[ibanezdude70]

Hey! I just got back from my uncle's house, where I asked him about Tony Rice's Martin.
The whole neck was indeed replaced, because it had warped. The neck he replaced it with was a Gretsch (sp?) neck. He just wanted a blank neck, so he went to Gretsch and they gave him one. Hope this helps guys!

[goldrush]

But it still looks like a Martin headstock to me (maybe it's my imagination but I can almost see the Martin logo on it). Maybe Gretsch makes headstocks like that also (I'm not familiar with Gretsch acoustics). Plus the fact that the headstock looks older to me than the fretboard. I'm not trying to contradict your uncle, but I'm guessing only the fretboard has been replaced (but I've been wrong before....just ask my wife ).

[Tuning Spork]

Gretsch acoustic headstocks look nothing like that, but perhaps Tony Rice told Gretsch to custom-cut a neck like that.

[ibanezdude70]

But it still looks like a Martin headstock to me (maybe it's my imagination but I can almost see the Martin logo on it). Maybe Gretsch makes headstocks like that also (I'm not familiar with Gretsch acoustics). Plus the fact that the headstock looks older to me than the fretboard. I'm not trying to contradict your uncle, but I'm guessing only the fretboard has been replaced (but I've been wrong before....just ask my wife  ).

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Hehehe about your wife...
Yeah, it looks just like aMartin Headstock. Perhaps Gretsch did that on purpose?

[dadfad]

Yes, maybe they did. If for some reason I needed to replace the neck on a nice vintage guitar, I'd do my best to make it fit as appropriately as possible, even "antiquing" the finish as much as I could.

[Tuning Spork]

Since Gretsch presumably needed to have the neck customized to fit the Martin body's joint, there's no reason they couldn't have used the Martin headstock shape as well. As long as neither company's logo was on the neck, there'd be nothing illegal about it (I think), so why not?

[goldrush]

All this leads me to wonder why Rice didn't just get Martin to make him a custom neck to his specifications. Being a reknown guitarist he could have had Martin make him whatever he wanted. Nontheless, I would really like to see a closeup of the headstock.....I can almost make out the Martin logo on it, but I may just be seeing things.

[Tuning Spork]

Assuming that this is the same guitar, it appears not to have a logo.

[goldrush]

Assuming that this is the same guitar, it appears not to have a logo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Definitely not the same guitar.

[Tuning Spork]

Assuming that this is the same guitar, it appears not to have a logo.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Definitely not the same guitar.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Oh my god, you're so right. The headstocks are completely different.
Sorry.

[ibanezdude70]

Tuning Spork: That guitar is a Santa Cruz Tony Rice Signature.

Goldrush: I thought the same thing, about Rice getting a neck from Martin.I know this sounds crazy, but maybe he likes a Gretsch neck more? I have no idea.

[dadfad]

Maybe we need to look at if from a purely practical direction. Although we know Tony Rice is a tremendous guitarist, he doesn't make "rock-star" money or anything. Probably not a lot more (if any more) than what we would all consider just a good living, and that's probably just been for the last fifteen or twenty years maybe (if that long even). Now he has enough of a name to get endorsements/sig-guitars, etc, but that wasn't always the case.

[goldrush]

True he's probably not outrageously rich, but how much would a replacement neck cost him? I admit I'm unfamiliar with musician endorsements, but it seems Martin would just give him one (or at least a good deal on it) if not for the publicity alone. Afterall, if he can afford vintage guitars (like a $20,000 1930's Martin), what's a replacement neck to him? He must get a share of the revenue for his Santa Cruz signature guitar, videos, CD's, performances, etc.

Of course, like someone already said he might just prefer this mysterious neck to anything Martin makes.

[ibanezdude70]

When I saw him live a few months ago he played that guitar. If I had known about the binding then I would've asked him.
Anyway, you guys are right, he's not very rich. He drives an old El Dorado. (Not a pimped out version either )

[dadfad]

And very likely when he bought that Martin (or was given it, inherited it, whatever) it was worth nowhere at all near the kind of money it's worth now. Only in the last fifteen-twenty years or so have vintage guitar prices sky-rocketted. Not long ago they were just "used guitars". I have several worth well over five thousand I paid just a few hundred (or less) for twenty years or so ago. A guitar identical to my "number one" guitar, which I recently turned down twelve thousand for, was in a pawnshop window for two-fifty in the early eighties (but I couldn't spare the $250 back then!). Tony very possibly might have only paid a few hundred (or less) for that guitar when he got it originally.

[goldrush]

Ahhhh to turn back the clock on used guitars and real estate....

[ibanezdude70]

Ahhhh to turn back the clock on used guitars and real estate....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tell me about it. What I wouldn't give to find an ole gibby for $250!

PS-DADFAD, what is your number 1 guitar?

[dadfad]

Ahhhh to turn back the clock on used guitars and real estate....

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Tell me about it. What I wouldn't give to find an ole gibby for $250!

PS-DADFAD, what is your number 1 guitar?

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

A 1934 Gibson "The Jumbo" (it was named simply "The Jumbo" because prior to its manufacture there had never been a jumbo-sized guitar made before.) They're fairly rare because not many people could afford nice guitars during The Great Depression. I wish I'd been able to afford it when it was cheap in a pawnshop. Although the price has continued to rise quickly since I bought it, I paid about $7000 for it myself. The book "Gibson's Fabulous Flat-Tops: An Illustrated History and Guide" calls it "...the Holy Grail of acoustic guitars..." and "...kept from popularity by only it's rarity, so few arrive on the market that only the cognoscenti even know of The Jumbo's existence."

I don't know about the "cognoscenti" thing (w/t/f does that even mean? ), but I do know for the kind of stuff I'm into.... old acoustic blues, traditional, etc, it's the finest sounding guitar I've ever played (and a lot of people-who-know-guitars have said the same thing when they played it). The purest essence of that "Gibson sound". I'm very lucky to be it's present owner.

[mrbreeze]

Dadfad,

Is this the guitar that's been lent out for some recording sessions?

[goldrush]

, so few arrive on the market that only the cognoscenti even know of The Jumbo's existence."

I don't know about the "cognoscenti" thing (w/t/f does that even mean? ),

"Cognoscenti" is from the Latin "cognoscere", a 3rd conjugation verb meaning "to be aware of", or "acquainted with". This concludes today's Latin lesson. More semi-useless knowledge from goldrush!

"Nemo liber est qui corpori servit"

Nice guitar John. Your guitar-playing daughter must be in for quite an inheritance when it comes time....