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I used to look after a mid-60s Texan, it belonged to my bandmate's dad, he had two at one point. He took one with him when he left the UK for Germany and left the other one in London with his son. I think this might be a picture of it?
It lived at my place for years, for so long that I kinda took it for granted but it sounded absolutely beautiful. It was roadworn AF, gaffer holding an input for an old skool piezo pickup. I could never get it to sound very good into my old portastudio.
How long have you had that? Did that replace the Collings? Forgive me if you've had it forever, my brain isn't what it once was. 😵💫 #csb
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RonAsheton
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Amazing pic!! Is he playing thumb over the top, like Richie Havens?
I've had mine for 10 years I think - you're right, it replaced a Collings OM which I always sort of admired rather than really loved. The Epiphone came from a good mate who loves old Gibsons but is doomed never to hang on to them. Before then it belonged to the guy who now owns No Tom in Denmark St. He accidentally sold it in a fit of divorce. I told him I had it and he found a photo on his phone of him with it on stage and declared it "the best Texan of all time" which was extremely #csb.
It's got some stories... at one point someone tried to add more tuners, banjo-style ones by the look of it, plus a tailpiece. It's got some patches on the top - maybe from the nail holes left by a DeArmond volume control unit. It's a weird one because the body is a regular 1958 J-50 but the neck is a V-profile one made earlier in NY or Philly by Epiphone before Gibson bought them out, with a wide headstock and the old logo. You remember, they used up all kinds of leftover bodies, necks and hardware, like putting those New York pickups in Coronets and so forth. It's long scale, 25.5" like a D18 not the usual Gibson 24.75", with an extra fret. They ended up keeping the longer scale when they ran out of old necks. It's probably only a gnat's more tension but it does seem to add a bit more spank.
The action had been getting a bit sad and baggy so last month I took it in (Feline in Croydon, good job) and they gave it a super light fret dress and lowered the saddle a bit and it's totally sprung back into life. I've got it on 11's and it's sounding amazing. I've been playing it for hours every day trying to get my thumbpick chops back.
rickster
Yep Beato's git is a Country Western from the mid to late 50s. (Same thing as a Southern Jumbo/SJN iirc - the name moved around quite a lot.)
Love the way the spruce darkens but the mahogany almost lightens on those natural top Gibsons, they sometimes end up pretty much the same shade. Lovely colour!
Here's my 58 Texan for comparison