New Howard Klepper Advanced Jumbo in black walnut build project

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

Eric Schoenberg and Dave Laibman (who are related in some way IIRC) made a landmark album "Contemporary Ragtime Guitar" which totally changed the way I looked at guitar playing.

I did see him play at Cambridge Folk Festival in the 70's, but was far too much in awe of him to dare to go up and say hello.

I first met Eric Schoenberg in the mid-to-late-1980's at a now-defunct Anchorage music store called Downhome Guitars. He was browsing in the high end acoustic guitar section, not playing but just looking, and the two of us fell into conversation.

After a couple of minutes I realized who he was. He'd looked familiar when I stepped back in that part of the store, and after we'd spoken a while I realized why.

But there was certainly no "I'm a famous musician with dazzling musical skills" attitude to him, which I have run into occasionally with other fine players. Eric was very matter of fact, mildly pleased to learn that I was a fan, but nothing more than that.

I did get to ask him a question that I'd wondered about since first hearing his guitar albums, namely whether he was related to the composer Arnold Schoenberg. He smiled and told me no, but mentioned that he'd had a music professor in college who'd offered to give him a better grade in the class if there was a family connection. But there wasn't.

Originally Posted by murrmac123

I don't suppose there are any bootleg Schoenberg/ Klepper tapes available ... ?

If there are, Howard is keeping them under tight wraps. The real reason that Eric is grinning in this photo MIGHT be that he and Howard were singing some incredibly filthy rugby songs with lewd and objectionable lyrics:



which, if recordings exist, Howard might be choosing to keep them away from the tender-eared Acoustic Guitar Forum public.

But - somehow - I kinda doubt that....Eric Schoenberg has never struck me as a rugby song kind of guy.


Wade Hampton "But You Never Know..." Miller

[Howard Klepper]

The rugby song is a genre I have never heard, or heard of until tonight. But if I may use that as a segue, the subject of bawdy limericks did come up last night as I was working with Stevie Coyle and Walter Strauss to get some sound clips made of Wade's KJ and a couple of other guitars. The limerick in question is of course not quotable. But we did get recordings of Stevie on the KJ playing The Water is Wide in DADGAD and Jorma Kaukonen's Embryonic Journey in drop D.

I'm waiting to get MP3's back from Walter, who is running around busily getting ready for a 6 week tour of the UK. He says I will get them before he leaves. Then I need to figure out how to put them up on You Tube or wherever people post their MP3's. So hang in there, folks, links to these clips will appear in this space.

Meanwhile, here is Stevie Coyle with Wade's guitar. He is now departing for a round of gigs in Colorado and Kansas, with a stopover in Wade's old home state of Missoura.

Walter described the guitar's trebles as "singing," while Stevie thought the bass was "like whoa!" This was the last stop on the KJ's Tour de Marin et Sonoma. Tomorrow I'm shipping it to Alaska.

Tuning:



Playing:

[redcloud]

As patience is a virtue, Wade is one of the most virtuous fellows around. How many days to ship to Alaska?

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

...I'm waiting to get MP3's back from Walter, who is running around busily getting ready for a 6 week tour of the UK. He says I will get them before he leaves. Then I need to figure out how to put them up on You Tube or wherever people post their MP3's. So hang in there, folks, links to these clips will appear in this space.

Meanwhile, here is Stevie Coyle with Wade's guitar. ...

Walter described the guitar's trebles as "singing," while Stevie thought the bass was "like whoa!" ... Tomorrow I'm shipping it to Alaska.

Tuning:



Playing:

I really like the light colored burst on that guitar! It is so different from my old Gibson AJ and I really like the looks. I can see where that coloring would match up well with the black walnut sides.

Can't wait to hear the sound clips.

- Glenn

[Wade Hampton]

After I wrote that the reason Eric Schoenberg and Howard were grinning in the photos a few posts past MIGHT BE because they MIGHT HAVE BEEN singing obscene rugby songs. Howard wrote:

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

The rugby song is a genre I have never heard, or heard of until tonight.

I keep forgetting that not everyone has spent as many years singing in Irish bars as I have.

Here's a link to some lyrics:

http://www.rugbysongs.net/RugbySongs.htm

Since they're in written form and not illustrated, it's probably safe to glance through these on a workplace computer. However, if any of you get caught up in that post-rugby match euphoric barroom celebratory mood that they're designed to facilitate, and start singing them, I can promise you that they're not work-safe, child-safe or (if your wife is anything like mine) wife-safe, either.

Charming as the lyrics to songs like "Charlotte The Harlot" might be, I've never actually learned any of these, much less performed them. I have, however, been an innocent bystander on more than one occasion when rugby teams have come in singing them....

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

But if I may use that as a segue, the subject of bawdy limericks did come up last night as I was working with Stevie Coyle and Walter Strauss to get some sound clips made of Wade's KJ and a couple of other guitars. The limerick in question is of course not quotable. But we did get recordings of Stevie on the KJ playing The Water is Wide in DADGAD and Jorma Kaukonen's Embryonic Journey in drop D.

Howard, I'm glad that you all decided to include a piece in DADGAD tuning for the soundclips - in my experience, the sonorities of the guitar in DADGAD are different enough from those in standard tuning that it makes a lot of sense to demonstrate that, as well.

I don't really play in DADGAD myself, but I know there are a LOT of acoustic guitarists out there these days who do.

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

I'm waiting to get MP3's back from Walter, who is running around busily getting ready for a 6 week tour of the UK. He says I will get them before he leaves. Then I need to figure out how to put them up on You Tube or wherever people post their MP3's. So hang in there, folks, links to these clips will appear in this space.

Looking forward to it.

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Meanwhile, here is Stevie Coyle with Wade's guitar. He is now departing for a round of gigs in Colorado and Kansas, with a stopover in Wade's old home state of Missoura.

I'm glad you've learned to pronounce the name of the state properly, Howard - most Yankees never do figure that out!

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Walter described the guitar's trebles as "singing," while Stevie thought the bass was "like whoa!" This was the last stop on the KJ's Tour de Marin et Sonoma. Tomorrow I'm shipping it to Alaska.

Tuning:



Playing:

After looking at the photos, I realized that I've met and spoken with Mr. Coyle before. At one of the Healdsburg Guitar Festivals I attended - either in 2001 or 2003 - his band The Waybacks played, and he was the Wayback I spoke with after the concert.

Nice man, very bright, and obviously very musical, as well.

So it's encouraging that he likes my new Howard Klepper KJ guitar. Not that I was especially worried that he wouldn't, but it's nice to hear from yet another source how nice an instrument it is.

By the way, these photos are about the best so far when it comes to showing how well you've matched the color of the sunburst to the color of the back and sides. That's precisely what I asked for.

Since I've been around my repairman when he's applied sunburst finishes on more than one occasion, I know how very difficult it can be to match colors like that. So that's yet another indication of the high level of thought and skill that's gone into this guitar.

Thanks!


Wade Hampton Miller

[Welshboy]

The guitar looks fantastic, Howard. I've always love the AJ/J45 design, but rarely found a Gibson I actually like. Having played the Dovetail Madness I can imagine that you'd build an AJ worth having. I love the idea of walnut too. I bet it suits the design perfectly.

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by redcloud

As patience is a virtue, Wade is one of the most virtuous fellows around. How many days to ship to Alaska?

I don't know how virtuous I am, but I checked the tracking number that Howard emailed me this afternoon, and Fed Ex is supposed to get the guitar up here by late afternoon Friday.

We'll see. My experience with shippers is that there's some invisible Alaskan forcefield that makes liver paté out of all their careful projected schedules.

I mean, there could be an earthquake, a volcanic eruption, Sarah Palin could sumo wrestle Donald Trump on live Pay-Per-View cable television - any one of those events could throw Fed Ex's schedule right down the drain.

So we'll see.

I will let you know when it gets here. Posting photographs is another matter - I'm not good with that sort of stuff.

But I will examine, tune, and play the guitar once it arrives, and I will let you know what I think. At some point after that I'll make an effort to post some photos of it.

Hope that works for y'all.


Wade Hampton "If Not, Oh Well..." Miller

[Howard Klepper]

I promised Wade a few studio style shots of his guitar while he waits.

Here's one. I'll do a couple more later.

[bluesbassdad]

You've changed my mind regarding sunburst tops on flat-top acoustic guitars.

As others have noted, the match between the darkest area and the color of the sides is the key.

[Howard Klepper]

Thanks Bassdad. I think a match isn't necessary, but complementary hues and saturation are.

Here are a couple more shots:

[bluesbassdad]

Originally Posted by Howard Klepper

Thanks Bassdad. I think a match isn't necessary, but complementary hues and saturation are.

Here are a couple more shots:

Yup, the complementarity is so good that at a quick glance I thought I saw a match. Now I see that's not the case at all.

It's a far cry from a friend's early 70s, Martin D-35 sunburst, where the outer area of the top is much darker than the sides.

I guess for most of my life I thought sunbursts belonged on hollow-body electrics exclusively. You have expanded my horizons.

[Wade Hampton]

I just checked the Fed Ex website, and my new Klepper KJ guitar is waiting for me to come pick it up at the Fed Ex substation in Eagle River, Alaska, about six miles down the road from me here in Darkest Chugiak.

I'll go by and pick it up after work. Next time I post on this thread I will have tuned it up and played it.

Yahoo!


Wade Hampton "Hooray!!!" Miller

[murrmac123]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I checked the tracking number that Howard emailed me this afternoon, and Fed Ex is supposed to get the guitar up here by late afternoon Friday.

We'll see. My experience with shippers is that there's some invisible Alaskan forcefield that makes liver paté out of all their careful projected schedules.

Wade Hampton "If Not, Oh Well..." Miller

I just checked the Fed Ex website, and my new Klepper KJ guitar is waiting for me to come pick it up at the Fed Ex substation in Eagle River, Alaska, about six miles down the road from me here in Darkest Chugiak.

The combined forcefield of all the AGF members is obviously stronger than the invisible Alaskan forcefield ...

[jgillard]

I know that I for one am looking forward to hearing your impressions of the instrument after following along this thread since it started!

[Glennwillow]

Originally Posted by murrmac123

The combined forcefield of all the AGF members is obviously stronger than the invisible Alaskan forcefield ...

Yep... Can't wait to hear what Wade thinks. You'd think we were getting this cool guitar! We should have some interesting reading this weekend from Wade...

- Glenn