adorshki
Reverential Member
The Martin factory is just for show. The real guitars are made by elves in the woods of Nazareth.
Jim
...When they're moonlighting from their day job.
The Martin factory is just for show. The real guitars are made by elves in the woods of Nazareth.
Jim
BTW, speaking of shapes, remember when Gibson sued PRS for their "single cut" model? PRS had to stop production for years until the court case was resolved, which they won. Although there were plenty of small variations between the guitars, Gibson claims they owned the "shape" of the Les Paul. Others manufacturers had used the shape before PRS (including Guild with the Les-Paul-like Bluesbird), but PRS apparently worried Gibson more than anyone else.
...When they're moonlighting from their day job.
...When they're moonlighting from their day job.
Back in the 1970s, when multiple Japanese companies were blatantly copying various American guitar models, Gibson (then owned by Norlin) determined that the only aspect of their guitars they could claim copyright infringement over was the headstock shape.
Guild's quality control is a little overrated on this forum, I think. I have several Guilds and they are all nicely individually. By the same token, I have 4 Bluesbirds and each has a different neck. When they were being manufactured, apparently there was no spec or attempt to be consistent with the depth of the neck. They range from ultra slim to fat as a hedge fence post.
In the past year I’ve become a huge fan of certain Ibanez guitar models made from ~1975–83. Does this translate into any interest at all in what Ibanez is currently up to? Nope. Same kinda deal with Gibson: I discovered via playing various models that the Norlin Dark Ages weren’t quite as dark as common lore claims they were. So I snagged a handful of great instruments at very reasonable prices. But for all I care Gibson could’ve gone out of business 40 years ago.
-Dave-
I don't know. I tried dunking a D-28 in a big glass of milk....When they're moonlighting from their day job.
Guild's quality control is a little overrated on this forum, I think. I have several Guilds and they are all nicely individually. By the same token, I have 4 Bluesbirds and each has a different neck. When they were being manufactured, apparently there was no spec or attempt to be consistent with the depth of the neck. They range from ultra slim to fat as a hedge fence post.
I don't consider that a quality control issue.
Of all the guitars I've owned and played, the fatest neck belonged to my 2000 B-bird.
Part of the reason why I don't own it any longer.
If I recall correctly, Gibson sued only Ibanez, but quite often the "lawsuit era" term gets applied to just about everything coming out of Japan in the '70s. At any rate, Ibanez was then motivated to find their own path & in 1977 came out with a more original lineup of instruments - with some styling cues that I really liked.
QS, you mentioned that you've become rather taken with Ibanez guitars from that era, and I certainly do get it, as they were very well built. I too had a recent Ibanez itch I had to scratch, and a while back purchased a 1981 M-340 acoustic that very positively reminds me of the one I bought so long ago.
Ibanez had definitely positioned itself as the Fender/Gibson party crasher in the 70's.
Matter of fact, a certain and infamous "Flying V" from my early guitar playing years (and that made its way on this forum via a few equally infamous pics), was an Ibanez Gibby copy..... :shocked:
Not to prolong the Gibson bashing even more, but this popped up in my FB feed. They are advertising their newest LP Traditional, with a pre-cracked headstock.
https://www.gearnews.com/gibson-les-paul-traditional-2018-now-pre-cracked-headstocks/