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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
 Posted - 03/01/2007 : 12:55:33 PM
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Sarah and I have a dear friend who is even a bigger guitar freak than we are (and he is a great player, too).
John has assembled a fantastic collection of vintage and super custom guitars. At the Newport Guitar Festival this year, he had to fight off Roseanne Cash who insisted that he should sell her one of his guitars.
We get to play them, and even take them home for a while, whenever we want. 3 weeks ago we played through an amazing sequence of 20s and 30's Gibsons (up until the date that they went downhill). They are all really unusual, too, in that they have details that they are not supposed to have, at least according to certain books. The two best sounding ones, magnificent actually, was the least expensive and a 1935 slope shouldered D that is out of sight
His latest coup is a 1920 Maurer, built by the Larson brothers (they built for various retail brands). The Larsons were most inventive, especially in their bracing designs, too. We get to play with it Sunday.
You can see pix of his stash at:
http://community.webshots.com/user/jthomas120?track_pagetag=/page/photo/entertainment/music&track_action=/MediaInfo/MediaAuthor
...Reid
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2007 : 12:59:39 PM
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Oh yeah, he actually has 2, but the really hot Larson is the one at the bottom of the page.
...Reid |
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andyjade
Akahai
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2007 : 1:19:37 PM
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I just tutched myself.
I am in love with the How & OS set. |
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Admin
Pupule
USA
4551 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2007 : 1:49:02 PM
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| I got to play the Flammang parlor guitar one time... and it sounds even better than it looks! |
Andy |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 03/01/2007 : 3:06:51 PM
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Do you know, Andy, that Howard Emerson (for those who don't know Howard, he is a fantastic player, a Martin demonstrator and the house guitar player at Mandolin Bros on Staten Island - one of the biggest and funniest purveyors of guitars in the world) got his custom Flammang guitar, just because he played John's little beauty at the benefit for David after David got burned out of his shop. BTW, for Wanda, Howard's day job is working in a hardware store on Long Island. Also, no lie, at one time, John abhorred the idea of having more than one guitar and he wanted us to have that little Flammang koa parlor (we had it for 6 months and Sarah gave it its name: Kamaiki, and John calls it that all the time). But, I insisted he keep it and he took it to Fur Peace Ranch and he an Tommy Emmanuel fell in love with it. You can see, in other pix, John and Tommy fighting over it. Then, John became true to his nature. The rest is not exactly history, because he ain't done yet.
...Reid
PS. andyjade, the How and OS are a bit boxy, so you gotta be able to deal with that. But, I am sure you could. |
Edited by - Reid on 03/01/2007 3:49:40 PM |
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JohnnyFaster
Aloha
3 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2007 : 4:13:13 PM
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Look, it's not my fault. For some time, I lived next door to Reid and Sarah and watched the weekly arrival of the Big Brown Truck to deliver yet, another, beautiful guitar. I had to start collecting to preserve any semblance of my fragile sense of self esteem.
Uh, this being my first post, maybe I should level with y'all. Truth be told, I really bought all of these guitar just to listen to Sarah play them.
Oh, and, Andy, you've got to come back for a visit. I've got a few more for you to play. I bought them to listen to you play them, too.
John
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Lawrence
Ha`aha`a
USA
1597 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2007 : 4:51:16 PM
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Welcome Johnny!!
I replied as fast as I could! 
...(but you are faster) 
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Mahope Kākou...
...El Lorenzo de Ondas Sonoras |
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andyjade
Akahai
USA
51 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 07:44:26 AM
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| Welcome, Johnny. I'm sorry I used your pictures for self-gratification. I just couldn't help it. |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 08:14:37 AM
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What a joker.
He also tries to mess with people's brains by playing Freight Train or Old Joe Clark with a continuous tremolo - every note - and he is the only Yankee I know who can play Dixie and Yankee Doodle Dandy simultaneously (like Guy Van Duser). His Peter Gunn theme is wonderfully weird and I think that is one that will be on WNPR soon.
Anyway, he might be telling the truth, because his music has changed some since he adopted us.
He brought the new old Maurer over Sunday and it was simply astonishing (and as rare and interesting a design as you can think of - laminated rosewood/spruce x braces, and tone bars that were not attached to anything) tonally to die for, and set up perfectly butter smooth for standard tuning. And it sounded best when he played slow :-)
But, left behind, for us to play with, was that priceless "Nick Walker", and a few days later a National Resonator showed up at the door in the morning. Just because I want to see if I can rejoin the music world playing slide steel.
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JohnnyFaster
Aloha
3 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 09:24:13 AM
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Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!
Well, if you must, pay attention only to two things that the fellow has written. First, I confess that he and Sarah have influenced me. I sometimes now find myself playing in open tunings. Fortunately, I've got an in-residence psychiatrist who has plied me with a daily coctail of anti-psychotics and I find myself in standard (yes, EADGBE is standard!) tuning more and more often.
Second, the Maurer is a wonderous instrument. Here, recorded for posterity on Reid's Zoom H4 gizmo is a sample:
http://www.johnthomasguitar.com/soundfiles/The%20Last%20Time%20I%20saw%20Home%20Maurer.mp3
Johnny |
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slackkey
Lokahi
USA
280 Posts |
Posted - 03/09/2007 : 8:13:02 PM
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Reid,Sarah and Andy! Wow! You guys are soooo..lucky! Makes my "Old Martin" so outtah date! Ha! Ha! ha! Speaking of which, it's been a while since I've played my Martin...Well! Time fo 'buss'em out! Strum the strings and "kanikajammapila"! A Hui Hou!
slackkey Bill |
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Reid
Ha`aha`a
Andorra
1526 Posts |
Posted - 03/10/2007 : 06:22:52 AM
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Bill! Howzit? Long time, yeah. Glad you are still around and hope you are well. Your little old 00 Martin is too sweet to ignore. You just gotta play it to keep it, and you, happy.
And stick around and talk story, too. OK?
Aloha no,
...Reid (and Sarah) |
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