John Denver Back Home Again Album Cover

Note: My sources tin can be accessed past clicking the links.

Recently there was a television special about John Denver. I'd forgotten what a smashing contribution he had made to popular music during his lifetime. As a guitarist, I remember and associated him as exclusively playing Guild guitars. Watching the show I realized that he played a diverse array of guitars throughout his career.

In doing some earthworks around in periodicals and online I came across a wonderful site called The John Denver Guitar Research Middle that had cataloged every guitar John had played throughout his lifetime.

I idea perchance I could look into some of these instruments, their makers and how John Denver had caused each of them.

Before he became John Denver, the artist, he grew upwards as Henry John Deustchendorf and was born in Roswell, New Mexico, the home of Area 51. He received his first acoustic guitar at age 11 as a gift from his grandmother.

This was an archtop, built in 1910 that his grandmother had played when she was a girl. Information technology has a lovely, woody tone when played.

A few years afterward he was given a lovely Gibson B-45-12N twelve cord guitar. It had a natural finish and came with an unusual pickguard, which leads me to believe Denver was not the original possessor.

John's father was a military machine airplane pilot, so the family moved around the country a lot.

When John was in his third year of loftier schoolhouse he had learned plenty about guitar and singing to brainstorm playing in local clubs.  It was this year that he took his father'south car and headed to California in hopes of starting a career in music. His begetter flew a jet aircraft from Ft. Worth, Texas to retrieve his son. John finished high school before embarking on a career in music.

He made use of his 12 string Gibson when he was associated with The New Christy Minstrel. It was during this era that he changed his stage name to John Denver. The grouping'south leader Randy Sparks endemic a social club called Ledbetter'due south in West LA, where John was performing. He commented that Deutschendorf would not fit on a marquee.

At this time flow he was however playing his Gibson B-25 twelve string, but he also acquired some other unusual guitar. This guitar was a Gibson B-45-12 that had been converted to an xviii cord guitar. It belonged to Randy Sparks and he loaned the guitar to Denver while playing with the Minstrels.

John left the group and joined another folk contingent chosen The Back Porch Majority. During this era, Denver ready aside his Gibson 12 string guitar and played a Gibson Hummingbird. He somewhen left the grouping to written report at Texas Tech. While there he played guitar and sang with a local trio.

In 1963 he left school and moved to Los Angeles. Within 2 years he had  joined The Republic of chad Mitchell Trio and remained a fellow member of this grouping for the side by side four years.

He began his solo career in 1969 when he caught the attending of Milt Okun, who was producing records for the Chad Mitchell Trio. Okun convinced RCA Records to sign Denver and presently an LP called Rhymes and Reasons was released. This album contained a song called Babe, I Hate To Go, which would be retitled Leaving On A Jet Plane.

Denver was very fond of 12 cord guitars. On his side by side album, Poems, Prayers and Promises, the front cover shows off his first Guild F-212XL 12 cord guitar.

He used this during the belatedly 1960'southward and before part of the 1970'south.

In my opinion Lodge made some of the greatest 12 string guitars.

The F-212XL is no exception.

Denver utilized several Guild 12 cord models throughout the 1970's, including this F-2 fashion and likewise an F-4, F-v and later an F-vi, which was his next stage guitar.

The Gild F-612XL is a noticeably different than the F-212 as it is much fancier.

The body of the F-612XL is bound as is the neck and headstock. The neck has fancy inlaid pearl fret markers starting at the first fret and ending on the 16th fret.

Denver must have liked this F-612 a lot, considering he ordered a custom-fabricated version. The headstock also has the stylized "Thou" inlaid in pearl. It also has a unmarried pickguard. Information technology is an exceptional instrument. He used this during company that he used from 1979 through 1982.

Although it had the same basic accouterments found on the standard model, the inlay on this guitar was much more elaborate. The cervix had fancy vine inlay that ran from the 2nd fret thought thursday 19th fret. The span saddle was besides inlaid with a like vine pattern. The hardware on this guitar; the tuning keys and the strap buttons were all gilt-plated. It was a stunning musical instrument.

Denver likewise utilized a beautiful Order F-50 "Creative person Award Model" 6 string guitar. This musical instrument can exist distinguished by its double pick guards and over-sized  head stock, which features a plate that identifies it equally an Creative person Award Model.

The neck, body and caput stock are all bound every bit is the truss rod encompass. The neck is inlaid with cake pearl markers starting at the 1st fret and ending at the 16th fret.

This is perhaps his almost recognizable guitar. It is featured on the cover of the album, An Evening With John Denver.

Perhaps the most unusual guitar John played was a six string acoustic paradigm made for him by Yamaha called the model L-53.

It can be seen on his Christmas special, called Rocky Mount Christmas. This guitar was congenital to only exist sold on the Japanese market.

According to the John Denver Guitar Research site, Denver had 3 of these instruments. On a bout of Japan, Denver met Yamaha master guitar builder Terumi Nakamoto later on a concert. Mr. Nakamoto offered him his selection of iii different Yamaha guitars, an L-51, an L-52 and an L-53.

The Yamaha L-53 guitar became one of Denver'southward principal stage guitars for much of the latter 1970's and it shows a great deal of usage. It is an exquisite instrument. The top is solid spruce, while the dorsum and sides appear to be rosewood. The torso is leap on the top and bottom, with the upper binding featuring gorgeous abalone.

The rosette is besides jump with twin layers of abalone separated past a blackness circle.

Equally on a Martin D-45, the edge of the elevation in which the neck extends is framed in abalone trim. The 19 fret rosewood neck is bound and features exquisite abalone block inlaid fret markers which beginning at the first fret.

The caput stock feature mirrored image abalone inlay on each side with the gold-plated Yamaha tuners peeking through. The center of the head stock veneer is forest topped with the 3 tuning fork Yamaha logo. On the dorsum of the head stock and mahogany cervix at that place are two strips of ebony that run its length.

The dorsum of 1 of the guitars necks shows farthermost checking on the area where the caput stock breaks, leading one to believe that the guitar may have been dropped and a poor repair done.

The cervix on a unlike version features more of a golden hue on the abalone and more colourful block inlays.

The back of this neck shows extensive vesture as the height of one side of the caput stock is seriously chipped. This guitar is shown of the cover of the video John Denver and The Muppets Christmas Together.

Denver also played a cute guitar designed by his friend and luthier Stuart Mossman. Mossman began building guitars in 1968 and connected through 1983 when health issues caused past animate fragments of abalone and sawdust threatened his health. In 1984 he sold the business. Throughout his career Mossman built around vi,000 guitars.

The guitar he built for John Denver is an exceptional instrument and a piece of work of art. The body is in the familiar shape of a dreadnaught guitar. It is Mossman'southward top-of-the-line model that he called Gilt Era. This instrument has polished solid spruce top that is mounted on rosewood sides and back. The body is leap with beautiful abalone beat out trim.

The bound mahogany neck is topped with a rosewood fretboard that is exquisitely inlaid with an extraordinary about of female parent-of-pearl fleur-di-lis patterns that extend from the beginning fret to the cease of the fretboard. The head stock is bound on its upper side and has a rosewood veneer that is bedecked with a stylized "M" with mirrored fleur-di-lis inlay and abalone dots.

Mossman was offering this instrument for sale in the 1970's for only $875. By Comparing, in the mid-1970's a Martin D-28 sold for around $750. Denver took this guitar on earth tours.

Between 1981 and 1982, luthier John Greven congenital two guitars for Denver; a six string model and a matching twelve string model.Greven is nonetheless creating beautiful custom instruments today.

Greven began his career by working at Gruhn Guitars in Nashville Tennessee back in the 1960's. He restored and repaired vintage instruments and considers this to exist his instruction into the methods and concepts that differing manufacturers utilized in building guitars. He says he has practical these concepts and modern building concepts into the creation of his instruments. And Greven does build some infrequent guitars.  He was introduced to John Denver past a common friend while Denver was staying in New York Urban center. Denver commissioned the guitar.

The six string is known as The White Lady. The guitars top is made from Sitka spruce from Ketchikan Alaska and the sides, back and cervix are fabricated from rock maple that grew in Pennsylvania. The body is bound in cute abalone trim on its tiptop and lesser.

The rosette features three concentric circles with an inner circle of inlaid abalone. The guitars back shows lovely volume-matched and flamed wood divided past a thin black strip. The cervix also shows the lovely flame of the wood and is carved on the instruments heel. The neck is jump with white trim and has an ebony fretboard inlaid with female parent-of-pearl affections and cloud patterns.

The head stock veneer is fabricated of ebony woods and inlaid with mother-of-pearl depicting the nude "White Lady" in front of an eighth moon. She is running her fingers through her flowing long hair that is made of abalone inlay. The builder's name is inlaid in a scroll at the peak of the instrument. A characteristic that is hidden is John Denver'due south proper noun inlaid on a rosewood cake that is mounted on the instruments interior neck cake. It is a gorgeous guitar.

The inclimate weather in the Colorado mountains or maybe storage in the cargo hold of an airplane has taken its toll on this guitar as the head stock shows extensive slap-up in the varnish.

The Greven 12 cord guitar had many of the features found on the six string model, except on the instruments head stock in that location was an elongated quadrangle design. Information technology too was made of Sitka spruce and rock flamed maple with an ebony neck. Unfortunately this guitar was destroyed in an automobile blow not long after Denver took possession.

In August of 1980 John Denver appeared at The Aspen Music Festival with yet a different guitar. This was an Adamas 12 string guitar made past The Ovation Musical instrument Company.

Adamas guitars were designed past Charles Kaman and his squad and were made of synthetic composite materials. The carbon fiber top was thinner than a wooden acme and was suspended to give information technology more vibration and longer sustain. The rounded parabolic bowl was designed to better project the sound.

Instead of the typical circular sound hole, This pinnacle-of-the-line Adamas featured twin sound ports that each had 3 large ports and eight smaller ones. The caput stock and span saddle were elaborately carved. And the guitar was fitted with the Ovation piezo electric bridge and built in pre-amp and controls for book and tone. As with many Adamas guitars, the top had a blue hue.The binding around the body was or a molded rope-type. At the aforementioned festival Denver also used an identical half-dozen string Adamas guitar.

From fourth dimension to time Denver employed some other Ovation guitars including a 12 string Aristocracy model. This was Ovation's wooden version of the Adamas. Instead of a carbon fiber pinnacle, the Elite came with a solid bandbox top.

He tin be seen playing other Ovation guitars, including an Adamas half dozen string, an Ovation half-dozen string acoustic Fable and an Ovation 1613 Classical electrical guitar.

We too see photos of John Denver with another guitars such equally the National steel resonator guitar that he is holding on the cover of the album Dear Again aka the Very All-time of John Denver likewise released nether the title John Denver Favorites.

We see John playing a black Chet Atkins CEC in The Wildlife Concert. CEC stands for Classic Electric Cutaway. This may await like a solidbody guitar, simply information technology is actually a chambered torso instrument. The bodies were generally made of spruce or cedar and the necks were mahogany. The fingerboard is fabricated of rosewood. The electronics are mounted on the upper side and feature several rolling potentiometers for book and tone.

This guitar has a built in pre-amplifier. There are six piezo crystal pickups under the bridge. The width of the cervix is ii" at the nut, which is approximately the aforementioned as nigh classical instruments. Information technology was designed by Gibson and Chet Atkins.

He tin can also be seen playing a few Martin guitars. We know for certain one was a Martin D-20-12. He is playing a Martin D-28 in this pic.

In 1986 John Denver commissioned luthier Ervin Somogyi to build a matching pair of guitars.

One was a six cord and the other was 12 string guitar. These instruments featured Sitka spruce tops, Brazilian rosewood was used for the backs, sides and bridge saddle. The necks were made of Honduras mahogany.

The guitars were both featured a single Florentine cutaway and decorative inlays starting at the 3rd fret. The headstocks had an unusual blueprint, ending in a point. The bridge saddle also featured an extremely stylistic blueprint.

The unusual rosette consider of alternate Blocks of on X or two X'due south. This seems to be a trademark of this luthier.

At that place is no marking on the headstock with the builder's name. Only the characterization inside identifies it as made past Ervin Somogyi. The six cord version appears on the CD comprehend for the National Arbor Day charity that were given away as PSA's for the system. Somogyi is still building custom fabricated guitars in Berkely California.

Towards the finish of his career John Denver used some more commonsensical guitars. Not to diminish their value, but his choice of Taylor and Godin guitars were more than roadworthy than his custom built instruments.

John used two different Godin models. One had steel strings and the other was a nylon cord model. They were somewhat like instruments, but for the wood used in construction and the structure techniques.

The steel string version was known as the Electro-Acoustic Steel Duet Ambiance. This guitar featured a chambered mahonany body with a solid spruce superlative and X bracng.. The guitar had a 25 ane/2" scale (the same as a Stratocaster), with a customer Fishman electronic under saddle transducer and a built-in microphone.

The switches in the upper tour controlled volume, slider switches for equalization, a blend between the transducer and the microphone. And phase controls.

The nylon cord version called the Multiac Grand Concert Duet Ambience.

This guitar is equipped with electronics by EPM, which include an under-saddle transducer and a microphone that is within the twin chambered silverleaf maple body. The top is made of cedar and the cervix is made of mahogany and also has a 25 ane/ii" scale.

The guitar is equipped with a congenital-in pre-amplifier and slider switch to control volume, equalization and mic/transducer blend.

Through the final years of his career and last days of his life, John Denver relied on Taylor guitars. The story of how Bob Taylor started this company is fascinating. Taylor guitars are not just wonderful and well-made instruments, simply very road worthy too. Nosotros know that John owned more than than a half dozen Taylor instruments that he played throughout the 1990's

Taylor K22

The Taylor K22 six cord model is a cute guitar with a torso made of flamed Hawaiian Koa forest. The body is in the Grand Concert style and it is bound with simulated tortoise vanquish. The neck is made of mahogany. Like the Godin guitars, the scale is 25 1/2".

The fret board is made of ebony with abalone special blueprint fret markers. The rosette is also made of gorgeous inlaid abalone. The head stock is adorned an abalone floral design and topped with gold-plated Grover tuners.

The Taylor K15 six string model is almost identical in every aspect to the K22, except for the fact that it has a jumbo body.

After his decease, Taylor produced a like John Denver memorial model of this instrument with inlay on the guitars neck that is a facsmile of John. The design is a representation of a statue of John Denver that is in Snowmass Colorado on the Windstar Foundation state preserve that was created by John Denver and his friend Tom Crum in 1976. The preserve covers 1,000 acres.

John Denver purchased ii Taylor 915 six string guitars in 1994. Both guitars are fabricated in with the colossal sized torso and solid Sitka Bandbox tops. One, the M model, had gorgeous birdseye maple back, sides, with a  neck mahogany while the other had a rosewood back and sides and a mahogany neck.

The 915-m was 1 of the commencement guitars that Bob Taylor designed back in 1977. It came with an unusually designed bridge saddle. The rosette featured abalone inlay.

The 915-yard was one of the first guitars that Bob Taylor designed back in 1977. It came with an unusually designed span saddle. The rosette featured abalone inlay.

Taylor LKSM 12 string

The Taylor LKSM 12 string guitar was designed for finger-manner guitarist Leo Kottke with his input. It is not a fancy guitar. The torso is solid Sitka spruce and the back and sides are mahogany as is the neck. The body is bound in Indian rosewood.

The fret lath is made of ebony with no fret markers. The caput stock veneer is made of Indian rosewood with the logo inlaid in mother-of-pearl. The tuners are aureate-plated button way. The trunk features a modified Venetian cutaway. According to Kottke it plays like a half-dozen string. John owned at least one of these instruments.

Taylor 855-12

He also own a lovely Taylor 855 12 string guitar. This guitar featured a colossal sized double leap torso with book-matched solid Sitka spruce woods for the top and the back and sides were crafted of Indian rosewood. The guitars bridge saddle was also crafted from Indian rosewood.

The leap neck was mahogany topped with an ebony fret lath. The position markers were special design made of mother-of-pearl. The guitars scale was 25 1/2". The rosette was made of abalone inlay.

The guitars caput stock veneer appears to be Indian rosewood and the tuners are gold-plated Grovers. John probably purchased this guitar in 1994 along with several other Taylor instruments. It is featured in a concert for the 100th Anniversary of the Wildlife Conservation Society.

John too owned a Taylor model J15. The wonderful instrument features a colossal sized torso with a Venetian cutaway. The meridian is over again book-matched solid Sitka spruce. The sides and back are made of Indian rosewood, with the back likewise being book-matched with a strip of lighter wood separating the two pieces. The trunk is double bound. The neck is bound and made of mahogany.

The back and front of the head stock feature ebony veneer with the back veneer blending into a point at the break in the neck. The fret lath is besides made of ebony and has ovular female parent-of-pearl position markers. The truss rod embrace is too made of mother-of-pearl. Again the tuners are made by Grover and gold-plated, as are the strap buttons.

On a final note John did non seem fond of guitar cases. Subsequently his musical instrument suffered the damage.

Pictures show damage to the caput stock of two of his Yamaha L-53 guitars. 1 picture testify a repair to a caput stock that was damaged at the portion where the head stock joins the cervix. Some other flick shows a cervix without the guitars body.

This may possibly be due to the fact that early on in his career Denver carried his guitars in a leather gig bag that appears to be made for him by a leather craftsman instead of using a hard crush guitar case. Other pictures bear witness him with more than conventional gig bags strapped to his dorsum.

His Ovation guitars all came with molded cases and he utilized those. The Taylor guitars also came with leather jump difficult cases.

It would exist fascinated to find out where these instrument are today.

His archtop Martin was in a museum as yous tin come across in the motion picture at the top of the page. All the same when John died, it was rumored that his body and this beloved guitar were cremated and the remains were scattered over the John Denver Sanctuary located in Aspen, Colorado.

There is a link to an auction site that showed one of the Taylor K15 guitars offered.

I would encourage readers to check out the John Denver Guitar Research web page.

These folks accept done a lot of research and offering quite a lot of pictures of John playing his unlike guitars.

John with Guild F-612 12 string$$$$

John with Taylor J-15 - James Burton Telecaster

John with Guild F-50 Creative person Accolade

John with Mossman 12 string

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Source: https://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/2015/08/john-denvers-guitars.html

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