the ULTIMATE selmer modification

Bob Holo

Well, I do think that Robin or any other working musician creating a body of work and bringing joy to people has a greater justification for making modifications to a guitar because it's his way of making a living. It's not a celebrity thing. Within that context I definitely believe it. I know of prolific gigging musicians who've modified Selmers and Favinos and Busatos in ways that made them better tools with which to play tours and make records. I'm so glad they've made these mods because I love their music and it's fantastic to hear talented players on period instruments. But I'm not a good enough player to consider myself worthy to modify any of my period instruments. The only reason I can even justify owning some of the wonderful instruments that I do own is that I am a good caretaker of them and I am studying them carefully and becoming a better builder as a result. So, even though I don't play these instruments to their full potential - they will hopefully help me create a body of work in the form of instruments. I won't ever have the opportunity to apprentice with Mr. Busato as Jacques Favino did - but I've asked him many questions. And through his work - he's answered. So has Mr Stathapoulo - Mr. Martin - Ms. Park & Mr. Webber. And hopefully within the next few months... I'll be acquiring a Gibson L0 because... man oh man... they're the holy grail of American blues guitars and their soundboards share some interesting design similarities to French Jazz guitars and I can hardly wait to explore that nexus. Eventually I want to own a Larsen and a Howe-Orme - but they're getting rare as hen's teeth and collectors are driving up prices...

scot

A big part of my interest in music has always been the history of whatever style of it I am interested in. Now, some people might consider the following a jaded POV, but after 30 years of tracking down and hanging out with more than a few extraordinary amateur and professional old musicians in a variety of different styles (fiddle and banjo players, piedmont blues guitarists, and gypsy jazz guitarists) I don't see ANY difference between the amateur and professional at all. The skilled semi-professional, occasionally-performing amateur actually has the advantage - he is free to experiment and stretch out without jeopardizing his livelihood. The pro is usually castigated for doing anything other than what people are used to - much as Stochelo Rosenberg was when he made some CDs with a more commercial sound back in the 90s. Amateurs don't have any of this baggage, and make no mistake, there are incredible amateur and semi-pro guitarists - musicians of all kinds - in droves across N America. And not every professional musician is a virtuoso.

So saying that a pro is allowed to modify one where an amateur isn't - for me, that's too close to saying that one person can call others "nappy-headed hos" and another may not. Things like this are either OK for everyone, or they're not OK. MHO, for sure. So I have to vote for liberty - if it's your guitar, hack at will. But maybe not every one will approve, and not buy your CDs anymore...

I'm curious, what kinds of "mods" have you seen visited on vintage Selmers and Busatos?

Bob - I've owned several L-x flat-top Gibsons. A good one is a terrific guitar - the black ones with white pickguards often are the most powerful. Be aware that there are at least three different types of guitars with the L-x nomenclature - early archtop, oval-hole guitars; later-era, pin-bridge, x-braced flat-tops; and mid 60s ladder-braced flat-tops. The middle type is the good guitar and is the model associated with Robert Johnson. The archtops are great looking and historically significant guitars but are not generally usable for playing music. The ladder braced models (usually called LG-x) are among the worst-sounding, cheesiest guitars Gibson ever made, and that's saying something. The bracing has nothing to do with the Maccaferri system - it was done to save money. Caveat Emptor and bon chance with this - these guitars are pretty expensive anymore.

Bob Holo

Refretting / new fingerboard - to increase the accuracy of the intonation, compensating the guitar via after-market bridges made of light strong material such as rosewood with saddle insets of dense material such as ebony - adding carbon/aluminum rods for stiffness in the necks. I like these mods because if they're done well, they're largely or completely invisible and they can restore a damaged guitar or give an old guitar the benefit of new technology (IE: fretboards with the accuracy of CNC)

Good observation on the L0... The Robert Johnson... that's the puppy... in trade for a guitar I'm building him.

Bob Holo

Hey Scot,

It came. It's not an L0, it's an L1; 1920 - from the serial number built about midyear. What a wonderful little jazz box...

I got a chance to play it this weekend...

Djazzer

A good craftsman always takes pride in his work, personally i see it
as an insult to the craftsmen at Dell Art who took great care in
building this guitar(The strings should have been removed beforehand to gain better access)that pickup could be hiding a multitude of sins.

badjazz

scot wrote:

I've owned several L-x flat-top Gibsons. . . .The archtops are great looking and historically significant guitars but are not generally usable for playing music.

As the recording in the above response indicates, and my personal experience confirms, the L-1 archtops can be great guitars, more than adequate for 'playing music.'

scot

I owned two of these guitars myself and have played many more. 13- inch L-x Gibsons were common all over the south and you could often find -0 or -1 models for $300 or even less, including that nice leather-covered case. They are elegant and charming, beautifully made old guitars, but every one I ever played had a sort of flat, muffled sound with no growl or cutting power. Compared to similar period Martins and Washburns the 13-inch L-x were just not the greatest sounding guitars.

That's just my opinion of course, and it's been nearly 20 years since I played one of these guitars - my opinion today might be different. I certainly wish I still had the gorgeous L-4 that I once had. That guitar had a tortoise pickguard and a beautiful tailpiece with an ebony block that took standard pins to hold the strings. I didn't sell it because I didn't like it - I sold it because I needed money.

Bob - can you get Gilbert tuners with steel posts for steel-string guitars? I always thought they only made tuners for classical guitar - please tell me I'm wrong! My Favino is due for a new set of tuners and I would love a set of Gilberts...

Josh Hegg

Scot,

Yes you can get the Gilberts tuners with the non bone barrels. I was just talking to Neil Andersson about that a few weeks ago and we tracked them down. I'll find them again and post the link.

Cheers,
Josh

Charlie Ayers

There are Gilbert tuners for steel strings; Shelley Park puts them on some of her guitars.

http://www.gilberttuners.com/images.html

Charlie

Bob Holo

I think part of the thing with L1 archtops (other than the fact that they are factory guitars so there are good & bad ones) may be that people are overloading their tops. They don't have the structure for heavy strings. The guitar sounded like crap when I got it - because the action was low and the strings were big & the intonation was horrible and the top was "thuddy" I dropped the tuning down a half pitch and it got louder and fuller with better sustain... down another half pitch... louder and fuller still and sustain really started to pop... down another half pitch and no change - so I calculated the string tension of its current strings down 1 pitch and it turned out to be a little more than Argentine 11's ... so I put some argentine 11's on it but increased the E & B strings to 12 & 15... set the action to about 3mm... moved the bridge to where it was intoned & "presto chango" a whole new guitar. I wouldn't call it "the best guitar I ever played" but it has a nice sized voice and a groovy "old timey" sound with respectable bass that doesn't get muddled even when playing big fat gypsy chords. It doesn't have the power and explosive response of a really good Favino/Busato/Dupont but it will certainly spank a lot of flat tops and archtops I've played. It's a "legitimate" tool in the toolbox for sure.