Henri Grünbauer
ACOUSTICS
From left to right: Yamaha C55, EKO Ranger XII, Eko Ranger VI, Yamaha C70
For spanish Guitar I used to have a Suzuki (above left) which at one point got decapitated. Currently I have two Yamaha's, one for study the Yamaha C55 and one for performing or recording, the Yamaha C70 mainly due to issues of stringwear. in between the Japanese guitars there was a Korean (above right) nameless one, which worned out very quickly. For slide Guitar I use an Eko (Italian brand, I think) I have both 6 & 12 string versions. My Yamaki western (in the pic underneath, it has a pick-up) is now with my eldest daughter. The Guitar has a crack in the top, which happened when I let a guy in my room play it. I was bored and went out. What I didn't know was the guy was on acid and got a bad trip while playing my guitar. He bare-handedly broke all six (metal) strings and hit the top with some object, so that's how the crack in the top came about. For strings I use D'Addario almost exclusively. The nylons are the Pro Arte series (normal tension .28) Half way its life, I restring the 4th string (D) on the classical guitar reversed. I hardly ever break a string. I used to, but not anymore.
To the right: The Suzuki 730 classical Guitar (made in japan) got decapited in 1976, suddenly reappeared for a short period in 1986 with the head glued on. It was reinforced with a wooden plate on the back of the head. Eventually, to much of the wood was missing and the Guitar had to be given up.
To the right: an early 20th Century Italian acoustic, only playable as a slide Guitar. Beneath: an eastern-european acoustic early 20th century arch-top acoustic, also used for slide Guitar on the 1989 solo gig in 't Packhuys, Naarden.
The Ibanez Les Paul wasn't the only Ibanez Henri played. The acoustic guitar in the picture on the left is identified too as an Ibanez. Therefore this must be a very early import-guitar from Japan. Despite the spanish brandname, Ibanez is a japanese brand and originally to export budget acoustic guitars. In the seventies they started copying electric guitars. This acoustic guitar had nylon strings but a more yellow top in western steel string fashion, making it look like a crossover guitar. The guitar really played as a spanish acoustic and wasn't suitable for steel strings at all. The guitar was probably crafted in the sixties.
