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It's a slow morning.
This is the Gibson Howard Roberts Custom, which is that standard version of the HR line. It has a L-4 sized body made of laminates and 22 frets with a 25.5" scale. The standard wiring has a midrange pot, but this one may have been altered. It sounds like he's using flatwounds since I don't hear a squeak, but I'm not sure.
Do you hear a difference compared to the a ES-175?
This is the same model and year with and without amplification. Both of these instruments have little sustain. You can hear the effect of the midrange cut out.
Note the change in sustain with a TOM. It's impressive.
This is the Artist, not Custom, version. The early Kalamazoo made Epiphone HR Artist model had a spruce top. It loved to feedback. I used a sound post to reduce that problem. The Gibson Artist is a laminate. Here is one.
Here's the master.
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Richie's vid and Roberts himself, sounds very 175-ish to me.
The other videos sound tubbier on the low end and a little "brittle" on the top end to my ears. Some of that cold be how it's being recorded though.
At any rate, I think a great sounding guitar, and a very cool look.
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The custom I played was much louder acoustically than a 175. It was surprisingly loud. Great plugged in too.
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That’s the worst I’ve ever heard RS play. The video was all chopped up. As to the guitar, it’s a winner!!!
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I had a custom and it sounded better than the standard because it was fancier. It didn't sound anything like a 175 to me.
Kidding aside I really liked it as I'm partial to oval hole archtops.
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Owned two of beautiful guitars. Loved the sound but in loud venues where you have to turn up the feedback was hard to control.
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It sustains a little differently than the ES 175, to my ears. Very likable tone. I've played one Gibson HR Custom for about 10 minutes; very nice playing guitar. I didn't get acquainted with the control knob arrangement, so I wasn't sure what to do with it to dial in a sound I really liked, but the potential was obviously there. Maybe I'm hearing with my eyes, I get a sense of there being a little bit of a flattop bass quality to the sound compared to the more nasal bass tones that most archtop guitars have.
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For what it is worth, the guitar on the cover of The Real Howard Roberts was a modified Howard Roberts Custom: he had Gibson install a second pickup and a sound post. Of course, there is no guarantee that the guitar on the cover is played on the album.
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I have a 1966 Epiphone Howard Roberts Custom with a spruce top and flamed maple neck. How do I know it is flamed under the black paint? The previous owner or owners played it so much the back of the neck is worn down to smooth flamed maple. Love it. That is what happens when a guitar gets played. Oh, woe is me! I gotta refinish it! I gotta return it to its factory original state when it was delivered brand shiny new and black in 1966...It's been played since 1966 so get over it, bucko!
The Norlin Gibson Howard Roberts is a guitar of its Norlin times: overbuilt and rather dead sounding acoustically. If I am not mistaken, the Gibson HR Std. has a 24.75" scale length whilst the Gibson HR Custom and Gibson HR Artist have a 25.5" scale length. It was the case with the Epiphone HR Std and HR Custom. I think it carried over.
It sounded much like the later ES-775 which is another overbuilt acoustically flaccid laminated archtop guitar.
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Howard Alden played a HR for a long time before George Van Eps convinced him to go to a 7-string. There are lots of YouTube vids of him with it. With the HR, he sounded very much like... Howard Alden. I don't hear much difference in his sound with the HR or any of his Benedettos, nor with the Sadowsky he played for a short time. The HR does sound somewhat brighter than typical f hole guitars, on average, to me.
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The Gibson HRs oval holes are all 25.5 scale length.
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The Gibson I played sounded good acoustically. Laminate wise it seemed more like my 58 ES125 in thickness versus a heavier layup. Does anybody have those specs?
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I like the 175 a lot and used to play one but my Howard Roberts is a clearer sounding guitar with a better tone (- the single floating p/u is better positioned than the 175 neck p/u) It has a perfect neck for my hands and so for me it is the better guitar. Also, it can be played a bit louder before any feedback is noticeable.
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it's an interesting guitar. Pickup placement is "correct" but with the longer scale it has a bit more articulation. I'd love to have one.
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Artur Lang
Today, 04:16 PM in Guitar, Amps & Gizmos