The Totally Miscellaneous non-Alembic Guitar and Bass Thread

[peoplechipper]

that Gretsch is really pretty...looking again at the gold top Les Paul with humbuckers, I kept thinking something seemed off to me about the guitar, other than it having humbuckers, and I finally realized it would have had cream surrounds and pickguard if it was born that way...

[cozmik_cowboy]

Would you think I was strange if I said I have impure thoughts about your collection?

Peter

[Nova Constellatio]

Would you think I was strange if I said I have impure thoughts about your collection?

Peter

I do too!

[Nova Constellatio]

that Gretsch is really pretty...looking again at the gold top Les Paul with humbuckers, I kept thinking something seemed off to me about the guitar, other than it having humbuckers, and I finally realized it would have had cream surrounds and pickguard if it was born that way...

The earliest ones with humbuckers had black plastic — I think they were only made for 4 or 5 months in 1957.

[cozmik_cowboy]

that Gretsch is really pretty...looking again at the gold top Les Paul with humbuckers, I kept thinking something seemed off to me about the guitar, other than it having humbuckers, and I finally realized it would have had cream surrounds and pickguard if it was born that way...

The earliest ones with humbuckers had black plastic — I think they were only made for 4 or 5 months in 1957.

No jive?  I was unaware.
And I have always thought black plastic goes way better with gold than cream/white does. 

Peter

[Nova Constellatio]

I love both looks, but prefer the black.

[edwardofhuncote]

I am very much enjoying the revival of this old thread. 😊

Here's one from my wayback machine, literally a picture of a photograph. I had to sell this guitar (along with quite a few other things) in the aftermath of a divorce 28 years ago. Nothing particular special about it except that it was my very first Martin guitar. I still have the original owner's card and a stack of layaway receipts from Fret Mill Music. (same place I do repair work for nowadays) Ken let me pay it off for 9 months instead of 90 days. It turned out to be a good gamble because over the years I bought probably a dozen more.

Not that I need it, but I'd buy this one back in pieces if I could find it. D-16 H, from 1992. The tortoise pickguard is from luthier John Arnold in Newport, TN. If it looks familiar it's because he made the one on Tony's famous D-28 too.

[Nova Constellatio]

I love the pickguard. If it ever comes up again, that should make it eminently identifiable.

[edwardofhuncote]

I love the pickguard. If it ever comes up again, that should make it eminently identifiable.

There are a couple other nerdy details that I would instantly recognize in a picture or ad even if the pickguard were replaced. Plus the serial number. I still look for it online, but without any real expectation of ever finding it. Martin Dreadnoughts reign supreme here in Appalachia. It could be anywhere by now.

Here's the guitar I bought to replace it... kind of my comeback instrument. I had fallen under the spell of Norman Blake by then, and 12-fret Dreadnoughts were starting to make a comeback too. I waited through three of these before I bought this D-18VS in 2001. A couple years ago I gifted it as a wedding present to a young couple I play with from time-to-time. It gets played regularly, which was the plan. 

[Nova Constellatio]

Great comeback guitar — I haven't met many 12-fret dreads that I didn't really like.

Thants a hell of a wedding gift.

[pauldo]

4 string guy enters the chat....

So what is it that makes the 12 fret dread so special?  

[Nova Constellatio]

They sound warmer and have a really fantastic bloom to the note, which is probably because the bridge falls lower on the body than on 14-fret dreads.

The best sounding guitar I've ever played was a 1934 D-28 that was retopped at the factory in early 1935 with what looked to me like the European spruce they used for 42 and 45 style instruments (it also had 42-style inlays on the fingerboard). Everyone I know who has encountered this guitar ranks it #1.

[edwardofhuncote]

They sound warmer and have a really fantastic bloom to the note, which is probably because the bridge falls lower on the body than on 14-fret dreads.

The best sounding guitar I've ever played was a 1934 D-28 that was retopped at the factory in early 1935 with what looked to me like the European spruce they used for 42 and 45 style instruments (it also had 42-style inlays on the fingerboard). Everyone I know who has encountered this guitar ranks it #1.

Yeah, they really are a different thing. Norman says they have more lumber in them. I think the way all the braces are shifted changes the response too. Plus... they're HUGE. Just volume-wise.

If it's the one I'm thinking about, that D-28 had a very interesting story... the original owner was dissatisfied with the top when new for some aesthetic reason, and sent it back to be corrected. In the space of time Martin had it for the work, this same client saw a fancier Style 45 and asked for the neck to be upgraded. Martin obliged and there's evidently some correspondence to corroborate the story.

I've never seen it in person much less played it. I did get to play Norman's shadetop D-28 many years ago. I've personally owned six different 12-fret Dreadnoughts. The D-18VS I gifted there was by far the best.

The backstory of it; there are two sisters I'd been playing music with since they were 10 and 14. When each of them married a decade and half later I gave them instruments. The older sister I gave a German viola and her soon-to-be, the Martin guitar. Her younger sister got a Gibson L-00, and the betrothed got one of our banjos. Because I wanted it parked somewhere safe for another generation, our families' Kay bass went to their place too.

(The wedding announcement picture was kinda' inside... not many people got it, but I did! Proud to say I had some influence on that.)

[cozmik_cowboy]

There's an ad in the issue of Vintage Guitar that came today; CFM is making one supposed copy of each of the 91 pre-war dreads.

Peter (who is certain they will priced for the average player.......  )

[cozmik_cowboy]

Oh, yeah - if I read the ad right, they'll be reusing the original serial numbers.

Peter