve on the archtop guitar development, at least from the acoustic point of view. This is both admirable and intimidating - or rather frustrating.
    Of course, this is valid only if you follow the same basic approach: only the greatest acoustic archtop guitar will also transform into the greatest electro-acoustic guitar. And without doubt: solid-bodies can be really great electric guitars!


    In Europe, the more in Germany, archtop guitar history, making and playing has always been closely related to the corresponding political and social circumstances. Not what I like to unscramble, but it's simply too deeply interwoven to consider the guitars completely isolated.
    In this sense some key words for Artur Lang would be:
    German enclave in the former Austro-Hungarian empire - guitar making - light metal aircraft manufacturing - Siberian war captivity - Czech expulsion - distress - the story above with Franz Fuchs - the lone wolf guitar maker - Otto Fuchs …
    It took a few years only to sort out these Fuchs guys (not related to each other), one of the most frequent family names in the former Schönbach in Bohemia, where after 1946 all documents were lost, the people scattered and passed away long ago.
    Last edited by Ol' Fret; 04-18-2019 at 08:11 PM.

  23. #47

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    Just for the files and some Lang fanboys: I decided to delete my older current avator due to possible recent German patent law requirements.
    Of course, the research/work on Lang and his guitars, as well as other rewarding guitars, are continued!

    Obviously, there are more Lang disciples, and more interested parties lurking around my meager posts here than Lang himself would have wished. Mainly economically driven folks should also get a chance. I wish them good luck, though I wonder if they've ever hold an original Lang in their hands, or how much they think they could achieve with their actual state of knowledge!
    A small hint was given today in this post: Unfortunate top brace fitting in new Gibson 275

  24. #48

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    Pics of a special guitar from the late Artur Lang. Now it's a fabulous player again:
    RESTAURATION EINER ARTUR LANG MIT 12 SAITEN << Schlaggitarren

  25. #49

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ol' Fret
    Pics of a special guitar from the late Artur Lang. Now it's a fabulous player again:
    RESTAURATION EINER ARTUR LANG MIT 12 SAITEN << Schlaggitarren
    Wow!. Take the six superfluous strings off of that thing and it would be a nice guitar!

  26. #50

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    Quote Originally Posted by Hammertone
    Wow!. Take the six superfluous strings off of that thing and it would be a nice guitar!

    Actually, I play a five-string Lang (she once had a possessive admirer in New York):

    Artur Lang Archtop-dscf4680b-jpg

    The number of strings doesn't matter. Good music, IMO, is all about rhythm, good vibes, and the imagination of a peaceful and slightly better world.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CuKlbQYf3q0