Guitars

[Cowtown]

Cowtown , this thread is for you.

Just found it, thanks. Missed the tag.

 

[Cowtown]

Okay, left to right: A&L 12 string, for those moments when I want to play old jangly 60's stuff
Simon & Patrick Woodland, cedar top, cherry back and sides. 100% Canadian made. It's the one that's always out.
PRS Standard 22, ca. 1993
Tradition mandolin, a friend's wife gave it to me after he died a couple years ago
Martin D-35, 2013. Say no more.
Fender Leo 5 string banjo, 1980. Took the resonator off, it was way too loud that way
set of Lee Oskar harps (yes, incl Bb and the key before G ) on the Fender Blues Jr tube amp; Traynor acoustic amp behind the 12 string
Just bought a Martin Dreadnought Jr for road trips (not shown, it's at the shop for the set-up)
my Fender MIM Tele is on loan to my nephew

 

[RandomGuy]

The cherry back wins... Go figure. What's back/sides on the Martin? Interestingly, my father just picked up a $3k Taylor, with a maple back...huh? Bests his mahogany back Martin, for his purposes... Surprised the hell out of me.

 

[Cowtown]

The cherry back wins... Go figure. What's back/sides on the Martin? Interestingly, my father just picked up a $3k Taylor, with a maple back...huh? Bests his mahogany back Martin, for his purposes... Surprised the hell out of me.

The D-35 is Indian rosewood back and sides and bridge, striped ebony fret board. I wanted rosewood there too, but I couldn't walk away from the deal over that. It's a bigger, rounder, fuller sound, lots more bottom than the D-18 I traded in on it, which had a little more punch but not quite the warmth. Not suggesting the D-35 sounds flabby either, still has very good note definition across all three octaves, although a little less so above the tenth fret . I'm using Daddario nickel-bronze 12-53's. Easily my favorite acoustic strings. A little more expensive but worth it.

 

[RandomGuy]

Sounds like a good one. My Larrivee has all the same wood, in all the same places. I'd review it exactly as you did your D35. Buddy has the same model(Larrivee), with Mahogany back/sides.. Rosewood has the warmth, and bottom. The mahogany is more high end focused, sounds a little more dimensional in the upper registers... Rosewood has the warmth/bottom. All good choices, based on taste.

Where's your single coil guitar?

Kidding. I almost bought a Les Paul. Just couldn't deal with the humbuckers..

 

[bcubs9497]

Picked up another SG yesterday. Screaming deal, too. Neck profile was perfect; certainly not a "baseball bat", and a just a wee bit thicker than something from Ibanez.

 

[bcubs9497]

For your listening pleasure, or pain (soundcloud): Steve Clark

 

[bcubs9497]

The D-35 is Indian rosewood back and sides and bridge, striped ebony fret board. I wanted rosewood there too, but I couldn't walk away from the deal over that. It's a bigger, rounder, fuller sound, lots more bottom than the D-18 I traded in on it, which had a little more punch but not quite the warmth. Not suggesting the D-35 sounds flabby either, still has very good note definition across all three octaves, although a little less so above the tenth fret . I'm using Daddario nickel-bronze 12-53's. Easily my favorite acoustic strings. A little more expensive but worth it.

A question; do you use a standard tuning on your accoustics, or drop a half or whole step? Also, what about string height?

 

[Cowtown]

A question; do you use a standard tuning on your accoustics, or drop a half or whole step? Also, what about string height?

Generally standard tuning. I like to noodle along with recorded songs, so it's good for most of those. A lot of songs I like have been recorded down a half or even a full step. Blue Rodeo's Already Gone is down a 1/2, lots of CCR stuff is down a full step; Neil Young's acoustic My My, Hey Hey is down a full step (played with a Bb harp, btw). Jackson Browne's These Days has migrated down over the years. I think the original recording was capoed on 5 and today if you see him he's generally down to first or even open.

I use a few open tunings, E for blues & slide, and a number of Dylan songs on his Blood On The Tracks album; G for a few Stones tunes (esp. Brown Sugar ). Young's Ohio is double drop D, and I found a neat way to play Browne's Running on Empty in open G but with the 6th string in C, which you have to damp in every chord except the C.

A guy I know at one of the local guitar shops plays in a band and they tune everything down a 1/2 step to save the voices so they can get through the whole gig. Like me, they're not kids anymore, either. That's actually a common practice, as I understand it.

For string height I can't give you a number, especially as it varies from 1 to 12, also string to string at those frets. So far as I know anyway, but that's getting out of my league. The tech I go to takes care of that anyway (he actually makes guitars). But I have small hands so as a rule tighter action is better for me and he knows that.

 

[Cowtown]

Sounds like a good one. My Larrivee has all the same wood, in all the same places. I'd review it exactly as you did your D35. Buddy has the same model(Larrivee), with Mahogany back/sides.. Rosewood has the warmth, and bottom. The mahogany is more high end focused, sounds a little more dimensional in the upper registers... Rosewood has the warmth/bottom. All good choices, based on taste.

Where's your single coil guitar?

Kidding. I almost bought a Les Paul. Just couldn't deal with the humbuckers..

I played several Les Pauls before I bought the PRS. They're too freaking heavy and I'm not a kid anymore. They also have a tendency to break between the neck and headstock because of the angle there, which incidentally is the same feature that gives them such great sustain (so I'm told).

I like the small shouldered L-03 Larivees. A guy I know has a 1980 Larrivee L-01 he's trying to sell that looks like someone's been skating on it, but the sound is jaw-dropping. I'd like to have it, but he wants a couple yards for it, and it doesn't really sound better than my D-35. But maybe, if I had a bigger den ... you know how it goes

And to be honest, I can't tell you the last time I played the PRS. It's got a neat look, bird inlays and the body is solid mahogany, no cap. I'll probably sell it soon, or deal it on a swamp ash Tele I saw on a rack across town. But honestly, since I don't perform or go to open jams, I don't really need anything with that kind of pop, so it's just an indulgence.

 

[bcubs9497]

Generally standard tuning. I like to noodle along with recorded songs, so it's good for most of those. A lot of songs I like have been recorded down a half or even a full step. Blue Rodeo's Already Gone is down a 1/2, lots of CCR stuff is down a full step; Neil Young's acoustic My My, Hey Hey is down a full step (played with a Bb harp, btw). Jackson Browne's These Days has migrated down over the years. I think the original recording was capoed on 5 and today if you see him he's generally down to first or even open.

I use a few open tunings, E for blues & slide, and a number of Dylan songs on his Blood On The Tracks album; G for a few Stones tunes (esp. Brown Sugar ). Young's Ohio is double drop D, and I found a neat way to play Browne's Running on Empty in open G but with the 6th string in C, which you have to damp in every chord except the C.

A guy I know at one of the local guitar shops plays in a band and they tune everything down a 1/2 step to save the voices so they can get through the whole gig. Like me, they're not kids anymore, either. That's actually a common practice, as I understand it.

For string height I can't give you a number, especially as it varies from 1 to 12, also string to string at those frets. So far as I know anyway, but that's getting out of my league. The tech I go to takes care of that anyway (he actually makes guitars). But I have small hands so as a rule tighter action is better for me and he knows that.

I mostly play electric; have only a "cheapie" Jasmine by Takamine acoustic. It's been around for a while, but only recently decided to mess with it. Decidedly different than any of my electrics. Shaved the saddle a bit to take the action down, and slapped in a set of phosphor bronze 11s. It's chewing my left hand up a wee bit, but I've noticed that since starting to noodle with that Jasmine, I'm able to fly a bit more on the electrics.

Also, an interesting thing. The Jasmine sounds GREAT! Lots of good mids, with just enough low end and highs to make everything sweet.

 

[RandomGuy]

A Tele... There you go Cowtown. If you have the right amp, single coils can be a treat, and a hard habit to break...

You acoustic guys always seem to be alright with different tunings.. Just getting comfy with open G - where I proceed to pound on the Bb... hah. If I hear something pretty for too long... I need to destroy it. Needless to say, the Larrivee is generally safe in her case.

 

[Cowtown]

A Tele... There you go Cowtown. If you have the right amp, single coils can be a treat, and a hard habit to break...

You acoustic guys always seem to be alright with different tunings.. Just getting comfy with open G - where I proceed to pound on the Bb... hah. If I hear something pretty for too long... I need to destroy it. Needless to say, the Larrivee is generally safe in her case.

I knew a guitar shop guy who said "We keep the Tele's in hard cases to protect the real guitars."

I like to run mine through a Blues Jr amp with a BD-2 distortion pedal.

 

[RandomGuy]

Tele is definitely next on my list.


Blues jr's are nice. Kind of a hot rodded black face. If you want a real treat with a tele, play it through a tweed. The black face variety amps were intentionally made more polite. Tweed guy, myself. Buddy is a bf guy...they are glorious together... absolutely perfect.

If you ever miss humbuckers, you probably won't through a tweed. Marshall jtm 45 is just a tweed. basssman with kt66 tubes.. 6l6's have a natural mid scoop, or "kink" in the frequency response. The k in kt66 stands for kinkless. Even more mids, with glass of a 6l6...

With those amps a tele NEVER sounds weak. If you need a little more oomph, a p90 does the trick.(can you tell I hate humbuckers? Although, the low output versions through the right amp, I can play for almost 30 minutes til I'm begging for a strat.

 

[Cowtown]

Tele is definitely next on my list.


Blues jr's are nice. Kind of a hot rodded black face. If you want a real treat with a tele, play it through a tweed. The black face variety amps were intentionally made more polite. Tweed guy, myself. Buddy is a bf guy...they are glorious together... absolutely perfect.

If you ever miss humbuckers, you probably won't through a tweed. Marshall jtm 45 is just a tweed. basssman with kt66 tubes.. 6l6's have a natural mid scoop, or "kink" in the frequency response. The k in kt66 stands for kinkless. Even more mids, with glass of a 6l6...

With those amps a tele NEVER sounds weak. If you need a little more oomph, a p90 does the trick.(can you tell I hate humbuckers? Although, the low output versions through the right amp, I can play for almost 30 minutes til I'm begging for a strat.

Got my eye on one of these, gonna change out the pick guard for a black one.

Fender Musical Instruments - Classic Series '50s Telecaster Lacquer, Maple Fingerboard, White Blonde

 

[RandomGuy]

Yeah, too much white.

You like the vintage frets? I'm stuck on the larger/Jumbo's... Seems like I have too much finger in the fretboard... A bit tougher for me to play. Guessing your prs has Jumbo's...