Chords for Interview with Gary Zimnicki -Part 1 of 2

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_ [Gm] _ _ [A] _ _ [G] _ _ _
_ _ [Bb] _ _ _ [F] _ _ [Dm] _
_ [C] This [Bb] is my great friend Gary [G] Zimnicki and he just [Bm] built this wonderful one-of-a-kind guitar.
This is a 1937?
_ 38.
38, I'm sorry, a 38 Gibson _ _ _ L7 replica and it says Zimnicki on it instead of Gibson.
It is absolutely the best guitar I've ever played [Eb] because [Eb] that is a brand [D] new instrument
and [Db] it sounds like it's _ 60, [G] 70 years old.
Now why is this?
_ _ Can you have any questions _ about [Em] why it turned out so _ vintage in a sound?
_ [Eb] _
Well, I think _ there's something in [Am] that design, just the classic _ [B] L7 design.
It's a deeper body than most modern arch tops.
It's 3 1⁄2 inches at the edges instead of 3 inches. _ _
17 inches wide, which is fairly standard [E] for an arch top.
But _ the depth and then also the F-holes are quite small compared to _ modern [Gb] F-holes, whether
you use that shape or the more _ streamlined looking ones that I prefer.
But smaller holes also _ accentuate the bassiness of an instrument.
You did change a few things.
You used ebony for the fingerboard and for the tailpiece instead of the rosewood.
And I like the sound [Eb] for _ the bridge.
[N] Yes, the tailpiece was built by Joe Rubenstein, our friend.
Who repaired the _ tailpiece on the L7 that I was restoring.
And you basically just used the specs for the L7 you were restoring and mocked this
Yeah, took every measurement I could manage to take on it and tried to copy it as faithfully
as I could.
Except for the neck.
[Bm] I _ changed [Bb] the neck dimensions because that one was so narrow.
It was 1 11⁄16 at the nut.
[D] This is 1 3⁄4.
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[Gb] _ _ [Ab] _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ [D] _ _ _ [Em] But it's got [Gb] more depth.
Yes.
[A] And what causes [F] that?
[C] Well, again, I think [G] the body dimensions have a lot to do with it and also _ [Bb] probably the
wood on the top of the guitar.
Now what about that?
Where did you get that from?
It's a pretty cool situation.
There's this guy up in Alaska named Larry Trimble or something like that.
And he sells wood to guitar builders and other instrument makers, but he doesn't cut down trees.
Instead, he looks [B] for _ _ [Ab] blowdown, like trees that fell off a cliff and floated in the ocean
for a while and then get washed up on shore.
Or in the case of this one, the _ log that this came from was part of a big fish [G] trap in some
lake up there. _ _
Anyway, I bought it from him almost 20 years ago and at the time, just because he knew
the history of fishing on this lake, he speculated that the log had to have been felled at least
50 years before I bought it.
So starting off right now, the wood is almost 70 years old.
That's why it sounds like a [Eb] vintage Gibson.
[D] It is. _ _ _
[Am] It sounds [G] better than a vintage Gibson.
Look at the grain [Ab] lines in this though.
The grain is so tight.
Nobody will be able to see it.
Yeah, I think they might be able to see it.
It averages about 30 lines per [Bb] inch.
You'd say it's about a thousand years old maybe?
I don't know.
[A] I don't know how old trees get.
[Bb] They get pretty old.
It's thin enough that you can't see it.
[Cm] _ [Ab] Right.
And it's not maple.
_ It is definitely [C]
a very responsive guitar.
[Ab] _ _ _ [G] _
Just to play [C] _ open chord, [D] _
_ [G] _ well for that trunk rhythm.
[G] _ _ [D] _
_ _ [Am] _ _ Yeah, then it's [Fm] playable.
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[E] _ _ _ _ _ _ _ [G] _
_ So this is [B] by