Are the new Bluesbirds that good?

Lend27

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I am in the market for a "Les Paul" type guitar, but want something lighter.
The Bluesbird looks really nice.
The sound I like is the "Brothers in Arms" Knopfler sound.
Can I achieve close to that with the Bluesbird?
I really don't want to spend over $1000.00.

Thanks for your guidance guys!

Len
 

AcornHouse

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With your budget, you can find plenty of good US made Bluesbirds from the later Westerly era. That will give you Seymour Duncan SD-1s pickups, essentially their 59s. They are heavily chambered, so they have a little weight savings from a LP Standard which he played on that album.

Of course, his sound is a combination of a whole slew of variables: guitar, strings, amp, effects, and, most importantly, his fingers.
 
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GAD

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The NS Bluesbird is substantially lighter than the Westerly Bluesbirds. My NS Bluesbird is 6 lbs 13 oz while my Westerly Bluesbird weighs in at 8 lbs 8 oz.

The Westerly BB pickups are much hotter than the NS so the Westerly is darker sounding.

The early NS Bluesbirds came with coil-split via push/pull which I wish mine had, but alas it does not.

I'll say this: I tend to like the Westerly guitar better because it feels more like "home" to me, but my daughter immediately grabbed the NS Bluesbird and made it hers. Why? It sounds good, it looks great, and it weighs less than seven pounds. It is also thinner and more comfortable for her to play. The Westerly feels like a Les Paul. The NS feels like a '70s Guild M-75 which is sort of like a Les Paul.

Details on both are available in my reviews at gadsguilds.com.


As for Brothers in Arms, I'd think any LesPaul-ish guitar into a JTM-45 played with Mark Knopfler's fingers will get you there. :friendly_wink:
 

JohnW63

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I wanted a humbucker guitar for the same reason ! Now that I have one, I gotta' figure out what he used in his signal chain. I think he is sort of know for not using much.
 

GAD

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The best tones in rock and roll are usually guitar -> amp. I remember reading about Martin Barre of Jethro Tull and his absolutely killer tone on Aqualung. It was this simple: Les Paul Jr. into a cranked Hiwatt.

A *huge* part of Mark Knopfler's tone is his finger picking style.

If you want to go nuts on details, check out this page: http://www.mk-guitar.com/2008/11/21...-effect-settings-on-the-on-every-street-tour/
 

Lend27

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I checked both Ebay and Reverb, not alot of older Bluesbirds in my price range, but I'll keep looking :)
 

kakerlak

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I checked both Ebay and Reverb, not alot of older Bluesbirds in my price range, but I'll keep looking :)

Keep at it religiously for a month or so and one will pop up. (Or toss a sub-$1k offer at one that's been sitting a long time). I've seen some really nice ones trade at $8-900 -- heck there was one on the classifieds here for a while.
 

GAD

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If you're OK with it not being mint and/or you're patient and willing to haggle, you can get some killer deals. One of the reasons I have so many guitars is that I've had a surprising number of sellers agree to what I thought was a lowball offer.

For anyone who complains about getting lowball offers, people do it because it works. I've scored guitars listed at $1000 by offering $650 and having the offer accepted. I have duplicate '97 S-100s because I made offers on both of them and they both accepted. I wasn't quite prepared for that, honestly. :)
 

JohnW63

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As for Brothers in Arms, I'd think any LesPaul-ish guitar into a JTM-45 played with Mark Knopfler's fingers will get you there.

Does it have to be an old 60s Marshall or can it be a new one ? Just for reference, of course.
 

Lend27

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Well guys, I scored a brand new Iced Tea Burst Bluesbird for a bit over $800. Very happy and it weighs just 7 lbs 6 ounces. Sweet. :) Nice Christmas present :)
 

Lend27

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Because of the holiday, I won't get it til next Thursday. No sense letting it sit in a terminal over the long weekend.
 
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