www.campusfive.com www.campusfive.com/swingguitarblog 1939 Gibson L-5 - Martin SP 80/20 Strings (13's w/a 14 and 18 on top) 1932 Gibson L-5 Martin SP 80/20 (12's w/a 14 and 18 on top)
Jon. Congrats for this new acquisition. A lot of invaluable information in your video in addition to your great playing. Thanks for sharing. Best to you.
Hi, thanks for this! I was meandering around the videos searching out various L5s to learn about the sounds of 'em and I found your work here. The comparison is wonderful, thanks very much! It's interesting, tho, that when I look at your later videos you play the '39 all the time, the 32 seems to have found the shade. ;-D I was hoping that you'd take us through the changes to the '39, the new fret job and the pick guard as they came but, alas. Still, the sound has changed wonderfully with the fret job. Much more full, the highs ring and aren't strident and the low-mids have evened up beautifully. Again, thanks much for the great infos and I'm enjoying the music a lot. stv.
I'm back playing again after about a 5 year layoff but really diggin' your videos. No doubt you bring out the best in those archtops. Thanks for posting.
i know im randomly asking but does anybody know a way to log back into an instagram account?? I was stupid lost the login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me!
@Abraham Mitchell Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and im waiting for the hacking stuff atm. I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
Nice video. Interesting comparison. Nice to hear them both played well so you can really hear their sound. Inspirational. Would love to have something like that, but better stick with my old tried and true Norman. It was my right arm for many years, through thick and through thin, but now it's been a long time. It needs to be looked at and restrung. Been so long I'd have to learn all over again how to change the strings! Many stories- thanks for sharing, beautiful to hear and see you play.
Owning antique Gibson arch-tops is a rarified realm of existence that I can't afford to explore. So it's nice to hear what they sound like at least. I thank you for that! I have to admit that if I could do it, I would be spending money running around the country to try out these beauties! I can afford a National resonator though, and I have fallen in love with the tone of this beast, and it helps assuage my desire to bring to life the music of the early 20th century.
Fortunately those of us who can't afford the "real" thing, can still get close with some fine Asian guitars being made by "Eastman" and other brands. "The Loar" makes some relatively inexpensive archtops with solid carved tops, so just add a Charlie Christian pickup, and you can that that "Charlie Christian" tone (not exactly, but close). I can't afford GIbson's ES models either. but my Ibanez Artcore is similar to an ES-350, including laminated maple top-back-sides, but I replaced the neck pickup with a CC in a humbucker housing, and left the bridge pickup hole open. Having only one pickup creates less magnetic drag on the string, which is why one pickup guitars (Fender Esquires, Gibson Juniors, and several Jazz models with only a neck pickup) often sound better. The open hole where the bridge humbucker went makes the guitar project better and sound more open. and the CC pickup (SDpickups.com) sounds great, although expensive. Lollar makes CC humbuckers too, as do others - one winder even makes them for P-90 housing. I got a "Dirty Harry" set from Dave Stephens for my old Epiphone thin body - they are a copy of Harry DeArmond's famous big single coil pickups - those sound excellent too (also expensive), if you like the DeArmond sound. They don't cut quite as well as a CC, but may have a fuller sound. It was a treat hearing someone play those old beauties, and bring-out their best tones. I could never afford them, or play that good (not many guitarists can). I've been digging Archtop Fred's videos, and Tim Lerch - now I've added this Maestro to my computer jazz-archtop "jukebox"!
Great playing and great information! Ive just started down into the world of acoustic archtops for jazz. I've always been a 175 guy but just picked up a Loar LH-600 and absolutely love it! Between these two, I like the tone of the 32 more. I like the mellow but defined tone it has. Though in a band setting, I agree with your thought that the 39 would cut more because of the more pronounced mids. Both fantastic guitars, Congrats! Thanks for sharing so much knowledge.
thank you for this, Jonathan! great player. i always loved the tone of your 16" L-5, but they are so expencive. i have an 1941 L-5 in blonde, just like yours.. and very similar sounding. a beautiful beast with complex and powerful sound.. superb guitar. and.. in your video i prefere the 17". just more message for me in the tone, beside the unquestionable more power. so i´m healed of must having a 16" L-5 :-) but.. great-great guitar, your 1932, especially the base.. hollow, deep and dry.
Great video Jonathan thanks ! I like brightness so i have a little preference for the 39. But nothing beats the bark and attack of the 16” ones so it s great to own the 2 if possible. I have the 16” L5 from 34, but instead of having a 17” L5 i went to epiphone deluxe 36, but mine seams way different than your 39
From this swing drummers ears, if the strings were lifted a touch more on the ‘39’, you would have as near a late ‘30’s / ‘40’s Allan Reuss rhythm sound as it’s possible to achieve. The ‘32’ is also a delight if you wanted to resemble the Kress/ McDonough sound. I love them both but as a Reuss fanatic, that percussive sound is wonderful. Well done Jonathan for preserving this gorgeous art form.
You know, I don't know that the video necessarily captures what it sounds like in a band context. If you check out this playlist (these are all original compositions/arrangements of mine, specifically for this dance contest), I think you can get a better impression of the guitar in context. czcams.com/video/DLC6ewxpLsk/video.html
Wow. You know your chunk boxes! I lost the pickguard to my 1973 ES-355, too, and it left checking on the finish underneath. If you are using nickel strings, try a set of Stringjoys ... you can custom make your gauges ... I like the E string in there! Boy, I can sure see the difference in the length of the '39 neck; but the '32 is so full! Also seems to have a wider neck? And of course, it's seven years older. And NICE playing! Thanks for showing these two us!!
I love both guitars , but f I had to choose one I’d take the 39 , I own a 46 L 7 non cut away , it needs some work but the tone is there and I’m really digging it , playing the standards on it is such a joy !!
wow that 39 is really a cannon! Based solely on the sound of this vid (nothing to do with a live setting), the 32 really has something very magical about it tho!!
The '32 is quieter, more refined, maybe prettier sounding in the living room. But for big band rhythm, the '39 blows it away. Brasher, brighter, richer overtones, and much louder.
You have the luxury of being able to charge your (beautiful) guitars as a Federal Tax deduction. Congratulations - and thank you for sharing so much with the public.
This is one business expense I'd be very happy to subsidize as a US taxpayer. Beats the heck out of paying for some hedge fund guy's steak dinner. Though maybe if one of those guys posted a youtube video about the proper application of butter and chives to their baked potato, I'd change my mind.
Thank you so much for posting this video to illustrate what for me is unobatainuim but conceptually vital. The blond is full of go and happy swing chord chunk. The sunburst is the most evenly clearly enunciated melodic singing voice it's absolutely unsurpassed. Everything you play on it it audible and enhanced. Yes it's not as champagne bubbly full of bouncing joy chords as the blonde but it's beauty is elegantly nuanced by its underlying darkness - I hear more Lang on the sunburst.
Having had them together now for more than three years now, I've found that the 1932 has wonderful sweetness, clarity and sustain, and that it's a dessert island guitar. I did a whole solo guitar EP on it at home during quarantine (plug for jonathanstout.bandcamp.com/album/all-cooped-up-quarantine-ep lol) and it recorded beautiful without fancy mics or a nice acoustic space. That said, the blonde is the one that goes to almost every gig. It has a bit of a honk at 1.2k and really zingy top end - none of which I really love when the guitar is by itself. But, in almost any ensemble, from a duo to a big band, or heck, even if there's any background noise - like playing solo in a restaurant, the 1939 just cuts through and the rough edges (honk and shrillness) get rounded off or covered up, and the rest of it just comes through clear as day. It's almost otherworldly. Unfortunately, like all archtops, it's not as audible to the player per se, but it cuts through to the back of the hall, even without amplification. Now, I did use the 1932 in big bands, and small groups before I got the 1939, and it was still awesome. This was a track off our last Campus Five album, and it sounds lovely in the mix: campusfive.bandcamp.com/track/tunis-in Compare that to the 1939 I played on my friend's album: michaelgamble.bandcamp.com/track/sunday (at about 1:39, there's a chord melody solo as well)
@@jonathanstout6618 thank you so very much for your amazing response. There is nothing like true experience playing live in a gig environment to know what worksvis there. Tremendously helpful information to know what cuts through. Again please can I ask you about The Loar lh600 if you have any views opinions or experience if you have any on them?
Hello! I'm new to your channel and would like to know if you are strictly a plectrum man or do you also play finger style? Love the channel and plethora of information on L-5's! Only have one but I'm not letting it go! (1952 reissue) Beautiful guitars!
The little '32 sounded better to me, but both sound wonderful, and are beautiful to look at too (the guitars I mean). That was very interesting, and fun - thanks!! BTW, I assume the .18 G string is unwound, so you must have the saddle modified to compensate for it? Didn't they always use wound 3rd (G in standard tuning) back in the day? Just wondering...
Pharmer David - the G is a wound .026, it’s the B that is .018, and the E .014 - historically both wound and plain B strings were available . I have not had to modify the saddle to compensate for the plain .018 B string.
Gibson ofter did not match the back and sides. I've owned 6 L5s from 1929 to 1961, 5 of them had flame sides but curly Maple backs. Not sure why, I think it's pretty cool. That headstock and logo is always been my favorite. I own a 49 natural cutaway now 17" acoustic just beautiful. I've also owned two Super 400s and a 58 D'angelico Excel. They were all great, but the 39 to 49 L5 naturas l I've always loved the best. Almost had a 54 D New Yorker natural cutaway, but it sold right before I was going to get it. 1994, it was only $22,000!
Jon. Congrats for this new acquisition. A lot of invaluable information in your video in addition to your great playing. Thanks for sharing. Best to you.
Excellent comparison-each their own beasts and different animals but great for what each do. I’m glad you’re out there do’n what ya do!
Thank you
Watching your videos is like going to school!!! Thanks a lot
HNGD ! What a beauty ! Great playing and thank you for the history lesson ,very very interesting info.
Triple Excellent! Thanks for sharing this stuff.
Everybody demoing a guitar like this should watch this video and see how it's done. Amazing! Gorgeous guitar too, both in looks and sound.
Great demo, great lesson on acoustic archtops. Congratulations on the new guitar !
Excellent demonstration!!! Subscribed!!
Love the sound of that 39 L5. Btw. You have some nice jazz chops that go well with your L5.
Carry on.
Hi, thanks for this! I was meandering around the videos searching out various L5s to learn about the sounds of 'em and I found your work here. The comparison is wonderful, thanks very much! It's interesting, tho, that when I look at your later videos you play the '39 all the time, the 32 seems to have found the shade. ;-D
I was hoping that you'd take us through the changes to the '39, the new fret job and the pick guard as they came but, alas. Still, the sound has changed wonderfully with the fret job. Much more full, the highs ring and aren't strident and the low-mids have evened up beautifully.
Again, thanks much for the great infos and I'm enjoying the music a lot.
stv.
Real nice! I have a matching '39 L7. It is having a refret right now, but it sounds almost identical to this L5
I'm back playing again after about a 5 year layoff but really diggin' your videos. No doubt you bring out the best in those archtops.
Thanks for posting.
i know im randomly asking but does anybody know a way to log back into an instagram account??
I was stupid lost the login password. I appreciate any tricks you can offer me!
@Edwin Daxton Instablaster :)
@Abraham Mitchell Thanks so much for your reply. I found the site thru google and im waiting for the hacking stuff atm.
I see it takes quite some time so I will reply here later when my account password hopefully is recovered.
@Abraham Mitchell it worked and I now got access to my account again. Im so happy!
Thank you so much, you saved my account !
@Edwin Daxton glad I could help :D
Nice video. Interesting comparison. Nice to hear them both played well so you can really hear their sound. Inspirational. Would love to have something like that, but better stick with my old tried and true Norman. It was my right arm for many years, through thick and through thin, but now it's been a long time. It needs to be looked at and restrung. Been so long I'd have to learn all over again how to change the strings! Many stories- thanks for sharing, beautiful to hear and see you play.
so great !!!
Kit at the Olde Town Pickin Parlor is a great guy to deal with.
Owning antique Gibson arch-tops is a rarified realm of existence that I can't afford to explore. So it's nice to hear what they sound like at least. I thank you for that! I have to admit that if I could do it, I would be spending money running around the country to try out these beauties! I can afford a National resonator though, and I have fallen in love with the tone of this beast, and it helps assuage my desire to bring to life the music of the early 20th century.
Fortunately those of us who can't afford the "real" thing, can still get close with some fine Asian guitars being made by "Eastman" and other brands. "The Loar" makes some relatively inexpensive archtops with solid carved tops, so just add a Charlie Christian pickup, and you can that that "Charlie Christian" tone (not exactly, but close). I can't afford GIbson's ES models either. but my Ibanez Artcore is similar to an ES-350, including laminated maple top-back-sides, but I replaced the neck pickup with a CC in a humbucker housing, and left the bridge pickup hole open. Having only one pickup creates less magnetic drag on the string, which is why one pickup guitars (Fender Esquires, Gibson Juniors, and several Jazz models with only a neck pickup) often sound better. The open hole where the bridge humbucker went makes the guitar project better and sound more open. and the CC pickup (SDpickups.com) sounds great, although expensive. Lollar makes CC humbuckers too, as do others - one winder even makes them for P-90 housing. I got a "Dirty Harry" set from Dave Stephens for my old Epiphone thin body - they are a copy of Harry DeArmond's famous big single coil pickups - those sound excellent too (also expensive), if you like the DeArmond sound. They don't cut quite as well as a CC, but may have a fuller sound.
It was a treat hearing someone play those old beauties, and bring-out their best tones. I could never afford them, or play that good (not many guitarists can). I've been digging Archtop Fred's videos, and Tim Lerch - now I've added this Maestro to my computer jazz-archtop "jukebox"!
Great playing and great information! Ive just started down into the world of acoustic archtops for jazz. I've always been a 175 guy but just picked up a Loar LH-600 and absolutely love it! Between these two, I like the tone of the 32 more. I like the mellow but defined tone it has. Though in a band setting, I agree with your thought that the 39 would cut more because of the more pronounced mids. Both fantastic guitars, Congrats! Thanks for sharing so much knowledge.
Love it! Getting ready to sorta deep dive into Freddie Green comping. Its all good music.
Amazing
sweet playing!
thank you for this, Jonathan! great player.
i always loved the tone of your 16" L-5, but they are so expencive.
i have an 1941 L-5 in blonde, just like yours.. and very similar sounding.
a beautiful beast with complex and powerful sound.. superb guitar.
and.. in your video i prefere the 17". just more message for me in the tone,
beside the unquestionable more power.
so i´m healed of must having a 16" L-5 :-)
but.. great-great guitar, your 1932, especially the base.. hollow, deep and dry.
Great video Jonathan thanks ! I like brightness so i have a little preference for the 39. But nothing beats the bark and attack of the 16” ones so it s great to own the 2 if possible. I have the 16” L5 from 34, but instead of having a 17” L5 i went to epiphone deluxe 36, but mine seams way different than your 39
From this swing drummers ears, if the strings were lifted a touch more on the ‘39’, you would have as near a late ‘30’s / ‘40’s Allan Reuss rhythm sound as it’s possible to achieve.
The ‘32’ is also a delight if you wanted to resemble the Kress/ McDonough sound.
I love them both but as a Reuss fanatic, that percussive sound is wonderful.
Well done Jonathan for preserving this gorgeous art form.
You know, I don't know that the video necessarily captures what it sounds like in a band context. If you check out this playlist (these are all original compositions/arrangements of mine, specifically for this dance contest), I think you can get a better impression of the guitar in context. czcams.com/video/DLC6ewxpLsk/video.html
Wow. You know your chunk boxes! I lost the pickguard to my 1973 ES-355, too, and it left checking on the finish underneath. If you are using nickel strings, try a set of Stringjoys ... you can custom make your gauges ... I like the E string in there! Boy, I can sure see the difference in the length of the '39 neck; but the '32 is so full! Also seems to have a wider neck? And of course, it's seven years older. And NICE playing! Thanks for showing these two us!!
I love both guitars , but f I had to choose one I’d take the 39 , I own a 46 L 7 non cut away , it needs some work but the tone is there and I’m really digging it , playing the standards on it is such a joy !!
The big boy has a strong percussive bite, but the other... wow what a sweet harmony.
wow that 39 is really a cannon! Based solely on the sound of this vid (nothing to do with a live setting), the 32 really has something very magical about it tho!!
The '32 is quieter, more refined, maybe prettier sounding in the living room. But for big band rhythm, the '39 blows it away. Brasher, brighter, richer overtones, and much louder.
yea the 32 sounded better to my ears for the purposes of this video's listening experience
You have the luxury of being able to charge your (beautiful) guitars as a Federal Tax deduction. Congratulations - and thank you for sharing so much with the public.
This is one business expense I'd be very happy to subsidize as a US taxpayer. Beats the heck out of paying for some hedge fund guy's steak dinner. Though maybe if one of those guys posted a youtube video about the proper application of butter and chives to their baked potato, I'd change my mind.
I'm sorry, but that 16" just has THE sound! Thanks for the lesson though, very interesting and informative.
Thank you so much for posting this video to illustrate what for me is unobatainuim but conceptually vital. The blond is full of go and happy swing chord chunk. The sunburst is the most evenly clearly enunciated melodic singing voice it's absolutely unsurpassed. Everything you play on it it audible and enhanced. Yes it's not as champagne bubbly full of bouncing joy chords as the blonde but it's beauty is elegantly nuanced by its underlying darkness - I hear more Lang on the sunburst.
Having had them together now for more than three years now, I've found that the 1932 has wonderful sweetness, clarity and sustain, and that it's a dessert island guitar. I did a whole solo guitar EP on it at home during quarantine (plug for jonathanstout.bandcamp.com/album/all-cooped-up-quarantine-ep lol) and it recorded beautiful without fancy mics or a nice acoustic space.
That said, the blonde is the one that goes to almost every gig. It has a bit of a honk at 1.2k and really zingy top end - none of which I really love when the guitar is by itself. But, in almost any ensemble, from a duo to a big band, or heck, even if there's any background noise - like playing solo in a restaurant, the 1939 just cuts through and the rough edges (honk and shrillness) get rounded off or covered up, and the rest of it just comes through clear as day. It's almost otherworldly. Unfortunately, like all archtops, it's not as audible to the player per se, but it cuts through to the back of the hall, even without amplification.
Now, I did use the 1932 in big bands, and small groups before I got the 1939, and it was still awesome. This was a track off our last Campus Five album, and it sounds lovely in the mix: campusfive.bandcamp.com/track/tunis-in
Compare that to the 1939 I played on my friend's album: michaelgamble.bandcamp.com/track/sunday (at about 1:39, there's a chord melody solo as well)
@@jonathanstout6618 thank you so very much for your amazing response. There is nothing like true experience playing live in a gig environment to know what worksvis there. Tremendously helpful information to know what cuts through. Again please can I ask you about The Loar lh600 if you have any views opinions or experience if you have any on them?
That is a loud guitar indeed. Nice tone too. The 1932 sounds a little sweeter, I think. Great instruments both.
great rhythm guitar playing! I like the blonde one best. great tone. congrats!
both are good but I prefer the dark one because of sound. but on the other hand blond has an excellent sound as well..
So Jonathan where do you like to keep your action setup at the 12th fret with a heavy gauge of string like that?
Do you have also any tenor and/or plectrum archtop guitars?
aren't you scared to take that to a gig?
Hello!
I'm new to your channel and would like to know if you are strictly a plectrum man or do you also play finger style?
Love the channel and plethora of information on L-5's!
Only have one but I'm not letting it go! (1952 reissue)
Beautiful guitars!
The little '32 sounded better to me, but both sound wonderful, and are beautiful to look at too (the guitars I mean). That was very interesting, and fun - thanks!!
BTW, I assume the .18 G string is unwound, so you must have the saddle modified to compensate for it? Didn't they always use wound 3rd (G in standard tuning) back in the day? Just wondering...
Pharmer David - the G is a wound .026, it’s the B that is .018, and the E .014 - historically both wound and plain B strings were available . I have not had to modify the saddle to compensate for the plain .018 B string.
Nice job - I thought the 32 looked and sounded a little better.
Wonder what's the max bridge height for your guitar hand -written on the inside label. 1 1/8" ?
The 32' is the one, clarity and Tone, Yes, the 39' cuts through better but 'on the ears' 32' is much nicer for the listener
I would love to play some vibraphone with your swing band. Your sound is excellent.
DID YOU GET THE FRETS FIXED
39 sounds better but I like headstock of the other one
The 32 sounds better on this video. More defined low end and definition overall. Through this recording anyway
I think, you are trying to convince yourself of the 17 inch L5. But in your heart you know, that the older L5 is the "one and only"
#467 like it
Great vid, but can you tell me where I can find $30K, to buy one?
John England - they’re less than a third of that, man! But clearly, for what I do, investing in a real deal instrument is kind of key.
@@jonathanstout6618 your vid from Carter Vintage Guitars brought me here. Glad to find out about you!
Good, but I like the '32 model better.
Gibson ofter did not match the back and sides. I've owned 6 L5s from 1929 to 1961, 5 of them had flame sides but curly Maple backs.
Not sure why, I think it's pretty cool.
That headstock and logo is always been my favorite.
I own a 49 natural cutaway now 17" acoustic just beautiful. I've also owned two Super 400s and a 58 D'angelico Excel. They were all great, but the 39 to 49 L5 naturas l I've always loved the best. Almost had a 54 D New Yorker natural cutaway, but it sold right before I was going to get it. 1994, it was only $22,000!
like ur 39 blonde more hands down .. sounds like my “new/old” 37 blondie
Ha v
Brilliant…a little too wordy. Looks great! Perhaps, cut to the chase. Let’s hear it
The 32 is much better. You can play the 32 much better also.
Nice vintage guitars, maybe more playin and less talkin...
Just sayin...
I think, you are trying to convince yourself of the 17 inch L5. But in your heart you know, that the older L5 is the "one and only"