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Christmas time is here!

12/19/2014

End of the week miscellany in my guitar world.

This will probably my last display of my Christmas tunes at my regular gig at the Daily Brew tomorrow. The irony that always strikes me is that long about this point in the Christmas season I’m finally playing my bunch of seasonal tunes fairly well. And after next Thursday, they get tucked back in the recesses of my mind until next year, when again I will begin practicing them too late! Somehow it’s always tough to begin practicing them in September (when I should!). I try to use this fact with my students, i.e., don’t wait too long to prepare for a performance. Oh well, do as I say, not as I do, as some smart person once said. In any case, it will be fun to play them one more time. I have a pretty nice instrumental arrangement of “Oh, Holy Night” that listeners seem to enjoy. The only downside is when some lady from a local church choir decides to sing along, in tune….or not. OK, I should shut up about that. Enough with the humbug, it’s Christmas for goodness sake!

I read an interesting bit of trivia recently. In the movie classic “From Here to Eternity” there is a small scene in which a guitar player sings a little ditty called “Re-enlistment Blues.” Turns out that is guitar great Merle Travis, whose name has become attached to a style of guitar playing we know as Travis-picking. I guess most hardcore (older!) guitarists knew this but it was news to me. Next time that movie is on, check it out. Cool little song!

I did a little experiment recently. One of the necessary accessories we all use is a capo. I’ve been using the Kyser capo for many years and while it works just fine, it is a bit bulky and sometimes gets in the way when I’m playing unless it is angled slightly. This means that a portion of the capo sits a bit far away from the fret and this can allow the strings on that side of the neck to buzz or be muffled. So I thought I’d invest in a few other brands and see if there might be something better on the market. I started with the newer version of the G7 capo, which is a bit narrower than the first generation G7. It seems to work quite well but is a bit more labor intensive to adjust – it must sit evenly across the frets and squeezing the locking mechanism too hard can make string go out of tune. Still, it doesn’t have the bulk of the Kyser so I’ll probably keep that one in the mix. I’ve always liked the look of Shubb capos and I tried one of those but that too required too much adjustment with the thumb screw to make it apply just the right amount of tension. I also tried the Paige, which has very little bulk but I found the arm difficult to clip into the curved section, which must be done before adjusting the tension screw. My conclusion is that I will most likely just stick with my ol’ reliable Kyser. You mileage may very, as they say.

Finally, a short story. I recently spoke with an old friend who I hadn’t heard from in quite a while. He is a good guitar and mandolin player and owned a small shop in Mystic, Connecticut where we both grew up. Back in the 1970s he began seeking out and collecting what we know refer to as vintage instruments. Back then, they were just old guitars! One summer he got a lead on a lady in a small town in upper New York State who had a couple mandolins she wanted to sell. He made an appointment to visit her, and she pulled out two cases from a closet and inside where her late husbands instruments: a matched set of a Gibson F5 mandolin and a mandola (a slightly larger type of mandolin). He knew what they were immediately and upon inspection he found signatures inside of the legendary inventor of the F5 design, Lloyd Loar, each instrument with sequential serial numbers and dated 1909. And both were in remarkable condition. Even then (back in 1979) the Loar Gisbons were known to be something of Holy Grails and my friend immediately offered the lady $5000 for the pair, at which point she just about fainted. Remember – this was well before the current vintage instrument craze and way before the internet. My buddy told the lady that he had to be forthcoming, that they were worth more than that. But she was thrilled to get the $5k and gladly took it.

I asked my friend what happened to those instruments. He told me that he held onto them for a while but a few years later sold the mandolin for $12,000, which is a tiny fraction of what it would be worth today.

“But,” he said, “Last month I sold the mandola to a private collector from Europe. Do you want to guess what I got for it?”

“A LOT!” I relied.

“A cool $150,000!” he said.

Now that’s what I call a Christmas present!

Peace, good music, and wishing you a Merry Christmas too!

Gene

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Guitar falacies

12/16/2014

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Recently I’ve heard and read a fair amount of incorrect assumptions about guitars and playing. I’m sure I could find some conflicting opinions about some of these, but here goes:

“Electric guitars are easier to play than acoustic guitars.”

Well, yes – if you’re only talking about pressing down on the strings. Most (but not all) electrics are strung with much thinner strings than the average steel-string acoustic guitar but there is another consideration. Any time you make contact with the strings on an electric, you hear a sound through your amp. That includes the very act of placing your fingers on the strings, moving them up or down the neck, or less than perfect attack with a pick. In other words, you are much more likely to get extraneous noise on an electric guitar. This is an important consideration if you care about clear, clean playing.

“Nylon string acoustic guitars are easier to play than steel string acoustic guitars.”

Again, if you’re only considering the act of pressing down, that may be true. However, most true classical guitar have a MUCH wider and usually, thicker, neck than steel string acoustics. So you have to reach farther around the neck, which for most people negates the advantage of softer feeling strings. The new generation of so-called “hybrid” nylon string guitars are a bit easier, but they too have somewhat wider necks than the average steel string acoustic. Then there’s the debate about the sound of a nylon-string vs. a steel string, but that is a separate discussion.

“The lower the action on my guitar, the better.”

Low action (the distance between the strings and the fretboard) is a good thing, most of the time. It just makes playing easier. But if you’re going to strum with some authority on a guitar with very low action you will probably get buzzes and rattling sounds as the aggressively vibrating strings bounce against the frets above where you are pressing down. If you’re purely a finger-style player, low action can certainly work to your advantage. But if you use a flat pick most of the time you will have to sacrifice a bit of ease in pressing down with your fretting hand to avoid those nasty buzzes. For what it’s worth, many years ago I played a bluegrass festival and the great Doc Watson was set to go on just after our set. I had the opportunity to look very closely at Doc’s guitar and guess what? His heavy strings sat so high off the neck that most of us would struggle to play his guitar but I’m sure that is one reason why his punchy, crystal clear flat picking is always a joy to hear. Of course, his massive talent and technique may have something to do with it too (!).

“Thin flat picks make it easier to strum.”

I believed that, way back when. But eventually a very fine guitarist made me aware that what I really was doing was depending upon the flexing of the pick to do what I should have been doing with my wrist, i.e., staying loose and controlling the stroke with my wrist. Also, I was breaking about a half-dozen picks during every concert! I forced myself to graduate to mediums, and eventually to heavy gauge flat picks. And you know what? My technique improved and so did my sound. Many years ago there was a picture essay in one of the guitar magazines that showed close-ups of the picks used by many famous guitarists and amazingly, the fastest, cleanest players in every style used thick, non-flexing picks. It was a revelation to me.

“Guitars made by (Martin, Taylor, Gibson…) are always great, compared to the cheaper imported ones.”

Wow, this is a huge can of worms! Of course you can reasonably expect a guitar for which you paid $1000 or much more will sound and play better than a cheap import from Asia. But just because the headstock has a logo from one of the highly revered American companies, don’t automatically assume it is going to sound like angels singing. I’ve played more than a few new and “vintage” (oh, I so dislike that term) guitars from big deal makers that were….dogs. And plenty that truly did sound like those angels. Likewise, I’ve played some cheapo imports that were better used for canoe paddles, but also a few that rivaled anything coming out of Nazareth or Bozeman. So, play lots and lots of guitars. I hope you fall in love with one, regardless of its heritage. And remember, the “perfect” guitar probably hasn’t been made yet!

Peace & good music,

Gene

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Time to change those strings!

12/5/2014

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A few tricks that I’ve learned over the years regarding string changes.

I’m often asked by my students – how often should I change my strings? There is not definitive answer because there are too many variables. The most important is how much do you sweat when you play? If your hands stay reasonable dry, a good set of strings should sound bright for a couple months, assuming you play just about every day. If your hands get sweaty or you live in a hot, humid climate it’s likely you’ll need to change them more often if you want your guitar to resonate to its maximum capability. Less obvious is the effect of strings going dead on acoustic guitars made of different types of wood. Generally speaking, guitars with mahogany bodies will sound good for a longer amount of time with “dead” strings than those made of rosewood. This is because rosewood is more dense than mahogany and strings that are gunked up with dirt and sweat do not transmit vibration as well as new ones, hence the dense rosewood will not resonate as well. The take-away here is that string changes are the least expensive way to keep a good guitar sounding good.

When it does come time to change strings, make a slight bend very close to the ball on the end of the string. This assures that the ball will rest against the bridge plate on the under side of the top, which is vital for maximum transmission of the vibration of the string to the top. While the ball end of an unbent string will most likely find its way to the bridge plate as you tune up, this may not always be the case; sometimes the ball will get stuck against the bottom of the bridge pin. Not only will this severely dampen the sound, but when this happens there is the real possibility the pin will come flying out as you tighten the string, which is disconcerting and annoying at the least. And possibly dangerous to your poor innocent playing partner who’s sitting across from you, waiting impatiently for you to finish changing your strings!

On the opposite end of the string, first and foremost, there is no need to tie a knot before tightening the string. That will only make the next string change more complicated and may result in piercing your finger or scratching the head stock when you try to push the string back through the hole in the post. Just wrap the string around the post 1 to 1 ½ times and push the string end through the hole, making sure the wrap is below the hole. In that regard, here’s one a guitar maker taught me years ago. Before cutting off the excess on the high E and B string, Put a sharp bend in the string about a half inch past where is exits the hole, then cut off the excess at a point that is the same length as distance between the hole and the bend. This leaves a short, “folded” section of excess string. That extra bit of string makes pushing the string back through the hole on the next string change much, much easier and should help you avoid stabbing your finger tip with the sharp ends of those skinny strings. (with the high E and B strings you should wrap the string about two or three times around the post before pushing the end through the hole, to keep the string from slipping as you tighten up the new string – but again, avoid knots!)

Be sure to wrap the low E, A, and D strings around the post in a counter-clockwise direction; the G, B and high E strings should be wrapped in a clockwise direction. With my less than perfect eyesight, I find it helpful to line up the hole in the post to be in a more or less horizontal direction so I can make an accurate guess just where that hole is when it’s time to push the end of the string through. This is not required of course, it just makes the job a lot easier.

Changing strings on a nylon string classical guitar or any steel string with an open or slotted head stock is definitely a bit more complicated and labor intensive. I will wrap the string all the way around the horizontal post on one side of the hole, then, keeping tension on the string, make another wrap on the other side of the hole before I then push the string end through the hole. That way, when the string is tightened it is crossed over itself and will be less inclined to slip. Just be sure you’re wrapping OVER the post, not coming from under the head stock.

Especially with nylon string guitars, I find it very helpful to use one of the many “string winder” devices that are available (I use one made by Planet Waves). These cool tools make string changing much quicker. Just be careful to avoid scraping the device against the side of the head of the guitar to avoid scratches. Some of those devices come with a string cutter and pin puller on the end but I stick to using a good quality small-jawed wire cutter to cut the strings and small pliers to pull the pins (straight up – do NOT wiggle the pin as it probably break). By the way, don’t cut the excess too close to the post as the string may slip back through as it’s tightened. Leaving about 3/8” is about right, then after you have cut, bend the excess down to avoid slippage and also stabbing your hand.

Always change strings one-at-a-time tune up as you proceed because this will keep tension on the neck. Repeatedly taking close to 200 pounds of pressure off a steel string guitar neck and then re-applying that pressure by taking all the strings off and then replacing them is a recipe for an early neck re-set job. It’s OK to do this very, very occasionally to clean the fingerboard but don’t make it a habit! I’m speaking from experience. I just about ruined my first good guitar, a 1970 Martin D-35 by doing this!

Peace & good music,

Gene

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Christmas time is here!

Guitar falacies

Time to change those strings!

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