#Gibson Super 400

[garys-classic-guitars]

1942 Gibson Super 400 Premier, "Cutaway",  Very Rare Blonde finish, Top of the line Model, Gold hardware, Original Kluson tuners with beautiful original Catalin tips, Super 400 engraved heel cap & tailpiece,  Script logo, Bound Ebony fingerboard with split block Pearl inlays, Original Brazilian bridge with Pearl inlays, Gorgeous flamed Maple back, sides & neck, Fabulous sounding, Has a DeArmond floating pickup that was installed which we will provide, Smooth playing instrument, Very special instrument, Excellent condition, Clean Original leather hard case with plush lined interior and cove

[1264doghouse]

Gibson Super 400

[hooked-on-elvis]

🎸Scotty Moore's guitars⚡

Scotty Moore with his '54 Gibson L-5 CESN, originally purchased by him in July 7, 1955.

Besides how it was recording with Elvis and other amazing stories such as one incident involving the three rock and roll pioneers (Elvis, Bill and Scotty) and Bill Black's bass later owned by Paul McCartney, on this interview Scotty talks a bit about his early music instruments' history, such as amplifiers and guitars. He mentions the✨Gibson L-5 CES✨, which we'll know about a bit more from now on:

Much of the RCA 50's recordings of Elvis Presley feature the sound of Scotty Moore's L-5.

Scotty (with Gibson L-5), D.J. Fontana (drums), Elvis (with 1951 Epiphone FT-79*) and Bill Black (bass) in Texarkana, AR, 1955. * The 1951 Epiphone Elvis is playing belonged to Charline Arthur, a female American singer of boogie-woogie, blues, and early rockabilly.

Scotty traded his ES-295 in on July 7, 1955 at the O.K. Houck Piano Co. located on 121 Union Avenue in Memphis, for this Gibson L5 "mainly because the workmanship was just so much better in the L5, of course it cost more too" ($565.00).

L5 CES ad, and Scotty's original receipt for the 1954 L5 CESN.

Much of the RCA fifties recordings of Elvis Presley feature the sound of Scotty Moore's L-5. Scotty (with L5) and Elvis rehearse for the Milton Berle show, June 1956.

Scotty's Gibson L-5 was first used to record "Mystery Train" and on most of the subsequent RCA recordings until January of 57 (though it was apparently used on stage at least in Buffalo, NY on April 1, and Toronto on April 2, 1957). Scotty used it extensively with a custom--built Echosonic amplifier by Ray Butts acquired around April of 55 (which allowed the ability to perform live with the signature slap-back echo sound of the recordings).

The Gibson L5 CES features a single rounded cutaway 17" wide bound hollow body, solid carved spruce top, layered tortoise pickguard, single bound f-holes, maple back/sides/neck, 20 fret bound pointed ebony fingerboard with pearl block inlay, adjustable rosewood bridge, model name engraved trapeze tailpiece with chrome insert, multibound blackface peghead with pearl flame/logo inlay, 3 per side tuners, gold hardware, 2 pickups (P90 single coil in 51, Alnico V in 54 and Humbucker in 57) , 2 volume/2 tone controls, 3 position switch. Available in Natural (Scotty's) and Sunburst finish. Mfd. 1951 to date.

Source: http://www.scottymoore.net/54L5CES.html

Scotty' L5 The guitar when displayed at the Memphis Rock 'N' Soul Museum.

This guitar was owned by Robert A. Johnson for many years and had been on loan for display at the Memphis Rock 'N' Soul Museum. It was sold in 2004 and expected to be on display at the Elvis-A-Rama museum in Las Vegas, NV. In September of 2005 CKX, Inc (the parent company to EPE, Inc.) announced that it had agreed to acquire the assets of Elvis-A-Rama with the intent of closing it with an overall plan to bring a world class Elvis-themed attraction to the Las Vegas strip. Prior to that though this L5 was sold to a private collector in the UK and is no longer on display. Scotty's L5 was purchased from the UK collector in February of 2005 by Heather Mozart shortly after the auction and along with Scotty's 1956 Super 400, Elvis' 1968 Ebony J200 and many other items remains part of her collection.

Scotty's original 1956 Super 400, 1954 L5 and Elvis' 1968 J200 (Elvis' record awards in rear).

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

🎸 SCOTTY'S GUITARS OVER THE YEARS

MUCH MORE ABOUT ALL SCOOTY MOORE'S GUITARS, HERE (http://www.scottymoore.net/guitars.html) - Website created and managed by James V. Roy for Scotty Moore with the sole intent to help promote the arts and history of American popular music and Scotty's major role in it.

[wrestlingisfake]

NXT Fake Rankings, 12/23/2022

Men's singles division - babyfaces

Bron Breakker (NXT men's champion)

Wes Lee (NXT North American champion)

Apollo Crews

Axiom

Odyssey Jones

Xyonn Quinn

Ikemen Jiro

Damon Kemp

Men's singles division - heels

Grayson Waller

Carmelo Hayes

Dijak

Joe Gacy

Von Wagner

JD McDonagh

Scrypts

Charlie Dempsey

Unranked: Dante Chen, Guru Raaj, Hank Walker, Javier Bernal

It's been sixteen months since WWE started dismantling Triple H's vision of NXT, and about five months since Vince McMahon retired and left Triple H in charge of creative. It's telling that almost no one on the roster during the Wednesday Night Wars is still here. I suspect Vince's "up or out" mentality is still in effect, and NXT won't see another long-term mainstay like Johnny Gargano or the Undisputed Era.

On the other hand, I think Solo Sikoa is the only NXT 2.0 performer who has been called up to the main roster. At that rate, it might take a few years to completely turn over the roster again. When Vince was in charge I would have expected Breakker, Jones, and Wagner to get called up by April 2023 whether they were ready or not. As it is, we'll have to wait and see how long Triple H wants everybody to spend in developmental.

Men's tag team division - babyfaces

Kofi Kingston & Xavier Woods (NXT men's tag team champions)

Josh Briggs & Brooks Jensen

Edris Enofe & Malik Blade

Brutus Creed & Julius Creed

Andre Chase & Duke Hudson

Men's tag team division - heels

Pretty Deadly - Elton Prince & Kit Wilson

Tony D'Angelo & Channing Lorenzo

The Dyad (Jagger Reid and Rip Fowler, formerly James Drake and Zack Gibson) and Indus Sher (Veer Mahan and Sanga, formerly Rinku and Saurav) are featured on TV but haven't wrestled in the past month. I'm surprised they haven't done anything with Gallus (Mark Coffey, Joe Coffey, and Wolfgang), who are apparently still employed but you'd never know it from watching the product.

Women's singles division - babyfaces

Roxanne Perez (NXT women's champion)

Alba Fyre

Wendy Choo

Indi Hartwell

Nikkita Lyons

Fallon Henley

Thea Hail

Women's singles division - heels

Cora Jade

Isla Dawn

Zoey Stark

Elektra Lopez

Kiana James

Unranked: Amari Miller, Lyra Valkyria, Sol Ruca

NXT shot itself in the foot by building the entire women's division around "Mandy Rose is super hot" for 400+ days, and then abruptly releasing her for being too super hot. Having her put over Perez is all well and good, but she could have spent the next year or so giving the rub to several other women.

If you don't want your talent posting nude photos on the internet, you need to pay them enough to make it worth their while. And if you don't want to pay them enough, it makes no sense to push them so strongly. So now Mandy's making a shitload of money and living her best life, and all I can say about NXT's women's roster is "Roxanne and a bunch of nobodies who couldn't beat Mandy."

Women's tag team division - babyfaces

Kayden Carter & Katana Chance (NXT women's tag team champions)

Ivy Nile & Tatum Paxley

Women's tag team division - heels

Toxic Attraction - Gigi Dolin & Jacy Jayne

NXT can still only scrape together three women's tag teams, which is still better than Raw and Smackdown put together, which is kind of sad.

No TV or PPV matches in over 30 days: Jagger Reid, Lash Legend, Oro Mensah, Rip Fowler, Trick Williams, Valentina Feroz

No TV, PPV, or streaming matches in over 30 days: Ava Raine, Boa, Cameron Grimes, Ilja Dragunov, Joe Coffey, Mark Coffey, Meiko Satomura, Nathan Frazer, Quincy Elliott, Roderick Strong, Sanga, Sarray, Tyler Bate, Veer Mahan, Wolfgang

Boa has been on the NXT roster since like 2017, and the only reason I know that is because I keep track of things like that for stuff like this. I don't want anybody to lose their job but I am genuinely perplexed how he survived all the releases over the past three years.

Not listed on NXT roster: Aleah James, Blair Davenport, Noam Dar, Stevie Turner

In August, WWE shut down NXT UK and released much of the roster. Everyone else got reassigned to Original Flavor NXT...except these four, for some reason. WWE.com still lists them as "current superstars" but not for any particular show. I can only guess that several of them are awaiting a rebranding like Aoife Valkyrie/Lyra Valkyria and Oliver Carter/Oro Mensah. But Davenport already has a WWE-owned name, and I haven't heard of her being injured, so I don't know what's up with her.

Inactive

Tiffany Stratton (head - unspecified injury)

Yulisa Leon (right knee - unspecified ligament tear)

I wouldn't be surprised if there are more people sidelined on the NXT roster, but reliable information has gotten harder to find as the brand has become less relevant.

[racingtoaredlight]

Soft Shoulders

From Top-to-Bottom:

Gibson Super 400 w proportional shoulders on left, Super 400 with soft shoulders on right.

17" Gibson L-5 on left, 18" Super 400 on right.

Soft Shoulders

Proportional Shoulders

When Gibson released the Super 400 in the mid 1930's, it featured what's today known as "soft shoulders." It's a pretty simple, organic development.

The Gibson L-5 came out first...in the 2nd picture you can see how that extra inch changes everything proportionally. That extra inch is expanded in all directions so that everything is proportional. The L-5 legit looks like a little brother to the massive Super 400...despite the fact the L-5 is a battleship in its own right.

Here's the 6' tall Mark Knopfler with a Super 400, an L-5 and a Les Paul in roughly the same position to give you another idea of the size difference...

Either the L-5 or Super 400 is a beast. The L-5 is class personified...everything about it is ideal. It's the shape that defined the entire archtop class. The Super 400 is not as sleek, not as sexy...but it's the beast of the two. That extra size brings with it a sonic depth that even the L-5 struggles to match (the L-5 has better clarity and high end, however).

Because the L-5 came out first, Gibson likey didn't have what's called a plantila (the form for the body shape) specifically made for the 400 yet, so they likely took an L-5's...expanded the lower bout by that extra inch while keeping the upper bout the same as the L-5.

Frankly, I think the soft shoulders look better, and while I've never played a soft shouldered Super 400, I've played the big boy version, and that upper bout digs into your ribs. You get used to it, but still...it's not very comfortable.

It also makes the guitar look like the behemoth it is. The soft shoulder makes the guitar look a little more sleek...the lower bout is usually somewhat obscured by the player's arm, and that size is easier to hide.

Anyways, here's another example of "things I think about."

[spacebeach23]

1937 Gibson Super 400

from http://www.emeraldcityguitars.com/product/1937-gibson-super-400/

[i-love-guitars]

Gibson Super 400 China Dragon Bruce Kunkel Custom Masterpiece Archtop Guitar 

[bushdog]

1961 Gibson Super 400 CES with Factory Varitone Stereo Sunburst | Reverb

[vhsv0id]

IM FUCKIN DYING OVER THIS CUSTOM SUPER 400 SOMEONES SELLING

[itsmarjudgeloveclassicrock59]

1958 Gibson Super 400

[garys-classic-guitars]

Magnificent 1970 Gibson Super 400

[1264doghouse]

Little Jimmy Dickens playing his 1937 Gibson Super 400 with a custom double pick guard.

[guitarbage]

1940 Gibson Super 400

[keithsguitar]

“Same session with 1957 Gibson Super 400!”

from keiths instagram (02/11/2021)

[israelcelis]

Gibson Super 400 CES

[racingtoaredlight]

Just some random bullshit today.

What I like about the second vid is that it gives good context for just how loud an acoustic Super 400 is. I've talked about this dynamic before...old archtops were meant to cut through big bands without any amplification. Old horses like the 18" Super 400 and the 19" Stromberg Master 400 ruled the roosts because of their sheer physical advantage...more size = more volume and projection*.

*there are ways to mitigate this with bracing and construction methods, but generally speaking...the bigger, the beefier.

Over YouTube, it's almost impossible to get an idea of this volume though. But now that we have a baseline of a Super 400CES (the pickups being built into the top reduce acoustic volume dramatically) going through a Fender Princeton with the volume set at 3.5, we can get an idea.

I had a Princeton (sold a couple years ago) and at 3.5 on the volume knob, that's good enough to drown out a TV in your living room. The acoustic Super 400 is being played lightly, and more than hangs with the amplified cousin. If the guy on the right actually dug in with some effort? He'd have drowned out the amp to the point the guy on the left would have to turn up to keep up.

Anyways, it's pretty obvious why you don't still see many Super 400's around...the electric variant had so much easier controls over dynamics and volume, was easier to get around, and...well shit, if it's this much more convenient on an 18" behemoth, it's probably even more convenient on much smaller guitars.

Which is totally true, and the reason that my main guitar for playing out isn't my beloved Nickerson archtop, rather my trusty Gibson 335. But the gain in convenience and control comes at a cost...

It's not bad or worse or anything like that...just that there's an organic "fatness" and "roundness" you lose with thin hollowbodies and solid bodied gutiars. Yes, feedback is harder to control, mistakes are amplified, they're bulky and fragile...but that sound with all that air being pushed around is impossible to recreate without studio tricks. The feel of the guitar vibrating against your body is legitimately impossible to recreate.

I don't really have a point to make here, aside from archtops are awesome and I love playing them. The all-acoustic ones are even less practical...but they're more fun to play. Fixed pickups deaden the acoustic sound, but a floater doesn't impact it at all...which is why I love floaters.

Best of both worlds...for a very specific, narrow world...where very few listening or watching will notice or care. But that's not the point.

I'd love to own and play a Super 400...I likely never will. If you're talking about a baseline pricetag of about $10,000, there are a lot better options. It's not even really the price tag that turns me off as much as the realization that my right arm would be numb if I played it more than 45 minutes straight because of how deep it is. What good is heroin if it won't let me shoot it directly into my veins?

But if you want the platonic ideal of jazz guitar tone, that guitar's gotta be big, deep and hollow regardless of what kind of pickup it's got on there. The ES-175 and L-5 might be Gibson's highest profile jazz guitars (as much as for their practicality as who played them), but the Super 400 is still considered the king.

I'm keeping the Keith Jarrett thing at the top for no good reason.