The Current's Guitar Collection: Dave Hosking of Boy & Bear, 1954 Gibson J-45
by Luke Taylor
October 29, 2014
When Sydney's Boy & Bear were in The Current's studio for a live session, front man Dave Hosking took some time to talk about his vintage Gibson guitar. Here's what he had to say.
Your guitar looks like it has some years on it. How long have you had it?
That's a '54 Gibson J-45. I've only had this guitar now, maybe a bit over a year. I have a vintage one I'd been playing at home, which was an LG-2, and I love playing it so much that I wanted to replicate that experience on the road, but it's always terrifying bringing an vintage instrument on the road. Yet I was excited [the tour] was going to happen, and there's a really great dealer in Australia who, on his own, sells a whole bunch of really great vintage gear, and I spoke to him and we sat down for a couple of hours with eight or nine old Gibsons, and I was like a kid in a candy shop!
I ended up picking this one, that was his personal one, which he initially didn't want to sell, but he ended up selling it to me.
How did you connect with him?
We'd been in the studio the year before, and Wayne Connelly, our producer, had bought a bunch of instruments off him and so did Symesie [bassist Dave Symes]. It's hard to find vintage gear in Australia, because it's usually really expensive, and there are limited options. Wayne said, "Go speak to this guy; give him call and see what he's got." That was my way in, I guess.
What about this J-45 struck you as you tried out all those guitars?
I don't know; I'm definitely a Gibson guy. There's something about Gibsons in general that, for me, they just sound like wood and steel. I like that. I can't find another way to explain it. It's really instinctual; I'm sure every guitarist kind of says that — you pick something up and it suits the way you play.
In this case, I knew I wanted it to be a live guitar, so I knew I needed it to do a bunch of things. There was just something about it I was really drawn to; it was really even. It has this kind of beautiful, clucky top-end on the bottom E and A, and it sounded like all my favorite Neil Young records, and I don't even know if he played a Gibson! But that's kind of what it sounded like, and it felt nostalgic. It was love at first sound, I guess.
Because you got this guitar for the tour, it stands to reason you didn't write or play anything on the album Harlequin Dream with this one.
No, this came after the album. But when we were recording, Wayne had an old National, he had a couple of old Martins, and I played my LG-2 a little bit on the record.
I haven't given this guitar a whirl yet in the studio, so I'm looking forward to that.
Resources
Boy & Bear - official site