[Steve Mac]

I've never fallen in love with an acoustic before I met this guitar...well once there was a 58 Gibson, but no chance of owning it. I dunno. I almost forgot the whole scene that's pretty much exclusive to guitars. Ya know, ya get one and you stare at it with yer high school freaks and say things like.."It's tone-a-licious". I know it's stupid but it's fun anyways.

It's the Martin HD-40MK (mark knopler signed)
It's pretty much a throwback to an older style, but the sound is VERY hip.

[oobe pee pee]

allsome.

[C.K. Haun]

I wish I had a clue about guitars.

I can do basic chord stuff (enough to not fake chords in MIDI), but being able to pick up the nuaces of what makes (or can make, treated right) a guitar really sound sweet are beyond me.

[clif marsiglio]

Heh! I'm simply happy with my $300 Epiphone...I love geetars, but like CK have no clue about what makes them good. As long as it stays relatively in tune, I'm set (I did have mine set up by someone that did a bit of filing on the bridge and otherwise as he thought the strings I prefer would have better intonation...personally I couldn't tell the difference ).

If its good enough for Knopler, its gotta be a good geetar (unless he's long for that money for nothing and signing ANYTHING these days).

clif

[bitdump]

Nice,

I am accually more a bass player, and ended up a synth goon because I got paid. Started as a drummer back in the day. Anyway I am a junky for a nice guitar too, I own about 5 of em. Martins are my favs for acous. Used to record one of them made in the 50's all the time, never sounded bad. Right now I got a crap one I like because it is weird in a good way, and am haven't been thinking about em for a while as I've been thinking more anout idiophones and these cool plate things I played at the Frankfurt messe.

[kad]

I am the proud owner of a Heritage H-535. Basically, it's a hand-made Gibson ES-335, very SWEET!!. I adore this guitar and I can't recommend the Heritage line strongly enough. As far as bass goes, I have a Fender American Standard Jazz, a Yamaha BB-1600 and a vintage '72 Rickenbacher 4001.

Guitar is actually my native instrument - started playing when I was 12. At about age 14, I started teaching myself piano, mainly to impress chicks!

Kirk

[jkashner]

Hi Steve,

That's a beauty!!! I'd really like to know what you string it with (manufacturer-? and gauges-?).

I've got a D-28 6-string and a D-35 12-string (circa 1972). I've never been happy with my choices of strings for them, though. And I've tried various combos of Martin Marquis, and lots of others. I love that "Martin richness with an edge", but have had a lot of trouble finding that lately with what I've tried to string it with (mostly Marquis medium gauge and various combos of individual string gauging. Any suggestions?

Also, I had a Barcus Berry pickup permanently mounted inside the 6-string when I got it, and can't find the "right" pre-amp for it (compounded by my "stringing problems" too, I'm sure). Have internal pickups gotten a lot better since then, or is a "vintage" Barcus Berry still "a good thing"?

...jim
the cosmos is a very funny place

PS: for keyboardists, doesn't it just suck that you have top have big ol' (right hand) fingernails to play steel string acoustic (I'm a big JT^2 fan {James Taylor[absolutely need nails] and Jethro Tull[a pick works great for most of their stuff]). Guitar is one of my "second instruments", so when I go to keyboards with those fingernails, I sound like my own metronome.

PPS: And lately, I've been kicking myself on a daily basis for selling my 60's-something Gibson Hummingbird and Melody-Maker, and my 25th anniversary edition "sunburst tiger-striped" Les Paul back when I was too young to know a great thing when I had it. Mark Twain had it dead-on when he said something like it's unfortunate that youth is wasted on the young.

[Steve Mac]

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jkashner:
Hi Steve,
That's a beauty!!! I'd really like to know what you string it with (manufacturer-? and gauges-?).

Thanks...Isn't it though? I swear, the picture doesn't do justice. It's the little things. And I tried em all...Taylors,takamines,Gibsons(sigh...another story), etc.

I'm gonna be doing a lot of finger picky stuff. This guitar has one of the best "balanced" frequency curves I've ever heard on an acoustic. I think I can get away with lights. I've had problems with projection with acoustic instruments in certain ranges and usually a heavier string will pull it in a bit at the expense of the action. Depending on the material, that may be a good thing. Still, each guitar is unique. I have a friend with a Takamine that was so "personality free", not in a bad way, but it was well balanced, well built and strong sounding. So, he tried a set of phosphor bronze strings and he swears it woke the tone up. I don't suppose I'll need a specific string so much as a quality string and then get in the habit of changing them. I hate changing strings and that's the worst thing about acoustics.

Anyway, it's getting set up by a dude in Nashville who worked at the Matrin factory for 15 years...big advantage to this area! I'm sure he'll slap a set of basic Martin lights on.

I've got a D-28 6-string and a D-35 12-string (circa 1972). I've never been happy with my choices of strings for them, though.

Yeah, but those are fine guitars for sure!

The D-28 is a swiss army knife guitar. I swear you can do a lot with it and I was close to buying one. But, this is also it's greatest fault. I think this may be why you are on a string hunt. Because it's a fairly flat instrument tonally. Anyway, the 3 - 28s I previewed did not ring like the top of the line 45s.

This is what pushed me to the this instrument, because it sits between these 2 worlds of functionality and personality. Maybe I'm yapping too much, but I've been searching for a real guitar for years and years and for me...FINALLY, I found it.

I thought about the 5-6k 45, but to tell ya the truth, I thought it was ugly. Soap bar shaped inlays? Are they nuts? Normas have soap bar block inlays. Geesh, are they retarded or what?

Also, I had a Barcus Berry pickup permanently mounted inside the 6-string when I got it, and can't find the "right" pre-amp for it (compounded by my "stringing problems" too, I'm sure). Have internal pickups gotten a lot better since then, or is a "vintage" Barcus Berry still "a good thing"?

I think if the piezo is well mounted, it's still good. But, my process is to rip everything apart until it's right. Still, I've never liked piezo sound. Too brittle. I use em still because it's a clean way to move the guitar sound around and mixed with a mic it can help. You still cannot beat a great microphone and a super mic preamp to capture real acoustic sound. I've tried, lord knows I've tried...but especially if you record at home...go the mic route.

Matter of fact, I just found the ultimate mic preamp for an acoustic guitar. ~570-600 dollars and worth every penny. It's the Grace Design Model 101. No frills, clean as a whistle(whistles come to think of it can get pretty slimy), perfect, perfect,perfect for an acoustic guitar though...heed these words!!!

I've got a 66 Gibson acoustic with 6 individual RMC piezo pickups that feed a roland 8 pin connector. With these pickups I can send the signal to a pitch 2 midi converter or a roland vg series or a mono signal straight out, via the RMC external "Poly driver II" preamp.

PPS: And lately, I've been kicking myself on a daily basis for selling my 60's-something Gibson Hummingbird and Melody-Maker, and my 25th anniversary edition "sunburst tiger-striped" Les Paul back when I was too young to know a great thing when I had it. Mark Twain had it dead-on when he said something like it's unfortunate that youth is wasted on the young.

I can't start to think about this without fear of sobbing. I've been a victim of this too....

[Steve Mac]

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jkashner:
Guitar is one of my "second instruments", so when I go to keyboards with those fingernails, I sound like my own metronome.

OK, this has been the worst nightmare of my life the last two years. I have been getting into the habit of using fingernails for everything with the right hand. I have come close to tears on breaking a nail and I know it sounds faggy, but my wife catches me working on shaping the nails and applying a nail hardener creme and all I hear is "Go Girlfriend".

Plus, this is a transitional period for me on the instrument because everything I learned is being re-learned without a pick. Linear ideas are harder...thirds and fifths are easier...etc.

[jkashner]

Hi Steve,

Quote

Matter of fact, I just found the ultimate mic preamp for an acoustic guitar. ~570-600 dollars and worth every penny. It's the Grace Design Model 101. No frills, clean as a whistle(whistles come to think of it can get pretty slimy), perfect, perfect,perfect for an acoustic guitar though...heed these words!!!

What mic(s) do you use to feed your Grace 101 with when recording your acoustic guitar(s)?

Quote

Plus, this is a transitional period for me on the instrument because everything I learned is being re-learned without a pick. Linear ideas are harder...thirds and fifths are easier...etc.

I know that feeling - really painful until you get it intuitively. Only happened for me after a whole lot of arduous practice, but when I got and nailed "Blackbird" (both Beatles' and Kenny Rankin's versions) and JT's "Close Your Eyes" many moons ago, man what a great feeling that was. And, (here's the cruel joke of nature part), like most really tough things you work on for a very long time to achieve, it was like a light-switch - it just happened one day - not that everything is easy now, (I wish!!!), but most things are at least in reach.

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my wife catches me working on shaping the nails and applying a nail hardener creme and all I hear is "Go Girlfriend".

When I had nails, my wife and kids started asking me if I was going through some kind of Howard Hughes phase . That, and I seemed to find every way possible to break them, even though I was doing the nail hardener thing too. So I finally gave up (yeah, a wimp, I know) and play as best I can with my short nails and finger pads - not the same, but not too terrible.

And, remember REO Speedwagon's great album title: You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can't Tuna Fish? I don't know about you, Steve, but I'd also suggest that You Can Tune A Piano, But You Can't Tuna 12-String Guitar Unless You're Leo Kottke .

best regards... ...jim
the cosmos is a very funny place

[kad]

When I was in high school (back in the 1800's), I got very serious about classical guitar for a couple years. I tried doing the fingernail thing and I hated it. The tone was thin and scratchy and the feel was horrible. I decided to go strictly finger tips - I liked the tone so much better. I also got big into the Chet Atkins style for a while after high school. I play mainly with a pick now.

I must say that my all time favorite fingerstyle guitarist is Lenny Breau. He died tragically about 20 years ago, but he was simply phenomenal. In fact, Chet Atkins referred to him as "The greatest guitarist in North America". They did an album together called "Standard Brands" which is a MUST for any guitarist. Lenny's rendition of "Polka-dots and Moonbeams" on that album is just stunning...

Kirk

[PeterS]

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... You Can't Tuna 12-String Guitar Unless You're Leo Kottke[/i] .

That makes me feel better. I've spent far to much time tuning 12 strings!

The idea of using samples for guitar parts does not sit well with me, but I'd consider a nice sampled 12 string just to avoid constant tuning.
The only upside is that it's one way to learn something about relative pitch.

[jkashner]

Hi kad,

Quote

kad
... my all time favorite fingerstyle guitarist is Lenny Breau ... In fact, Chet Atkins referred to him as "The greatest guitarist in North America".

Never came across Lenny Breau, but, because Chet felt that way, have started to check him out (at a Lenny Breau web site) - great stuff in the few and very brief clips I heard there. At that web site, Chet is also quoted as saying about Lenny, I think if Chopin had played guitar, he would have sounded like Lenny Breau, high praise from on high for sure.
**kad, what albums would recommend (in order of most favorite / most illustrative of his fingerstyle talents)?

I wonder how many people think that Chet Atkins was only a good country guitar player? I've always thought of Chet as The King of fingerstyle guitarists. And when it comes to best ever multiple genre guitarist, Chet tops my list. As a radio commentator once said about Vladimir Horowitz, Now that he's gone, there's no number one, but just several very good number two's. Same goes for Chet in my book.

I was also fortunate enough to see Andrés Segovia perform when he was in his 80's - unbelievably talented classical guitarist. When (if) I'm 80, I just hope to drool as well as he could play classical guitar in his 80's.

And in the area of classical jazz guitar, was also fortunate to see Charlie Byrd, Barney Kessel, and Herb Ellis perform - as a friend of mine likes to say, they didn't suck!!!

best regards... ...jim
the cosmos is a very funny place

[kad]

Hi Jim,

I would start with the aforementioned "Standard Brands", featuring Chet atkins and Lenny Breau. The recording quality is very good. Many of Lenny's recording's are tainted by poor recording quality - "Live at Donte's" is a very good example of this. An Amazon.com search on "Lenny Breau" should be helpful. I just ordered "Five O'clock Bells" - I'll let you know how it is...

Take Care!

Kirk

[kad]

My H-535 does not have the out-of-phase pot - it just has the standard Les Paul style pickup selector (3-way toggle switch). I wish I had the out-of-phase pot; I've heard it can produce great Tele/Strat sounds. Mine totally nails the classic ES-330 sound, which is perfect for me! I have the Almond Sunburst finish. What a beautiful line of guitars!! Once the world catches on to Heritage, Gibson will be hurting!!

Kirk

[kad]

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I would start with the aforementioned "Standard Brands", featuring Chet atkins and Lenny Breau

OK - I take that back. I just got "Five o'clock Bells" over the weekend. Now THAT'S the one to start with!! It's Lenny at his very best - just solo guitar. Actually, Amazon sells this as a "two in one" CD - it contains Five o'Clock Bells and another complete album called "Mo' Breau". For anyone with ANY interest in guitar, this CD is a MUST! Lenny undoubtedly had the most sophisticated harmonic vocabulary of any guitarist I've ever heard. His primary influence was (pianist) Bill Evans, and his voicings are very "piano-esque". However, it was his incredible ear for knowing exactly what to play where that made him such a genius. To my ears, he was to solo guitar what Gene Puerling is to vocal arranging. Do yourself a favor and get this CD immediately!!


Kirk