http://www.thisnext.com/by/phil/tag/guitars/ http://www.thisnext.com/item/B2CEE2B9/9A41A99D/Guild-F512-12-string-acoustic

Recommended by phil on Sep 22, 2006

I picked up a guitar for the first time in 1968. One of these days I might play well enough to justify all that time. But nevertheless, quite a few guitars have congregated under my roof somehow, and I know Tone and longevity when it's in front of me. Sooner or later, every guitar player owes him or herself a 12-string. Sometimes described as an orchestra in your hands, an acoustic 12 string has tonal complexity and acoustic power that makes a 6 string brother seem malnourished by comparison. But you don't want just any 12-string. The tension on the structure of the guitar is deforming. A lot of companies give you a lightweight instrument that sounds responsive out of the box, but just watch what happens to it over the next decade.

Guild 12-strings are built to a different standard. The Guild 12 is a piano in your lap. Yeah, it's heavy but that's not all. It packs stunning acoustic power. You don't just get the leading transient of a note, you get the full Joe Frazier wallop of telephone cable strings reaching out to rattle your ribcage and bang on your skull. You'll think you're Glenn Gould in sandals with 15 pounds of instrument instead of several hundred.

With Guild's trademark double-truss rock maple neck, big head, and jumbo body braced to survive centuries but tuned for Tone, this is the 12-string to have. It's going to sound great out of the box, but it's going to sound sensational as you play it in over the next decade. The Guild 12's sound only improves, never degrades. Dig deep and play. Leadbelly played a big Stella, but he'd have wanted one of these if he could have had it. The F412 has maple back and sides, the F512 has rosewood. Both are factory handmade spruce-top American guitars. (via Dream Quest)

This Review is: Smart Funny Useful

Tags: 12-string guitar, blues, guitar, guitars, Leadbelly

Add to my wish list on ThisNext
Compliment phil on this recommendation
Recommend this on ThisNext
PermaLink ]]> phil http://www.thisnext.com/item/B2CEE2B9/9A41A99D/ Fri, 22 Sep 2006 01:34:53 PDT http://www.thisnext.com/item/6CF2F8D8/389014F6/Gibson-Custom-Shop-L-5-Wes

Recommended by phil on Jul 12, 2006

If you play guitar, or ever wanted to, sooner or later you're going to want to own a carved archtop jazzbox. You might play blues, or country, or rockabilly, fusion or even jazz on it, but you'll want that inimitable archtop mellow plus the full-bodied feel of draping your picking arm over sensual, resonant curves of the archy's lower bout. Wes Montgomery's expressive, quick, fleshy style was captured often by his special Gibson L-5 that was ordered without a bridge pickup. With only the neck pickup mounted close to the edge of the top in a relatively non-resonant area, the arched soundboard resonates freely for a warm, rich, amplified tone that also cuts through acoustically.

The neck is sufficiently slender to feel fast, but deep enough to feel meaty in your hand. The re-issued Gibson Wes has just enough inlay ornamentation to look special but is tasteful and restrained. You can get it natural, sunburst and even tobacco burst, but none of these are as graceful as the super-suave Wes in luscious Wine Red. This is a multi-generational instrument made in USA. (via Gibson Guitars)

This Review is: Smart Funny Useful

Tags: archtop guitars, gibson guitars, guitars, jazz, music, wes montgomery

Add to my wish list on ThisNext
Compliment phil on this recommendation
Recommend this on ThisNext
PermaLink ]]> phil http://www.thisnext.com/item/6CF2F8D8/389014F6/ Wed, 12 Jul 2006 02:02:01 PDT