Posted on 09/03/2024 8:04:54 PM PDT by jagusafr
Two suggestions— both used by the master Chet Atkins.
1.) The Gretsch Chet Atkins model Country Gentlemen. A real one is quite expensive, but there are great replicas and more modern made Gretsch ones. Chet with Jerry Reed: all fingerstyle btw,
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ni8KBhnebwE
2.) Alternatively for a powerful acoustic finger style guitar— a resophonic instrument (regular nut height “dobro” ).
Here’s Chet and Leo Kottke back many years, playing Sleep Walking:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzsvN5HpYh8
The model resophonic is a Del Vecchio (hard to find, from the 60’s). Can find newer Beard models that sound great. Contact pickup with EQ.
Here’s the “electric” Country Gentlemen. Phenomenal trio=
James Burton, Chet Atkins, Albert Lee— no band.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VdJ9RS_Xubs
Put me down as a strong “Do Not Recommend” for any recent Fender or Gibson model - overpriced and quality control is sadly lacking, especially with Gibson. PRS guitars are good, but also overpriced. Kiesel, Godin, and Ibanez make good instruments that are usually worth what they cost. Inflation has really hit the price of new instruments, so it’s worth the time to search eBay, Reverb, or even Guitar Denter’s used instrument page - I’ve had good luck with all of them.
I’m another Strat player. Strat to me is the most universal guitar out there for many sounds. But It sounds to me like a hollow body electric might be more to you liking.
Great story, thanks for sharing it!
> The beautiful thing about music is you can never stop learning and you can never learn enough.
That's God's honest truth right there. Music is one of the Almighty's best voices, and it is our honor and privilege to take part in realizing it in sound. In 60 years of playing, I've learned something new pretty much every time I've picked up an instrument and tried to wring something musical out of it. And as you said, there's always infinitely more to learn.
We are blessed to have this as part of our lives.
FRegards, dayglored
Your acoustic must be a Martin HD-28, with factory custom installed martin pickup. Or D-41. Or a Taylor 414 Series.
Electric is a Strat or Gibson.
Thank you for the tip about Billy Strings, I somehow hadn’t heard of him before. He’s pretty astonishing.
Wow
I make Benedetto style arch tops as a hobby a couple times a year. Fantastic instruments. Warm jazz sound but really large and difficult to make without a CNC machine.
Mark Knopfler, one of my favorite finger pickers, uses a Les Paul Gibson. You can’t go wrong with that. I stay away from Fender now just because Obama attacked Gibson to benefit Fender. https://harmonyvine.com/best-fingerstyle-guitarists/
And so many amazing finger pickers on cheap, yet good preamped Yamahas. If I had to pick a single guitar off the shelf for my desert island exile... A genuine 1960 Les Paul. Hands down. A nice one will probably be near $10k. Worth every Penny if you are a serious musician. It will never go down in value. Get a tube amp to go with it.
If you can do it and have basic carpentry skills make an electric for yourself. That way you can get the exact sound and action you want with different pickups from Dimarzio or Seymour. (The Dimarzios are amazing). Or heck, You can even wind you own. Stewmac dot com has everything you need.
Oh man... Don’t get me started on luthiery. One of my passions and can go on for decades... So PM me.
Telecaster, Open G
slide on in :-)
4 Teles
E A D G B E Standard tuning
D A D G A D
_ G D G B D Open G
D A D F# A D Open D
To follow up... try making one. If you are a prolific finger picker you would want a nice low easy action on the strings. Then, you can also pick the scale you want on the fingerboard. I have made guitars for guys that like a really long scale and others that like a short scale. The finger pickers like the short scales while the pick rockers like an aggressive long high action. I cnc machine everything, except for the electronics, which I usually get from Dimarzio. But like I said, Stewmac has everything you need to make your own. Even pre assembled kits.
OP
Eddie ate dynamite good by Eddie....
On one of my favorite Knopfler songs “Darling Pretty” he uses a Pensa Mk1 according to ChatGPT and Copilot. ChatGPT originally said a Gibson Les Paul but changed its answer to the Pensa when I questioned it further. Copilot said Pensa Mk1 first time I asked. I don’t know how much is Knopfler and how much is the guitar, but I really like the sound of it.
Never heard of that before. But could be a special guitar for certain sounds. No uncommon to have a “quiver” of guitars. But from his best sets, as far as I know, it has been a Gibson. I will check in to it.
I have come to guitar very late..
I did some free consulting for some people and
they are guitar types and said anyone could learn
to play and so sent me some guitars...lol
I have been making quite a racket here :-)
You seem to be well acquainted with guitar, I may
ask you a question now and then...
This website says he used a Gibson Les Paul for that song. I bet that’s what he used. It wouldn’t be the first time those AI websites have given me inaccurate information.
http://ds.mk-guitar.com/songlist.htm
I love luthiery. Mostly guitars. But all stringed instruments. Heck. It is 3am and I am still reading new posts. If you’re new... probably don’t want to put in 10k in to a guitar. Taylor a great choice.. Bob personally gives tours and I worked with him on tooling and setting up his robots a while back. Fantastic company. He will get you a nice sunburst semi hollow for 3k. For picking action on the cheap... A knock off Les Paul can probably be had from Amazon for a couple hundred bucks. , Don’t expect the sound though. They will come from south east Asia. Taylor subs out to Mexico and they are fine instruments. But the quality comes from El Cajon. You can even watch it be built and meet the builders. Gibson is near there too but never as open as Bob is with Taylor. One of the friendliest men you’ll ever meet. National resophonics is in SoCal too but I don’t really do much with resos or dobros. Fender. Well. I just don’t want to plug them for their Obama based attack on Gibson so I will never recommend them or ever own one again. Anyway I am rambling.
No worries. Like I said. There was a whole quiver of guitars for certain sounds and styles. I just recall Mark Knopfler using a Les Paul most of the time. Fine fine guitars. For more Gibson props listen to Angus Young, he is a pick player. As far as I know all but one of his guitars were a Gibson. Feel free to correct me.
F Fender. I bought one of their acoustics and the neck snapped from a big knot in the neck. Of course they said it would be “repaired for free” under warranty but they wanted an $85 processing fee and I had to pay shipping both ways. Screw them.
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