What Guitar Is Mundell Lowe (Seated Center) Playing?

[helios]

Thanks!

[Archtop Guy]

That's his 16" Mapson.

[Max405]

That's his 16" Mapson.

Damn AG, I'm impressed.
And they are, "All The Things I am Not"..

[Jabberwocky]

James L. Mapson Guitars

Great to see an Eastman hold its own against the Dale Unger and Jim Mapson guitars.

[wintermoon]

There must be almost 300 yrs between them

[Stringswinger]

I have played Mundell's Mapson. It is a fine guitar. Mundell was in Northern California for a recording session and was looking for a Clarus/RE rig to borrow. Being that is my main rig. I lent him mine and got to meet him and check out his guitar. He is both a world class guitarist and a genuinely warm person.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Mundell is walking history: he's played with Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday (among many others).

[Jabberwocky]

Mundell is walking history: he's played with Charlie Parker and Billie Holiday (among many others).

The person from whom I bought my Super 400CC is a friend of Mundell Lowe...well, he showed me a photo of both of them together playing guitars. Mundell may have played my Super 400CC! I am not cleaning my fretboard for sure.

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

There must be almost 300 yrs between them

I checked on their web site, when recorded, "Mundell Lowe (age 92), Bucky Pizzarelli (age 89), and John Pisano (the baby of the group at 84)."

[neatomic]

the great john pisano on the work and research he did for his signature eastman guitar-

(from great interview @ John Pisano | Vintage Guitar(R) magazine



“I first found out about them when they approached Bob Benedetto, who was working for Guild and coming to California every month. He told Eastman that he’d like to help, but was under contract to Fender (which owned Guild). So, he gave them his video on building guitars, [and] that’s how their first guitars happened. You can look at the headstock and see how similar they were. At first, their guitars really weren’t happening; on some, they’d used the wrong woods, and there were some other things. They were on the right track, but needed refinement. But that was 12 years ago. Now, you get a guitar from them and they’re amazing right off the rack.

“I worked on the new [signature model], making a few little changes. The guitars are very good, but I’m a perfectionist and if my name’s on it, I want it to be right. I called guitar makers whom I respect, like Roger Borys and John Monteleone. Monteleone is the ultimate craftsman, and his guitars are magnificent. I’d see him every year at shows, and called him with some hesitancy because I was with another company, but wanted to pick his brain. We talked about laminate, glue, wood – everything.

“Roger and Monteleone were so helpful. Borys told me that his tailpiece was suggested by an idea from (jazz great) Barry Galbraith. If you look at one of his tailpieces, there’s a little curve inward that makes the third and fourth string a little longer between the bridge and the tailpiece, because Barry could hear the difference when he played rhythm.

“I did so much research on woods and construction, and spent lots of time with Monteleone and Ted Mayer, a brilliant engineer and artist who helped design my guitar. I kept hearing about Ted through my guitar buddies. He’s a wonderful player… practices more than I do (laughs)!

“And, sometimes, when working with China, information can get misconstrued. So, Ted, in an effort to get everything ready for NAMM, created full-sized blueprints that covered every dimension in millimeters. If it hadn’t been for him getting those blueprints to Eastman, it never would have been finished in time for the NAMM show.


“You can make the measurements exactly the same and even if you make two guitars from the same tree, one of them might be outstanding and the other could be okay. It’s like cooking – you throw stuff in and measure, but you have to have the touch. There’s really no such thing as a formula. It doesn’t seem to work that way. A good percentage of Monteleone’s guitars are marvelous, but how the hell does he know? Perhaps it’s the aged wood.

“Still, nothing sounds as good as my old Gibson L-12. Perhaps it’s the age or that it’s been played a lot. I’m learning a great deal about the standard of building and such things as the angle of the neck and the distance of the strings from the bridge to the tailpiece. It can really change the way the instrument feels. Epiphone used to have the Frequensator tailpiece, and Gibson’s L-5 could be adjusted to create more tension.

“When we designed the Pisano guitar, we examined all those experiments. Where the tailpiece screws into the bottom of the guitar, we elongated the holes so a player could push it up or down a quarter inch, for different tension against the bridge, which makes a lot of difference. Because I played an ES-175 for so many years, the shorter scale just felt better, and we went with that on the Pisano model.”

cheers

[skykomishone]

I saw them at Jazz Alley in Seattle, the time they did that KPLU recording. Pretty amazing. Note's going in so many different directions it made my head spin. Loved it.

[helios]

I love his technique in this video:

[DRS]

I love Mundell's playing with Sarah Vaughan on the Roulette album After Hours.

[helios]

The person from whom I bought my Super 400CC is a friend of Mundell Lowe...well, he showed me a photo of both of them together playing guitars. Mundell may have played my Super 400CC! I am not cleaning my fretboard for sure.

We need a photo of the Super 400CC !!!
Demo would be awesome too!

[JazzNote]

I love Mundell's playing with Sarah Vaughan on the Roulette album After Hours.

Mundell is a genius accompanyist!

[tonesofpgh]

I love his technique in this video:

That's a super cool Ibanez he's playing in this video...looks to be an L4 copy.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[rio]

the great john pisano on the work and research he did for his signature eastman guitar-

(from great interview @ John Pisano | Vintage Guitar(R) magazine



“I first found out about them when they approached Bob Benedetto, who was working for Guild and coming to California every month. He told Eastman that he’d like to help, but was under contract to Fender (which owned Guild). So, he gave them his video on building guitars, [and] that’s how their first guitars happened. You can look at the headstock and see how similar they were. At first, their guitars really weren’t happening; on some, they’d used the wrong woods, and there were some other things. They were on the right track, but needed refinement. But that was 12 years ago. Now, you get a guitar from them and they’re amazing right off the rack.

“I worked on the new [signature model], making a few little changes. The guitars are very good, but I’m a perfectionist and if my name’s on it, I want it to be right. I called guitar makers whom I respect, like Roger Borys and John Monteleone. Monteleone is the ultimate craftsman, and his guitars are magnificent. I’d see him every year at shows, and called him with some hesitancy because I was with another company, but wanted to pick his brain. We talked about laminate, glue, wood – everything.

“Roger and Monteleone were so helpful. Borys told me that his tailpiece was suggested by an idea from (jazz great) Barry Galbraith. If you look at one of his tailpieces, there’s a little curve inward that makes the third and fourth string a little longer between the bridge and the tailpiece, because Barry could hear the difference when he played rhythm.

“I did so much research on woods and construction, and spent lots of time with Monteleone and Ted Mayer, a brilliant engineer and artist who helped design my guitar. I kept hearing about Ted through my guitar buddies. He’s a wonderful player… practices more than I do (laughs)!

“And, sometimes, when working with China, information can get misconstrued. So, Ted, in an effort to get everything ready for NAMM, created full-sized blueprints that covered every dimension in millimeters. If it hadn’t been for him getting those blueprints to Eastman, it never would have been finished in time for the NAMM show.


“You can make the measurements exactly the same and even if you make two guitars from the same tree, one of them might be outstanding and the other could be okay. It’s like cooking – you throw stuff in and measure, but you have to have the touch. There’s really no such thing as a formula. It doesn’t seem to work that way. A good percentage of Monteleone’s guitars are marvelous, but how the hell does he know? Perhaps it’s the aged wood.

“Still, nothing sounds as good as my old Gibson L-12. Perhaps it’s the age or that it’s been played a lot. I’m learning a great deal about the standard of building and such things as the angle of the neck and the distance of the strings from the bridge to the tailpiece. It can really change the way the instrument feels. Epiphone used to have the Frequensator tailpiece, and Gibson’s L-5 could be adjusted to create more tension.

“When we designed the Pisano guitar, we examined all those experiments. Where the tailpiece screws into the bottom of the guitar, we elongated the holes so a player could push it up or down a quarter inch, for different tension against the bridge, which makes a lot of difference. Because I played an ES-175 for so many years, the shorter scale just felt better, and we went with that on the Pisano model.”

cheers

That is a great article and the piece on his interactions with Eastman is really interesting. I always thought that they just kind of ripped Benedetto off and got blueprints to copy it - I didn't know that he actually suggested that they use his video to learn how to do it. That is really cool. I have a student who has a Pisano and it is a really good guitar with a great sound. Very different than my 805ce (although I really like that too with a better pickup than the stock floater). I would be curious to play some new ones - mine is a 2005 and it plays great but I would like to see if I can tell any differences with the new ones.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[marcwhy]

The music is great, the guitars are beautiful, but the white socks take the cake!

[SierraTango]

Jim Mapson built some outstanding archtops! I visited his shop in Santa Ana in the late 90's-it was in the back of his bread and butter business, Mapson Engineering, in a faceless industrial park. Jim was/is a very precise guy and his shop was state of the art. I placed a order/deposit on a 17' 7 string with a estimated delivery time of 18 months. At the time I was living on the East Coast and whenever I was in SoCal I would visit. I got to play Mundell's Guitar as well as it was in the shop for tweeking. Also got to hear him and Ron Eschete, who Jim built a 7 string for, play at Steamers in Fullerton.
During one of my visits Jim pulled out a 7 he had built more along the lines of a Benny-15" chambered body with a EMG (as I recall) pickup. I loved it and he offered to let me have it then instead of waiting for my order. I decided to do that, and after having it/gigging with it decided it wasn't what I wanted after all. I brought it back and he wrote me a check for what I had paid him for it. I was going back to 6 and cancelled my 17" order. He told me later that the 15"had gone to John Abercrombie.
I kept in touch with Jim and was saddened to hear his decision to quit building. Any of his instruments would be a rare bird now!

[destinytot]

Mundell Lowe and Sonntag:
Mundell Lowe

[gtrplrfla]

I love his technique in this video:

Mundell has used drop "D" tuning on the 6th string for many years , if anyone is wondering what chord shapes he uses !

[WilliamScott]

Mundell has had many guitars. Jim Triggs made this one for him back in the mid 90's and now I play it. Not as well, I'll admit.

[helios]

Mundell has had many guitars. Jim Triggs made this one for him back in the mid 90's and now I play it. Not as well, I'll admit.

If I didn't have too many guitars already, I'd get the Triggs St Criox (pictured below) on reverb!

How do you like your Triggs? Mundell's vibes on the guitar can't hurt!
Is that a 16" lower bout?

[WilliamScott]

It's a nice guitar. Easy to play. Yes, it's a 16 inch lower bout. For extra vibes, I've still got his last used set of strings in the case, but I make the same flubs on this one as I make on my other guitars.

[marcwhy]

Jim Mapson built some outstanding archtops! I visited his shop in Santa Ana in the late 90's-it was in the back of his bread and butter business, Mapson Engineering, in a faceless industrial park. Jim was/is a very precise guy and his shop was state of the art. I placed a order/deposit on a 17' 7 string with a estimated delivery time of 18 months. At the time I was living on the East Coast and whenever I was in SoCal I would visit. I got to play Mundell's Guitar as well as it was in the shop for tweeking. Also got to hear him and Ron Eschete, who Jim built a 7 string for, play at Steamers in Fullerton.
During one of my visits Jim pulled out a 7 he had built more along the lines of a Benny-15" chambered body with a EMG (as I recall) pickup. I loved it and he offered to let me have it then instead of waiting for my order. I decided to do that, and after having it/gigging with it decided it wasn't what I wanted after all. I brought it back and he wrote me a check for what I had paid him for it. I was going back to 6 and cancelled my 17" order. He told me later that the 15"had gone to John Abercrombie.
I kept in touch with Jim and was saddened to hear his decision to quit building. Any of his instruments would be a rare bird now!

Yep, I used to live in Orange County, and checked out his stuff in his engineering shop. I actually bought a (Rich-made) Raezer's Edge cab from Jim back then! Nice guy, beautiful guitars.