Acoustic blues guitars?

[jomaynor]

Originally Posted by Cone Head

For the sake of accuracy, Johnson was never recorded by Lomax, and House had a commercial recording career (for paramount) over a decade before Lomax crossed paths with him.

McDowell never had any commercial aspirations as a musician, when Lomax found him he was living in poverty so he played what he could afford. When he started making money he bought himself a Gibson electric guitar. Same goes for Muddy, he was a poor sharecropper when Lomax found him, but when he moved to Chicago and started making money, it didn't take him long to buy a Gibson Les Paul...

The folks who were successful blues recording artists did not play "beat up second hand Sears guitars" - players like Tampa Red, Casey Bill Weldon, Kokomo Arnold, Memphis Minnie, the McCoy brothers, Bumble Bee Slim, etc...the ones who were making money (and the prolific recording stars of the day certainly were making money) gravitated towards Nationals and other expensive instruments.

There are so many misguided stereotypes and ridiculous mythology where blues musicians are concerned.

Well stated.

A blues player, like any working player, sought out the best instrument he could afford. Blind Willie McTell played a Stella; Robert Johnson (mainly) played a Kalamazoo.

[Andy Howell]

I have played three guitars which knocked me out over the blues.

1. A Collings spruce/mahogany OM

2. A Froggy Bottom spruce/mahogany 000

3. A cedar/mahogany smal bodied Lowden.

Each one of these guitars made me cry!

[Andy Howell]

Best fun blues guitar I have played in the last 10 years? A Gibson Robert Johnson model!

[mot]

Look at the Blackbird Lucky 13 as an example of a Gibson style blues guitar that is also firmly in the 21st century.

[vintageparlors]

Hello J and welcome to the AGF.

Pre-war Regals, Supertones and Slingerlands make great little blues guitars.

[scriv58]

if it's a guitar, it's a blues box

[Toby Walker]

Originally Posted by jomaynor

Well stated.

A blues player, like any working player, sought out the best instrument he could afford. Blind Willie McTell played a Stella; Robert Johnson (mainly) played a Kalamazoo.

Actually, Honeyboy Edwards and Johnny Shines, both of whom played and traveled with Johnson said that he played all sorts of guitars. Nobody but nobody knows for sure what he used on his recordings.

[Brant]

I'm a newbie to this forum too, so hi to all and here's my blues Axe info to share!

I have a cheap old Harmony acoustic with action too high for fretting and a broken truss rod that's the best blues slide guitar I've ever played. Also own an old beat up '62 Martin 0-16 New Yorker parlour guitar that's great for finger picking blues, but hasn't been tried out for slide.

Brant

[mstuartev]

Originally Posted by Brant

I'm a newbie to this forum too, so hi to all and here's my blues Axe info to share!

I have a cheap old Harmony acoustic with action too high for fretting and a broken truss rod that's the best blues slide guitar I've ever played. Also own an old beat up '62 Martin 0-16 New Yorker parlour guitar that's great for finger picking blues, but hasn't been tried out for slide.

Brant

+1
The best blues guitar I ever owned (for fretting in the first position and bottleneck slide) was a Harmony H-165 (this is the all mahogany model). ACtually has a SINGLE piece of mahogany on the back! Straight braced, usually with bad action (these do not have truss rods per se, just some sort of extra embedded rod in the baseball bat neck). The percussive element of this guitar just kills. had two at one time in the last ten years, and paid about $35 each. Of course the cache is up on them and shops are trying to get $4-500 for them refurbed. Bah!