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Your best blues guitar?
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Author:  bob J [ Sun Dec 09, 2007 11:25 pm ]
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Hey everyone,
What is the best sounding blues guitar you have built, heard, or played?

Also, classic blues sound the mahog/sitka L-00. What do you think sound comparison would be if a 000 built the same as L-00; same woods, bracing (light)?
Thanks,
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 1:33 am ]
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L-00, Honduran Mahogany with an Adirondack Top for my neice.

That said, the one that got me going was a Collings C10 Deluxe at Fayetteville a half dozen years ago. That guitar wowed me. My guess on it's woods are Rosewood and Sitka, not sure on the top. It didn't seem to matter to me at the time so it didn't register.

Why do you ask?
Author:  Alexandru Marian [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:30 am ]
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Curious about this myself. I always thought that when I'll build a SS, it must be something bluesy sounding.  
Author:  Michael Dale Payne [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:20 am ]
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The two best accoustic guitars I have played for accoustic blues:

Slide style blues: an old Mahogany (1950 something) L-00

Texas rag style blues: Mahogany (1960 something) D18

I don't remember what tops were on either. I suspect Engelman on both
Author:  burbank [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 6:35 am ]
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The 30s L-00 I rescued from a garage sale, in the mid-70s. The back and neck had been re-glued with contact cement. Paid $25 for it. Amazingly, the top was intact, probably because the neck and back kept it from coming up to full tension. It had been refinished with LOTS of polyurethane. Sounded wonderful after I put it back together. Gave it to my nephew for his 21st birthday. It was almost 20 years before he had the heart to tell me it had been stolen only months after I'd given it to him.

So, if you ever see a beater L-00 with the name Eloy burned into the inside with a cigarette in 2-in. tall letters, that's the one!
Author:  Glenn LaSalle [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:37 am ]
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My favorite "Blues" Guitar is this 1925 Joseph Nettuno Grand Concert.  Nettuno was one of the NYC Italian Guitar makers making great ladder braced guitars similar to Oscar Schmidt.  I thiin these are superior to the Oscar Schmidt guitars.  Great bottleneck soiund, as well as playing "normal".


Glenn
Author:  drfuzz [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:51 pm ]
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I played a small-bodied mahogany guitar - back/sides/top - built by Jamie Kinscherf that had an awesome blues tone...
Author:  James Orr [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 2:58 pm ]
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Bob, if you were to try, what would call the blues sound? What
characteristics does it have? Does it accentuate any part of the spectrum
like treble or bass? High-mids? What's the decay like? Is the sound
immediate?
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:05 pm ]
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Glenn, that's a nice one. What a looker.
Author:  Bruce Dickey [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 3:49 pm ]
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Collings C10 Deluxe, an L-00 Style Guitar with ...

Pizzaz!

Dimensions
* Nut Width: 1 11/16"
* Scale Length: 25 1/2"
* Body Width: 14 3/4"
* Body Length: 19 1/4"
* Body Depth: 4 1/4"
* Total Length: 39 1/2"

C Series

The body shape of the C10 and C10 Deluxe is based on the Gibson L00 from the late 1920s.

Author:  Glenn LaSalle [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:26 pm ]
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[QUOTE=James Orr]Bob, if you were to try, what would call the blues sound? [/QUOTE]


For me, blues playing wrt acoustic guitar is how you play more than the actual guitar.  I think one needs to pick with confidence - not be afraid to snap the strings for percussive effects.  In general, I like the ladder braced guitars for bottleneck playing - especially the Grand concerts with long scale (My Nettuno has a 26.25" scale).  I think the tone is on the "throaty" side, with lots of volume.  For ragtime blues (Piedmont), i think the 30's "Gibson sound" is perfect - quick, loud, fast decaying note.  With that, however, Mississippi John Hurt recorded some of the greatest blues in the 60's with Stefan Grossman's then 1930 OM 45 - so go figure.


Glenn
Author:  Rick Turner [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 4:38 pm ]
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Whatever guitar is in my hands when the inspiration hits.
Author:  Hesh [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:32 pm ]
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I think defining the "blues sound" is important.

For me a blues sound is as close as you can get to a pre-war L-OO sound.  What I hear in recordings, since I have never had the opportunity to play one, is a strong fundamental note, an absence of overtones, and a woody, almost muted quality that kind of is like what some might call a cheap guitar.....  Relax - I love the blues sound too.

In addition it has a quality as if someone is playing on the neck side of the sound hole, almost dark sounding.

And probably the most important part of this "tone" to me is the sound of mahogany which is rich in mids, not tangy on the highs, and somewhat restrained on the bass side.
Author:  Kevin Gallagher [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:54 pm ]
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    My favorite blues guitar was a 1942 00-18 that i had for a long time. I
had to sell it to help me stay afloat during my layoff last year and i really
miss it.

   It had that great dry punch of Mahogany and the quick tight projection of
that great 00 body size....and it was surprisingly loud.

   A close friend of mine bought it and offered to sell it back to me at the
same price once i'm back in shape. I'll take him up on it someday.

Regards,
Kevin Gallagher/Omega Guitars
Author:  Hesh [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:55 pm ]
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I just reread my previous post and I missed the mark........

For me the defining quality of the "blues" tone is the players abilities and skill that played these various guitars and gave us the gift of their talent. 

Many of the greats like Robert Johnson could make a really crappy guitar sound great.

With this said - I don't think that it is possible to separate the famous historic blues players from the tone that we are speaking of here.  These guys were/are probably every bit as important in defining this tone as the guitars that they used/use.
Author:  Hesh [ Mon Dec 10, 2007 11:59 pm ]
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And....... this means that how we define these players will help define this tone too.

Often issues like poverty, alcoholism, womanizing and racial bigotry were very much part of their lives.  This says to me that part of this "tone" was/is perhaps suffering.

And then you have the devil at the crossroads..................
Author:  Dave Anderson [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 1:07 am ]
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Here's some Gibson L-00 tone.
Not a blues tune but it sounds good! Check it out...LINK
Author:  Glenn LaSalle [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 2:59 am ]
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One other thing to consider wrt a "blues guitar".  If you want to play bottleneck, then you want a guitar with "flat" fingerboard (or strings are all level), ala the old stella's/20's ladder braced guitars.  With these guitars, you can play full 6 strings with the bottleneck without "fretting out".  I find this to be very important.  Because of this, set-ups for bottleneck guitars may not be the best for conventianal playing - although a happy compromise is required, IMO, as it is important to be able to fret normally, as well as with the bottleneck.


Glenn
Author:  AndrewGribble [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 6:06 am ]
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To my ears (and fingers) nothing beats the warm sound of the old single cone Nationals.
Author:  K.O. [ Tue Dec 11, 2007 8:08 am ]
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This being a forum of builders of fine Guitars it is sometimes hard to admit some of the things I do.

I wanted something to learn some bottle necking so I picked up a plywood Kay classical that the bridge had come off of at a yard sale. I pulled the painted maple fretboard using heat gun and sharpened putty knife. I then put the bar stock salvaged from a trashed harmony (poplar neck) in the mahogany neck and re glued.

Cut hole in the top, made maple neck stick, plywood rings, Doug fir post, ply baffle, modified Chevy air cleaner lid for a cover plate, cheap stew-mac cone and spider, when finished wiped strings down with cider vinegar to induce rust.

I am not skilled as a player but I love the way it GROWLS.
Author:  Todd Rose [ Wed Dec 12, 2007 1:45 am ]
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It's the guitarist, not the guitar.

Not the kind of input you were looking for, I know.

I'll admit that I also have a certain sound of instrument in mind for certain kinds of music. For example, I like a certain kind of banjo sound for clawhammer style playing, and other banjos just don't cut it. And I know some blues styles beg for a certain fairly specific sound from the instrument. To me, personally, though, blues is a very wide open musical world, with infinite room for creativity and individuality of "voice", so absolutely any playable guitar can be a great blues guitar. In the hands of a creative, soulful, and sensitive player, each guitar will sing the blues beautifully in its own way.
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