New Gibson arrival

[darylcrisp]

the backstory is here:
http://www.acousticguitarforum.com/f...d.php?t=437485

we were late delivering the J-15 to my wifes dad last nite, getting there around 10pm due to a couple delays. He lives in a rural backroad area with tight hills and lots of trees. We pull in, getting the J-15 out and my wife mentions a low sound of an animal crying. between the crickets and other summer bugs, it was hard to hear, but it was there.

we grab flashlights and head towards the thick forested hillside. we look and look and finally hone in on two little eyes. I'm sure its a small kitten, but one never knows in our area. Bobcat, coyote, even fox was a possibility. I'm wearing birkenstocks so I head back down to get some heavy wool socks and dump the birks. I've got a 15 foot pretty vertical ascent before going into briars to even get a glimpse of what this might be. while I'm gone, my wife talks the little dude (or dudette) down the hillside. we knew immediately it was a stray. who knows how it ended up in the woods all by itself. came home, a good bath and deflea, and "Gibson" slept in his/her crate for the night.

Gibson has adapted readily, and is beautiful, and will fit in easily within our gang(4 dogs, 4 other cats, all someones previous throwaway. all are blessings and excellent companions).

so since we were there at that moment due to the Gibson, the name is most appropriate.

(oh yea, father in law digs the J-15)

The delivered Gibson:



Mary(daughter) with the new Gibson:

[Jill McAuley]

Ginger kitty, most likely a lad as it's unusual to get female ginger cats. What a wee beauty and lucky that you found him!

[Luna Pick]

Congrats on the winning night out for everyone.

Here's a sticker on my clawhammer banjo case:

[Ivan Kelsall]

Hi Daryl - Congrats on your new family member. I've no doubt that he/she will be loved to bits. As you'll know,cats are far more independent than dogs,but they express their emotions just the same,when 'they' want to. There have been a couple of UK TV shows recently looking at cat behaviour. Three things emerged from those programmes :- 1) Cats have a very good sense of the past - up to 10 years at least. 2) They have a very good sense of 'the present' as well & are very aware of what's going on,as you'd expect an animal that's a ''prey animal'' as well as a predator - they HAVE to know. 3) They also have a good sense of anticipation (future events),something that our own 2 cats exhibit every day. They know the daily routine in our home as well as me & my wife do.
Ours are also re-homed 'strays' from our local cattery,although i often wonder how many really are strays & haven't simply been thrown out. 'Whatever' - what can be more rewarding than giving a home to a beautiful little animal - that's as much a 'reward' for us as it is for our cats,
Ivan

[Austin Bob]

Cool story, I'm glad Gibson found a home. He looks like he's settled right in and doesn't seem to miss living in the wild at all.

Ginger kitty, most likely a lad as it's unusual to get female ginger cats. What a wee beauty and lucky that you found him!

I thought the same thing Jill. My wife brought home a mostly ginger with a bit of yellow cat that was rescued by her coworker in much the same manner, albeit from an urban setting. We named him Tiger Joe. When we took him to the vet the following week, we found out he was a she. So we changed her name a bit to Tiger Jo.

She doesn't seem to mind.

[T.D.Nydn]

My wife and I used to live in an extremely wild area once,our house was in front of a large bog land.one night she says to me she's hearing some crazy animals screaming out in the back yard.i grab a shotgun with a flashlight on it and take a look(we have had bear and fisher problems before)I shine the light in front of me, and there is a pair of eyes glowing at me from 15 feet away, and they are about 2 feet off the ground!all of a sudden, I hear a cat growl ,and a cougar jumps right at me,I don't pull,but it flies past me in a leap probably 4 feet away to my right, at the same time, another, smaller cat jumps out, and passes me on the left.the cougar takes off,and we find a small tawny cat,that the cougar was stalking, and we take him in,, that's how we got 'Django' (rip) the cat.the story ain't over yet though, my wife says to me, it's on the front porch,,I go inside, look out the front, and the darned cougar is on the porch pacing back and forth,I really thought we had a problem, but when I opened the door, it jumped over the railing and I never saw it again.

[multidon]

Congratulations on the new addition to the family, Daryl. We also adopted a stray tiger kitty. Actually, he adopted us. He was abandoned by our next door neighbors when they suddenly moved. We named him Kirk, after Captain Kirk for his fearlessness. We didn't know exactly how old he was, but figure he was about 14 or so when he died. You wonder how heartless people have to be to just abandon a pet like that.

I was wondering about your bridge pin replacement on the J 15. Stew Mac sells only bridge pins with .220 diameter shaft top and 5 degree taper. I think Gibson uses pins with .210 shaft top and 3 degree taper. Did you ream the holes to match the new pins? As they were, your pins should be standing too proud and not seated quite right. I have written to Stew Mac wondering why they don't stock 3 degree pins, and they wrote back saying they thought that was a great idea but I see no action on their part yet. When it comes to their acoustic replacement parts, sometimes I think they act like all of the acoustic guitars in the world are Martins.

My wife has a J-15 and loves it. Her positive experience lead me to purchase a J-29, more or less the same thing with rosewood body and fretboard, with mahogany neck. I think the world of the Gibson modern J series. They sound great, play easily with the short scale, and are very attractive without too much bling, just great wood and flawless workmanship. Also, at their price points, screaming bargains compared with other higher end makers. I think they are under-appreciated in the grand scheme of things in the guitar world. Lots of commentary has been posted here about the modern Gibson corporation and what they do "wrong", but I have been looking for a thread like this to get started so I could say there is some spectacular stuff going on up there in Montana. I am thankful that, seemingly, Gibson corporate lets them just do their thing without much interference.

[Denny Gies]

Ain't it a refreshing change to see a good news story that thugs on the heart strings....the mando strings too.

[dhergert]

We're suckers for strays. We currently are the staff for 10 formerly stray cats -- one is going back to his original staff person soon, once she's moved into the new house she has acquired for him. And we also have one itty-bitty dog who thinks he is a cat.

Here's Bobby, one of three orange-tabby brothers we adopted as newborn kittens 16 years ago when their mom disappeared; we handfed them around the clock for 2 months and probably got closer to them than any cats we've ever cared for. They've all three passed and we do miss them, but we're busy caring for the current generation.



-- Don

[Bob Clark]

Congratulations on your new family member. I don't know who is luckier, you or Gibson. I hope you share many happy years.

Please let us know how he reacts to your playing. Last week we had three kittens here from a feral mom. I played for them and they loved it. It calmed them quickly and off to sleep they went.

Best wishes,

Bob

[darylcrisp]

Congratulations on the new addition to the family, Daryl. We also adopted a stray tiger kitty. Actually, he adopted us. He was abandoned by our next door neighbors when they suddenly moved. We named him Kirk, after Captain Kirk for his fearlessness. We didn't know exactly how old he was, but figure he was about 14 or so when he died. You wonder how heartless people have to be to just abandon a pet like that.

I was wondering about your bridge pin replacement on the J 15. Stew Mac sells only bridge pins with .220 diameter shaft top and 5 degree taper. I think Gibson uses pins with .210 shaft top and 3 degree taper. Did you ream the holes to match the new pins? As they were, your pins should be standing too proud and not seated quite right. I have written to Stew Mac wondering why they don't stock 3 degree pins, and they wrote back saying they thought that was a great idea but I see no action on their part yet. When it comes to their acoustic replacement parts, sometimes I think they act like all of the acoustic guitars in the world are Martins.

My wife has a J-15 and loves it. Her positive experience lead me to purchase a J-29, more or less the same thing with rosewood body and fretboard, with mahogany neck. I think the world of the Gibson modern J series. They sound great, play easily with the short scale, and are very attractive without too much bling, just great wood and flawless workmanship. Also, at their price points, screaming bargains compared with other higher end makers. I think they are under-appreciated in the grand scheme of things in the guitar world. Lots of commentary has been posted here about the modern Gibson corporation and what they do "wrong", but I have been looking for a thread like this to get started so I could say there is some spectacular stuff going on up there in Montana. I am thankful that, seemingly, Gibson corporate lets them just do their thing without much interference.

thanks for the kind words Don
Gibson is doing might fine I must say. Everyone(2 and 4 leg versions) are bonding fast. He(I think, sometimes its so hard on a kitten to tell whats what)has a very magnetic and confident personality. We were blessed in being there at the right place, right time, to have this fellow come into our lives.

This is coming from memory and I've worked on a couple different guitars in the past 2 weeks, so keep that in mind. Its been a while since I had a Gibson pass thru my hands, so I can't pull out of trained memory specs on them. And, I've found the bridge pin sizes to vary a bit in them over the years.
I measured the stock plastic pin that came in this J-15 and I think it was around .222 under the skirt, and had a 5 degree taper. I first contacted Bob Colossi to see if he had some dyed bone that might match the unbleached bone saddle I had cut. He didn't. His bone is typically very bright white and I didn't really want that. I belong to the stewmac club and get free shipping, plus the bone pins they had in stock stated .220 with 5 degree taper-they looked nice in the pics and were around $10 cheaper and free shipped.
my intentions were to put these in used lipton tea bags for a day or two to gently get a more unbleached bone look. When they arrived, they fit fine, plus were not stark white and had a little natural coloring to them that worked out pretty nice-I didn't try any further dye or coloring.
I usually slot my bridges and either buy unslotted pins or simply turn slotted pins around-either way works. I have noticed in the couple Gibsons I've had in hand lately, they seem to drill the pin holes straight thru without taper-so even the plastic pins simply fall down easily(without a string in place). I could have reamed out larger and put a taper in this one and purchase the oversize pins, but knew it was unnecessary since I slotted each hole. These bone pins fit fine-I do hold finger pressure on top as I tighten the string when installing new strings-and they fit fine down onto the skirt rim with strings in place.

http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_...idge_Pins.html

I also ordered a set of Antique Acoustic pin sets from Elderlys for this J-15. I have heard of these, but never had any in hand, I was getting something else from elderlys so I put them in the package. I think the ending number is P10 for the set I got. Pretty sure this is the set I ordered:
http://www.elderly.com/antique-acous...-set-94707.htm

I looked at the different size offerings(they have a bunch) and these fit the specs really close-plus I was looking for the smallest head size. They too fit quite well. Well made, something of a cream coloring. There was no sonic difference to my ears(or anyone else around), between the bone pins or the Antique acoustic pins. I know some folks will assign a tone change to some pin materials.
In the end, I liked how the bone looked better on this specific guitar. I'll probably keep the Antique Acoustic set, thinking of getting a J-29 as I'm a huge fan of rosewood, and I think these would look good on it with that burst.

As the J-15 was used, I don't know if someone else had reamed the holes or made any changes-I somewhat know the guy who I purchased from, and I really doubt there was any change from stock as he received it.

I totally agree on these guitars-amazing huge bang for the buck. I love the contrast of the walnut/maple on the J-15 and adored the neck profile. I really liked this guitar a lot-probably more than any guitar I've had hands on for the last few years. Neck set was spot on, it set up easily and just fell in place. The tone was clear and very pleasing.

When you have time, tell me what you hear different between the J-15 and J-29. I like to downtune and like sustain and ring-the walnut has it, but I assume the rosewood would have more. And is the neck profile the same on your J-15 and J-29?

thanks
d

d

[UlsterMando]

Beautifully flamed back and sides on your new Gibson . . .

Congratulations!

[multidon]

Thanks for the detailed answer on the bridge pins, Daryl. Interesting that they drill straight holes. I guess taper is moot, although 3 degrees would be closer than 5, I suppose. I thought about going with bone pins but not sure how much difference it would make.

I think both guitars have pretty balanced tone, but the 15 seems to have a slight bump towards the midrange and treble, while the 29 has a slight bump towards the bass. Thus, the 15 seems a bit brighter and the 29 a bit more mellow.

[darylcrisp]

Don
here are some pics of the stewmac pins. I don't think I took any pictures while I had the Antique Acoustic pins in place. Hum, I guess that means I do in fact need to get me a J-29 so I can install those pins and take a picture to send to you.
No other logical way to do this-even though the J-15 resides maybe 15 miles away. Yep, need to get me a 29 so I can use those pins...............

[Lone Rider]

You'll get years of pleasure with your new furry Gibson. Also, the J-15 is an awesome guitar. I can attest to that. Got one myself a few months ago.