Tony Mottola’s 7 string S400 at Guernsey’s

[JazzPadd]

That Town Hall concert was incredible! George Barnes, the “happy guitar player.” All these guys, monsters!

[ARGewirtz]

[QUOTE=nevershouldhavesoldit;1214820]He deserves his own thread - many put him alongside Eddie Lang as one of the fathers of jazz guitar. Like Tony Mottola, he was a wonderful musician who played a variety of styles. He loved alternative tunings, one of which was A#FCGAD (also described as A#FDGAD in an interview with George Barnes). Van Eps was a student of Kress, and those low tunings apparently led GVE to the 7 string.

His best known partnership was with George Barnes, but he paired with many other guitarists through his career. He played Gibsons early on and Guilds when they came along. Check him out - you’ll like it!


Thanks for this. I was watching the credits run at the end of the video with George Barnes Live at Town Hall and couldn't help but notice Phil Ramone with the humble credit of "Remote Recording and Remix Engineer."

[powerwagonjohn]

The Barnes and Kress photos show them both playing Guild Acousti-letric guitars and Guild amps. I have that record. Great tunes!
Thanks john

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

The Barnes and Kress photos show them both playing Guild Acousti-letric guitars and Guild amps. I have that one. Great tunes!
Thanks john

That was one of the two models Guild made for Barnes as a condition of his switching to their instruments. Kress was a Guild guy from the early days of the company - remember that Guild was a latecomer compared to Gibson. Kress brought Barnes to Guild in about 1960 with the condition that they make the Acousti-lectric and a smaller archtop he could tune higher (the "F guitar"), so he could write and play parts that complemented Kress in their duets. Your Acousti-lectric is rare, as I think they only made about a dozen. They were all hand carved by Guild's master luthier at the time, and I'm told they sound magnificent live. For those who don't know the model, it had no f-holes because Barnes believed they were the main source of feedback. instead, there were ports around the pickups. The little one is even rarer - I've never seen one.

You're a lucky guy!

[wintermoon]

That was one of the two models Guild made for Barnes as a condition of his switching to their instruments. Kress was a Guild guy from the early days of the company - remember that Guild was a latecomer compared to Gibson. Kress brought Barnes to Guild in about 1960 with the condition that they make the Acousti-lectric and a smaller archtop he could tune higher (the "F guitar"), so he could write and play parts that complemented Kress in their duets. Your Acousti-lectric is rare, as I think they only made about a dozen. They were all hand carved by Guild's master luthier at the time, and I'm told they sound magnificent live. For those who don't know the model, it had no f-holes because Barnes believed they were the main source of feedback. instead, there were ports around the pickups. The little one is even rarer - I've never seen one.

You're a lucky guy!

I'm not sure but I think he means the record

[powerwagonjohn]

Yea, sorry about that!
Thanks John

[nevershouldhavesoldit]

I'm not sure but I think he means the record

Hmmm - he edited the post after you responded, to make that more clear. No harm done, and I suspect most don’t know the story of those cool guitars. All’s well that ends.