eBay Lyrical Listing

Martin guitar 12 str with original hard case/ex cond

A Martin guitar is the harmony produced by movement of the celestial spheres, a conception of Pyhagoereran. Once engaged in this instrument is beyond having a fretted fingerboard and the usual 12 strings. Once skilled, this instrument is a professional performer. The harmony produced by the movements of the celestial spheres is engaged in or versed in historical study of music an art. It is stated that Martin, a a masculine personal name is a guitarist.

Hey, I can do this, it is simple.

One Thing Leads To Another

It’s funny how one thing can lead to another on the web.

Just today I saw a posting on Harmony Central about Tascam’s FireOne FireWire Audio Interface. I clicked on it to see what the thing was, not really expecting to actually buy one, whatever it was. It turned out to be a Firewire audio interface that only has two inputs (which at least means it’s probably not as expensive as the other Firewire inputs out there, but may have less of the latency problems of the USB interfaces.) It’s other notable feature is this big jog-shuttle on it. That jog shuttle looks cool; for video editing. For audio editing, I’m not too sure that a jog shuttle is the first thing you want to spend your money on.

But seeing it reminded me how I’d always thought that the M-Audio iControl device looked cool for working with GarageBand, and I’d half heartedly thought of buying one, but never had. Unfortunately, I’ve also just switched to Logic, but it had me wondering if the iControl would work with Logic? Purely out of curiosity, you understand.

I did a search, and the initial articles didn’t look promising. But then I came across an article that suggested that the iControl did work – in a limited fashion – with Logic Pro. Okay, cool.

But, the article also mentioned the Behringer BCF2000 controller desk. For $200 you get a USB controller which has motorized faders.

Motorized faders!

Holy Cow! Now motorized faders is a pretty cool – and usually expensive – feature in audio mixing decks. Suddenly I want one of these things!

And to think. If it wasn’t for Tascam announcing the FireOne, I might have been oblivious to the existence of the BCF2000.

Now I just have to save up for one!

VG Stratocaster

Here's a picture of the VG Stratocaster. This is the business end, and shows; the Roland pickup (closest to the bridge), and selectors for choosing the tuning (Drop D, Open G, Baritone, etc) and the guitar type (Stratocaster, Telecaster, Humbucking and Accoustics.)

The best I can find on pricing and availability are: TBA.

The NAMM Problem

The problem with NAMM is that they announce all this cool stuff, but they often don't - in their press release - announce when the stuff will be available, or how much it costs. Which leaves me scratching around trying to find out.

For example, the Fishman Aura Pedal was announced, but no info on when they will be out, or on cost; though someone on the UMGF said they'd be about $200. Fender also announced the VG Stratocaster, which adds guitar modeling and the ability to switch between tunings and guitar types (like Baritone and 12-string) by turning a knob. Looks cool, but I have no idea what they plan to charge for it, or when it will be available...at least not in the press release. Maybe it's on the website; which is actually kind of fun, but I didn't read EVERYTHING there...

Fishman Aura Imaging Pedals

It's Winter NAMM and lots of fun musical stuff will be announced. Probably.

Fishman has announced the Aura Imaging Pedals. What's Aura? There's been quite a bit of buzz about the Aura technology, particularly about the Martin's that you can get with the system built in (the DC-AURA and the DC-28E to name but two.) People who have used them rave about them.

Aura uses digital algorithms, developed in Fishman’s audio labs, to create an Image of the natural sound that microphones capture in a professional studio. This Image, when played through an amp, mixer, or PA, blends with your instrument’s pickup to produce an immediate and dramatic improvement in your amplified sound.

What's that really mean? Well, for situations where you have to use your guitar with a pickup, the Aura takes the sound from the pickup, does some magic stuff and makes it sound more like the guitar would sound if it was mic'ed rather than plugged in using a pickup.

The Martin guitars come with models customized for those specific guitars, but you can also get the Aura technology as a standalone product. The Fishman Aura Acoustic Imaging Blender comes with a bunch of models included, and you can even get Fishman to create a custom model for your guitar!



Anyway, Fishman has announced the Aura Imaging Pedals. At first I couldn't figure out how these related to the Blender product and it took a few readings to notice: Designed for use with guitars featuring undersaddle or magnetic soundhole pickups, there are Aura Pedals for each of the six major types of acoustic stringed instruments: Dreadnought, Concert, Orchestra, Jumbo, Nylon, and 12-String.

So I'm guessing that the Pedals are not customizable the way the Blender is.

The Blender costs about $400. No price was mentioned for the pedals, but if they are about $120, then it would be a lot more attractive.

I've heard a few people speak highly of the G7th capo, but at $30+ it was a bit too rich for me. And I was very happy with the Kyser caypos that I have (two; because I'm always losing them)

But then, on a whim, I bought myself a G7th and have been using it for a few days and I have to say that I really like it. There's no spring to fight, you just slide it over and push it together and it locks on (what it really does is not release until you push the lever on the back.)

Works very nicely and easily. Expensive, but put it on your list of cool gadgets to get when you have the money.

Makes a nice gift too ;)

Taylor Restringing/Diagnostic Clinic

Taylor Guitar held a Diagnostic Clinic at my favorite guitar store, The Music Emporium today. Taylor owners were invited to bring in their guitar to get a free checkup.

I got down there around 3pm, figuring that it would be best to get there before the crowds showed up. Taylor had two technicians and their North-East region rep there. When I arrived one tech was fitting a new saddle for a 12-string acoustic, while the other was working on a T-5.

I had never seen inside a T-5 before; I didn't know they were hollow! Stupid me, I thought they were solid body. It was also interesting to see that the string holes had a lot of rough edges around them; not a big deal, but there had been a big thread about Martin's with this "defect" a while back on the UMGF so I thought it was amusing to see Taylor's with the exact same issue.



I had taken my 814ce, which has seen a lot less play over the last couple of years because it had become a summer guitar; it had a very slight buzz during winter that had driven me up the wall; so I just stopped playing it in the winter. And then sort of stopped playing it all together.



I explained all this to one of the technicians, Pat, who asked a few questions, and then mentioned a few possible causes of the problem and said that he would check those out. He then set to work.


Applying orange oil and beeswax to the fingerboard
He restrung it, tightened the pegs, checked the action, attached some loose internal wires (from the pickup), cleaned and oiled the fingerboard, and polished the body (with car wax!) Though it wasn't definitive, he thought it possible that the loose wires might have been the cause of the noise.

Once he was finished he declared the guitar to be in fine shape and to just keep on doing what I was doing (I didn't say that what that was had been 'not playing it much!') Still, it was good to know that it had been keeping well, and it almost feels like I have a brand new guitar.