Anyone have experience with the Gibson Citation and the Le Grand or Johnny Smith?

[bluejaybill]

hmm - I live in Northern Ca. too.

Hmmmmm.... me to!

[AKA]

Hmmmmm.... me to!

I have been slow getting around to photographing the instrument. I will take some shots and post it this afternoon.

Albert

[AKA]

Back when I was contemplating buying my Legrand this review caused me to drool a bit.

This same reviewer does an identical review of the Citation.

AKA

[2bornot2bop]

Floating archtop’s, to my ear, are special in there own way. They’re more subtle in their tone. I believe the BJB offers the finest floating pickup tone I’ve heard.

But like humbuckers, there’s tons of floating pickups!

[AKA]

Floating archtop’s, to my ear, are special in there own way. They’re more subtle in their tone. I believe the BJB offers the finest floating pickup tone I’ve heard.

But like humbuckers, there’s tons of floating pickups!

I’m with you regarding the BJB.

AKA

[Jabberwocky]

I kinda miss those Musician's Friend Private Reserve videos. There were some beauties featured such as this one:

[Marty Grass]

Back when I was contemplating buying my Legrand this review caused me to drool a bit.

This same reviewer does an identical review of the Citation.

AKA

I haven't even listened but I can tell the blonde sounds better. My eyes told me.

[AKA]

I haven't even listened but I can tell the blonde sounds better. My eyes told me.

In the early 2000’s a friend purchased a blond Citation and I had the opportunity to play it quite a bit. What a great sounding and playing guitar! About 3 years later he offered me the opportunity to purchase it, but I hesitated and he sold it. The one that got away.

AKA

[Bluedawg]

Back when I was contemplating buying my Legrand this review caused me to drool a bit.

This same reviewer does an identical review of the Citation.

AKA

Nice .. I spent some time looking over those back in the day.

They both sound great, maybe a slight edge to the Citation ... at least in my sound system

Do this with 10 Le Grands and 10 Citations and my guess is both models will have a contender or two for the best of the bunch ... but they'll all sound good ... if not great



I guess if you're going for a Citation you're going for the extra bling, otherwise be happy with a Le Grand or a Johnny Smith, which isn't exactly shabby

[bluejaybill]

I’m with you regarding the BJB.

AKA

What does BJB stand for?

And it looks like there are no adjustable pole pieces- does that work out OK?

[Jabberwocky]

What does BJB stand for?

And it looks like there are no adjustable pole pieces- does that work out OK?

Not what you think it means!

Bruce J Bolen.

[Marty Grass]

Not what you think it means!

Bruce J Bolen.

It's a very good pickup. It seems a little "hot" to me and bright. Nonetheless it's not hard to get a great tone from it.

[gavin wilkinson]

I have a 1966 Gibson Johnny Smith. Plus features--25 in. scale(le grande , L5 etc 25 1/2 in.)-- Big tone difference between vol 8 and 10. X brace is acoustic magic, mine is superior to most prewar to 50's L5's . Very playable slim neck. excellent for gypsy jazz as well as contemporary.Public admiration. Minus features , too much public admiration-- this is a hard to find and very expensive/valuable vintage guitar . they have a tendency to develop an upward warp at the 14th fret/neck join due to a fairly minimal structure unlike a 175 which has a lot of chunky mass on the heel and cantilever joint. Original scratchplate rotted out due to interaction between old celluloid and pickup cable-- hard to find a replacement. I cannot part with this guitar as my wife made me buy it on a visit to New York! ( I live and play in UK.)

[zephyrregent]

Here's an ad for the Gibson Citation from the 1970 Downbeat Yearbook. Price? $2500.

[tbeltrans]

Here's an ad for the Gibson Citation from the 1970 Downbeat Yearbook. Price? $2500.

Putting that in perspective...

The average price of a new car in 1970 was apparently and approximately $3,543. In 2022, the average price of a new car was/is apparently and approximately $33,000 and a used Citation sells for around $15,000. Of course, now we are talking used Citations vs new cars for 2022.

This site says the average price of a new car in 2019 was $36,000 (the site that I got the 1970 new car average price from):

https://oldcarmemories.com/what-it-w...w-car-in-1970/

This is the site I got the average price of a car in 2022 from:

What Is the Average Price of a Car in 2022? - Genius Updates

So all these figures are rough approximates, but at least in the ball park from each other. There are a couple of us here who bought used Citations in 2022 and I took a ball park figure from those transactions.

So my message to folks here is that it is cheaper (and much more fun!!!) to buy a used Citation than it is to buy a new car.

Tony