UMGF Weekly Summary #2

This weeks theme is 'connected themes.' It's fascinating how sometimes several different threads can end up being interconnected:


ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY AND WOOD
Todd Stuart Phillips started a thread on Martin's Environmental Policies and how it pertains to wood.

"Martin's policy regarding select hardwoods is a direct result of C.F. Martin's serious commitment to environmental concerns. Before instituting the modern pricing and availability policies on Brazilian rosewood CFM4 went to no fewer than a dozen big time wood dealers around the world and could not find one who was able to produce truly verifiable (unforged) documents proving their Brazilian rosewood was indeed CITES certified [...]

CFM4 has been just as adamant that Martin only buy "genuine" mahogany from sources that demonstrate ecologically friendly growing and harvesting practices, typically growers in Peru who cultivate wood, not just cut down the rainforest."

Note that C.F. Martin has a pamphlet titled "Responsible Guitar Building in the 21st Century" that should be available at your local dealer.

Others pointed out that, because of the quantity of wood Martin uses, Martin is impacted more than smaller luthiers by limited availability. And just because other builders are still using Mahogany doesn't mean they are doing anything wrong (I'd agree with that; Martin is still using Mahogany; they are just using less of it.)


Meanwhile, HD284ME asked if, given a choice between Mahogany with wings or Spanish cedar, which would readers choose:
4 voted for Spanish Cedar, 3 voted for wings, and 7 voted for either, saying that they'd buy based on sound rather than either choice.


SPANISH CEDAR OR MAHOGANY NECK
A question about how to tell if you have a Spanish Cedar or a Mahogany neck rapidly devolved into a discussion of the comparative bending strength of Mahogany vs. Spanish Cedar:

Data from www.exotichardwoods-southamerica.com

MAHOGANY (dry):
Bending strength 11514 psi

SPANISH CEDAR (dry):
Bending strength 8545 psi

While it probably doesn't make any difference to the functionality of the guitar neck ("If the forces acting against a structural member are a small fraction of the strength of that member then the relative strengths of that material vs. another material are essentially meaningless"), it was argued that the Spanish Cedar neck might be "more likely to suffer accidental damage if a guitar is dropped or something similar happens."

One writer noted that Spanish cedar has a weaker fiber structure than mahogany and screws will strip in it much easier because of that fact. Jefe46 reported that "I have some neck blanks which I use only for classical and flamenco. It is lighter in weight, slightly lighter in color. But unlike mahogany you can drive your thumbnail into it as far as you can push."

The discussion then turned into one about tone; will cedar - being lighter - produce a slightly brighter tone? But there was no definitive answer to that question (see more below!)

According to CFMWoodbuyer on a thread that popped up about three months ago, the only models that Martin had switched to Spanish Cedar in mid 2005 were the Standard 18's and 35's. They have been using Mahogany with wings since around 2000.

matthewrust: You can usually tell the difference between SC and Mahogany by the grain texture and the color.
Spanish Cedar
Mahogany

But if you can't figure out what you have, a call to Martin Customer Service may answer the question. A guitar can be looked up by serial number (though if it's a recently produced model, they may not yet have the data.)


WHAT'S THAT TRIANGLE ON BACK OF THE NECK?
The pictures above then raised the question; what's the triangle on the back of the neck?

Martin used to have a joint between the headstock and the neck, and the diamond volute was used to strengthen the joint. They continue to include the volute on the 28 series and most of the guitars in the 40 Series (40, 41, 42, 45), though it's now only for decoration.


DAMAGED DELIVERY
OM35 Nut received a guitar with cracks, and the dealer said that since he'd signed for it there was nothing that could be done. No one liked the sound of that, noting that (at least with UPS and Fed Ex) signing does not preclude opening a claim. UPS has a 30-day claim period.

Instead, you should open a claim ASAP, they'll either come and look at the guitar or arrange to pick it up for inspection. The shipper may have to initiate the claim. If you paid by credit card, have the charge disputed. Save all the packing material and the shipping carton as they will probably want to see that too.


FINISH PROBLEMS
Flurkin noted that the finish on the neck of his OM-42 has developed some rough spots and he couldn't figure out why..."I never ever play my guitars with any lotion or anything like that on my hands"...

I have to wonder if it's a build up of dirt and sweat from your hands,. But if it won't come off with a damp cloth, then clean the area with naphtha (Zippo lighter fluid).


PLACES TO BUY ONLINE
In response to a request for recommendations on places to buy online, Maurys Music, My Favorite Guitars, Elderly Instruments got multiple recommendations, while the following got at least two: Wildwood guitars, First Quality Music in Louisville, Cotton Music, Trinity Guitars.

Buffalo Bros Guitars out in Carlsbad, CA is interesting because they offer a "100% upgrade policy" i.e., if you buy a guitar from them, you can return it at any point in the future for 100% of purchase price towards an upgrade. Note that they limit 100% upgrades to one (1) instrument per year (365 days after your last 100% trade), per person.


WHAT'S THAT MARTIN MODEL?
D62
What's a D62 you ask? The D62 LE's were introduced in 1986 and only 48 were made. They have an ebony fingerboard and maple back and sides and a 1 7/8" neck.


MARTIN 2-17
The 2-17 is a small guitar with a scale length of 24-3/8" inches and a nut width of 1-3/4" the 2-17 is easy to play though not great for strumming

The small Martins aren't nearly as desirable as the larger ones (I've seen them listing for up to $1,200), but reportedly they can sound really nice.


MARTIN WARRANTY
For those that see those eBay ads with "this guitar has not been registered" here's a word from Martin:

"This warranty is valid only if the instrument is purchased from an authorized C.F. Martin dealer located in the United States or Canada...so long as you can show in a manner acceptable to us that you are the original owner, that the instrument was purchased from an authorized C.F. Martin dealer within the United States or Canada."

So even if the registration papers are in the case, if you aren't buying from a dealer, then Martin isn't bound to honor the warranty.


WHEN WAS MY MARTIN MADE?
Martin Production Years


DON'T FORGET TO REMOVE THE PLASTIC FILM
I loved this post!

USNRet93: Boy do I feel stupid. Been playing my 00015S now for about three months. When I got it the pickguard showed some pick scratches.
Yesterday as I was doing some finger picking and a little strumming, I was thinking how the pickguard was feeling a little rough and then I said to myself, I said "Self, why don't you use the Maguires to buff it out?" So I thought that was a good idea and tried it. That was when I discovered that the plastic film was still on the guard!


WHY DOES THE D-18 HAVE A STYLE 28 ROSETTE?
Buck49 explains why the D-18 has a style 28 rosette:

A few years back, Martin standardized on two rosette types: the 28 style and the 45 style. That was, as you suggested, for economic reasons.

Not too long after that, they began to introduce the vintage series, the GE series, signature models, and that took care of their economy move...people didn't want a 28 style rosette on their D-18V or GE...the wanted something authentic. So Martin went back to using a number of different rosettes...but the 28 on the standard D18 stuck for some reason.


REMOVING PICKGUARD GLUE
Looking for the best solution to remove remnant pickguard glue?

Lighter fluid. It's 100% naphtha and is nitrocellulose finish safe. Sometimes you can buy spot remover a lot cheaper, just make sure it's 100% naphtha. Use a soft cloth (old t-shirt). Paper towels will leave fine scratches.
Additionally warm water with a little detergent mixed will sometimes work, and if that doesn't work, then butter does the job just fine. No joke.


"MUSHY" B & E STRING ON D-28
Someone was having a problem with his B and E strings sounding "somewhat dull -- or "mushy," as I've termed it. I recently replaced the stock micarta saddle with a Martin compensated bone saddle, but I don't think this problem began simultaneously."

FloydFlowers: It may be that the newly added saddle is not seated properly, not making full contact with the bottom of the slot....

J40M: Check the nut. Sometimes you can get a bit of dirt in the string slots. That will cause a mushy sound that you describe. Clean it with some naphtha. You should be fine.


CHANGING TUNER VOIDS WARRANTY?
A posting that Martin Customer service had told an owner that changing the banjo tuners on an OM-18GE to Waverlies would void the warranty created a storm of postings.

At least one poster reported changing tuners and subsequently getting warranty work done by Martin.

One suggestion was to switch them but keep the old turners; except that the Waverlies require a different set of holes.

Tim Porter: I have an OM18GE custom with Waverlies, and you should note that the OM18GE headstock is significantly narrower than any of Martin's other headstocks. This puts the Waverlies right at the edge of the back of the headstock. I'm not sure about the different size holes, but if the guitar originally had the banjo tuners, the holes may be in the wrong place to fit the Waverlies. It might fit, but you'll have to do some checking/measuring.

Arnoldgtr: For the 'banjo challenged', here is a photo of the banjo keys that are on the OM-18GE.

Banjo tuners are different from guitar tuners. They are 'straight through' design, imitating the original type banjo tuners that were not geared. The gear ratio is much faster than guitar tuners; typically 3.5:1 or 4:1. As a result, banjo tuners need a lot of tension on the tension screw through the button to prevent unwinding. They are also much harder to turn when subjected to the tension of a guitar string.

Most banjo tuners (including the Waverlys on the OM-18GE) fit in a 3/8" hole in the peghead, but do not have screws on the back of the peghead. Most of the time, there is a small pin that presses into the back of the peghead to keep the tuner from spinning. A 3/8" or 10mm hole is the size that most enclosed guitar tuners require, so the process is the same as when replacing enclosed guitar tuners, EXCEPT that screw holes must be drilled in the back of the peghead. Plugging the holes and redrilling is the recommended procedure. The narrower peghead on the GE should not be an issue. The housing of the Waverly two-band banjo tuner is actually wider than the baseplate of the Waverly guitar tuner.


DOES TUNER WEIGTH EFFECT TONE?
As the discussion of changing tuners raged on, the issue of tuner weight came up. Notice the recurring theme? First changing neck material might effect tone, now changing tuners might have the same effect:

Arnoldgtr: Enclosed Grover Rotomatics are considerably heavier than most other tuners. Depending on the guitar (especially the stiffness and mass of the neck), adding weight to the peghead may have an effect on the sound. You can confirm this by attaching a small C-clamp to the peghead for an A-B test. The weight tends to give the guitar a little more punch and stronger attack, but some warmth of sound is sacrificed. The downside is that the extra weight can make the guitar neck-heavy.

The major difference in the weight of open back tuners is due to the button material....plastic or wood buttons are lighter than metal.

Bryan Kimsey: Back in 1988, well before forums like this got started and all this (mis)information started flying around, I took my D-28 to a good luthier with the request to replace the Rotomatics with some "vintage" type tuners. I was TIRED of tightening the Rotos all the time. The replacement tuners were Kluson copies. When I picked the guitar up, he said "Let me know if you hear a difference in the sound". I replied "Huh?" and he said "Some people think the tuners make a difference in the sound- I'm curious to see what you think.". Keep in mind that my D-28 was my ONLY guitar for about 16 years. I knew it well. Maybe I'm wrong, but it sure seemed just a little punchier. Even if there was no sound difference, it sure balanced a LOT better and no longer wanted to fall to the left.

Matthewrust: Go here www.bryankimsey.com/tuners/ for the Kimsey report with weights and comparisons.

Will015: I tried replacing the original tuners on my '53 0-15 with Waverlies (which are heavier) and I lost a massive amount of punch and snappiness. I couldn't quite determine what it was for a couple of weeks, but I thought my guitar sounded worse. I put the originals back on and she was her old self.

Granted the height of the string posts were different on the 2 tuners but I tried to compensate with the taller Waverlies by adding extra string winding to get the break angle back.


IS THE INTELLITOUCH ANY GOOD?
thenikonguy wanted to know how hard you had to pluck a string to get the Intellitouch tuner -which attaches to the headstock and detects vibration - to work. He was concerned about tuning in a quiet environment.
My own experience is that the Intellitouch is pretty good; though sometimes I do have trouble getting it to work on the low and high E strings. Moving the thing around on the headstock often solves the problem.

johnreid: With fresh batteries and if you use the skin of your thumb instead of a pick I bet it will. IF you use a pick you have to strike the string harder and the low E will not tune unless you use harmonics, but with the thumb it works great.

LukeAE: The string only needs to be plucked softly (with thumb, not pick, as per their instructions). Very quiet. The only trick, for me at least, was to find the sweet spot on the headstock to clip it to get the best readings.

mikeoso as an alternative...IMT-500 Tuner


IS IT OKAY TO USE PLEDGE ON GUITARS?
soundnpix: I believe Pledge contains silicone that, while not harmful itself, would make any repairs/finish work quite difficult. I'm sure the luthiers would answer with a resounding "NO!."

ttreppa: Stewart-MacDonald sells a product called Preservation Polish which has no silicone. I like it and use it every time I change my strings.
No to silicone


SHOULD YOU CHANGE THE ROSEWOOD BRIDGEPLATE?
"Is it possible to change the big rosewood bridgeplate to a more "modern" one and get an even better sound in my D-41? I've read that it steals some bass?"
"Will changing the bridge solve bellying issues on a D-35?"

jbbancroft: If it sounds great now, I wouldn't change a thing. No guarantee it's going to sound better with the change. Also could cause damage to the top during removal.

If you had or have belly issues with a D-35 you definitely do not want to go with a smaller bridge plate. D-35's are braced light as it is, so a large bridge plate is a good thing, and because it is rosewood ,that is not a problem either.

Bryan Kimsey: Just because it has a large bridgeplate doesn't mean that it will stop bellying. There is a particular point at which Martins tend to belly and you need support THERE. Martin runs the grain perpendicular to the top and the plate really offers very little resistance to bellying. All it does is fold up. Your plate may even be cracked and then you have effectively two bridgeplates. You could fill the entire top with a bridgeplate, but if you have a weak spot, that's where it will fold.

So, IME, it's not the SIZE of the plate that matters as much as the orientation of the grain. My plates are somewhere in between prewar and modern, closer to modern, with the grain running 45 deg to the top, parallel to the bass X-brace. This puts the stiffest resistance against the natural folding of the top (IME). I've also reinforced the plate with carbon fiber and/or rosewood strips to stiffen it even more. All in all, I've been very successful at removing or reducing bellies while still using a smaller (not "tiny", "smaller") bridgeplate.

Personally, I've taken so many 70's RW plates out that they don't bother me much anymore. The first thing I do is chisel two grooves on either side of the top seam. Then I remove the little piece between the grooves and from there on out, I can remove the plate in pieces w/out applying heat to the top seam. The only plates that give me trouble are ones that someone else has done. A few weeks ago, I removed a MASSIVE rosewood plate from a '47 D-18 that had been expoxied in. Now THAT was fun.

And finally, it's not a mysterious mumbo-jumbo randomized process. Tap on a RW plate. Tap on a maple plate. That's how your guitar tone will change. Whether you LIKE that tone or not, I don't know, but maple will give a crisper, cleaner, more neutral tone. RW plates always give a "darker" tone to my ears and I'm almost 100% at guessing the plate inside. I remember getting my first Huss/Dalton in hand, playing it, and saying "This has a dark bridgeplate....". Sure 'nuff.


WHAT TO DO ABOUT A STINKY GUITAR?
A member reports "My guitar and case stink. I think the owner used a humidifier in the case and the thing smells like mold. I tried baking soda, which I still have inside the case and cedar chips in little burlap baggies."

I have a guitar that used to belong to a smoker. I tried putting ground coffee in the case (wrapped in a coffee filter.) The guitar developed a nice coffee aroma that masked the smoke smell. Now it's in a new case and it smells much better!

peterbright: If you have a secure area outside where you can place it in the sunshine, that might help.

EddyMc82: would investing in a new case not be your first port of call? I have never been able to get smoke out of cases so I just buy new ones, as for the guitar let it sit out for a few hours daily it should slowly get rid of the smell.

gtrdoc: Remove the guitar from "that" case for a week or so. My experience is the smell will leave the guitar in a short while but (if it is mold) will be in the lining of the case. I know of nothing that will kill the case mold and not ruin the lining. I have left a case in the sun every day for 2 weeks in 80-degree weather, and it still didn't kill the mold. Bleach will kill mold but you could imagine what the case would look like.

You could re-line the case or have it done, but replacing a newer case might be the easiest way to go.

ttreppa: You might also want to put some Bounce (clothes dryer paper) in the case. Bounce comes scented and unscented. Eventually it will remove the vilest of odors.

scarab100: I purchased a used guitar that had a moldy smell to the case and I sprayed the lining heavily with Fabreze and put it out in the sun for a day... and repeated the process another couple of times. After that I let it sit in the house opened for a few days to air out the smell of the Fabreze and it was fine.


GUITAR CHAIR RECOMMENDATIONS
"I am looking for a stool or chair that is similar to the one I sat on at the Martin factory. I enjoy playing/practicing with my feet off the ground, and with some back support. Anyone have any suggestions?"

SixxStringer: I have both the Pick 'n Glide (for "lounging") and the SoundSeat (for performing)...both are relatively expensive, but for their purposes, are great.

LesM: My pick-n-glider is terrific. Lots of back support and you don't have to rock it. I sometimes play with one leg crossed over the other (just fooling around) but with serious practice, both feet planted. It doesn't rock unless you want it to. Very comfortable, very pricey.

willysunday: check out "drafting Chairs" at Office Max. $99 go from normal height to "way up" comfortable and stable.

chasmatt: I bought a drafting chair after checking the prices on Soundseats. It works great. No arms, height is adjustable, good back support, very stable.

BillDuck: I'm a fan of office chairs. Adjustable back support, meant for sitting in for long periods, height is adjustable. And I can roll around on the concrete floor of the guitar dungeon. Usually just a bolt on each arm, so they come right off. No sharp or hard edges to dent anything on.

SixxStringer: the back of the Soundseat is adjustable, but once locked in position, it is mostly fixed, though it does have "give". Again, this is a much better option for gigging, or playing in any kind of stage-like venue. The Pick-n-glide is very comfortable, and great for just sitting back for hours at a time--though maybe not if you are sitting straight up reading music, for instance. It's best for "Lounging", IMO.

musicguy123: You did not mention if you are recording or not. If you are recording, make sure you get a high quality one that will not be prone to squeaking! I use a drummers seat with a back support called Gibraltar, and it is quite good. As the name implies, it is solid as a Rock!

GeetarMonkey1: I've been looking at the Roc-n-soc Nitro Throttle with a back? Is the Roc-n-soc a good idea? OR... Has anyone tried one of these..?? www.theguitarchair.com/

ttreppa
I bought a Roc-n-Soc at GC that is adjustable with a backrest. It works quite well for me. The model I bought is all black and looks acceptable in the living room.


DREADED FOREARM SMUDGE
A question about avoiding the forearm smudge on the soundboard devolved into a discussion of the pros and cons of the Pearce armrest. Some people swear by them, others swear at them. Let's leave it at that.

Martinman55: I usually have good results wiping with a damp cloth (water only) and then drying/buffing with a smooth dry cotton cloth.

Worst case, a little Virtuoso Guitar Cleaner and Polish does the trick.

matthewrust: I avoid the smudge altogether and make sure to wear long sleeves when I play. If a time comes that I do play naked armed, I use a clean cotton cloth and my hot breath. Anything that won't come off is taken care of at string change time--I use naphtha on a clean cloth and follow that with Virtuoso brand polish and always have a deep shine.

Floyd1960: A possible alternative: consider a long-sleeved shirt (the sleeves can be rolled-up) made from Egyptian cotton...it gets hot in the Land of the Pharaohs & the British discovered long ago that this exceptional cotton weave keeps one surprisingly cool during the sweltering months. Not cheap, but they last a long time & also look smashingly good with your chinos after you lay down the guitar & hurry-off to a summer wine & cheese party amongst friends.

awolcott: When it gets really muggy out and I sweat more, and the sweat doesn't dry, I use a sweatband just below my elbow. Looks kind of retro (think Dr. J...?) and keeps my arm from developing a rash.

qweeksdraw : I take a soft towel, wet it, zap it for a short bit in the microwave and use the hot (not too hot!!) towel to remove the smudge. The warmth dissolves the grease immediately and does not harm the finish. Finish up with a SMALL bit of fine polish. (or not)

GotDemBlues: John Pearse armrest. Solves the smudge from your arm problem, added comfort, and improved tone. A great little accessory for not much money. Not everyone agrees, but I like the way they look also.

www.jpstrings.com/braccess.htm

It's kind of hard to describe verbally, but the armrest is only in contact with the guitar for about 1/4" on the edge. The part that actually lies over the top of the guitar is cut thinner, so it kind of "floats" above the surface of the guitar and does not touch the top.


INSTRUCTIONAL DVD FOR RAGTIME
LesM: Check out Stefan Grossman's Guitar Workshop website. Many of his advanced dvd's contain ragtime tunes. I have his "Advanced" Ragtime and Blues that has a couple but not exclusively.

outfidel: For ragtime blues (e.g. Blind Blake, Rev Gary Davis, Blind Boy Fuller) then Stefan G's web site is a great place to look.

Wire and Wood: if you can read tab, try to locate a copy of The Art of Ragtime Guitar by Richard Saslow. This book is simply outstanding but I believe it is out-of-print. There has been talk of re-releasing it.

spock: I will second Marshall's recommendation of the Saslow book. I have a copy and have enjoyed it immensely. Here's a link to some audio samples of the book.

OMpicker: If you are interested in guitar arrangements of classical ragtime, and if you have TabEdit, you might try these links:

www.ragtime.nu/guitar.htm

www.consult-eco.ndirect.co.uk/guitar/tab.htm

www.frettedinstrumentsnyc.com/

Also, I recently ordered a CD of the album that started it all -- The New Ragtime Guitar, by Dave Laibman and Eric Schoenberg -- from the Smithsonian. www.folkways.si.edu/search/AlbumDetails.aspx?ID=356 (you can listen to MP3 segments of each song on that site). You can find Eric's arrangement of "At A Georgia Camp Meeting" in Stefan Grossman's book, Contemporary Ragtime Guitar (was that the name?), and the Dill Pickle Rag arrangement as a solo in one of the Happy Traum books. I still play both those after all these years!


HOME RECORDING
What mics for guitar and vocal recording? Would it be better to use the guitar pickup?

woody bee: The guitar will sound ALOT better if you record with a mic. I've got a Samson CO1U mic. It's a USB powered condenser mic. It hooks straight to a computer. An expensive pair of mics is probably the best way to record an acoustic but I've got good results with this mic.

Here's a link to the mic.

WARNING: In most cases you are limited to recording with one USB mic at a time.

sdelsolray
If it's just for solo acoustic guitar, a pair of small diaphragm ("SD") condensers is the usual choice (although other mics can work well). If you will be recording vocals and guitar accompaniment, then a large diaphragm ("LD") condenser for voice and 1 or 2 SDs for the guitar is common.

LDs for vocals:

ADK Hamburg (or Vienna) ($250)
MXL (Marshall) V69 ($300)
MXL 67 ($100)
CAD M179 ($200 or less)

SDs for guitar:

MXL 603s ($200 pair)
Studio Projects C4 ($300 pair)
ADK SC-2 ($200 pair)

LDs for guitar:

Studio Projects B1 ($100)
CAD M179 (listed above)

There are plenty of others too, so this list is not exhaustive. The CAD M179 is an excellent and versatile mic. Plus it has multiple patterns.

vallguy: Before you go out and spend a lot of money on mics, consider how you will record. I found that trying to record (1) my guitar with one mic to one track and (2) my vocal with a second mic to a second track did not work well. There is too much bleed of sound from one to the other. That is, the vocal track will have guitar sound, the guitar will have vocal sound. So, as you apply effects to affect say the guitar, it will affect the vocal as well. Never sounded good.

If you're just getting started, buy one mic and a decent preamp (a good mic REQUIRES a good preamp), and experiment. A dynamic Shure 58 is good for vocals and guitar, although I have found a small pencil condenser is best for acoustic guitar, and in a pinch can record acceptable vocals.

Through experience I have found that if I first record the guitar to one track, then record a vocal to that recorded guitar, I lose something in the performance. What I do now is take one mic to one track and record both guitar and vocal as a starter track. Then record a second guitar in a separate track over the starter, then record a vocal as the third track over the over two tracks. Delete the starter track.


WHAT IS AN ACTIVE PREAMP?
What does it do?

ribaric: The pickup on your guitar is just a device to translate physical vibrations (of the bridge/top/saddle) into electric current which rises and falls in sympathy with these vibrations. The same as a mic or a phone etc. This electric current is tiny and requires to be boosted before it is sent from your guitar to an amplifier. The Pre-amp uses battery power to boost this electric signal before sending it along the lead/cable to the amp.

Without a pre-amp. the weak signal from your pickup will be joined by "noise" (from mains supply in your house etc, picked up by the lead which acts as an antenna for such nasties) so that your amp will "hear" the guitar and this noise - then amplify both. If you boost the output from your guitar with a pre-amp, then the guitar sound will totally swamp any noise and provide a good clean signal to the amp. You may also have to crank up the amp to get a reasonable volume resulting in more hiss, hum and generally unwanted noise etc. The word "active" refers to the pre-amp actively using battery power to boost the signal (it amplifies it) so that you don't suffer interference, crackles, pops, CB radio interference etc.

Having built a small battery powered pre-amp, it's a small step to put some controls into the way the pre-amp actually amplifies the signal (electric current). So a pre-amp can feature bass/mid/treble controls (called "equalization" for some obscure reason) and possibly the opportunity to pick a central frequency around which these controls work (called "parametric equalization" for even more obscure reasons).


LOOKING FOR SMALL ACOUSTIC AMP
Anybody have any practical experience with a small acoustic amp in an outdoor environment (like a park or a farmers' market)? Would 100 watts get lost in that situation?

MauryOM28V: I like the Loudbox 100 alot. 100 watts is nice for small-medium rooms but outdoors it's not enough. You need much more headroom to do an outdoor gig, at least from my experience.

d28andm1911a1: My set up is a Peavy powered speaker 270 watts. I have never had it higher than 2 and seem to have plenty of power. I use the second speaker as a monitor, you gotta have a monitor of some type to play outside.

100 watts should be enough unless you are playing a big area, I'm doing an outdoor restaurant that seats about 50 and I did it with a little 80 watt PA till I up graded and it was at the limit.

I don't think my powered speakers (34 lbs) are any heavier than a 100 watt acoustic amp

dave42: Outside it would seem that an amp on the ground would be no good. You need to get the speaker off the ground to project/get the most mileage out of the money sent on equipment. On a pole. I would go with the powered speaker(s) setup. Or a Bose........


SIGNATURES ON SIGNATURE GUITARS
Every now and again, the debate about signature guitars reignites. In particular, a lot of people don't like the signature on the 12th fret for some reason. Mostly it seems to be because it tells people that it's a signature model.
But which one? As can be seen here it actually took a while for people to figure out that Paul Simon was playing his own signature model (OM-42PS) on Saturday Night Live.

On a similar note, I recently went to a show and was sitting about 15 feet from a performer who was playing a model with a signature on the fret board. I couldn't tell what the signature was. So if most people can't even tell what it is, why the fuss?


DM3MD DAVE MATTHEWS SIGNATURE MODEL
Continuing this week's theme of linked themes, someone bashed Dave Matthews and the DM3MD this week:

"[Signature models have] been carried a bit too far, particularly with the Dave Matthews signature model. Why is it that if you do a Google photo search, most of the photos that come up show him playing a Taylor or a Fender Strat?"

So it was good to see this post the same week:

jimbyrne777
I was lucky enough to see Dave playing his solo show infront of 4000 people at the Hammersmith Apollo in London on Monday night. Great to see him using his signature DM3MD's, only changing for his Taylor for one track and electric for a couple of others...all played through a Matchless DC30.

And a DM3MD sold for over $5,000 this past week, which is either good (if you're looking to sell one) or bad (if you want to buy one) or bad (because you're too scared to take it out of it's case.)


A GOOD STORY
I liked this story so much I thought it was something positive to close with:

BobAtlGa When I got my first job I barely made any money and hoped to some day buy a Martin. After only working a few weeks in my new job I stopped by a local music store in Lawrenceville GA (near Atlanta) and talked to a man named Bobby Whitley. He sold mostly organs and pianos but had a few Yamahas, Gibsons and two or three Martins. I saw a brand new D-35 hanging on the wall and was dying to play it. Bobby took it down, and told me to try it out. The sound was awesome and I must have played it about 20 minutes and even sang a little while I played.

Bobby came back over and said "you really like that guitar don't you son"? I told him it was fantastic.

The cost of the guitar in 1978 was $600.00. Bobby asked me how much I could put down if I bought the guitar and I said I only had about $100.00. He said that would be fine and wanted to know if I wanted to buy it and pay him the rest later. I said "of course"!

He wrote up a ticket and I put the guitar back in the case, wrote him a check and told him I'd be back each week to pay a little and hopefully get the guitar in several months. Then he floored me... he said "oh no, you can take the guitar with you today". I was amazed. I told him I would pay him back and I asked him if he did this for everyone. He said no, but that he just felt I was supposed to have the guitar now and that he knew I'd pay him back. He said "I trust you". Bobby died many years ago, but I always remember that day in his store.

That guitar has been my mainstay for 28 years now

The Scottish Guitar

The Scottish Guitar is a great website with lots of arrangements of Scottish tunes. There's a copy of the book in PDF format, and audio recordings in MP3. Definitely worth checking out...

Earth Day Is Coming!

Well not exactly. But the Earth Day concert is coming.

The Boston radio station WBOS has hosted a spring concert called EarthFest for the past several years. It happens at the Hatch Shell on The Esplanade, usually close to Earth Day, but over the years there's been a lot of poor weather so I think they moved it back a month to try and increase the chances for a nice day.

Given the recent weather, they could be washed out again.

I've gone once and saw Nickel Creek. It was fun; though wet. Wet is good for some; it keeps the crowds at bay. That's the problem with big free events in a large city. Too many damn people.

This years acts include: Los Lonely Boys, James Blunt, and They Fray. I'm thinking of going; just depends on the weather.

Stairway To Madness

Some guitar stores - allegedly - don't allow people to play Stairway To Heaven.

But for those that just can't get enough, WFMU's Deware of the Blog features 101 versions of the song!

Cat Fight

I've been reading - and enjoying - Geoff Emerick's book "Here There and Everywhere," about his time with The Beatles. It's a really easy and enjoyable book to read, and if you're fascinated by The Beatles I think you'll find it very compelling; it's almost like being there. Even if you're not a huge fan, I think it's is a fairy accessible book.

I did have some qualms. I did wonder about the level of detail; how could anyone remember that much detail forty years later? I guessed that he had kept a diary, and/or the recording tapes from the recording sessions had provided some help in remembering conversations and what was going on at different sessions.

I noticed only a couple of errors, though I should point out that while I'm a big fan and have read lots of "Beatle" books, I don't tend to keep endless amounts of details in my head. One thing I did notice was an error in a description of a difference at the end of Penny Lane. Two versions of Penny Lane were initially released; a version with an extra horn solo at the end that was initially released by Capital in the US and the 'standard' version that most people recognize today. The book confused which version has the extra horn solo. A minor error to be sure, but still a confusing one.

I also noticed that Geoff didn't paint George Harrison in a particularly favorable light; though I didn't feel he tore him down all the time. Maybe I didn't find it objectionable because I've never been a huge George H. fan. Don't get me wrong, George was a great guitarist, and he did write some amazingly good songs (Something, Here Comes The Sun, to name a few) but I don't think he ever rivaled Paul or John, and I don't blame Paul or John for seemingly keeping George back, as some George fans tend to.

Geoff also casts George Martin in a less than favorable light many times; though whether he's totally fair, or whether his perception is a little colored by rivalry, who knows? Everyone's perception of reality is colored by their own bias.

Okay, so that's the end of my review. It appears that others have much stronger problems with the book than I did.

Ken Scott, also an engineer at EMI that worked on some Beatles recording, has some problems with errors in the book.

I was one of the people interviewed for Geoff's book, as were many other former Abbey Road employees. We all came to understand that these interviews were arranged because he had very little recall of those days, and his co-author would use our memories to become Geoff's stories.

Now, after reading his book, I KNOW how little he remembers. It appears we, the interviewees, didn't give enough, because much is clearly fabricated stories, something made up to fill out the book. A good example of this being the detailed recollection of the overdub session he worked on for Misery (Page 59). However, in an interview in 2003, with Ken Michaels, Geoff was quoted as saying "...I was informed the other day, and I couldn’t remember it, that Misery was the first track that I was actually present on." Amongst these stories are many things that could be proven untrue by astute Beatles fans, and things easily shown to be false by those who were there.__

Taken as single points it is easy to say "so what", but when one turns into two turns into one hundred the veracity of everything comes into question. Unlike any other band The Beatles are now part of history and it is my feeling that their history should be told correctly. As part of that history Geoff did AMAZING work recording them, but if one can't remember or take the time to double check the facts, DON'T WRITE A BOOK.

More of the disagreement is covered here: Geoff Emerick & Ken Scott differences of opinion on some events

Now clearly Ken is a friend of George Harrison, and so some of his problem seems to come from that. Also, Geoff was clearly closest to Paul, and I think he makes that clear in the book. I think anyone reading it could adjust for Geoff's obvious bias; he's upfront about it.

So what to believe? I don't know. I still enjoyed the book. It didn't really change my perception of The Beatles in any way, and I felt it added some useful color to the history.

"There Will Be No Sorrow" - Let It Be

Let It Be (from the film?) A great version (notice the lyric differences.)

UMGF Weekly Summary #1

A weekly summary of interesting threads on the Unofficial Martin Guitar Forum


In three pages of posts, no one liked the Martin Backpacker. No one!

Problems included: poor sound, different string spacing to standard guitars, and the balance is "off." Geez, no one likes it? Well several pointed out that the LXM is much better and not much more expensive.



A question about guitar stands provoked the standard responses: watch out for those that have foam that can interact with the nitro-cellulose finish. A couple of people recommended Hercules frames - I have one and love it - and they have "lacquer-safe Specially Formulated Foam rubber."

For the rest, or if you aren't sure, cover the foam with cotton cloth. And don't forget; guitars on stands are more likely to be damaged and you need to watch humidity and temperature.



An interesting question about the different body sizes (0 / 00 / 000) resulted in good info from tonguy:

Using a convention inspired by engineering gauges, Martin designated their body sizes with increasing numbers of zeroes (some say "oh" and some say "aught") to denote increasing body sizes ...(FWIW, the 0000/M has the same top/back dimensions as the modern Martin Jumbo - CFM IV created the Jumbo by making the 0000/M with a dreadnought's depth, rather than the 0000/M's 000-depth.)

0000 (or M) - Grand Auditorium
000 - Auditorium
OM - Orchestra Model
00 - Grand Concert
0 - Concert

Todd Stuart Phillips adds: Note that the original Mr. Martin made guitars that were typically made in size 5, 4, 3, 2-1/2, and 2. Size 1, the largest he ever made, was considered almost freakishly big for the age he was making guitars. It likely never occurred to him that anyone would ever want a size bigger than that. But of course Size 0 was indeed added later

For dimensions, visit Martin's website. Martin Guitar Shapes



A question on bracing differences resulted in a link to this interesting page: Martin Top Braces



Now here's an interesting bit of trivia. Gandalf 000 asked about a cutaway Martin with a horizontal oval sound hole. David 515 pointed out that Martin's early cutaways had oval holes because Martin hadn't nailed down a bracing pattern that would allow a round one. It was used on J, M, OM, and D cutaways.
Todd Stuart Phillips follows up: The cutaways come down farther, exposing more frets to playing than the modern Martin cutaway. This ran into the top most brace, so Martin moved the brace, which required the sound hole to be of a different shape. The current Martin profile is more shallow, does not require the brace to be moved and appears to have been first used on the Schoenberg Soloists. It was copied from a non-Martin vintage guitar from some bygone era.



Meanwhile, Guitargabor reported that the D-28 that he kept in it's 630 Thermoplastic case with strictly maintained room humidity at 45% has a shrinking top, and a guitar tech claimed that the foam rubber in the case was absorbing humidity.

Say what?!

Several posters doubted that the case could or would absorb moisture, and that - all things being equal - after a couple of days the case will be at the same humidity as the room.

I'd have to agree with that too; unless the case was filled with silica gel or something, but even that, after a little while, should get to the room's level.

Then things got interesting. Tonguy noted: Minor detail - a D-28 should come in a 640 case. The 630 is designed to fit the OM and 000 body sizes.

To which Joe McNamara responded: Eureka!! Tony, you've solved the Magic Dehydrating Case Issue. Squeezing a D-28 into a 000 case causes the spruce top to compress, much like wringing out a sponge, and the resulting dehydration manifests itself in the manner described.

Now if we could just confirm if that's the case (pun intended!) Or is that case really sucking up the moisture?



Do you ever wonder if those 10,000 odd 000-28EC models have hand signed labels? Turns out that the standard 28EC is stamped, but the 42ECB, 28ECB, 000-ECHF and 000-ECHF are all hand-signed (and it seems the last three all had production runs of 500.)

On a side note, my local Guitar Center has a 000-ECHF Bellezza Bianca that I saw over the weekend. It certainly is a nice looking guitar, and it plays well, though the sound wasn't enough of a difference to really grab me. And they wanted $4,999 for it! GAS averted!



An interesting thread on changes in bridgeplate material and size and whether (and how) it effects sound can be found here: Bridge plate size, and tone (it's just too complicated for me to abridge it.)



Wow! A D-100 was sold at Buffalo Brothers for $60K. In a weird way it's interesting to hear about one selling, but if I had $60K I think I'd buy several other guitars instead!



There's a thread on the most memorable concert, which got me thinking. For myself, it is the Dave Matthews Band concert that I had a press pass for, and seats in the ninth row. It's a long story, but you can read about it here: One Sweet World



For those doing home recording, there were some good recommendations for headphones: Beyerdynamic DT 100 / 150 (closed), Sennheiser HD-280 (closed), AKG K240 (semi-open). I wish these were easier to find online.

Don't forget that you'll want closed headphones for multi-track recording. For playback only, you can go to open headphones.

A similar thread on inexpensive monitor speakers resulted in recommendations for the Event ALP5 ($320 pair) and Resolv 65a ($299 pair). I have the Event Project Studio 6 speakers which are good. Several forum members pointed out that headphones might be a better - and cheaper - solution.

Guitar Player TV

Guitar Player TV is a joint venture between Music Player Network, publisher of Guitar Player Magazine, and TrueFire TV, an "Internet TV broadcast network."

If you go to the site you'll find a collection of short instructional pieces, performances, and interviews. Roger McGuinn has a section called "McGuinn's Den" where he talks about songs and shows a few things. It's not exactly an instruction class, nor is it just a performance.

It will be interesting to see how/if this expands. At the moment it seems a little empty; if you're not interested in the things that are there, then you will get bored rather quick. I also think it needs a better explanation of what all the parts are (a table of contents kind of thing!) There should also be graphics and text to go with some of the instruction; but then maybe they don't want to replace the magazine (and if that's a case, does this link to content in the magazine?)

Hanneke Cassel

Hanneke Cassel plays at Club Passim, May 10, 2006. Rushad Eggleston plays cello.

Performance Anxiety

Classical guitarist Michael Murray offers tips for Dealing with Performance Anxiety that include:

Perform Regularly - The more you do something, the more normal and less scary it becomes
Perform Successfully - It doesn't matter how often you perform if each performance is a failure, if anything you are making things worse.
Start with Low Pressure Situations - Play for a local seniors group, hospital patients, family, friends, etc.
Pick a repertoire you can handle easily - Playing pieces in public that are near the borderline of your abilities is not the way to develop confidence in your playing abilities.
Play long programs - the adrenalince rush only lasts 5 - 10 minutes.

We Shall Overcome

I just got We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions Bruce Springsteen's latest album. So far I can't get Pay Me My Money Down out of my head, though there are other tracks (such as We Shall Overcome) that I think will keep my attention too.

Though something's up with the copy on my iPod...there's this clicking noise on at least one track. I'm going to have to reconvert it and see if that fixes the problem.

This album has had an effect on another band I follow (the following comes from their website); Crooked Still

In the middle of all this craziness, Greg gets a call to go try out for Bruce Springsteen's band. So he goes to New Jersey, has a good time, and says "wow, that audition was the best day of my life." Then he actually gets hired. Yup, you heard me. The name "Greg Liszt" can now be found on the official website of the Boss. So this means that for about six or eight shows between April 24 and June 11, we will be joined by some other stellar banjo players.

Apple Pro Training Series

I just got a copy of "Apple Pro Training Series : Logic Pro 7 and Logic Express 7" from Peachpit Press, and so far I'm impressed. It comes with a DVD with files that you use to work through the chapters.

Each chapter explains what you're going to do and approximately how long it's going to take. Then it steps you through different tasks.

I don't think it's a good reference book if you just want to know how to do a specific thing, but if you're starting from scratch I think it's a good book (though if you just want to start recording you have to wait a couple of chapters!)

They include the 30-day trial version of Logic Express on the DVD too (though you can get that online.)

Ramblin' Jack Elliott

I saw Ramblin' Jack Elliott on Monday.

Just not my thing.

But here's to anyone still performing after 70 years.

Click Click Click

Damn! Bought a Metronome on the weekend, and discover that there's a nice little online metronome.

Last Johnny Cash Song

"Like the 309," the last song written by Johnny Cash before his death, will be included on "American V: A Hundred Highways." The album includes one other original song, and covers of such songs as: Bruce Springsteen's "Further On (Up the Road)," Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind," and Hank Williams' "On the Evening Train."

Keith Richards Undergoes Surgery

After either falling out of a tree, off a jet-ski, or both, Keith Richards ended up in hospital in New Zealand under observation. After "complaining of headaches yesterday, doctors thought it prudent to move ahead with a small operation to remove the pressure."

Apple Beats Apple

An english judge ruled that Apple Computer Inc., did not violate the terms of a trademark agreement with Apple Corps.

iTunes is safe! (for the moment.)

Dylan Does Radio

Bob Dylan a radio DJ? Yes sir, if you have XM radio his one hour long weekly radio show debuted this week. Each show of Theme Time Radio Hour has a theme (this week it was weather, next week Mother's Day) and Dylan provides a commentary that is "uncharacteristically chatty."

Unfortunately I don't have XM Radio, and I don't think I'm curious enough to spend the money to listen to one show, but they do offer a free 3-day streaming trial (see link from web page.)

Yahoo Article: "Mr Tambourine Man played a song for me: Dylan's DJ debut"

XM Radio Page

T5 Soundcheck

Taylor's T5 is a sort of hybrid guitar. It's more electric than acoustic, but it's supposed to be able to generate acoustic tones as well as electric ones.

From my own limited time with it, it feels (sound, the way the strings respond) more like an electric; though the neck feels more like their acoustic guitars, if that makes any sense.

Whatever. It didn't work for me (though I do think they look pretty cool.)

Taylor has a T5 Soundcheck on their website where you can hear what the T5 sounds like in various combinations through different amps. I don't know that it should really influence anyone's ultimate buying decision, but it is an interesting way to spend some time...

Rock And Roll: Priceless

One day they're going to take away You Tube, and half my posts will disappear. But until then here's a spoof(?) of those MasterCard "priceless" ads:

Let It Be

This video is actually taken from recording sessions for The Beatles aka The White Album but it makes me wish they'd rerelease the movie Let It Be on DVD. I know it's not exactly a happy movie, but just having the concert on the rooftop footage would be great!

Darol Anger's Republic Of Strings

Darol Anger's Republic Of Strings played at Club Passim on Saturday. I don't know the name of this song, but it's a good indication of the kind of things they performed (though they ranged over several styles of music.) good stuff, though I was mostly interested in observing how the guitarist was playing accompaniment.

Practice, Practice, Practice

From the June 2006 (it's June already?!!) issue of Acoustic Guitar these tips for practicing (abbridged)

1. Block off your practice time
2. Set a goal for the day
3. Keep a journal
4. Warm up first
5. Use a Metronome
6. Do it every day

Here I go:

1. Sometime after dinner
2. Find my tuner
3. That's what this is
4. It's 70 inside at the moment, close enough
5. I know I had one, I just haven't seen it for about a year...
6. Ehh, maybe tomorrow

Mark Geary performs Volunteer

Mark Geary opened for The Weepies last night at Club Passim. I didn't think I'd heard him before, but when he started playing Volunteer I knew that I'd heard that song before. Very nice song.

At the end he even does some looping, and a song that has a bit of a Beatles song in it (I've Got A Feeling) can't be all bad!

John Gorka

John Gorka played at Club Passim last Sunday, April 23, and it was a great show. Though I wasn't really familiar with his music prior to the show, I've heard his name around a lot; just didn't quite know what he'd done. So it was cool to catch him live and see what it was like.

I really enjoyed the show and he has some great songs, just two highlights; Mean Streak and People My Age which is a hilarious little number about growing old. John has a great stage presence; very amusing and light hearted, but a dynamic performer.

And he plays a Martin.

The audio on this is a little light due to the camera used to record it, and because I was off axis from the front speaker.

John Lennon: Back From The Dead Part II

No, I didn't see it, but Stephen Colbert talked about it on his show last night. He said that John Lennon's message was 'Peace, the answer is Peace' or something like that.

Stephen wasn't so sure what John meant, so he immediately took out his own after-life communication device and 'spoke' to the spirit of John Lennon. Seems that John really meant 'piece' as in 'getting a piece of the action.' Turns out the afterlife is kind of expensive.

Logic Express

I've been playing with GarageBand, but even after installing 1GB in my iBook, have been a little annoyed with it's performance. I mean, I think GarageBand is perfectly fine for me features wise; it's just annoying to have it stop recording after only three or four minutes with only one track.

Apple also sells Logic, and Logic Express. Logic is a high-powered audio creation and editing tool, while Logic Express is somewhat in between GarageBand and Logic. Some people on the web report that Logic is more efficient - less of a system pig - than GarageBand.

You can even download a trial version of Logic Express, though I found the link on another web site rather than found it on Apple's site, itself.

So I'm going to give that a whirl and see if it really is a little smoother than GarageBand.

John Lennon: Back From The Dead With A Great New Diet!

From what little I know of John Lennon, I think that the last thing he would do is communicate from the other side via a pay-per-view event, but that's evidently the case:

A controversial television seance airing on Monday will claim it has reached the spirit of John Lennon, but viewers will have to pay $9.95 to find out what the peace-loving Beatle has to say.

Then again, maybe the rates are cheaper, or maybe he would do it, just to screw with us.

Justin King

Pretty amazing playing!

How Do You Pronounce Takamine?

Like the word Porsche, it appears that I've been pronouncing it all wrong.

Takamine is pronounced:

tah -- kah -- MEE -- neh

The word means "high ridge" (as in "mountain ridge") and is taken from the name of a mountain (Mt. Takamine) located in the Gifu Prefecture where the company is located.

GarageBand Tutorials

I've been messing around with GarageBand since:

a) I already have it
b) it seems to work!
c) it's not that complicated

and I just came across the Apple Tutorials for it, which makes it even easier; trust me, it's not as obvious to use as you might think/wish that it was.

World's Worst Songs

Ken Levine started a list of the Worst Songs of all Time. I don't agree with everything on the list, but most of them I do!


4/31 UPDATE: Another worst songs article at CNN.com.

Holophone H3-D Microphone

Is it a space probe from Star Wars? Or some new robot? Maybe a shaker? Nope, it the Holophone H3-D microphone, a 5.1 multi-channel surround sound microphone. This is described as 'economical' as it will be priced at $1,695. Their H2-D Pro microphone costs $5,500.

What's it do? Well it outputs multiple channels, and provides a surround sound image. You need the ability to record all those channels at once separately (a drag if you only has a USB interface or a low-cost recorder.) What's it's application? Ummm...well I'm sure it has some application for live recording, though novice that I am, I can't help but think that you have a lot more control if you mic things separately.

The astute amongst you will notice that this image is a 3D model. Their microphones do exist though; at least they have pictures of their H2-D on their website.

Lost In Vermont

I'm in Vermont, staying with friends for a couple of days.

Last night we went to see Cabaret at the Northern Stage, a small professional theater in White River Junction, VT. I'd never seen Cabaret before (live or the movie) so it was really exciting to see it. The production was really good. I hesitate to say that it was "better than expected" since that suggests automatically that I wasn't expecting much. The production was excellent, the actors all great, and even though I don't think I'd put Cabaret forward as my favorite show, I definitely enjoyed it and was really glad to see it.

Unfortunately, the last performance is tonight, so you missed it!

Today stopped into Hanover Strings which is the local musical instrument store in Hanover New Hampshire. It's a small store, and it has breadth more than depth, but still was interesting to spend a quarter hour looking through. Bought a book of Dave Matthews Band Music. They had an iControl, a USB controller that works with GarageBand, which I hadn't seen before; . Not sure that it's worth the $150, but still interesting. The guy behind the counter was kind enough to let me open the box and nose around for a second.

And to complete the 'i' report, my friends have the Altec Lansing inMotion speakers for the iPod. The sound isn't too bad; not as good as Apple's seapkers, but then it's half the price.

Another Thought On Digital Beatles

Reading the News.com report on The Beatles going digital, I see the following note:

Neil Aspinall, a former Beatles road manager and managing director of Apple Corps, was a witness in the company's trademark lawsuit against Apple Computer.

He said that the company was digitally remastering the entire Beatles catalog, which would pave the way for selling the songs online.

Which got me thinking. Remastering? Really? Or do they just mean compressing? Are they really going through and remastering the recordings? I thought they did that once for the CD release? Could a remaster done now (about 20 years after the CD remastering) be any better than the CD remaster?

I'm guessing that yes, advances in technology and all that, they might do a better job. Though I have to wonder how much you will lose when those remasters are compressed to go out over the Interent.

But what I find really curious is that, reading Geoff Emerick's book, he says several times that he doesn't like the CD recordings because they magnify problems in the original recordings. Wouldn't a digital remaster done now just make it even worse? Or will the digitally take out all the noise? And if they alter them so much, then aren't we getting away from the original recordings?

In other words; if The Beatles never made a Dolby Digital 5.1 release of Sgt. Peppers is it okay to do it now? Or is it like colorizing old Black & White movies?

Beatles Join The Revolution

It seems that The Beatles are going to join the online revolution and start selling there music digitally through The Internets. Oh goody! I can buy their catalog a third time (to go with the vinyl and CD copies I already have.)

Or maybe not. I can already put my CDs on my iPod.

But it is interesting that they are finally going to put their stuff online.

You say you want a revolution
Well you know
We all want to change the world

Here There And Everywhere

I'm a big Beatles fan, and I've read a pretty large number of books on the Beatles. So many that I pretty much have given up on looking at any new books that have come out. But, the other day I was at Barnes & Noble and came across the book Here There and Everywhere by Geoff Emerick. Emerick was the balance engineer for a lot of the Beatles recording sessions, and this book documents those sessions, along with a few other details of his career.

I'm about 1/3 of the way through this, and it's really great. Emerick must have kept a diary or have a photographic memory (or perhaps access to the original studio tapes have refreshed his memory) as the book is amazingly detailed. Lots of stories from the recording sessions; really interesting things about how songs came together and the recording effects used, as well as rememberances of things that happened; from the day that fans ran riot at Abbey Road, and recording Strawberry Fields, to how the Beatles interacted with each other, and with other people, including the session musicians that were brought in. It's great stuff.

This may even replace my previous favorite Beatles book; The Beatles: Recording Sessions, the Official Abbey Road Studio Session Notes 1962-1970 by Mark Lewisohn. While that book is very detailed about the sessions, it lacks the more personal details that Emerick adds.

So if you're a Beatles nut, definitely pick this book up; you won't be dissapointed.

I Like To Hit Things

It's percussion day at The Guitar Apprentice!!

That's what happens when you talk to a drummer. You start talking about drums and percussion and drummers you've seen and songs with percussion you like and they start telling you about crashes and rides and you start thinking "That almost makes sense!"

And it seems like everywhere I listen, I hear drums.

On NPR today:

All Things Considered, April 11, 2006 · The Junkman makes music with mailboxes, saw blades, frying pans and beer cans. But he has also composed two pieces for Twyla Tharp and performed with both Eminem and the Louisville Symphony.

Now the Junkman has written a full length spoken-word opera based on the Nordic myth of the Viking god of war, who also happens to be the Viking god of knowledge. Odin calls for 10 percussionists, a cast of six and a chorus of 24. It will be performed at New York University in April. Andrea Shea reports.

And then tonight on BBC Radio, they have a peice on Brian Eno talking about Tony Allan, an afrobeat drummer described as "one of the world's best drummers."

Drum Solo Anyone?

More Beatles News

According to The Telegraph The Beatles will release a new album to mark opening of a Las Vegas extravaganza with the acrobats of the Cirque du Soleil interpreting the songs.

It's a little unclear what they are doing, though the article notes: "The producers will have access to unreleased archival material, including 200 hours of recorded conversations between the Beatles in the recording studio."


And, another new Beatles set; The Capitol Years, is released tomorrow. I gather it has the mono and stereo versions of the early Beatles albums in the "U.S." format; remember that Capitol released versions of The Beatles albums that were very different from the U.K. releases.

Having grown up with the U.K. albums, I guess I'm not as enthused about the idea of getting the U.S. versions (though I know how disconcerting it can be to be used to a particular track order and have things change on you.)

As to the stereo/mono debate; George Martin (and Paul, George and Ringo) felt that mono was the 'right' way to hear the early albums, and did that for the original CD release. Don't forget that when the albums were first produced, they were only mixed in mono, the stereo mixes weren't even made by them.

But hey, if people will buy it, why not sell it to them?

Classical Mystery Tour

An Internet posting about Classical Mystery Tour caught my attention. It's some of the actors from Beatlmania performing with a classical orchestra at various places around the country.

It looks like fun, so I got tickets for the Boston show!

Here's part of the review:

They came out in the black suits like the early Beatles and as the show progressed, so did the clothing. About midway they came out in the Pepper uniforms and ended as the "1969" Beatles, Paul and Ringo in cool black suits and George in his denim attire. Where's John? Ah, there he comes out last, long hair and the white suit. I laughed out loud. [...]

The show was really a hoot. At first they played a few without the symphony and I Saw Her Standing There really took me back. It ripped! Some of the Beatles songs I'm not real wild about, like Eleanor Rigby and A Day in the Life were really good in concert with the symphony. At the end of A Day in the Life, where the long note is, the crowd clapped too soon. The conductor gave the Lennon actor at the piano a look and they ended the note early. Too bad as I'm sure they were ready to carry it out to it's long end. I am the Walrus was another of my favorites.

There was a great rendition of Good Night, from the White Album with the drummer and symphony doing an excellent job. I'll probably never see/hear that song in concert again ever.

Golden Slumbers / Carry that Weight / The End were my favorites. The guy playing lead on a Tele nailed all the John / Paul / George solos on that one by himself. His Tele was really wild looking and changed color from silver to green when the light hit it. [...]

The final encore was Twist and Shout and the older audience was on it's feet. The thought entered my brain "would John still be playing Twist and Shout if he were still with us?" Not just yeah, but hell yeah!

Making A Guitar Neck

Taylor Guitars has been putting up weekly video clips about guitar building. This week's clip looks at what goes in to building the Taylor guitar neck.

Behringer Brings USB To Guitar

Fender has already shown (but not delivered) a Stratocaster with an Ethernet connection. Now Behringer - maker of all musical equipment cheap - has announced the iAXE393 USB Guitar. Catchy name. It's a Strat-like guitar with USB connection.

I'm a little hazy on what the Fender sends out over it's Ethernet connection (Digital Audio? MIDI? Something else? All of the above?) The iAXE393 sends out audio. I'm not sure that a USB connection would be much use for real gigging situations; so this is really for hom recording and maybe for practice and learning applications. The write-up suggests that included software, in addition to letting you add efects, will let you slow down music that you play along to and other neat tricks.

According to the web page, the iAXE393 includes:

The iAXE comes with loads of great-sounding virtual amps and stomp boxes powered by state-of-the-art modeling software. Jam along with your MP3, WAV and AIFF songs or backing tracks on your Mac® or PC. We even included multi-track recording and editing software so you can record your music on the spot.

Sounds like more fun than a barrel of monkeys. The package comes complete with a USB cable, adjustable guitar strap, three picks and padded gig bag, and WDM and ASIO drivers.

Nothing on price yet, and availability isn't expected until the second quarter. (Also, the computer depicted is not included.)

Happy Birthday My Blog

I've been doing this for a year. My how time flys when you're getting no where.

I Got Memory

My iBook is now sporting 1.25GB of memory. Turns out I didn't put the damn card in right!! :( Anyway, all fixed and on to bigger and better disasters...

Shawn Colvin & Martin Guitars

I saw Shawn Colvin play at Club Passim last November. The video (captured with a still digital camera) isn't great, but it's an amusing story she tells about her love for Marting guitars, and the Signature Edition that Martin made for her.

Hardware Hassels

I got a 1GB card to upgrade my iBook, and I thought I was all set.

I had a grounding strap, and I thought I was all set.

I had a PDF with instructions on how to install the memory, and I thought I was all set.



Then I opened the grounding strap and discovered there were no instructions....what was I supposed to attach it to? A friend suggested the water tap.

Then I went to undo the screws that kept the memory shield in place and discovered that I didn't have a screwdriver small enough...I discovered that my Swiss Army knife blade worked okay.

Then I put the card in, reassembled the whole thing, started it up and....the machine didn't recognize the card! No change at all!

I have such bad luck with computer hardware; is there any wonder I hate to upgrade machines?!


Possabilities;

1) I didn't install the memory correctly (I tried re-seating it and still no go.)

2) The memory card is faulty (or worse, I screwed it up)

3) The computer doesn't actually support more than 1GB. (I checked, but it can be a little confusing to figure out which iBook is which and what memory they support.)


This just sucks. Now you know why I don't play electric guitar.

I'm Trying To Be Good

Guitar Center has some kind of 3 day sale going on.

They have sales at least a couple of times a year, and sometimes you can get something interesting at a good price.

I gave it some serious consideration, and was really close to going in and taking a look today, but I think I have talked myself out of going. I am so tempted, but the reality is I absolutely, positively don't need anything right now, and going in would just expose myself to temptation!

I keep telling myself that:

a) they don't have anything I want (probably true)

b) anything I would be interested in won't be on sale (if past sales are any indication, the best I can hope for on a good guitar is about 60% off anyway, which I know how to get from other places)

and c) the guitars aren't in good condition (probably not true, the GC in Boston seems to be pretty good about taking care of their stuff.)

But boy, put guitar and sale together in a sentence and I find it difficult to resist!

MiniDisc

Most people seem to think that MiniDisc's day is done. They are probably right.

I have an old Sharp MiniDisc player which I've used for recording stuff here and there. It's easy to use and does make good recordings; but transfering the audio to the computer is a bit of a hassle. Some time ago, Sony took steps to improve the transfer of audio from the computer to their players, but they limited the transfer the other way (allegedly to stop bootleggers.)

I went off and bought a CompactFlash recorder (it's so much easier to transfer files to the computer from a CompactFlash card) but the MiniDisc is appealing because you can leave the original files on the disc as a backup.

Sony has tried to pump new life into the MiniDisc with the Hi-MD format, and they now have announced the MZ-RH1 which will transfer audio to your computer using USB 2.0, and it will work with Macs. Woot!

But it's probably too late. MiniDisc never was that popular and has always been a bit of a niche product. As much as it makes sense - and it does make sense for some applications - I think it will get steamrollered by all the solid-state devices that can record audio.

Probably just as well. I don't need to be spending $360 on another recording device.

Carol Noonan

Carol Noonan performs Creatures of Habit with Kevin Barry and Duke Levine at Club Passim.

I really liked the song, and the jam at the end is icing on the cake!

Digital Trumpet

Hammacher Schlemmer's Digital Trumpet can generate over 20 sounds and allows musicians to perfect valve fingering, tempo, notes, and key changes before learning to master breath control and mouthpiece placement of an actual brass trumpet.

Sounds include; seven trumpets, eight brass instruments (including the tuba and trombone), five woodwinds (including oboe and clarinet), strings, and a synthesized human voice. By simply humming or singing into the mouthpiece, you create the notes and tones.

But at $399.95, wouldn't you be better off saving your pennies for a real trumpet?

Guitars Are A Fad

Video from National Association of Manufacturers covers history of Martin Company and takes you through the manufacturing process (though this video was made in 1996 so the manufacturing process has actually changed quite a bit in that time)

Martin Guitar Company

Karl, if you're watching...

Neil Young Appears on the Daily Show to promote his new concert Movie Heart of Gold. Talks about writing songs, the new movie and his dogs.

Neil Young on The Daily Show

Tonight. If I wasn't still sick I'd watch it. Hopefully I'll catch it repeated tomorrow.

Dear Prudence

Ryanhood covers The Beatles Dear Prudence.

Not the greatest video, but what do you expect when standing at the back of the room with a still digital camera capturing in video mode?

Owen Plant & Ryanhood

Owen Plant and Ryanhood played at Club Passim last night. This is a new song they co-wrote called (at the moment) "Move Me Round The Sun"

I'm An Idiot

...turns out I only have 256MB of memory in the iBook. Well, duh!

Time to order the upgrade

One Of Those Weeks

It's shaping up to be "one of those weeks" where you end up further behind where you started.

Finally got cranking with GarageBand last night and did some recording. It is fun to record yourself and then listen back and go 'that sucks.' For one thing; you can more easily identify where the sucking occurs. I did a bunch of experimenting with effects ('just how much echo and reverb do I need to add so that my voice doesn't sound horrid?') as well as recording just guitar. For the most part GarageBand worked fine, but I discovered that after recording a three minute piece and playing it back, GarageBand stopped during playback and threw up an error message that there wasn't enough memory to complete the operation. It stopped, and I could restart the playback okay - nothing was lost in the recording - but it is rather annoying that it got lost performing a fairly simple operation.

I had heard that GarageBand was a bit of a memory pig, and I only have 512 MB of memory in the iBook, but still! Had it happened after recording 20 minutes of audio, or after putting several tracks into a 3 minute piece I might have understood, but two tracks of only three minutes?!

Now I'm faced with the next issue; add more memory to the computer, and/or look for different software. I guess the obvious thing to do is upgrade memory; I just have always been wary about memory upgrades after a particularly unpleasant experience.

The adventure continues.

Next issue: how do I upgrade my crappy voice?

Longer Than It Should Have Been

I spent several hours yesterday trying to get the TonePort UX2 to work with software that I could use. It comes with some weird application that I just couldn't figure out. I had tried getting it to work with Deck, but had no luck. Deck didn't recognize the TonePort at all. I did get it to work with GarageBand okay, but it would only record one track at a time (the UX2 supports 2.)

So yesterday I checked through the Line 6 online forums and found a few interesting things.

1) someone asked if you can record multiple tracks at the same time in GarageBand, to which another person helpfully replied; Yes.
2) Other users recommended Tracktion from Mackie

I also discovered that there was a software update for the TonePort's software.

Armed with this information, I set about trying to get this all figured out last night.

The first thing I tried was updating the UX2's software. I had to register to download the software, and I was having network problems so it took a looong time to download the software. I mean a looong time. And then after I installed the software I discovered that it didn't solve the problem. Deck still didn't recognize the TonePort at all.

Then I tried Tracktion. Took a bit of figuring to get it to work with the TonePort, and I wasn't exactly thrilled with the interface. Also, the demo version plays an audible noise every few seconds just to be super annoying. I gave up after a while.

I then went to take a look at Bias's support, on the chance that maybe they had something about using the TonePort (nope) or that their forum might have something.

I had to find my product serial number to get into the forum. And when I did, I discovered a notice about there being a problem with Deck and Tiger (which I had to upgrade to when I installed the TonePort's software *sigh*) The notice said you could work around it by creating an Aggregate Device through Audio MIDI Setup. Insert a couple of hours of mucking about here. Long story short; discovered that the reason it wasn't working was that Deck doesn't support 24bit devices (i.e. TonePort.)

Then it occurred to me that I was using GarageBand 1.0 on the Mac, and I had a copy of GarageBand 2.0.

Sure enough, installed GarageBand 2.0 and discovered that it added a record button to each track; ta da!!! Now you can record to two tracks at once.

'
What did we learn from this? Not much other than the fact that what could have been solved in 15 minutes actually took me more than half a day.

Chaos and Creation in Abbey Road Studio

Well the show was awesome! I'm a big Beatles fan, and I've always liked Paul's stuff (okay, maybe not Ebony And Ivory) so I figured I'd find this at least interesting, but really I was blown away. I thing I really liked were the little demo's of multi-track recording that he did, as well as the little comments he threw out here and there. The musical performance's were - as expected - pretty damn flawless, and he performed a mix of new stuff and old.

For those that missed it, Paul put on a show at Abbey Road studio's for a small audience that was videotaped and shown on PBS as part of their Great Performances series. I'm pretty sure that it was done in Studio 2, which is the one the Beatles used. It's not the largest studio at Abbey Road, but it's big enough to hold a small orchestra.

Paul played several new songs, as well as some old numbers, performing little snippets of other songs here and there. Nearly everything was just him playing either guitar or piano, but it was much more than just a music performance.

Highlights for me included:

The demonstration of multi-track recording (using an old 4-track recorder!) where he recorded sound created by rubbing the top of wine glasses, and a harmonium, and then sang the intro to Band on the Run

The performance of Lady Madonna with piano and new arrangement

The "Elvis Bass" performance

And at the end when he did another little multi-track example using a digital recording system.

There were a lot of other great things about the show, and I really wish it was another hour long! I'm hoping they'll release it on DVD; hopefully with additional material!

Highly recommended!

I Know What I'll Be Watching

Tonight on most PBS stations (in my case, WGBH at 10:00pm)
PAUL MCCARTNEY: Chaos And Creation At Abbey Road premieres.

I guess I could wait for it to appear on YouTube, but I'm going to try and catch it on television tonight. The following is from the PBS website:

In this unique concert, the legendary Paul McCartney returns to Studio 2 at London's Abbey Road Studios (where most of the Beatles' recordings were made) for a fascinating journey through his songwriting career, from his very first Beatles song to the work for his new album, CHAOS AND CREATION IN THE BACKYARD.

Helter Skelter

Paul McCartney at the Grammies.

Guitar Humidification

Spring is almost here. In the northeast we can almost taste it. Oh, there's at least another month of wretched weather ahead of us, a good snow storm maybe, but that's beside the point; we're over the hump.

Which means that guitar humidification is becoming less of an issue. But before we forget about it until November, here's a link to an article about making cheap guitar humidifiers from a sponge and a plastic bag. Kind of a downer for those of us that swear by Dampit's (which cost about $15 each!)

Johnny Cash - Hurt

I've been too busy tied up with school vacation week to do much of anything else.

Spending way too much time on YouTube though...what I can't figure out is; how are they paying for this?! Well, whatever, enjoy it while you can...

'Clapton's Guitar' Book Reading

Book reading and discussion of guitar building revolving around the book 'Clapton's Guitar' at the Concord Bookstore, MA, Feb 19th, 2006. A local event I videotaped, this is just a summary I threw together.

It's A UI Thing

I downloaded the aforementioned FretPet to give it a try. Fortunately it's shareware or trialware (not sure which) but I managed to download it and give it a quick try out.

The bad news; it opens up a bunch of windows and I have no idea what I'm supposed to do! I can't even figure out how to simply display a C chord. I can click on the fretboard and mark strings to 'play' and therefore draw my own C chord, but I can't get it to show me a C chord, and I feel like it should do that.

And it does all these other things in other windows and they don't mean anything to me. It looks like it should be interesting, but I don't know what I'm supposed to do! It's very frustrating. I spent a good five minutes messing about with it and was none the wiser for it.

I guess I'm going to have to actually read the documentation if I'm going to figure out how to do anything with this program, which I think is rediculous. Some of these functions should have been really easy to figure out. It should have led me in and encouraged me to use it, not leave me stranded before we even get out to sea.

Guy Davis - Things About Coming My Way

Guy Davis, a great blues player, was back at Club Passim last night. Here's his performance of Things About Coming My Way

With A Name Like FretPet...

...it's got to be good?

Came across a link to a Mac OS X application called FretPet X which is described as:

"FretPet is a unique guitar-oriented music sequencer, an educational tool for learning music theory, a controller for software and external synthesizers, a reference for all things relating to notes, chords, keys, and scales. and an indispensible assistant for creating coherent musical compositions with ease."

It looks kind of cool and would - if nothing else - save me from having to go to Chord Finder all the time.

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!