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Why, two Bozeman L-7Cs, silly rabbit!
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01-31-2019 09:15 AM
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OK, ok, so one of these will soon be off to its new owner, a professional jazz guitarist of my acquaintance who will play the bejeebus out of it for many years. The other one stays close to the magic chair for the forseeable future. Both from 2004. Both superb feeling and sounding acoustic archtops.
Last edited by Hammertone; 01-31-2019 at 10:43 AM.
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Oh my! They are gorgeous. I would love to own one some day.
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Dang. Just... dang!
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Ok so you want to sell the other? It needs a better pickguard for sure with nice binding I have a few of those made and a pickup if it is the one that does not have one. Otherwise PM on what you need for one of these if selling.
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Mark:
Neither of the guitars are for sale.
Mine has the old Dearmond, temporarily attached with a vintage L-7C guard (which I am not notching). I have a new pickguard to be cut for the Dearmond, at which point the old guard will go back to one of my other guitars.
The other guitar has its original craptastic pickguard. Its new owner is on tour right now - when he gets back, he'll decide whether to chop it for a Dearmond or get a replacement pickguard.Last edited by Hammertone; 01-31-2019 at 05:59 PM.
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Centerfold material
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Wowza ! Are the back contours different or is it a perspective illusion ?
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Perfection.
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They are the same - the quicky picture does have a bit of perspective illusion as well as a bit of lens distortion.
Originally Posted by medblues
Last edited by Hammertone; 02-04-2019 at 04:58 AM.
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The real deal from the 1940s??What's better than a Bozeman L-7C?
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Original question.....
not much !
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the comfy chair seldom looked so good!!! wonderful...bozeman!!
hoping with gibbys memphis factory gone, they might do some more bozeman archs...
cheers
ps- saw this posted on current bay area craigs
cheers
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A Kalamazoo 1944?
Hammer, those are awesome. Cheers, and thanks for posting. L7's are incredible. Mine is as good as it gets, I think.
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What's better than a Bozeman L-7C?
Answer: A management and CEO who realize when they apparently have got a winner - even if they know they could make more money by selling more of a thousandth variation of a given solid body guitar.
Not all products convert immediately into quick profits. Some could be "slow winners", maybe never be winners from the strict financial view, but all the more be potent regarding what the potential buyer would assume to get: a fair state-of-the-art product (even if the art is a old-fashioned one), quality and continuity; in short - reputation.
In Europe it's hard to lay hands on a Bozeman L-7C and compare them to the available 'real' vintage stuff. Looking at that nice recurve, and hoping the Bozeman makers knew what the graduation of archtop bellies was once good for - yes, please!
Not just by their retro-style vintage look, but the more by their constructional concept - as Hammertone is observing - these archtops look more promising to me than most of the "carved" archtop guitar stuff offered over the last 30 to 40 years, completely void of a recurve and low in featuring nicer graduation and arching curves, and often at far higher prices than what for a Bozeman L-7C had to be spent.
As to that I'm not talking exclusively about American archtop guitars. Recently, I had the pleasure to compare a rare early Golden Hofner (a full-hollow body) to Langs of the same period, all in comparable good condition and excellent set-up: Sigh!
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Doc: You'd like the Bozeman L-7C. Come on over to my place sometime and you'll enjoy playing it, along with a few other fun acoustic archtops I have!
Last edited by Hammertone; 02-03-2019 at 05:56 AM.
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Hey, That one on the left looks awfully familiar..
I had one with the KK Definity in the exact spot.
It was a really great guitar. I should have changed the frets to Medium Jumbos and kept it.
JD
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Yes, you certainly could have done that.
It is indeed a really great guitar, and has indeed been refretted.
The KK Definity is being removed and replaced with an old Dearmond.
After a visit to the guitar beauty parlour, it's going to a pro player who will take care of it and, as mentioned above, beat it regularly for many years to come.Last edited by Hammertone; 08-03-2019 at 09:48 PM.
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My understanding is that the last ones were made in 2012. One never knows, but I doubt we'll be seeing these again for a very long time. Originally Posted by neatomic
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Skykomishone -- Could you tell me a little about that pickup and the installation? Do you have a volume control wheel under the pick guard? It looks super nice and neat and tidy. Originally Posted by skykomishone
A Kalamazoo 1944?
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Flat, the pickup is a Jason Lollar Gold Foil Single Coil floater. It's relatively thin, and provided the necessary clearance for the L7, which have a serious recurve and arch. As you can see below, the pickup fits like a glove. I like it a lot. It's quiet and with the right amp, you get the rich harmonics and range of the acoustic that I wanted. It seems perfect for the guitar and my style of playing, but it took some getting use to it. I switched to TI's 13 round wound instead of the bronze acoustic strings (this really helped), and finally found the right tube amp. Here's the link to Jason's site: Gold Foil Floating Mount: Lollar Pickups Originally Posted by Flat
There is one wheel for volume. It works great. There is a guy in the Seattle area by the name of Mike Lull. He did it for me exactly how I wanted it. Couldn't be happier with it. I originally bought a KA, but there was a mixup and it was the standard thickness version that wouldn't fit under the strings, and I wasn't wanting to go through the process of sending it back, so I hung onto it and plan to put it on my '36 Emperor someday.
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Thanks for the photos detailed explanation, Skykomishone!
I have a '44 L7 too, and a Dearmond reissue pickup that I haven't yet gotten around to installing. But I am really tempted by that Lollar Gold Foil!
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After a successful visit to the guitar chiropractor for an adjustment, the much-travelled Bozeman L-7C is in the hands of its new owner, a pro jazz player who just got back from a short and chilly tour. He's thrilled to have it, and it is now his main instrument. Perhaps it will appear in his next poster.
Tonight we played the two guitars for several hours - they are indistinguishable in sound and almost indistinguishable in feel (one has marginally more "v" in the neck shape near the nut). Remarkably similar and fantastic-sounding guitars.Last edited by Hammertone; 08-03-2019 at 09:48 PM.
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They don't come up very often, but there's a Gibson L-7C Bozeman for sale at Gryphon, here:
2004 Gibson Guitar L-7C Sunburst - Guitar - Gryphon Stringed Instruments
Looks like someone already improved the pickguard - bonus!
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I had a 40s L-7 with the McCarty single pup rig as shown in the above picture fro icr. It blew away the 3 L5s I owned later on in my career.
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mid-ranginess?
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