MartyGrass

So there are drab greens and elegant greens. We know greens are good for you. Look, we have a new administration in the White House. This is my Green New Deal.

So I bought this HJS. I'll figure out what to do with it later. Here is the army issue L-5 along with another Heritage "archtop" in green. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nHRBnMGv7U&feature=emb_logo

Here's the guitar in action with Vince Lewis.

I can confirm that, not that Steiner needs confirmation. I was thrown off by assuming my H-576 would have the same headstock dimensions as the H-575. It doesn't. The H-576 is broader and matches the GE.

This should be in the eBay area, I know. But forget the sales part of this for a moment. What's up with green here? The HJS is a traditional archtop. https://www.ebay.com/itm/Heritage-Johhny-Smith-Archtop-Electric-Guitar/363262176870 I have to admit that the color does grow on me as time passes. Here are some other unusual finishes in the same model.

They've had the narrow (snake head) and larger ones, the latter being for hollowbodies. Maybe they have had some tweens in there.

There are clear similarities in the shape. Note the string course in the Core is more angled and the headstock mass is greater. I did not intend my post to be another thread complaining about the appearance of the headstock. My point was that the original headstock was designed mostly for function, which the original owners clearly lost sales over. Now it is more stylish IMO. Something is lost and something is gained.

I don't think I mean to be unsettling, but maybe I do. There is a dark side to the Core headstock design. Let me explain. Decades ago the Heritage factory owners decided on a headstock. There were a few features they believed to be important that others have taken contest with. The first was to make it relatively light to minimize the forces favoring neck dive. The second was the 17 degree angle for string security in the nut slots. The third was the straighter string course from the nut slots to the tuning pegs. That favored a return to pitch after string bending. Heritage wa

I would like to see this design promoted more. It's a very comfortable 16" by 3". It weighs around 7 lbs. It can't cost much more than a 530 to make if done in volume. The high fret access is good. But Heritage probably would opt to only have the 530 for financial reasons. One strange thing about this guitar is the controls more toward the midline. Heritage has placed the pots toward the rim previously. The guitar pictured about has a 24.75" scale with 22 frets. There was a limited run of these with two humbuckers, six in total as I recall. I got one and passed it on to a fri

That's a lacquer check. Don't worry about it. Someday you will see its cousins if you keep the guitar long enough. They're almost inevitable. I don't even see them as a flaw anymore. If I could save some money over a few lacquer checks, I wouldn't hesitate a second.

I think you're right. The Groovemaster is gone as well, as is the H-550.

I've done that before to get a larger string spread.

To be fair, Rodney has played many instruments. I didn't know until now he toured with a H-535 and a H-555. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ9J6E2KNXE

I love seeing a great guitar fulfilling its potential!

Emily was a master player and a superb teacher. Her life story would make a great movie. It has it all. While her bio politely says she died of heart failure, it is likely that occurred from endocarditis due to her heroin and Dilaudid addiction. She was a tiny lady from New Jersey who had the soul of Wes Montgomery in her. Her video lessons are worth watching. You will learn from them. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CLNb0ffq1g https://www.halleonard.com/product/322774/emily-remler--bebop-and-swing-guitar-instructional-b

My issue with the tailpiece is that it is heavy. That's pretty minor. An interesting thing about the tailpiece is that it starts out straight but over the years of string tension it arcs. No harm with that, but it's pretty common. Here's an example.

The design flaw being the neck angle? Schaller hardware is engineered very well. Sometimes it addresses problems no one sees as problems. I appreciate Schaller more now than in the distant past. For example, I do use the tilt option for the pickups sometimes. The bridge allows changes in string spread for fingerstyle. Bringing the high E inward can help with finger vibrato. The tuners are excellent and durable. The tailpiece makes string changes a little easier than some, but I'm not a huge fan of it.

Interesting. Who would've guessed?

Ann-Margret may not raise the humidity but definitely adds heat. Her star shone bright enough that Howard was wearing sunglasses. Imagine doing a full day session rehearsing with her a few feet away. But I digress.

Howard Roberts Artist. These were built with a L-4 body except the top. It's a laminate. The top has unique bracing for Howard Roberts' tone. The pickup is mounted to the neck like a Johnny Smith and was designed by the famous Bill Lawrence, who worked for Gibbons at the time. The circuit includes a pot to dial in a midrange cut. The neck is 25.5" and has 22 frets and is multipiece maple. The fretboard in ebony. I get the thread is on humidification, but since his name came up you should at least know a little bit about this historic figure. He was very prolific as a player and te

Here are pics of a mid 1970s laminate Gibbons archtop that was gigged a lot in Pennsylvania. Temperature and humidity swings were unavoidable. The guitar survived well and is a gem. Some exposure effects are visible though. It's been refretted and has a new pickguard but plays like new.These pics show lacquer checking on the top with dirt and oxidation in the checks. It looks like the wood might be cracked, but it isn't. The bracing is unscathed. The neck is perfectly straight.Here are the effects of necessary exposure in a working guitar over a more than 40 year period in a highly variable cl

Not the most recent time I heard an archtop playing non-jazz but a nice example. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L7-MVzCtFPA Here's a Super 400 that's pretty darn versatile.

I do the same, but I don't go through that much water. Maybe a gallon a day in the dead of winter. But I have a small room. A humidifier is worth the trouble and allows more consistency. I bought a Heritage Johnny Smith in winter from a Canadian guitar store. There was some nitro flaking at the neck joint, which they disclosed. Their humidity was 18% with their humidifier running.

Your Martin is far more fragile. Humidification may prevent wood cracking.