Members Stackabones Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 You Can't Judge A Book By The Cover Just put on new strings, John Pearce Mediums, and dug out my bottleneck. Open D. I got this guitar in Oak Cliff, Texas, back round '90 or '91. Wish I could recall the name of the guitar store, but I can't. Maybe some long-time Dallasites will remind me? It was one of the places that has guitars stacked against each other eight or ten deep to the wall. I found it a little deep in the stacks and pulled it out. No name on the headstock. Wide nut at 1-3/4" and deep V fat neck. Open-geared tuners still worked. Floating tailpiece don't float. Inside the upper f-hole I saw a stamp, much like a library due date stamp, that said Mar 1939 maybe Mar 1935 -- at least that's what it looks like. It's a bit smudged and I can't get a good pic. I put into open G and pulled out my bottleneck and whoa. This was it. This was the sound I needed, but there was a problem. I had no cash. Guitar was $75, but I still had to make rent. I tweaked the B-string done just a bit and put it back in the stack. That weekend I had a solid gig (Dead Thing at Dada). I made rent and had some money left over, but only $125, which needed to go to groceries and an electric bill. I went back and messed around with a banjo (still have it, too). They wanted $75 for the banjo, which was a little steep I thought. Would he take $50. Maybe, maybe, he said. I asked him about the acoustic archie and pulled it out of the stack. He strummed it, frowned a little, and then put that B-string back in tune. No one had touched in the week since I'd been there. Nice sounding guitar, he said. I asked if he'd take $50 for it. He glanced at the tag and shook his head yes. How about a bill for both the banjo and the guitar. He walked me over to the register and rang me up. I still had enough money to get new strings for both! (Though I ate ramen till the next gig.) Banjo had an old ratty case, but the guitar didn't have nothing. This is the guitar I learned how to play bottleneck on. I used to sit on my front porch of my apartment building on the corner of Cole Ave & Fitzhugh in Dallas and play to the cars during the hot summer month's 5pm rush hour. Sweaty and mosquitos buzzing round and car windows sealed tight to keep the cool air in. Nobody ever walked by. Nobody walks in Dallas during the summer. The only guitar I've owned for a longer period of time is my gutbox Takamine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 That's a neat story, homie. I love the bit about you putting the string out and it not being fixed for a week. What kind strings do you run on this guy. I have a similar one that I do alot of slide stuff on and have been thinking about giving flats a shot. Should I? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted March 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 I'm using these ... Flats could work. I think that you'll lose a little life & sparkle with flats on an acoustic archtop. If your bottleneck has a seam on it, you won't be able to get that scratchy mojo sound with flats -- only wound strings work that sound. I prefer flats on my electric hollowbody archie. YMMV. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 That's no good. The humbucker I put it is already super dark. I'll stick with my round wounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted March 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 These strings wouldn't work anyway with that humbucker. Acoustic strings, ya know? What humbucker? Stock or mod? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members fastblueheeler Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Very sweet Chris. Now that is a starving musician story if I ever heard one. I love open D. Been noodling with it (again) for a few weeks now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rhino55 Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 These strings wouldn't work anyway with that humbucker. Acoustic strings, ya know? What humbucker? Stock or mod? Jason Lollar Johnny Smith on a beat to hell '65 Harmony Master. The pup is probably worth more than the guitar, but I'm ok with that. It sounds great. I've actually kept actoustic strings on the guitar. With the way I'm playing it and the way my amp is set up it's worked well so far. I've gotten a bunch of tone compliments from other players. I've thought trying electric strings on it, but just haven't yet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted March 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Thanks, Bill! Open D is not my regular bag. I've always been an Open G kinda guy, but it really depends on the key for the voice these days. rhino, I've heard nothing but good things about Lollars. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DeepEnd Posted March 17, 2011 Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Great tune and even better story. Thanks for sharing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Stackabones Posted March 17, 2011 Author Members Share Posted March 17, 2011 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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