A little something from 1967 Gibson

[ThatRhythmMan]

[floatingpickup]

Just watched this. It was really interesting. A couple of nice archtops a bunch of 335’s and 355’s. Very cool.
Keith

[D'Aquisto Fan]

Thanks for sharing that. Very cool! Quite a contrast from watching New Yorker Special and seeing Jimmy D'Aquisto at work. One man as opposed to a factory.

[wintermoon]

not a big Fender guy but pretty sure most have seen this

[jazzkritter]

Just saw it too over on tgp. Aside from all the gals in beehive hairdos, I thought the “hand carved archtop top” shown being carved by machine down to the ‘last thousands of an inch done by hand’ was interesting. And how manual so much of the process was then as now.
And that rocking’ combo at the end. Priceless)
Worth a watch!
Makes you really appreciate the single builders.

[Filmosound 621]

makes me really appreciate my Gibsons.

thanks for sharing Chuck.

[Marty Grass]

Very nostalgic. I love the amps.

Great video.

[jads57]

Was that Bruce Bolen doing the demos on the ES-355 and Byrdland?

[wintermoon]

Thanks for sharing that. Very cool! Quite a contrast from watching New Yorker Special and seeing Jimmy D'Aquisto at work. One man as opposed to a factory.

And like the D'Aquisto video not a particle mask or respirator in sight.

[citizenk74]

"Craftory" ? Loved the video.

[Filmosound 621]

now I wonder, at which year they came up with that archtop grinding machine.

as there must be a pre-machine-grind-archtop-era as well.

especially with the L-5, there must a be an exact date that seperates the early hand carved ones from

the later automatically carved ones.

I want to be buried with a handcarved L-5.

but first I want to play it while I am alive, please.

[ThatRhythmMan]

Jan,
The machine is supposed to do the rough carve only. Most archtop builders that I’ve see in the modern era will also do something similar. This just helps speed the part that gets the rough shape done. Hand graduation with tap tuning (the important part) is what follows this rough carve. I believe they even say in the video that the top will be hand graduated following the rough carve.

[RJVB]

Of course - but the thrill and risk of drilling all those holes to "exact" depth to help scoop out the brunt of the scrapwood has such a haunting influence on the final tone!

If memory serves me well Seagull actually make a tongue-in-cheek remark somewhere in their marketing material about what "hand-made in Canada" really means these days. At least I can see in mine that human hands was indeed involved

[Hammertone]

now I wonder, at which year they came up with that archtop grinding machine. as there must be a pre-machine-grind-archtop-era as well. especially with the L-5, there must a be an exact date that seperates the early hand carved ones from the later automatically carved ones. I want to be buried with a handcarved L-5. but first I want to play it while I am alive, please.

Gibson built the "Green Monster" rough-carving machine, shown in the 1967 video, sometime in the 1930s, according to Richard Ickes, the Gibson employee who operated it for many years. Every single carved top and back made for Gibson archtop guitars built in Kalamazoo and Nashville went through that machine. It may still be operational, or may have been replaced in the past few years with something more technologically advanced. Bozeman-built L-7C archtops (2003-2012) have carved tops and backs that were sourced elsewhere.

[jazzkritter]

It was nice to see the machine that carved my L5))
When I ordered my L5 in ‘87 it was right at the point of Henry taking over. Anyway Gibson warned me that the ‘machine to rough carve the tops’ (as I recall) was worn out at that point and would be unavailable for a length of time for a rebuild.
Ordered early 87, received it in November’89. Hutch and Jim Triggs were the archtop custom shop then.

[jads57]

Who was the player doing the demos?

[BigDaddyLoveHandles]

Whew!!! I thought the classical guitar was going to be played with a thumb pick, just like all the other guitars!

[nopedals]

Here's a link to the D'Aquisto film noted above: