Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain

Scale Length

I've heard about Scale Length, but never quite knew how it worked. The following is a combination of posts from this thread:

Scale length is the distance between the nut and the twelfth fret, doubled. On a steel strung acoustic you can't measure from nut to saddle because of the slant for intonation compensation. A longer scale length requires a greater tension on the string for the same note at the same pitch in relation to that note on a shorter scale length.

Typical scale lengths are 24.9" (such as Gibson electrics and Martin's 000-42 and 000-28) , 25.4" (most Martins) and 25.5" (Fender Stratocasters and Telecasters). In principle, though, there are no particular rules for scale lengths. PRS released a 25.0" guitar as a middle ground between Fender and Gibson, for instance.

Some consequences of scale length:

1. The lower you want to tune an instrument, the longer the scale length must be to avoid strings slacking, introducing fret buzz or flopping about.
2. A longer scale in standard tuning is generally harder to play than a shorter scale.
3. A longer scale will have more sustain in the notes due to the higher tension. It will also tend to sound a bit brighter.
4. A shorter scale's slacker tension allows guitarists to upgrade their string thickness for a fatter sound.

Also, it easier to bend strings on a short scale relative to a long scale with the same gauge strings. So the blues players tend to like them.

This all goes a long way to explaining the difference between a 000-42 and an OM-42 (that's the problem with looking at Martin's product list; they have something like 100 different models, and it's so difficult sometimes to figure out what the differences are between each.

So after reading this, I'm thinking maybe I should get a a short scale guitar. I'm always looking for a good excuse to buy another one! Even a port excuse is better than no excuse at all.

Then I realized....I already have one! D'oh!!

There was an item on Wolfgang's Vault Web site on NPR over the weekend, and now I see a piece on News.com, so obviously it's making the rounds.

Bill Sagan paid more than $5 million for items and recordings from Bill Graham's estate, (Graham was programmer of San Francisco's Fillmore.)

The website has a 75-song playlist from 7,000 to 8,000 audio and video concert recordings made between 1966 and 1999.

You can't download any of the recordings, only stream them, though there's talk of CD and DVD sales in the future.

iPlayMusic

I happened across iPlayMusic in a local magazine. They offer online video guitar lessons and you can get 35 of them free. They are pretty basic lessons, but might be worth checking out for someone just starting.

Most interesting of all; you can get them on iTunes as a podCast and play them on your video iPod!

Do You Have Big Thumbs?

I was never a big fan of Bob Dylan's Just Like A Woman - that was until I heard Richie Haven's do an inspired version of it at the Bob Dylan 25th anniversary concert. That was just amazing.

If you want to play like Richie Haven's, it's pretty easy (he says so!). It appears that all you need is a really big thumb!

Are We Not Weenies?!

I hang out at the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum quite a bit. It's a fun place with nice people, and you can learn a lot about Martin guitars (and acoustics in general.) They also hold a yearly get together in Pennsylvania that's pretty much heaven for Martin guitar fans.

That said, sometimes things can get a little out of hand. Discussions about some topics; the wood used for necks, the price of the D-18 Authentic, and whether so-and-so deserves a Signature Edition, can sometimes get a bit repetitive. But we're guitar geeks, and that's to be expected. The best solution sometimes is just to stop reading a specific thread. I try not to take things too seriously.


A recent posting asked 'Are we the only weenies, in the world???' and spoke about a guitar player that one of the members encountered at an open mic who had no idea what model guitar he owned.

After he was done I walked up to him, and asked if it was a Westerly. He looked at me with a puzzled expression.

I said, "Your Guild.....was it made in Westerly?" He shrugs, "I don't know."

So then, I ask, "What year is it?" Again....shrugging, "I don't know....it was a gift."

So I ask, "what model is it?" Again....a shrug...." I don't know it was a gift.....I normally play Alverez's."

The posting then went on to speculate whether the forum members were the only weenies that know so much about their instruments. Do Sousaphone players know much about their instruments? Do they debate the merits of different models and years of production?

It’s a mildly interesting discussion, but frankly I don't see it as a big issue. Some people are really into the instruments, and some people just see them as a tool they use to make music. I don't think either attitude is right or wrong, it doesn't really bother me which one you are.

But while I was pondering that a little, I saw another post:

How does tuner mass change a Martin dread?
I'm wanting to swap out the small knob Pings on my D-15 for something of higher quality [Grover Rotomatics...] I've heard that these are lighter and that the lower mass allows for more resonance.

I've also heard that the greater mass of the Rotos will contribute to greater sustain.

Say what?!!

Changing the tuners changes the mass enough to effect the tone of the guitar?!

Okay, I have suffered through discussions of Brazilian vs. Indian Rosewood. 'Opening Up' vs. guitar aging, effects of humidity, bracing patterns, top woods, and coated vs. uncoated strings. But changing tuners?!!

One reader suggested that clamping on a couple of capo's on the headstock will effect sound! Others wrote:

To my ear, the lighter, open-back [tuners] are somehow less-invasive and allow for more wood-character to come through.

On some instruments adding weight to the headstock has had a dramatic positive effect on volume and tone (Blueridge guitars & Resophonic guitars).

The general rule is greater mass will add sustain. This is particularly true for electric guitars.

This kind of stuff can only lead to madness people! Put those capo's down! Don't touch those tuning machines! It's time to go back to playing the damn things!

Carved Guitars

Doug Rowell carves guitars. Beautiful, intricate work that he performs on old Stratocaster bodies and other instruments, to create these works of art. His Dragon Strat is amazing, though some of them make you wonder...

Even though it's left handed, and a bass, I like the Yellow Submarine Bass. I'd like to have that on my wall ;)

Lori McKenna Free Track On iTunes

I'm a big fan of Lori McKenna. I'm also a fan of iTunes free downloads; sometimes they're a hit, and sometimes they're a miss, but they are always free!!

This week the two come together. The free Discovery Download is Lori's Mr. Sunshine from her album Bittertown.

I'm not sure when this free download expires; they change the "Single of the Week" every Tuesday, but I think the Discovery Download changes less frequently. Either way, if you have an iTunes account, head on over and download it today!

The Frame Costs More Than The Picture

Some time ago I bought a poster that was signed by Mark Knopfler. It cost $90. Pretty expensive, but then it cost me about $110 to get the thing framed.

I was reminded of that when I saw a write up about Reunion Blues handcrafted guitar bags; a Rawhide leather bag for dreadnought guitar, and an electric guitar bag in crocodile finished full grain leather.

They didn't really catch my fancy, but then I saw the price! $899 for the electric guitar bag! That's more than my electric guitar is worth!!

I think I'll stick with the SKB.

Toys, Toys, Toys

I ordered a Line 6 TonePort UX2 several days ago from MusiciansFriend. Their online system is messed up; they can't seem to get the tracking information for the orders right. The package didn't arrive yesterday, so I figured it would be Monday at the earliest.

Much to my surprise, as I was walking out the door this morning, there it was waiting for me.

Getting the thing working wasn't quite as easy as I might have liked. Firstly, I had to install OS X 10.4 because the software won't work with earlier versions :( Luckily for me, I had a copy of Tiger, and it only took about an hour and a half to install the system.

Then I installed the software; which consists of something called GearBox, which is a utility you use to control the box's options, and Ableton Live, which is recording software.

First problem; the instructions say not to connect the box until the software tells you to. But it never did. After installation I launched the GearBox tool and it came up that there was no hardware attached (*duh*), did I want to run in a mode that pretends there's a box connected? Well no, so I had to quit, attach the box and launch it.

That worked okay. The little needle level's lit-up too. Excellent.

The software help suggested trying a guitar connected to it first. I plugged in my guitar and....nothing. The meters didn't register anything. Plugged the guitar into an amp just to check and that was working, so what's up? I tried help, I tried fiddling with various settings, and nothing.

Finally I just got a microphone and plugged that into the microphone input. Success!!

Then I tried the Live recording app. Didn't like it. I could record audio, but I didn't really want to.

Then I tried Deck, but I couldn't get it to work with the TonePort. Tried all kinds of things, but no luck.

So I tried GarageBand and Ta-Da! It worked. Now I just have to experiment with the options...

Are You Finished?

If you're interested in how finishes are applied to guitars, then you'll find the lastest 'Factory Friday' video at the Taylor website interesting. In this 9 minute video, finishing department manager Jerry Cooper demonstrates applying a Tobacco sunburst to a maple top T5.

Did someone say maple?

Sunbursts are tricky things, and companies apply them in different ways; some have very sudden transitions from light to dark, others are much more gradual. It's definitely an art applying these things.

Mark Erelli @ Club Passim

Mark Erelli @ Club Passim, February 2, 2006
The Only Way
Mark is a singer-songwriter, originally from the Boston area, now living in Maine. I've seen him perform several times at Club Passim, sometimes alone, sometimes with other musicians. He has a range of musical interests; his previous album was described as being 'rockabilly,' but his latest is more in the singer-songwriter tradition, and is more political. This album, Hope & Other Casualties will be officially released at the beginning of March, though he was selling copies at the show last night.

G.A.S.

Here's a link to an article on G.A.S. by Walter Becker (of Steely Dan) that originally appeared in Guitar Player magazine.

He starts out by describing some friends that obviously suffer from very advanced cases of the disease. Then he offers some tips for "any sufferer on the brink of yet another G.A.S. attack." Here's just two:

1. Consider for a moment the karmic implications of owning all those guitars. Picture yourself dragging your ass through eternity with all those guitars strapped to your back. In hardshell cases, not gig bags.

5. Ask yourself: would I like to be thought of and remembered as a guitar player or as a guitar owner?

Of course, the problem is that I am such a lousy player, my only hope is to be remembered as a guitar owner...

*sigh*

Brokeback Guitar

Not having grown up in America - or the fifties - I wasn't really aware of the 'cowboy guitar tradition.' Sure, I vaguely had heard of singing cowboys, but I didn't realize that they also painted their guitars "prettier than a twenty dollar whore."

But it seems so. Or at least that's what guitar manufacturers would want you to believe.

On the left, the Martin Company's Cowboy IV, a 000-14 Fret size guitar constructed from HPL/Texture Finish (that's High Pressure Laminate.) It'll set you back about $700.

On the right, the Rodeo Sweethearts! from Recording King which will set you back about $199.

I'm not really sure I'd want either of these; unless I was going camping. And if I was going camping, I'd rather take my Taylor Baby M, which is smaller, and a lot less embarrassing to be seen with!


UPDATE: Turns out I might have got my decades wrong when it comes to the popularity of singing cowboys. There's even a book about Cowboy Guitars!

Spend Money; Feel Better

Decided to order the UX2 and see how it works out. Primarily because of a favorable review I came across from an actual user, and because of the knobs and meters. Placed my order with Musiciansfriend, and it is supposed to arrive in, oh 2-5 days.

The initial rush of the purchase did brighten my otherwise gray day a little, but now I’m starting to suffer from buyers’ remorse...

What The?!!

I'd always heard that Michael Hedges was an amazing player, and I've heard some of his music and liked it. But wow; take a look at this! What's he doing with his left hand?! I don't know how he does that stuff...

Further Consideration

I think one of the big issues I need to consider re: the breakout box thingy (below) is whether my iBook has USB 2.0 ports, or 1.0 ports. I'm not too sure and it's at home, and trying to figure out from Apple's spec pages which model iBook has what proved to be an exercise in frustration.

So...I guess the suspense will continue until I get home (at which point, the suspense will still continue, but I should have one more piece of the puzzle to plug-in.)

UPDATE (4:20PM): Turns out it has USB 2.0.... still none the wiser...

UPDATE (5:31PM): Okay, I'm clearly leaning towards the UX2 right now. Found this user review, which was positive. It appears that latency is not an issue.

UPDATE (10:43PM(: No idea what I'm going to do. Think I'll sleep on it.

Better Living Through...

In my experience, there's no day that can't be improved by the purchase of electronic equipment.

With that in mind, I've been thinking of getting a recording interface to use with my computer so that I can more easily record my guitar. There's two boxes that have got my attention: The Line 6 TonePort UX2, and the PreSonus Inspire 1394.

They are both $199 at MusiciansFriend, so it comes down to features, and the biggest difference (off the bat) is that the PreSonus is FireWire based, and the TonePort is USB. FireWire is generally faster than USB (particularly if you only have USB 1.0 on your computer! ;) ) The TonePort seems to offer more 'neat features' and super-cool knobs and meters, but rates lower in the reviews than the Inspire.

On the other hand, the Inspire only has three reviews, while the TonePort has eight.

On the other, other hand, the TonePort readers seem to have encountered problems with latency, which is the big issue with these interfaces (i.e. a delay between the sound that's coming out through the speakers, and what's being recorded. This can really throw you off while recording.)

Giving up on the whole 'other hand' business; the TonePort offers more effecty things, but it seems like the recording software isn't quite as good (or is more limited.) The TonePort also has the meters and actual knobs to turn down the audio output and the headphone levels separately.

It's a quandry! What to do....what to do...

Magical Mystery Tour

My daughter wanted to borrow the Magical Mystery Tour CD to take in for music class, where all the 6th graders were supposed to bring in CDs of music they liked. She wanted to play the song Magical Mystery Tour.

"Everyone else is bringing in Green Day," she said cryptically.

As usual, it took me a while to hunt around and find it.

"Why that one?" I asked.

She shrugs. "I like it." she says, then adds with concern, "there's no drug references or swears on that one are there?"

I had to think for a minute. I was certain there was no bad language, but drug references? If you thought about it for a minute, almost all of their songs from that period could be construed as being about drugs, drug influenced, or so weird and indecipherable as to be suspect.

"I think they played it on the BBC," I finally said. Actually they did; they played the Magical Mystery Tour film on the BBC - once.

"What's that mean?" she asked, not getting the reference. I wondered whether I should explain how the BBC is owned by the government, and how it was very "proper" and wouldn't broadcast anything remotely lewd or obscene. Well, except for Monty Python.

I just went with the "It'll be okay," reassurance instead.


I'm actually quite pleased that she is a fan of The Beatles. As a fan myself, I was careful not to push the music on to her. It was a friend of hers who first introduced her to a Beatles song, and when she came home one day and said how much she liked a song she'd heard, I said 'You know, I have that."

Since then she's become a bigger fan, though I guess we'll see if it lasts into the teen years.


I picked her up after school the next day.

"How was your day?"

"Okay."

"Anything interesting happen?"

"No."

"Did you play your song?"

"What? Oh yeah! Though I played Hello Goodbye instead."

"Why'd you do that?" I asked, genuinely curious.

"Just felt like it," she said.

"What did everyone else bring? Green Day?"

"No. Actually, a lot of people played Beatles songs. [Someone] played Bungalow Bill and there was Ricky[sic] Raccoon and [someone] played Maxwell's Silver Hammer and there was some rap and some other stuff."


It felt somehow good to know that The Beatles are still popular with 6th graders.

Nice Kitty

Yesterday I was playing guitar, frightening the neighbors’ cats, when my daughter said “Too bad you don’t have an electric guitar.”

I don’t now why she said it. She was sitting doing her homework and wasn’t really paying attention to what I was doing.

“I have an electric guitar,” I said brightly.

“You do?!” her eyes widened. “Where is it?”

So I went and grabbed the Strat from the closet and brought it out, opened the case and put it into her hands. She started strumming it and frowned.

“I have to plug it in,” I explained, and went searching for a cable to plug it into the amplifier. After a few minutes I had it plugged in and making noise and she sat there strumming happily. It wasn’t in tune, but she wouldn’t have noticed as she didn’t know any chords.

“Will you teach me how to play?” she asked.

She’s asked me this before, and what usually happens is I show her a chord, she strums for a bit, and then she’s done and never mentions it again for a month or so.

“Sure,” I say.

“Can I have it?” she asked, looking down at the guitar.

“Eh no,” I said.

“Why not?” She knows I have more guitars than I need, and I spoil her rotten.

“You learn to play,” I offer, “and you can have it.”

I’m not sure that it will actually cause her to learn. She’s got her hands full with learning and playing the saxophone; I don’t think she really wants to spend any time actually learning another instrument. But she was certainly impressed by this bright shiny guitar that made the loud twangy noise.

She’d probably have kittens if she saw the Hello Kitty guitar from Squire.

Harry Manx

I meant to write up a bit about the concert last week with Harry Manx.

Lloyd Thayer, a local performer, opened (or co-billed) with Harry. Lloyd is a great blues player, and he plays lap-style guitar (not, he's quick to point out, the armpit geetars we all play.) Lloyd is a real character and a great performer. I love his sense of humor, and he has great stories that he tells between songs (some go on for a fair while!) I always enjoy his shows; great slide work and his voice works well for the blues.

Lloyd teaches some classes at The Passim School of Music (just upstairs from the club!) as well as at The Music Emporium. Check out his website for some Dobro info and other interesting tidbits.

(In the interests of full disclosure, I also took one of his lap-guitar classes.) I’m still hopeless, but that’s not his fault!


On to Harry, who I didn’t even know anything about prior to the show (I went because Lloyd was playing.) Harry is Canadian, and has quite a sense of humor too; when asked if he had a mailing list sign-up he said ‘No, but just tell people to check out my website; www eric clapton dot com.”

Harry released his first CD back in 2000, and has won several Canadian awards for best blues record (one of which, even came with a trophy...but that’s a long story.) It’s unclear what Harry was doing prior to that; he's well into middle age so he must have been doing something. He did say that he spent five years at VM Bhatt’s house, learning to play the Mohan Veena.

I’ve already written about the Mohan Veena, a 20 (or 19?) string cross between a sitar and a guitar that’s played lap-style. He also plays a Taylor and a Martin six-string, and broke out a banjo for one number.

He says that he plays exclussively in open D; DADF#AD from the bass end, though sometimes he'll drop the F# down to F to give a Dm tuning. I didn’t get a chance to ask him, but I have to wonder if he isn’t using a special kind of pick that’s doing something to the bass because the bass strings really thudded and sounded to me like they were an octave lower than the normal bass strings on a guitar.

Steven King uses this technique to get extra bass from the 5th and 6th strings.


Harry was accompanied by ‘South Side Steve’ (don’t know his last name) a young guy that plays Hamonica and is “not too bad for a guy from Ottawa” according to Harry. Steve definitely knows how to play, and provided a real soul to Harry’s songs. I was most intrigued by an effect he got where the harmonica sounded almost like a Hammond organ. Turns out he was using a POD effects box and running the harmonica through the Leslie speaker effect. Pretty cool.

Amongst the many great songs, I particularly liked the performance of Baby Please Don’t Go which took the song in a slightly different direction to how I've heard it before.

But as Harry said, “the blues is not about feeling bad; it’s about making other people feel bad,” and if you like the blues, I think you’ll like Harry. His playing brings a different variety to the music, and his instruments – especially the Mohan Veena – adds new colors to the sound. He even played a bit of banjo “to torture us a bit” though he played it much like it was a guitar, and it almost sounded more like a guitar than a banjo (I even wondered if he was playing it in a guitar tuning.)

A great show, and I definitely recommend checking Harry out.


Another piece of stage patter: Steve, the Harmonica player, during a moment that Harry was adjusting his guitar, related how they had been in New York and seen a flyer for a band that was playing at some bar. The band’s name was ‘Hard to Make a Living,’ and somewhat prophetically, underneath it read ‘No Cover Charge.’

Guest Chord: G7sus4

Today's guest chord is G7sus4. Just finger it up and strum it hard

It's been a hard day's night...

Unavailable Sites

I thought it was kind of weird that today both musiciansfriend.com and harmony-central.com were unavailable.

Then I remembered that Harmony-central was bought by Musicians Friend a while back. :(

No fun for me today...

Daughters

In a recent discussion, someone mentioned that the song Daughters by John Mayer, is now the most popular song for the first father / daughter dance at weddings.

Kind of interesting; though who compiles this information?! And where do they get their data?

I guess the other thing is; have you read the lyrics to that song? It's a really nice song and all, but it's about meeting someone who is totally screwed up, and finally realizing that you can't do anything about it and that it's all the fault of the person that raised them! Hardly an appriopriate sentiment for a wedding, is it?!

i know a girl
she puts the color inside of my world
she's just like a maze
where all of the walls all continually change

I've done all i can
to stand on the steps with my heart in my hands
Now i started to think
maybe its got nothing to do with me.

so fathers be good to your daughters,
daughters will love like you do,
girls become lovers who turn into mothers
so mothers be good to your daughters too.

Come on people! Pay attention to the lyrics!

What Is That?!

It's a Mohan Veena. That's the bastard child of a guitar and a sitar. Actually, in this case, it's a very nice instrument, played by Harry Manx, a Canadian who plays...the blues.

The Mohan Veena looks like an arch-top guitar with lots of extra tuners down the side of the neck. It has twenty strings, and - according to Harry - only takes three hours to tune. It was invented by VM Bhatt, and I gather that it's not currently made commercially in quantity (some guy hand builds them in India), though on his website FAQ, Harry also reports that a company is making an "imitation" of the Mohan Veena you can find on eBay. He gives these imitations mixed reviews.

I just did a search on eBay and found such a listing for $745. It also said that it has 19 strings (Harry said 20 at the show) and they are giving away a copy of Harry's CD with the instrument too!

I saw Harry playing this instrument (a real one) at Club Passim last week. It was a great show, and the instrument was very interesting (I'll write up a bit more about the show shortly.)


Photo from an eBay ad

A Flugel Whatsit

Know Your Flugelhorn








The Flugelhorn is a valved bugle developed in Germany.

It is not generally used for aggressive or bright displays as both trumpet and cornet can be, but tends more towards a softer and more reflective role.

It is also the subject of terrible poetry:

The flugel is your friend,
The trumpet is your spouse,
Don't mix them up or
You may lose your house.

That's just awful. It doesn't scan well, and doesn't make a whole lot of sense either! I am now on a quest to find good poetry about instruments...

Signature Editions?

Guitar makers have been making 'Signature Edition' guitars (special models endorsed by famous players) for a long time, and for a long time, guitar buyers have been complaining about them...

These complaints seem to break down into some variation of the following:

Why'd they give *HIM* a signature model?
I hate [some aspect] of the guitar
It's sooo expensive

Just the other day Martin announced a new John Mayer signature edition, prompting this posting on the Martin Guitar Forum:

Didn't the other Mayer edition come out just a few years ago? Do we really need two Mayer editions? [...] what has he done to really merit two signature editions?

Well, here's an interesting Signature Edition from Gibson: the Kiefer Sutherland Special Edition

I was really wondering about that one, but then on reading the article I see that he owns about 50 Gibsons, and he has a record label too!

Gosh...well...still. I can't imagine what they're saying about that over on the Gibson forums!

Taylor ES

The Taylor website has a great video on noise (hum) reduction.

From this link, click on "Performance Tips/Maintenance" in the upper right

Then click "More" at the bottom of the page

Finally, select "Noise Reduction"



It will, at least, help you to determine whether the problem is your guitar, your amp/PA, a bad extension cord, or your house wiring.

All You Need Is...

Just one of my favorites...

Is Lennon chewing gum?!

Revolution

Revolution
Filming Dates: September 4, 1968
Filming Locations: Twickenham Film Studios
Director: Michael Lindsay-Hogg

The backing track to "Revolution" was pre-recorded, but the vocals were live. Two clips were shot; They were mostly identical, but there were some lighting differences.

"Revolution" was broadcast only once in the UK, in black and white, on Top of the Pops on September 19. It was broadcast in the U.S. in color on on The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour on October 13.

Teeny Tiny D-35

Jaap Kaiser owns an original 70’s D35. Not content with that, he decided to build a minature D35 at a scale of 1 : 4.75.

A translation of his story, along with pictures, appears here.

I wonder if he's taking orders?

New Martins

New Martin's announced. Most notably:

Roy Rodgers OM-45 in regular and Braz. models. $10K for the Indian Rosewood model; you don't want to ask how much the Braz. model is.

A white version of Eric Clapton's Bellezza (called the Bianca.)

D-42 Flamed Mahogany (about $10K too)

There's a bunch of other things too, including; OMJM John Mayer, 000C-28 Andy Summers, MC12-41 Richie Sambora, 000-18 Golden Era 1937, and for the kids, a FeLiX II.

Now what will Taylor announce?....

Gibson + Ethernet = ??

Remember that Ethernet guitar I mentioned? Well it has come back to haunt me.

The Gibson Digital Guitar brings the 1930s technology of conventional electric guitars into the Digital Age according to the press release. It looks like a regular Gibson electric, but it adds an Ethernet port and Gibson will be showing it at NAMM, though no word on price or availablity...





The Gibson Digital Guitar System features:

* A genuine Gibson guitar, 100% compatible with existing equipment.
* Gibson's patented HEX pickup, which senses up-and-down motion (like an acoustic guitar pickup) and side-to-side motion (like an electric guitar pickup) for each string.
* MaGIC-enabled digital transport, carrying multiple channels in both directions over standard Ethernet cable.
* Gibson's BreakOut Box, with 8 outputs (1/4" jacks) - one for each string, plus classic humbucking pickup output and pass-through for microphone; 2 inputs carry audio back to guitar for monitoring; split mode assigns strings to different amps.

Wait a minute. Did that say EIGHT outputs? I have enough trouble with one!

Gibson has developed a prototype digital guitar that converts the analog signal into a digital signal inside the guitar. Stray frequencies entering the guitar pickups are eliminated along with analog line noise induced through the guitar cable. A guitarist can run a cable over 100 meters with no loss of audio quality.

What if you want wireless? Does it support Wi-Fi?!

The Gibson Digital Guitar system delivers signal processing on a string-by-string basis, providing increased quality and flexibility, including the ability to adjust volume, pan and equalization of each string individually.

MaGIC technology
MaGIC, developed by Gibson Labs, stands for Media-accelerated Global Information Carrier and is designed to replace all wiring systems in both the musical instrument fields and consumer electronic applications with a single Ethernet cable. MaGIC-enabled consumer electronics devices will allow daisy chaining devices and plug-and-play capabilities.

If Sony and Apple support it, maybe I'll buy one...

Andy Summers Signature Edition

Turns out some NAMM news from Martin has already slipped out....on Andy Summers website. Martin will announce the 000C-28 Andy Summers Signature Model.

You can find more details about it here.

This is not Martin's first collaboration with the law. Fellow Police member Sting already has a Martin signature model or two.

NAMM Announcements Already?!

Okay, I'm excited. Only three days until NAMM and already there are announcements!

I have no idea why I'm all excited about this year's show. I don't honestly expect that anything will be announced that I'll actually want, but for some reason I'm still dying to know what might appear. Maybe it's because I need some excitement in my boring life?

More Lessons

And why not? It's all about learning, right?

Here's a couple of articles that look interesting from guitarist Eltjo Haselhoff.

The first article "Learning New Songs" goes into how best to learn a new song at considerable length. The second article "Recording Acoustic Guitar" looks a little heavy on the theory (hey, I'd like to just know what to do thanks) but there are some good suggestions at the 'tips' at the end.

He also has lessons! If nothing else, check out the section "How to Play Cornerstone" which has a fun little example with the song played via MIDI and on acoustic guitar for comparison. Comparison of what you ask? Umm, well not sure really, but it's interesting.

Lessons

Some websites with lessons:

Eric Lugosch Fingerstyle Academy has a number of different songs. For most there's both tab and MP3.

The Acoustic Guitar Workshop; range of resources.

Jack Baker's site for New York School of Fretted Instruments has beginner and intermediate tunes, advanced tunes, and some Chet Atkins/Jerry Reed/Merle Travis arrangements. You need Tab/Edit to download the files.

The Acoustic Fingerstyle Guitar page has many arrangements -- also TabEdit, mp3s, etc.

Arrangements from UK guitarist Steve McWilliams including traditional, blues, 20s pop, Celtic, etc., and a beginner's section

Some other arrangements from the late Marcel Dadi and other well-known guitarists, such as Ton Van Bergeyk, Duck Baker, Eric Schoenberg, the late Dick Fegy.

Martin News

I'm just whiling away the time until NAMM [Jan. 19-22], when all kinds of good things should be announced.

In the mean time, the Martin Guitar company has been working on renovating their Factory Museum, and though there's been no official opening ceremony yet, it does appear to be open, and it's even been covered in the press: "Martin's new museum gets in tune with visitors"

...Get's in tune with visitors...I love that! I could write a headline that bad!

And in NAMM related news, who knows what new goodies Martin will unveil, but a web posting gives a hint of one possible announcement:

I was on a factory tour yesterday and saw a new Roy Rogers sig in an early state of build. Only thing I could gather was it was a Brazilian beauty. Anybody know about this model? has it even been announced?

If it's Brazilian then it's going to be wicked expensive and built in only very small quantities (unless Martin managed to find some unexpected stash of Brazilian.)

Dancing About Architecture

Yesterday's post provoked this discussion. [edited to make me appear more intelligent]

Adrian: I was just checking out your blog and I see that you featured the swanky Yamaha axe :-)

Me: I like pretty colors too, and the tuners are weird ;-)

Adrian: the design is kinda Apple-esque

Me: hmmm...yeah, hadn't thought of that. Might fit nicely with the 'pod

Adrian: that's what I'm thinking

Me: though they need some way of wiring the two together so you can play along with your iPod. Then they might be on to a winner!

Adrian: you could get a Y adaptor, and plug the guitar and the iPod into a little amp, and then plug your headphones into the amp... that'd work... maybe not quite as elegant as it ought to be, but it'd work ;-)

Me: hmmm...you'd need a mini to 1/4 inch adapter and the guitar and iPod have different levels. The guitar output is lower

Adrian: I'm sure there's a way to do it. My bass amp has two inputs, one for line level input and one for lower level inputs

Me: Yeah, that might do it. Some company had a guitar with an Ethernet port on it. I need to find that again

Adrian: Interesting. That sounds very familiar too. Seems like USB2 or FireWire would be more useful, but who knows

Me: Yeah. I don't know what the exact point of it was. Getting Ethernet from a guitar is a bit like getting MIDI from a CAD program.

And Writing about music is like dancing about architecture is one of my favorite quotes.

Playing In Tune

I must admit to being a little unsure about this one... it's The Performer from TransPerformance. This fairly large and complicated piece of machinery will keep your guitar in tune, in any one of a number of different tunings. The tuning can happen almost instantly, though you have to strum on open strings to do it. You can preset the device to store as many as 240 tunings. When a tuning is selected, sensors and motors adjusts the tension on all six strings simultaneously. In addition to the fairly substantial piece of hardware at the bridge, there's an LCD screen cut into the side of the body that shows the note, octave and cent value of all six strings.

And I thought the Robotic Tuner was pretty whacky!

At the moment it's available for hard body guitars (Les Paul's and Strats) but there's probably no reason it couldn't be adapted for acoustics; other than it's large and heavy! on second thoughts, looking at the size of the bridge, maybe not in it's current configuration.

CNET has an article about the device. I'm not sure of the price; and not sure I want to know.

You, Light Up My Life

I'm not a huge electric guitar fan; I have three, but none of them's particularly good, and one's out on loan.

I don't know why I don't play them much, just ended up being more into acoustics.

Anyway, reader Adrian (I don't think I have any others) suggested that the Yamaha RGX A2 Electric Guitar (left) is kind of cool because: 'I love the tuning knobs, and the color LEDs behind the volume and tone knobs.'

Yeah, that is pretty cool, though I wonder how bright that tuning knob light actually is...and wouldn't it be even more cool if it had that light over the fret board or something (kind of like those cars with lighting underneath them?)

The tuning knobs are interesting; I wonder how they feel when you turn them?

Anyway, it's nice, but too expensive for me to get one just because the lighting is cool.

Are You Experienced?

The Gibson Custom Shop has announced the Inspired by
series of limited-edition guitars, inspired by and built to the exact specifications of some of the most innovative guitarists of all time.

And the first guitar? It's the Jimi Hendrix Psychedelic Flying V. I'm assuming that Jimi didn't actually come back and specify this one. And actually, this isn't really 'inspired' by either, rather it's a 'copy of.'

It also seems that a lot of the work was in recreating the finish. No one is sure what Jimi used to paint the original (whether it was nail polish, enamel, or some combination.)

The finished result looks pretty cool. Not sure what the price is, but I'm sure all those ex-hippies who now work on Wall Street will be placing their order.

How Do You Hold It?

I've never been a big pick user. Just never really comfortable with them, so I mainly use my nails. Still, I do occasionally use a pick, and like all things, the more you use them, the better you get with them (a bit.)

Came across this little tutorial "In Your Hand" on using the pick (or more accurately, how to apply it to the guitar string.)

I've also been accumulating a collection of picks of different sizes and thicknesses. None seem to make a whole hell of a lot of difference in usefulness for me, but I keep trying!

I've read that you shouldn't hold the pick too firmly, but I find that if I don't, then the thing will move and even rotate in my fingers while I'm playing. Inevitably the thing will either fall out, or get into a position where it's useless and I have to either stop or drop it and play on using my fingers.

Beat It

I just bought a Djembe. At least I think it's a Djembe, because it kind of looks like this thing here on the right (which isn't my drum as I haven't taken a piture of it yet.)

I've been wanting to get a hand drum for a while, so finally today I went down to Guitar Center to have a poke around. They didn't have a big selection, but then I had no idea what I wanted (or needed) so I tapped a few, tried not to make too big a spectacle of myself, and picked one.

I've been banging away on it for a while, but I'm not sure I exactly know what I'm doing. Maybe I should get a book or something. They have drum circles in Harvard Square. Maybe I should give that a try, though searching the internet provides a hint that drum circles are often about meditation and healing rather than beating your drum.

Here Comes the Sun / Homeward Bound

Not super quality, but this clip gets the point across: George Harrison and Paul Simon singing "Here Comes the Sun" and "Homeward Bound" on Saturday Night Live.

Happy New Year

December was kind of quiet around here.....mostly because I was running around the first of it getting ready for a trip, and the second half of December I was on the trip, so I didn't post anything for a month...

What a slacker.

Virtual Air Guitar

Makes real noise; virtually! A friend sent me a link to this, and then I saw it on the local news last night (nothing like good video and a silly story to get you on the local news!)

The really nice thing about this is that you probably don't have to tune it.

The Virtual Air Guitar project, developed at the Helsinki University of Technology, adds genuine electric guitar sounds to the passionately played air guitar.

Using a computer to monitor the hand movements of a "player", the system adds riffs and licks to match frantic mid-air finger work. By responding instantly to a wide variety of gestures it promises to turn even the least musically gifted air guitarist to a virtual fret board virtuoso.

Kids Say The Darndest Things...

Came across this story, that I thought was cute:

My boss leaves work, picks up her kid and brings her back to the office until closing time. The little girl (a sixth grader) likes to sit and talk to me.

The other day I told her that I had to leave early. I explained I had to pick up my Martin from the shop (Randy Wood Guitars) in Savannah. I told her that I was having a "pick-up" installed.

She looked at me very curiosly and asked, "why do you want a truck in your guitar?"

iRocker Your iPod

I've had my iPod for a couple of years, but I've never used it for anything other than playing music.

I did try one of the games once and was underwhelmed. It might have a calendar and an alarm, but I haven't used that either.

So now comes something that might almost be useful. iRocker software for the iPod includes the following:

200 essential chords (absolutely no, non-essential chords here!)
Scales
Tuner - well, it just plays an E it seems...
Metronome - 10 (count 'em! - 10) different speeds
Five (count 'em) chord progressions to jam along to.

All for $29.95.

Is it worth it? Hard to tell. Certainly not worth buying an iPod just for that. On the other hand, if you already have one, the chord library might come in usefull.

Chris Whitley 1960-2005

Chris died 20th of November.

Death Of Political Protest Music

To measure the state of folk/rock music (and has protest/political expression died?), I took up a challenge to listen and “jot down on a piece of paper what any random 6 songs are generally about”

Here’s what I heard on WUMB today at about 10:10am EDT

Song 1: Another Train: [something about] getting on a train. Maybe the next one is yours.

This song seems to be about if you’re lost and confused then another train will come along. I can’t help wondering if this is like that saying about girlfriends and buses? It’s kind of Celtic in flavor

Song 2: Second Wind: now we’re sailing and waiting for a southern breeze. Turns out someone gave him his second wind. Been chasing a dream.

I’ve got a reason to start living again; you’ve given me my second wind.

This song could easily be appropriated as a religious song. The performance is a little country in flavor

Only two songs in and I think I’ve detected a travel theme here.

Song 3: Love stood in my way. On a winters night.
She said the road goes on for ever, every day’s a change.

Definitely have a traveling theme going on here.

The song ends and oh, Peter Morton is introduced as the song writer of those songs (though only the last one was actually him performing.) He’s going to be in the studio later, which explains a lot.

Song 4: Three days in the storm, and three on the flood, the crescent moon her arc.
Deep in the pagan forest.

Hard to figure this song out. It seems to be about some pagan witch or something. I’m always so bad at figuring things out unless they are really obvious.

Song 5: Oh my little [someone] girl, better be making your wedding dress
Oh she wouldn’t say yes, she wouldn’t say no. All she’d do was sit and sew, sit and sew.
Oh, it’s already made, trimmed in red, gonna be married on Saturday night

Oddly, not a happy song, rather sad the way it’s played (with a slow tempo). It seems almost depressed that she’s getting married; like she has no alternative or something. There could be some anti-marriage message here, or equal rights thing, but it’s hard to get inflamed as the song … is …so ….sleepy….

Song 6: It’s a short life of trouble for a boy with a broken heart. You know what you promised, only a week ago, you promised that you’d marry me.
Now you’ve broken your promise.

I was really hoping for a political agenda in this one, but it’s more love and lost love. Now he’s off going round the world but he is still hung up on the person that broke her promise to him. This guy could be potential stalker material.

Could this failed marriage proposal be the result of the legalization of gay marriage? It’s not made clear in the song.

iTunes Outsells Tower Records

During the past three months, iTunes made it to the U.S. Top 10 sales list for the first time, analyst firm NPD Group said.

According to figures from the Recording Industry Association of America, digital sales accounted for slightly more than 4 percent of the market during the first half of 2005, up from about 1.5 percent during the first half of 2004.

Intel Inside

A few days back there was discussion on the UMGF about a Martin Guitar prototype that had a slot for inserting a PDA. I wondered what use it was; to keep track of your set list, remind you what couch you were sleeping on, or what a Bm7 chord looks like?

Well today I stumble across The Surf Guiter a Fender Telecaster with a tablet PC embedded in the back. Seems that Intel and Fender actually got together and built this. It includes a Centrino processor and Ethernet connectivity.

I can't help but wonder what damage your belt-buckle could do to the screen

It's assumed that this is just a demo for use at trade shows and Fender won't actually be mass producing these, but you never know...

Chris Whitley

I am a big fan of Chris Whitley's album Living With The Law which contains - amongst others - the song Big Sky Country.

I just saw that Chris has entered hospice care suffering from advanced lung cancer.

I wish him and his family the best.

Shawn Colvin On Martin Guitars

Shawn Colvin played a benefit at Club Passim in Cambridge last night. A small, intimate show (just 145 fit in the room!) Her voice was amazing and her playing is really great; a good rhythm player with a percussive feel, she uses a lot of muting and mixes in enough finger-style to keep it interesting.

She told a lot of stories about her early days as a performer playing at the club. During a moment of intense guitar tuning she invited the audience to ask a question and someone shouted out ‘What’s that Martin you’re playing?’

Well she positively gushed about her Signature model Martin. She said that when she started out she had always wanted a Martin – she used to play a Yamaha that were just terrible she said – and she and a friend would go to the local guitar store and “play the Martin’s.” She eventually got enough money together to buy a used D-28 (a 71 model) in 1975.

“Martin came to me and said they wanted to make me a signature model,” she continued, “so I told them I wanted a neck that I could wrap my hand around, I wanted it to ring like a D-18, but have the bottom end thump of a D-35. Can you do that?” Then she turned over the guitar and showed the three-piece back and then pointed at the headstock that mimicked it and said “they did that, I had nothing to do with it.”

She was definitely happy with the guitar. “I gave one to Jackson Browne because he gave me a Gibson a while back,” she said.

“I was looking at the book of signature guitars they’ve made,” she continued, “and the thing I regret now is, I could have had my name written along here,” and she waved her hand along the fingerboard, “but I said ‘No, I want it very spare.’ It doesn’t even have fret markers. I was so stupid!”

Geoff Emerick

Interesting interview with Geoff Emerick, the sound engineer that worked on several Beatles albums including Sgt. Peppers and Abbey Road.

Considering that you were using loops as far back as 1966 [on Revolver], it must amuse you that they are now so prevalent.

A lot of it was that Paul had a couple of Brenell tape recorders at home. You could disconnect the erase head on them, and he used them to make tape loops, putting new recordings over the first. He’d come in with a bag full of them—some long, some very small—all labeled with a grease pencil. We’d lace them up on our tape machine, and people would have to hold them out with pencils. I recall that on “Tomorrow Never Knows,” there weren’t enough people in the control room to handle holding them, so we got some of the maintenance department down to help. I think we put five loops up on faders, and then just played it as an instrument.

Of course, now, it’s endless, you can do anything. But often, all that doesn’t mean anything. If you just press a button and it’s there, you haven’t really created anything, have you? Going back to the artistic side of it, it’s the difference between painting by numbers or being a Rembrandt and painting a picture. Anyone can apply this technology to recorded music. But there’s that certain something that you can’t put your finger on, something that you can actually give to that piece of recording that the equipment can’t. It’s something that’s in your heart, that’s in you, that doesn’t come from any equipment whatever. It comes from what you hear.

Robotic Tuner

I just 'miss-placed' my tuner again. I know it's around somewhere, so I won't buy a new one....

But then I saw this today: String Master Robotic Guitar Tuner Woot! It's a robotic tuner: check out the demo video at the link.

It actually has a motorized crank that turns the tuning peg as it listens to you plucking a string. Works with electric guitars, but there's an 'attachment' for acoustic guitars (which I suspect is a microphone.)

Reviews at MusiciansFriend are mainly positive, though a few negatives. For $50 it's competitive with many others tuners, so I'm really tempted...

Chickened Out

The big party happened, and for a variety of reasons, I didn't play.

#1. I just wasn't ready. I hadn't practiced enough; I'd left it until the last minute, and I thought I'd have a good shunk of Saturday to practice, but then the basement flooded and I ended up having to deal with that.

#2. The party had several scheduled performers, and then there was going to be an Open Mic at the end. Well, the party started just after 6, and the scheduled acts didn't finish until a little after 10:15, at which point there was dessert. And I had to start thinking about getting my daughter home, so really there was no time to even do it if I had been ready.

Oh well.

In the mean time I'm still practicing...

Have Book...

The book I ordered from Amazon arrived this morning, just in time.

So now I have all the chords to I'm only sleeping, and they are supposed to be correct. Sound's reasonable, and as long as I can play a B7 and sing at the same time, I might be able to pull it off. Have been practicing a bit. If I'd started a month ago I would be better.

Oh well.

Cold Feet

Winter approaches. The boiler has been fired up in anger (and had to be repaired because it didn't come on the first day) and the party is this weekend.

That's the party where guests are invited to bring an instrument and perform.

I was [thinking about] / [trying to get up the nerve to] / [contemplating] doing a Richard Thompson song Wall of Death which seemed appropriate as it's a birthday party... but of course I haven't practiced or done anything in the past month...and it’s a comewhat difficult song to sing.

Then a couple of days ago I decided to go for something simpler. I was playing Revolver and it occurred to me that I'm Only Sleeping might be doable. Hey, when in doubt, go to Beatles, as a guitar instructor once said.

I searched about on the web and there's a version floating around that's got two sets of chords, and is partially complete. Partially as in the whole thing is not in both chords, and transposition is not one of my best skills....

soooo...I have a Beatles book that has riffs etc., in it. It had the song, but only the verse and the chorus, not the bridge. And it didn't match the web version either. *sigh*

Went down to the local music store and they had The Beatles Complete Vers. 1 & 2. $32 each. That's a lot of scratch for one song.

I considered buying it, but went home and checked Amazon. They only had Volume 2, and both volumes in a boxed set for $44. There was another 'complete' book The Beatles Complete Chord Songbook for $13.50 that had the advantage of being cheaper, and much smaller (easier to lose, but easier to cart around too.) So I ordered that one. It should arrive on Friday. Which gives me two days to practice.

Unless I decide to switch to another song.

Now I'm wondering; Should I re-string the guitar?

Jerry Douglas Dobro, Weekend Edition Sunday

Jerry Douglas, 'the Jimi Hendrix of dobro playing' will be on Weekend Edition Sunday on NPR tomorrow.

The Origins Or Dreadnought

A poster on the UMGF asked why Dreadnoughts were called Dreadnoughts.

I replied that they were named after a class of battleship, but then another poster corrected me and said it was named after a specific ship.



This prompted my reply:

Actually, not a minor detail! (as I discovered after reading your post!)

The Dreadnought was a ship, but it was also a class of ship. Just as the Forestall is both a specific aircraft carrier, and a class of aircraft carrier.

Martin's own history mentions the class yet I found a listing on About.com that mentioned the battleship.

Most of the Internet listings seem to use the class story, though they are mostly borrowed from Martin's article.

Growing up (prior to knowing anything about Martin's) I was familiar with the term being used for a large battleship, but had never heard of the specific ship (until tonight!)

Here we get into a generational thing; I wonder if anyone would know whether CF Martin, back in 1916, was aware of the specific ship, or had just heard of these large ships, called dreadnoughts?

A little sleuthing; if you read this history of naval warfare it appears that the original ship Dreadnought was the first of a new breed of ships (it was launched in 1906), and that at the time, there was a race to build bigger and bigger ships. Dreadnought became the term everyone used for these very large ships, and by 1914, the original ship was outmoded.

It's clear that the ship Dreadnought resulted in the name being applied to all large battleships, but I think it's more than likely that the Dreadnought guitar shape was named after the class, rather than the specific ship.

You're probably wondering if this is just a distinction without a difference, but actually, I think it's a minor, but interesting issue (though it surely will not effect the tone of your D-28.)

I will admit that I'm taking a wild guess here, but I base this on the following:

1) The original ship Dreadnought was a British ship. It's unclear to me that this ship would have been widely reported or hailed in the US.

2) The term Dreadnought was used for all large battleships, and there was a race to build bigger and bigger ones. This was probably widely reported in the US

3) By 1914, the ship Dreadnought had already been superseded by even larger ships.

4) Why would CF Martin name it after a British ship (the US wasn't then involved in World War I) rather than an American one? I could understand it if the ship was legendary, but other than it being the first really big battleship, I don't think it was legendary at all, and by 1916 it was no longer the largest battleship.

But if the US Navy was building large 'dreadnoughts,' and they were frequently referred to by this term, then it would seem to make sense that the public would start using the term for other things and that Martin would then adopt the term as well.


I admit that there's an assumption here that the original ship was not widely known and hailed in America.

Counter to my argument, it's entirely plausible that when the Dreadnought was launched in 1906, it was so large (like the Titanic) and was covered so widely in the press, such that people immediately started using the term in everyday speech ("it's the Dreadnought of bed pans") and that using the description 'Dreadnought of' could have been rooted in speech for a long time and Martin just borrowed this phrase that was already widely used. I'm a little doubtful of this, as again, I don't think the ship itself was widely known.

I think we need to find a historian....

Sorry for the nit-picking, but I actually think it's an interesting story.

On reading this post, the original poster accused me of being neurotic! :(

Neil Young on Conan

Neil Young is the musical guest on Conan O'Brien's show all this week (Tuesday through Friday.)

Wish I stayed up that late :(

Humidify!

It's that time of year again in the Northeast; time to worry about humidity levels (unless you own a Stratocaster or other solid body guitar, in which case skip this post...)

But for acoustic owners, you should be concerned about humidity. Standard disclaimers apply, and I'm not going to go into the whys and wherefores here, but I did come across this interesting specific information about what humidity levels you need to aim for in this post on the UMGF:

"Bob Taylor wrote in “Wood & Steel” a while back [...] that if a guitar was kept in a humidity range that was within 20% of its build conditions, its geometry (the relationship of its various parts to each other) would be fine.

If a guitar is assembled with seasoned wood in a 72 degree F room that is kept at a relative humidity of 45% (typical of the conditions most N.American guitars, including Martin, are assembled in) then a 20% plus/minus range based off of a 45% center would be 36% to 54%."

Everything's A-OK In The USA

Darrell Scott is someone that I wasn't familiar with until yesterday. A friend told me about him and recommended that I check him as he was playing at Club Passim.

Darrell is a singer-songwriter who I guess used to live around Boston, though he moved to Tenessee several years back. It turns out he's had some success with other's performing his songs; including Divie Chicks and Faith hill. He played We've Got Nothing But Love To Prove (which you'd think was titled 'Everything's A-OK In The USA' and was performed by Faith Hill on the album Fireflies.

Amazing guitar player, great voice, a really great performance. I really liked the song 'We've Got Nothing But Love To Prove' which he performed in the middle of another song; Mahala (which was great too) and another fun song: It's A Great Day To Be Alive

Lack Of Wood

For the past week or so there's been an ongoing discussion at the UMGF about Martin Guitars move away from mahogany necks.

Much to the chagrin of traditionalists (i.e. any Martin guitar owner) Martin has started describing their neck material as 'Select Hardwoods.' What does that mean? Well at the moment, most likely 'Spanish Cedar,' though if you order a Martin right now there's a variety of wood that might be used...

According to Martin's wood buyer:

Currently, all necks are either solid Mahogany, Mahogany with wings on the headstock, solid Spanish cedar, solid sustainable Cherry, 2 piece (glued up the center) Hard Maple, flame red maple 5 pc. (3 piece barrel with wings on the headstock) on the Archtops, or Stratabond (laminated birch - natural or color dyed) on the X series. There are even a few solid Indian rosewood necks out there.

The truth is, Martin is finding it difficult to get the wood it needs. Necks have traditionally been carved from a single block, but that can mean using a 4" x 4" square block of about three feet long. That's a big piece of wood.

The Taylor Guitar company changed their neck design a couple of years ago. The pegboard is now fingerjointed to the neck. This allows them to use much less wood to make a neck.

But it's harder for Martin to make such changes since they are a company with a long history.

But other realities are intruding. Witness this report about a new survey which shows that the Amazon rain forests are being decimated at a greater rate than previously thought.

Revealed: the true devastation of the rainforest.

The Amazon rainforest is being destroyed twice as quickly as previously estimated, according to a satellite survey of the region.

Scientists have discovered that previous satellite photographs of the Amazon have missed a form of surreptitious logging that is equally destructive, but not as apparent from space.

Ten Most Expensive Guitars

This article is dated 1997, so it's out of date, but still an interesting compilation of expensive guitars. Guitar World:The 10 Most Expensive Guitars,

To Perform Or Not To Perform?

There's a party coming up and there's going to be some performers, some jamming and the question; do I want to play? And if I 'play;' what do I play?

I've only played for an audience (of more than three or four) once before. It was a New Year's party and I played with other people for a couple of songs; one of which I sang. So, not much crowd experience. That's my problem; I'm a big wuss when it comes to performing for others. I tend to avoid the possibility.

Also, I have no real idea what the setup is going to be. Is it actually going to be that you get up in front of a bunch of people and do a song, or is it going to be like a big song circle and people play together etc., etc., I have no idea, and I don't think the party organizers know either, so anything could happen.

I'm considering practicing a couple of things, just to be ready...in case...

Unless I decide to chicken out and not even take a guitar with me.

video iPod

Lots of new stuff today.

Apple unvieled it's video iPod. It wasn't exactly a huge surprise, and yet I kind of thought that maybe they wouldn't... I don't know why. I guess because I wasn't really that excited about the idea in the first place, and even after seeing it, I'm not that excited. Why would I want to watch video on such a tiny screen? I'm also not sure I want to spend $1.99 for a music video...

Maybe when I see one in person I'll feel differently. At least the price remains the same, so it's kind of like they threw in a new feature that you may or may not use, but it's not really costting you anything.

I guess I have to think about it some more.

This is cool!

Sony has announced the PCM-D1, a field recorder that features 96K-24 bit recording capability, 4GB internal flash memory, removable Memory Stick Pro high-speed storage and a built-in USB 2.0 port for Macintosh and Windows/PC operating systems.

Other features include: built-in condenser microphones in an X - Y configuration, Analog level meters and a battery life of about 4 hours.

That's the good news. The bad news; the recorder is expected to be available in December at a suggested list price of $2000.

One World

The E.U. is pushing to create an EU-wide copyright license for online music.

Germany is Europe's biggest online user of both legal and pirated music with 9.5 million people downloading, according to a Forrester Research report from August 2004. Some 89 percent of people questioned said they never paid to download music or video.

#1 Benefit Of Being A Roadie

R.E.M.'s original four members reunited recently to play a seven-song set at the wedding of guitar tech Dewitt Burton. It occured at Kingpins Bowl & Brew in the Athens, Georgia.

Kingpins owner Ed Connolly told Billboard.com that the actual wedding band was taking a break when he noticed vocalist Stipe and company setting up in the bowling alley's arcade.

"I couldn't believe it," he said. "I was transfixed. I heard the count in and then 'Sitting Still,' and by the time they got to the first chorus, it was packed shoulder to shoulder."

The group went on to play some of its most beloved early tunes: "Don't Go Back to Rockville" (with bassist Mills on vocals), "Wolves, Lower," "Begin the Begin," "The One I Love," "Permanent Vacation" and "Radio Free Europe."

Nearly Purchased The Same Song Twice

This past week iTunes had a free song by James Blunt. As I went to download it, I recognized the voice, and that I'd heard another song by him that I'd liked. Looking in the iTunes 'popular download' part I saw the song listed: You're Beautiful and I was just about to buy it when I had a brain wave. Did I already buy this?

I looked in the Purchased Music folder of iTunes, and sure enough, there it was!

phew!

New Strings

A tip I came across when restringing your guitar; put on the strings, tune to concert pitch, then leave the guitar overnight before playing.

I guess that doesn't really work well if you're a performer or only have one guitar and really want to play...

However, advocates swear that it both reduces tuning issues, and increases string life. I haven't tried it yet; but would note that most of my guitars don't go much out of tune from day to day. Maybe it's the way you play, the type of guitar, or how you store them that has as much to do with it? My friend David was having a lot of problems with a guitar that constantly went out of tune until he discovered that keeping it properly humidified greatly reduced the problem.

NavFest 2006

Martin guitar fans are nuts! For the past five years they have had a yearly gathering in Pennsylvania (conveniently close to the Martin Guitar Co. factory.) NavFast is actually a fun event, with about 150 people turning up. I have been twice (I went this year and have been meaning to write up my trip report) and they just yesterday announced the dates for next years events.

Before the day was out, over 30 reservations had been made at the hotel; not bad given that there's only a block of 90 rooms is reserved.

I nearly missed out on a room at the Inn for NavFast 2005 because I waited so long before deciding I was going, so this morning I decided to call and make a reservation; even though I'm not certain that I'll go! I guess I just got caught up in the excitement.

When I called the hotel and said I wanted to make a reservation for Aug 4th the person said 'Are you with the Martin group?' right off the bat; I guess they had had a lot of calls about it! So now I'm counting the days; 309 according to the website!

Guitar Neck Tension

On the UMGF forum someone posted a question about hanging a guitar on the wall, and in discussing the pros and cons, someone posted: The weight of the guitar helps counteract the 160+ pounds of tension that the strings are exerting 24/7 which just doesn't make any sense to me. So my office mate Dave and I immediately set to work trying to figure it out with no knowledge or experience to assist us.

When I say 'figure it out' I mean; we speculated wildly.

We decided that we didn't think gravity would have much effect at all. But we're not sure. This is my reasoning (and I'm probably wrong):

Since we're not sure how the body of the guitar works in relation to the strings and neck exactly, I'd start with two other examples;

1) if you had a wire, and a weight on it, clearly gravity has a big effect on the wire when the weight is being pulled down.

2) A piece of wood with two nails at each end and a wire wrapped between them. Hanging that vertically would not seem to have much effect on the wire or the wood. (though I'm sure it has some, I'm just guessing it's so tiny you can barely measure it.)

A guitar would seem to fall in between these two, but I suspect much more towards example 2, than example 1.

In neither case can I imagine the effect of gravity releiving the tension....but as someone else just pointed out; I'm not a physics major!

Richard Thompson

From his website:

What hardware & software & mikes have you been using to record Front Parlour Ballads?

It was recorded on my Apple G4 laptop, using Digital Performer software. I used two Neumann KM184 condenser mics on the guitar as a stereo pair, and a Superlux CM-H8A on vocals. The Neumanns were used for most of the other instruments. The vocals went through a Universal Audio LA-610 Preamp/Compresser/Limiter.

Wow! The Neumann KM184 cost $729.99 each...but the Superlux CM-H8A is just $89!!!

iTunes, iPod, and 'value pricing'

MTV news writes about Steve Jobs and the record companies bickering over song pricing (Steve wants to keep the 99cent price, and the record companies want variable pricing):

The source said the comment by Jobs was likely aimed at provoking a reaction from the music industry, which is generally in favor of variable pricing, i.e., higher prices for hot, current artists and lower ones for less popular or older material.
"Music is art; it's not a commodity," the source said. "Things that are more relevant command more money. The idea of saying it should all be 99 cents is absurd. Variable pricing is the norm in the music business and every business -- even the iPod business."

Variable pricing is the norm in the music business? It is? Maybe for concert prices, but I have never thought that CDs were priced that differently based on popularity. That's changed a little over time with new CD's being more than back catalog, but event here the difference seems minor; the location you buy the disc at can have as much effect on the price as anything.

I'm sorry; in my mind I have always thought that CDs cost around $11-$15, but it depended on where you bought them, not that the U2 album cost more than the new Ah-ha album because U2 is more popular.

Am I missing something? Have things changed in the last couple of years and I didn't notice?

Nothing For Sale

In the buy and sell section of a guitar forum someone posted: I have nothing for sale or trade. I currently like everything I own and I'm not offering anything. Very satisfied condition. Original cases also not available. Don't contact...

To which others responded:
Is this guitar still not for sale? Please don't contact me.
I wish you the best for your no sale or trade I have bought nothing from this member previously and have been greatly pleased with the results.
I've got plenty of nothing... not for sale but I might consider trades Let me know if you need my address so you can not ship what I've not bought.

and finally:
I think I'm not going to bid on this, but first I am going to have a cup of coffee without cream - nope, it wil have to be without milk because we have no cream....

Lennon Broadway Show Ends Run

After just six weeks a Broadway show about John Lennon's life will close this weekend. Various reports claimed that a) it focused too much on his later life with Yoko, and b) it was confusing because there were 9 (9!) people playing Lennon.

I heard an interview with one of the actors in the show a couple of months ago. I don't remember all the details, but I do remember the interviewer noting that there were several people playing Lennon throughout the show, and also asking how involved Yoko was, and whether she had changed things or interfered. He said that she didn't, though she was definitely involved.

Neil Young, Praire Wind

Scott Simon of NPR interviewed Neil Young on NPR's Weekend Edition. They talk about his recent health issues and the recording of the new album.

He also mentioned the D-28 he owns that used to belong to Hank Williams and speaks about how he thinks it's important to play it versus putting it in a museum.

Young wrote some of the songs on Prairie Wind in 15 or 20 minutes, he tells Scott Simon. "It doesn't take me very long when I get started. I just try to remain open." The album is released Sept. 27; a concert film directed by Jonathan Demme is also forthcoming.

FlashMic DRM85

HHB has announced the FlashMic DRM85, a Sennheiser omni-directional condenser microphone with 1GB of flash recording memory. The mic has a small LCD panel, control buttons, and a USB connector at the bottom. It's supposed to be available in January (the image looks to me like it might be 3D rendered; but maybe I am too suspicious!) No price mentioned either, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was at least $200-$300.

I recently bought the Samson C01U Condenser Microphone with USB Output, which is a mic with a USB connector on the bottom, but you have to have it connected to your computer to record.

Martin D-28 Special "Walk the Line" Limited Edition

From a Martin Company press release:

To commemorate the Wind-up Records release of the original cast recording for “Walk The Line” chronicling Johnny Cash's life, Martin has created a limited production run of the Martin D-28 Special "Walk the Line - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack" Limited Edition. The guitar is a black D-28, labeled inside with the following:

"To commemorate the release of Walk the Line - Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. In memory of Johnny Cash 1932-2003".

The production run has been limited to only 12 units, and number 1 is to be presented to Joaquin Phoenix (the actor playing Cash in the film). The remaining 11 guitars will be given away through a variety of exclusive contests.

Andy Griffith

Interesting article about Andy Griffith presenting his papers to the University of North Carolina.

Marting Guitar last year produced an Andy Griffith signature edition and there are pictures of him playing it at the above link too.

Mistaken iTunes Purchase

Damn! The other day I had the TV on and in the background I heard a song playing at the end of a news show about the Hurricane, and they played a song that I'd heard before, but didn't really know who it was.

I guessed that it was Sheryl Crow, and a quick search revealed that it was her song Safe and Sound, from the album C'Mon C'Mon.

I decided to purchase the song through iTunes, and I was in a hurry, so I put it on the iPod, and off I went. It was only in the car, when I turned it on, that I realized I'd purchased the song C'Mon C'mon by mistake (it's the song ahead of Safe and Sound), and I'm not sure if I got messed up in the heat of the moment by the title, or whether it was because I had trouble entering the password correctly and had to reselect the song after resetting the password and just miss-clicked.

Either way, I ended up buying a song I didn't want :( Oh well. I guess I'll have to pay more attention

Busking

Wednesday late evening, walking down Boylston with my friend April, we encountered a guy playing guitar on the street. It's not uncommon to see buskers in Harvard Square and other places, but this is the first time I have every seen someone playing on Boylston Street.

He had his speakers up on the top of the cab of a truck (I'm guessing it was his) which was another first. And he was playing in a weird way - okay, an unusual way; he was fretting using his left hand over the top of the neck (most people usually play with their hand coming up underneath the neck)

I'm guessing he was playing in an open tuning, and he was mostly just barring the strings with one finger.

I said to my friend April that it was 'weird' and then ended up in a short discussion on the 'rights' and 'wrongs' of how you play. The reality is there is no right or wrong way; if it sounds good, who cares how you make the noise?

And he sounded pretty good; at least for that song. If he played everything the same way it might get a bit repetitive fairly quickly, but we didn't hang around to hear the rest of his set...

Curse You Steve Jobs!

Apple went and did it again; they have announced another cool new gadget that I want...

Well actually, it's not really a 'new' gadget; it's the iPod Nano, which is a smaller, thinner, sexier, more likely to go through the wash in your pants, version of the iPod.

I already have a regular iPod, and an iPod Shuffle which I bought because I thought it would be more robust than the regular iPod; particularly at the gym where I'd already dropped the iPod a couple of times. The Shuffle has proved to be great for that purpose; it has very little mass and no moving parts. Also, I just hang it around my neck using the lanyard. Probably looks kind of dorky, but it never gets in the way, dropped, or forgotten as I walk away.

The iPond Nano is a cross between the Shuffle and the regular iPod. It's smaller, thinner and flash-based like the Shuffle, but it's shaped more like the regular iPod and has a color screen and a click-wheel controller. In most respects it is more like the full-size iPod.

The Nano is limited to 2GB and 4GB (500-1000 songs) and costs $199 and $249 respectively. I think it's pretty neat, and I'm torn since I already have a Shuffle.

Perhaps I'll give the Shuffle to my daughter.

iTunes Phone

Not unexpected, but Motorola and Apple also announced the Motorola ROKR. It's an iTunes enabled phone.

Unfortunately it's only available through Cingular and I just signed up for a two year Sprint plan *sigh*.

Also, the phone is limited to 100 songs (allegedly Apple was concerned that the phone would take sales away from the iPod.)

MP3 Players Cause Hearing Loss?

Well no, but maybe the headphones they are often shipped with can contribute to hearing loss according to a study published last year in the journal Ear and Hearing by Dr. Brian Fligor of Harvard Medical School. A short piece in the New York Times covers this.

It seems that the in-ear headphones are the worst offenders.

I'm not sure this is exactly news. And the word has gone out about headphone use; my daughter has told me several times that 'if you can hear the music from someone's headphones, then they have it too loud.'

Glad I have my Sony MDR-7506's, though they don't look that cool at the gym...

The British Are Coming!

HMV and Virgin have both rolled out online music services in Britain. They are clearly gunning for Apple:

'"How many customers know that in buying an iPod, they're effectively locking oneself into a walled garden?" said John Taylor, HMV's director of e-commerce.'

It seems that they are both offering a purchase option, as well as a subscription service where for about $30 per month you can download as much as you like, though songs are only useable while you continue to pay the subscription fee.

Bob Dylan - No Direction Home

David (my jam mate) is a big Dylan fan, and is looking forward to the upcoming Martin Scorsese biography No Direction Home. It gets released at the end of this month, and will be played on PBS (and BBC!) and released straight to DVD.

Oh! I see the DVD is released September 20, and goes on TV on the 26-27.

Fats Domino

11:49am Just heard on the radio that Fats Domino is missing after saying he was going to ride out the storm.

KSAT: Fats Domino Missing In New Orleans Floods

UPDATE

Fats Domino was plucked from the flooded city by a helicopter late Thursday. He was reported to be in good condition.

Walk The Line

First there was Ray, and now Johnny Cash gets the big movie treatment in Walk The Line starring Joaquin Phoenix as the Man In Black. You can see a trailer at the link above. It's due in theaters November 18.

Personally, I'm not a huge fan of biographical dramas; often they are changed drastically from reality, leaving you unsure whether you're watching a biography or fiction. It's like the difference between News and Entertainment. So I'm not sure I want to see this.

But hey, they have some nice graphics on the website, and there should be a nice soundtrack...