evolution of the Gibson Johnny Smith

[citizenk74]

What a lovely instrument! Congratulations, and play it in good health!

[Woody Sound]

Congrats on the beautiful JS. I would love to have that shape neck on my JS. The necks on these guitars were very inconsistent. The one you describe is how I think Johnny wanted them to be. Enjoy!

I remember reading an Interview with JS way back, where he criticized Gibson's consistency on the necks. He said "Frankly, I could have done better with a jackknife."

[QAman]

I recently acquired this 1979 JS locally, in almost perfect condition, for a reasonable price. After getting Mark Erlewine to straighten the neck and even out the frets, it sounds and plays like a dream, sooo smooth. The neck is a large wide D profile, which takes a little work to play, but it’s well worth the effort in beautiful acoustic tone. Yes the neck extension is that big solid block, which gives extra sustain to the high range. The spruce top has a nice even grain with no blemishes, while the back is very plain without flames, but has some interesting patterns nonetheless. The fingers tailpiece is original, with the longest finger on the big E, which apparently was reversed on later models. All the MOP inlays are well made & intact. The neck is slightly shorter than the L5C and the body is less deep. I had a 1969 SB JS at one point, for a few years, I can state that other than the tailpiece & trussrod cover (and finish) the two guitars were identical. best regards, jt

Congrats Jerry - its a beauty.

Sent from my SM-P610 using Tapatalk

[skykomishone]

Ditto that! Really a nice Gibson JS! Happy New Guitar Day.

[Max405]

That is a SERIOUSLY beautiful Johnny Smith. Spec’d out EXACTLY the way the master himself set his own Johnny Smith up.
Your hands will conform. Trust me. And if they don’t, mark my words many others will want that guitar. Stick with it.
It doesn’t get better than that.
Thank you for sharing.
Joe D

[gionnio]

I've had a '68 Gibson Johnny Smith Natural for several years. The fingerboard extension (actually the entire guitar) looks like the Buzzy photos posted earlier in this thread. I've never known anything about a possible block underneath the extension and below the top, but I suspect it might be difficult to see via the f-holes.

I recently took mine to a trusted guitar tech for a re-fret. Unfortunately, the truss rod (which I had never attempted to adjust) will not turn. Geoff is going to remove the ebony fingerboard and free up or replace the rod...the equivalent of open heart surgery...which he suspects has been glued tight since day one.

I hope to get it back within the next several weeks, and if pics of the work are available I'll post them or a link here.

In the mean time, please say a little prayer for my guitar. :-)

[archtopeddy]

I live a few miles away from where Johnny Smith had his music store in Colorado Springs. Many of the longtime players who've lived in the area met or knew Johnny. In fact, I had breakfast with Johnny a couple of weeks before he died. Anyway, I remember hearing from local jazz players that Johnny insisted the GJS guitars he sold in his store (afterall, the store has his name on it!) had to be perfect or he'd send them back to Gibson. As a result, there were quite a few impeccable GJS sold in the local area. The other side of the story is that I don't know what happened to the guitars he found less than perfect GJS, but my guess is that they were sold elsewhere.

[Woody Sound]

I've had a '68 Gibson Johnny Smith Natural for several years. The fingerboard extension (actually the entire guitar) looks like the Buzzy photos posted earlier in this thread. I've never known anything about a possible block underneath the extension and below the top, but I suspect it might be difficult to see via the f-holes.

I recently took mine to a trusted guitar tech for a re-fret. Unfortunately, the truss rod (which I had never attempted to adjust) will not turn. Geoff is going to remove the ebony fingerboard and free up or replace the rod...the equivalent of open heart surgery...which he suspects has been glued tight since day one.

I hope to get it back within the next several weeks, and if pics of the work are available I'll post them or a link here.

In the mean time, please say a little prayer for my guitar. :-)

I'd like to see pics of the surgery.

[Jerry Tubb]

That is a SERIOUSLY beautiful Johnny Smith. Spec’d out EXACTLY the way the master himself set his own Johnny Smith up.
Your hands will conform. Trust me. And if they don’t, mark my words many others will want that guitar. Stick with it.
It doesn’t get better than that.
Thank you for sharing.
Joe D

Thanks for the kind words everyone! It’s a real blonde beauty with really great tone.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the “Fingers” tailpiece debuted in 1979 on the JS, with the Longest Finger on the Big E string (like mine) but the next year 1980 and ever since, the Long Finger moved to the 1st String, and the other fingers reversed. Anyone know Why???

Best Regards, Jerry T

[rpjazzguitar]

Thanks for the kind words everyone! It’s a real blonde beauty with really great tone.

One thing I’ve noticed is that the “Fingers” tailpiece debuted in 1979 on the JS, with the Longest Finger on the Big E string (like mine) but the next year 1980 and ever since, the Long Finger moved to the 1st String, and the other fingers reversed. Anyone know Why???

Best Regards, Jerry T

The non vibrating length of string matters, unless it can't slide over the bridge (or nut).

What happens is that when you deflect the string, like to press it down to bend a note, it stretches. The whole string stretches, including the part between bridge and tailpiece. If that distance is, say, a mile long, you won't be able to hear much change in pitch when you try to bend a note. That's because most of the stretching is done in the non vibrating portion. If the string ends at a combination bridge and anchor, virtually all of the stretching is heard as a pitch change. It's not the vibrating length that makes the difference, it's the tension, I think.

So, if you put the extra length on the bass side, if you accidentally deflect the string when playing a note, there won't be much pitch change and it will still sound close to in tune. On the treble side, you'll be able to bend a note up to pitch more easily. Doing it that way would work for my playing. Duane Eddy might have wanted it the other way.

I'm not sure about the stretching involved in simply fretting a note. There would be a minor difference in tension.

Or, am I wrong about any of this?

[Cunamara]

One reason the fingerboard extension is not in contact with the top on most archtops , is that if the neck joint rotates forward even slightly under string tension over the passage of time, this will help to prevent the end of the fingerboard from being driven down into the top and forcing either the top down or the fingerboard the opposite direction. I have always treated the neck extension as part of the neck. I don't know by what means sustain would be increased by neck contact with the body but I suppose it may hold true.

maybe I understand this wrongly, but what I have read is that the neck block also extends out to the end of the fingerboard, which would prevent the fingerboard from being able to drive with the top down under string tension.Otherwise, the neck is a lever pivoting at the joint and would indeed be driving the top down over the years if it was in contact.