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Joey what do you said about the mass of that Johnny Smith tail peas on my Johnny Franklin Smith is dead right
Remember how everybody got talking about the mass of that Gibson L5 tailpiece contributing to the tone of the guitar when you got your L5 well that’s definitely the case with this Franken Smith of mine
And for any of you guys don’t know me I loved Heritage Guitars because they’re built like the older Gibson archtops with thinner tops and back and that’s my personal preference and acoustic archtop Guitar and an electrified also
And I’m not a gibson basher I’ve got four Gibson L5s
They all have the old style thinner top and back which is my preference so I hear my guitars I hope you enjoy Seeing them
First my 1939 Gibson L5P it was sent back to the factory in 1941 to have a Charlie Christian and P90 pick ups indtalled It got played hard and it has so much mojo
And that other is my 1940 non-cutaway gibson L5Last edited by Crm114; 06-18-2021 at 09:08 PM.
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06-18-2021 08:52 PM
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And here’s my other to a 1956 Gibson L5 with staple P90 pick ups
followed by my 2002 Gibson Crimson custom shop L5 which is made in the older style with a thinner top and back many of you recognize it I’m sure it’s been around the block it’s a wonderful instrument and the style I prefer which is more acoustic I hope you enjoy the pho
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Oh the Gibsons, the Gibsons! And the RED, the RED!!!!
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They are all great guitars Mikey. Your point is well made.
Those 50’s Gibson are what made them the benchmark.
“The Heritage” was set.
The more guitars we own, the better we become at judging what’s good and what’s not. The bottom line is, With Gibson and Heritage, the bar is set so high and there are no losers.
Great stuff guys.
Btw.. Jads, I learned from you in this thread. Disagreeing is good and healthy. And it never has to go dark.
Thanks bud.
Originally Posted by Crm114
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My strong knees have been weakened once again by your amazing stash of archtops. Wow!
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Here’s a lovely Heritage American Eagle the mass of this tailpiece really adds to the tone she has such a lovely backside
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That back is amazing! Woa ...
Sent from my SM-G960U using Tapatalk
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Heritage ghost built D’Angelico New Yorker - number 40, the last one of the run. I’m gonna leave it acoustic it’s so sweet sounding
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Humans like to think in categories. It's natural and efficient. It's not always predictive and right though. Relevant examples include Heritage vs. Gibson, Norlin vs. McCarty eras.
I recently saw the new hire rosters for Gibson from the 1950s until the early 1980s. Quite a few builders worked through several Gibson eras. It's hard to imagine that they lost their skills as time went on. For example, Aaron Cowles, Marv Lamb, and Jim Hutchins built archtops together and did tap tuning. All three had strong respect for each other. Aaron and Marv continued with Heritage while Hutch didn't. Both Aaron and Marv could have gone to Tennessee but chose not to. My point is that there was not a difference in the talent pool. So how is it that some periods are criticized for bad workmanship? If you must blame anyone, it's Elvis and the Beatles. They brought two waves of frantic guitar buying. At one point Gibson was making 400 guitars a day to meet demand. Compare that to Heritage, which made about seven a day for quite a few years.
Gibson got a bad rap for the volute in the Norlin era. But why would Gibson spend that much money putting a volute on if it didn't work? And if it didn't work, why did Aaron Cowles continue his high end builds with volutes? Gibson had a neck angle that led to a structural weakness. The neck angle put more string pressure on the nut for a better sound. The weakness there caused more string slippage across the nut when the strings were bent, as with blues players, and caused unwanted tone shifts with resettling. Guitar breakage during shipping of electrics was about 3% I'm told. The hope of the volute was to maintain tuning better and reduce breakage. I can't tell you whether it worked in preventing breakage because I never was privy to the follow up stats. I'm sure there are those who have opinions. To my knowledge the volute was abandoned due to protests from players. That truly did surprise me because I played a lot with Gibsons with and without volutes without any concern about the appearance and feel. One of my favorite guitars today is a Gibson Howard Roberts with a volute. CP Thornton builds with a volute to reduce breakage and prevent unwanted nut slippage, and he's a great electric builder. Do volutes help? The Gibson headstock stress tests found they do. There were both good and bad Norlins.
The neck thickness changes are another thing that Gibson got taunted over. Don't blame the workers for that. The neck carvers had templates to use for each model to guide the carving. Necks were fat for years for stability and to have more meat to shave if needed. Gibson came out with the truss rod but didn't change the neck thickness for a long time. Around 1960 a few things happened with music. Chord melody was taking off more with the maturity of amplification. Johnny Smith was king. He preferred a thin neck with x-bracing and a thinner body, much like more modern Heritages. The thin neck is more functional for those who use "proper technique" with the thumb in the middle of the back of the neck. It also allowed reaching over with the thumb when necessary for thumb fretting. Gibson extended this neck carve to other models as well. Those who grip a neck like a bat wanted to fill their fists with more wood and missed the fat necks. The decisions of these changes weren't done by non-players. It wasn't a board room vote in Chicago. Johnny Smith reaffirmed the choice of a thin neck with Heritage. The Heritage builders made necks the way they were ordered. Don't blame Heritage for what their customers wanted. It's easier and cheaper to carve a fat neck than a thin. They put the extra effort into honoring requests.
Consider that while some hate the thin neck Gibsons and Heritages, one of my great guitar heroes, Jimmy Page, took a thin necked LP and had it shaved down further to the minimum. The slim 60s wouldn't be slim enough.
I don't appreciate the criticisms of the workers and designers by those who have done neither. That would be like me disparaging a Colombian coffee farmer for my bitter tasting cup of coffee. That is small minded and unnecessarily presumptive.
I don't know everything on the topic of Gibson vs. Heritage, of course. But I do know and have known many of the individuals and their characters. I will defend their intentions and acknowledge the head winds they faced in a very competitive market. Those who worked at Gibson in the 1950s through 1980s felt it was a good place to work. These workers were often friends. Their children grew up with the children of other workers. They shared holidays together. They had favorite after-work bars and a bowling league. It was not a sterile company with the workers as serfs and the executives as royalty.
It is a luxury to sit at a PC and keyboard opinion and pass judgement, something I'm doing now as others fill these pages as well. But I'd prefer a bit more respect and appreciation for those who went before us and for their ideas and work. Someday we too may be judged harshly and unfairly. It will be better then to have clean hands.
The good news for those who don't like some Heritage and Gibson products is that no one is forcing you to buy them.Last edited by Marty Grass; 06-19-2021 at 12:15 PM.
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Wouldn't change a thing on this one!
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For your perusal. A catalog of dreams.
https://acousticmusic.org/wp-content...66-Catalog.pdf
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Originally Posted by Marty Grass
I own 7 Gibson guitars and have owned and played dozens more. While I am a big fan, I have played duds. But for me, a great Gibson is as good as it gets.
I own one Heritage built guitar and have owned and played many others. I see no reason to knock them and unlike many, I like their headstock .
I for one an quite happy that both companies soldier on, long after their founders have passed from the scene, and that neither company has suffered the fate of Epiphone, Guild, Gretsch or D'Angelico.
To the Gibson bashers, if you don't think Bireli Lagrene sounds great on his late model L-5, you are not listening.
To the Heritage bashers, if you don't think my friend, Mimi Fox sounds great on her Heritage, you are not listening.
To those who have a preference between the two, that is OK. I prefer Gibson's myself.
To those who would rather buy cheaper guitars made in China where unfair labor practices occur and woods are harvested in an unsustainable manner, all I can say (and I have said it before) is your choice, your karma.
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2b, I think NOW, it is settled..
Great post MG.
JD
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
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So by your criteria all you guys posting on personal computers snd mobile devices are all part of the same hipocrscy then, right ???
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Originally Posted by Crm114
With guitars, there is a choice. With phones and PC's, no choice exists (These products are necessary to modern life). Those markets are dominated by a handful of multi-national Corporations who use labor in nations where Western labor standards and environmental protections are not enforced, particularly in China. IMO, some anti-trust enforcement to protect labor and the environment (even at a higher cost to us consumers for those products) would be the right thing to do.
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It is still part of the same hypocrisy and try to dance out of it is stupid
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
Godin makes some affordable stuff in Canada that even at new prices can be had very reasonable
Archtop Tribute in Japan makes guitars that might be better made than Gibsons
Used Guilds, heritage archtops, Ibanez guitars all can be had for way less than 4K
How about Gibson ES-150's and Gibson ES125's? How about the Epiphone equivalents?
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
You've obviously not price Heritage arch tops lately and didn't know even 575's are going for $33-3500. Not everyone want to play an ES150 or ES125. Which is why I don't own one. All I'm saying is American made archtop's aren't cheap!
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Originally Posted by 2bornot2bop
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No thanks. Thanks to Mike I now have one of these!
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Originally Posted by Stringswinger
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Originally Posted by Gitfiddler
Heritage H-575 Antique Natural 1999 | Reverb
Heritage H-575 Artisan Aged | Reverb
A nice blond and Mickey Rooney on drums
Today, 07:38 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos