continued from previous post, because AOL was about to kick me off line.

Martin wanted $1,600 to repair my guitar which had been stepped on by a drunk woman with two wooden legs, at a party. (write a song about this) Their collective noses were out of joint because (ugh)someone else had worked on the guitar previously. (me and Al Lies, a "world class Luthier" who lives in Tiverton, Rhode Island) They also were miffed, (By the tone of the appraisal and stimate) because "Someoneon" had carved the name "Jody" on the guitar's Head. Yes, someone had, a wood cutter and calligrapher with a worldwide reputation, ME. It isn't the carving that's difficult, it's "Knowing where to put the letters". I've seen many a Multi thousand dollar Martin with fancy inlay, where the name "Martin" was woefully unballanced. A friend has a Martin D-43 (He says) that he bought in 1950, and the name "Martin" is pitifully lettered, though the inlaying is good. So much for their objections. They wanted to put a new top on my guitar (Which would have meant a DIFFERENT guitar) the top and sounding board is where all the tone comes from, the back and sides resonate this tone. Futhermore, the estimator wanted to pput new sidesw on the guitar. IT IS POSSIBLE, THOUGH NOT CERTAIN, THAT THE GUY WANTED THE BRAZILLIAN ROSEWOOD. I told them to send the guitar back. I took it to Al Leis who put everything back together, And replaced nothing. He charged me $150.00. Some bargain, Huh? It sounded just like it had before the accident, which is "terriffic". The story doesn't end here. I was out at Paul Geremiah's apartment, one day, and I told him my sad story. (He plays a Gibson) Now this man dearly loves guitars, all guitars, you can tell by the way he plays them. He asked me to let him check it over to see if there was anything else that needed doing. (He'll do this to YOUR guitar too if he has a chance to) He stuck a mirror and an automobile "points" feeler guage inside, found a strut that was slightly loose, glued it back in tightly, and the old girl sounded better than I had ever heard it before. I knew that this experience with the Martin Co. was going to come back and bite them on the ass, someday, and here it is.

back to the subject at hand, again,. It could have been a lot worse, the name thing that is. What if I had been playing a "Gretsch" or a "Yamaha". I could have been "Jody Kalamazoo" also (also made by Gibson). The nam cjange from Joe to Jody was because I was woking with a Hillbilly group (C&W hadn't been invented yet) Headed by a fine singer named "Randy Wood" who's fiddler, Gene Merrits, had been calling me "Jody" for some time, and another singer named Joe Gibson was well known around the New Jersey area.(This was not "Joe D. Gibson" who recorded "Good Morning Captain. That one was me) So I started using the name "Jody Gibson". My stupid EX Manager didn't think Jody was a proper name for his ace hillbilly, so he had them put the name, Joe D. Gibson on the record label. All my English records (Parlophone) from 1959 said, "Jody Gibson with the Muleskinners". George Martin knew better than my stupid EX Manager.

My Wife, the ever lovely, "Scintillating", Donna (Ma Fazoo to you lot) has just started calling me "King Nebuchadnezzer" because I do Bable on (Babylon), so I'll close this long song and dance.

Jody Gibson.