Welcome to my website about old guitars, old time music, and acoustic guitar in general.... I've been picking the flat top guitar for 45 years and have come to like vintage Martin and Gibson "small body" guitars in particular. This site has photos of my old small body guitars as well as some of the musicians I play with around the country. I've also included a few articles about related topics that you may enjoy. Feel free to contact me if you share my interests or have something you'd like to add to my site that is appropriate. A little history about me and my guitars... I have always been an acoustic picker and only dabbled in electric music a little bit in college. Fingerpicking was my initial passion, but I learned a little about flatpicking while playing blues and rock when I was in my late teens and early twenties. By the time I was 30 I had been working at a "real day job" for 7 years, not playing much, and was looking for a way get back into my music. My '73 Guild D-40 had been under my bed in its case for several years, and I wasn't sure where to begin. After exploring some jazz guitar solos and then playing some Irish stuff, I was introduced to the world of Old Time Music at a local contra dance. Before long I was in a community pick-up band in Dallas called the Winfrey Point Volunteers. It was during this time that I discovered the music of flatpickers like Norman Blake, Tony Rice, and Dan Crary and I also revisited the music of Doc Watson whose fingerpicking had inspired me as a teenager. Within three years I was playing in a trio with Kirk Hunter on Fiddle and David Allen on Banjo and we called ourselves PigAnkle. In the late '80s I got interested in old, vintage guitars and bought a 1944 Martin D-18. Soon thereafter I bought a beat up, unplayable, 12-fret Gibson L-00. I bought it because it looked so cool, and not because I knew anything about these amazing small body Gibsons. I began playing it more and more, and by 1995 I had fallen under the spell of the L-00's greatness and bought another one, a 1933 model with a 14-fret neck. I have included a story about these two guitars on another page of this web site that you might enjoy. In 1995 I got to play a1936 00-18 (14 fret mahogany) that a friend in North Carolina owns. I was amazed at how powerful it was, so I set out to find me one. A little by luck and a little by accident, I ended up buying a 1937 00-21 sight unseen. At the time I ordered it I wasn't aware that the 00-21 was a 12-fret neck, slot head guitar; but once I played it I became a believer in this instrument's excellent design. I was also fortunate in buying the 00-21 because it was a Brazilian Rosewood guitar that gives it a unique, rich tone. Lucky for me, the interest in small body guitars had not developed much back then and I was able to acquire mine before prices skyrocketed. So here I am, in the 21st century playing old timey music on 75 year-old guitars. I wouldn't have it any other way. |
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Below Left: 1937 Martin 00-21, 12 fret/slot head, "My Favorite Martian"   The Martin 00 size guitar was introduced in 1877. The first year in which 5 or more 00-21s were made is 1898. The 00-21 has always been made as a 12 fret, slot head guitar. In the early 1930s when other 00 models began being made as a 14 fret, solid headstock guitars, the 00-21 continued without changes. It was "discontinued" as a regular production model in the 60s (I think) but has always been available if ordered. |
Below Center: 1930-31 Gibson L-00, 12 fret, "Blackie". This is my first "double-0".   The evolution of the L-0, L-00 and L-1 is complicated. Even the "experts" who list what features determine which model you have are not conclusive. Here is where you can find info about them...but it is not the absolute, end-all, list. The guitar above has some combination of features that would put it in both the L-0 and L-00 identification. However, there are no features that would eliminate it from either model's description. |
Below Right: 1933 Gibson L-00, 14 fret, "Beastie Too", with floating fingerboard.   Below: This L-00 has a "floating fingerboard". According to one expert on L-00 Gibsons, this feature is only found on some of those built in 1933. When the sunburst style was first introduced to the model, it was Cremona Brown, not Black, and the yellow burst was smaller as compared to later models. It is referred to as a "small dot" sunburst.  |
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