My Equipment – Page 2

Trying out Thumb picks

October 28, 2007 by Chris

While looking for thumb picks to try and spice up my picking style, I came across the regular/traditional plastic ones and the newer look and feel plastic and metal ones.

I know that you’ve all seen the plastic thumb picks before and they all seem to have the same feel to them. When you put them on they have this loose tension to them. It has the illusion that it would slide off my thumb fairly easily and that poses a problem with me. While playing hockey I tend to almost squeeze the sap out of it when playing and I bring that attitude to my guitar game.

The one that Tim Cameron directed me to was the National “L” one.

This one has a different feel to it all together. It has a nice firm feel all the way around your thumb, but the exposed pick maybe a little bit too big and clunky for my liking.

The next one that I was shown was a little bit unique from your everyday thumb pick. This one is called the PROPIK.

The one to the left is called a Good Grip Thumb Pick.

I liked this one because it allows me to adjust the tension of it to my liking. The best feature of this one is that the exposed pick that I will attack the strings with is smaller then most thumb picks.

I do not need a big clumsy thing on my thumb that is not as precise as a regular guitar pick. Therefore I give this product one thumbs up! Get it?

If you use any of these picks, please let us know the pros and cons of each one!

Keep on Jammin’

Searching for new guitar picks

October 23, 2007 by Chris

As you know I’m trying to add a little something to my guitar picking techniques. I went to the 12th fret in Toronto and looked at some unique picks that I have or have not used in the past. As usual Mr Tim Cameron was the one who stepped up to the plate and let me delve into his insight of guitar picks and styles.

I had told him that I was trying to use a regular pick with thumb and index finger then move it to the ring and pinkie. He then tried to show me his way while playing air guitar,but then he decided to pick up a guitar beside him in order to show me the fine details.

He tends to grasp the pick with his index finger and then he closes his hand to where the knuckle and palm of his hand meet. It’s almost like making a fist, but he uses all the other fingers to pick.I never thought about way this, but the only problem with this is that I want to use my index finger while picking.

He uses a Snarling Dogs Brain pick that has tons of grip on the top portion of the pick. Check this out and look at the larger view. I’ve never seen, heard of or played with this type of pick before, but if you are a player who sweats a lot while playing then this IS the pick for you.

He then showed me the traditional Fender HEAVY pick, that has a tortoise shell swirly design. It has a Reuleaux triangle configuration.

This pick is just about the correct size I need, but it is too smooth to move back and forth from the intended positions. If it had finger grip patterns on it, it would be not bad. I bought it anyway and will try it out for a while.

Next topic will be the traditional and non-traditional thumb picks.

Keep on Jammin’

OMG you gotta hear it to believe it

October 4, 2007 by Chris

Now I already have a good pick-up system in my Larrivee L-03 but when went into my favorite guitar store, the 12th Fret in Toronto, I feel madly in love with the L.R. Baggs IMix.

Now I have been looking to update my pick-up system in my L0-3 lately and found many systems in which to chose from. I have narrowed it down to two items. (1) the Fishman Ellipse Blend vs. (2) the LR Baggs IMix.

When I went in I talked to my favorite guitar guy Tim Cameron. Being the honest guy that he is he immediately directed me to a acoustic guitar pick up god named Nevin. I told him what I was looking for and told him that I was just looking to hear the differences between the two and he paid as much attention to me as if I was going to pick one up right then and there, now that’s service!

He brought me two guitars that had the pick-up systems already in them and put me in their little music room, plugged me in and let me got at them. Wow, was I impressed with both!

First I tried the Fishman Ellipse Blend. It had a real nice sound but I was detecting feed back. I know that I was in a little room but for some reason the feeling and sound was off to me. I realize I am knew at the finer subtleties of acoustic pick ups, but it was a gut feeling. It was very refreshing to see that you can adjust the position of the mic inside.

Then I tried the LR Baggs iMIX. The sound was full, responsive to very fine picking and it can overpower your senses, in my view that is.

Guitarist realize that since the sound of the acoustic guitar is very complex and fickle, so therefore it is a must to use more than a single pickup to attempt to sense it.

The iMIX uses the Baggs iBeam under-bridge pickup with a Baggs Element under-saddle piezo. The Element pickup senses the strings and provides the presence and feedback resistance of piezo while the iBeam reads the sound inside the guitar and adds natural fidelity, albeit with increased feedback sensitivity. The signals from the the two pickups are blended, in this case via the rotary blend control, on a side-mounted, Baggs iMIX Onboard, pre-amp. This pre-amp also features three slider controls for volume, treble and bass, plus a phase reverse switch for a measure of elementary feedback control. A fingertip pressure releases the battery from its compartment for a quick change when required.

iBeam

Element

Now all that I have to do is get my wife on board!

Keep on Jammin’

Guitar side ports

September 28, 2007 by Chris

The one thing that I see in the evolution of the acoustic guitar today is its link with the past from Canada’s own, Glenn Gould.

He used a unique approach while playing in his later years, around 1983, when he took away part of the piano body to let the sound come out of the instrument in a unorthodox way.

First of all, the guy was way ahead of his time. What he did was to remove the wooden cover section that is used to cover the piano keys. He removed this part entirely. He would also close the piano lid on his concert piano, allowing the sound to be sent through the missing cover section of the piano.

This allowed him to hear the subtle tones while playing his music.

This was best shown in his 1980’s work of the gloomy nature of life. The slowness of some of his canon’s reflect the need for this type of sound exposure that the musician needs to fully understand what the audience hears, but as a very unique approach.

Second of all, the guy went to places that no one probably ever thought of venturing. I wonder if the person who thought of the guitar side ports ever watched Glenn Gould Hereafter? If he did, I bet this is where he may have got the idea, but then again I could be dead wrong.

I have been toying around with the idea of putting in a new state of the art pick up system in my Larrivee. The system is called the LR Baggs iMIX. It captures a lot of the character in my guitar with an active response to it. That means that the pickups pick up the aggressive or passive playing of the strings on the guitar.

Now in order to place it in there, I must have it installed inside the body above the sound hole, closest to my face. That’s fine with me. The next question is what in the world do I do with the hole that the factory installed system sat in? It would look mighty funny just viewing a rectangular opening right there in my face. Do I just leave it there or what should I do with it? Here is my best option, I think.

I have always wanted both of my acoustic guitars to have pick ups so I can have a back-up on stage. So why not put my old pick up from the Larrivee into my old Aspen acoustic guitar. Perfect, I think? Unfortunately if I do this I will have this opening on the side of the body near my chest where the old system was. It would look so odd and out of place that I would be reluctant to let anyone look at my guitar. So while talking about my problem with the guitar tech at the 12th fret, he gave me this fabulous idea of the side port!

They could change the look of the old hole and create a fancy looking design in it’s place!

This will allow a small portion of the sound to come up directly to me acting like another sound hole or a monitor if you will. This will not effect the tonal qualities of my baby I have been told. The tech had one in this part of the workshop that he made and let me try it out. Not only did it look very cool and original, but it was nice to have some sound coming from a part of the guitar that I have never heard it coming from in the past.

Now all I have to do is convince my wife about this one, wish me and my Larrivee luck will you all?

Keep on Jammin’

More on my 1959 Fender Duo Sonic

August 30, 2007 by Chris

This baby was first introduced to us in mid 1956, the original Duosonic (two pickups) were Fender’s 3/4 size, student model, 22.5″ short scale beginners guitars.

With the switch in the middle position, the two pickups are in series, giving a humbucking pickup type sound. These short scale student models were made to the same high quality standards and materials that Fender used for its more expensive models. For this reason, Duo-Sonics are very well made.

In late 1964 both models moved to second generation, coinciding with the introduction of the Mustang. A buddy of mind, Serge Roy of Brantford has one of these puppies! The “II” designation was then added to the DuoSonic and MusicMaster names. These models are more like the Mustang (except the Mustang has a vibrato), than the original DuoSonic/MusicMaster models. The differences in the new generation were in the body shape, pickguard, and electronics.

It was available with either a 22.5″ or 24″ scale, but is most often found with the longer scale. The 24″ scale Duo-Sonic II, Musicmaster II, and Mustang of the September 1965 to October 1966 period are sometimes found with a slab rosewood fingerboard, usually of Indian rosewood.

Some Fender experts today speculate that the slab board necks were leftovers from 1962 Jaguars. Don’t tell Serge about this one,ok?

No matter what is said about this vintage instrument the only thing that matters is how it plays and sounds. I am truly blessed by having this little gem of a guitar and I know that. If you ever get the opportunity to play a 1959 Fender Duo Sonic you will know what I mean and remember this post!

Keep on Jammin’

Time to overhaul my Gibson RD – Artist?

August 10, 2007 by Chris

This guitar is my baby! I have been through thick and thin with this thing. I now feel and fear that this perfect instrument has to be improved in one area and one area only.

I love the “character marks” on it, that means “wear and tear” for the uninitiated. The oxidization or colour change in the Ivory throughout the guitar, makes it look beautiful and vintage. The neck is perfect. The tuning pegs are still working quite well, stays in tune for ages. The active electronics need some work and I want to have that looked at. Now the only biggest drawback to it is the weight. If you ever had to play this thing for 2 hours while your playing live, you will know what I mean.

This is the only big obstacle that I have to deal with. The way to resolve this will tax my nerves to the limit.

By reading a great site in blog land, I’ve found that I have a little voice in my head pushing me more and more towards confronting this issue. The site is called Building the Ergonomic Guitar.

He says that the way to get the best results are to change to an ergonomic strap called “The Dare Strap“. This idea is the least invasive out there that he’s heard.

So I was just wondering if I should just router some areas on the back of the guitar to lighten up my load. I realize this sounds like some “Hillbilly that just fell off the turnip truck” idea but it may work? I am just asking for ideas here people. I don’t even own a router.

There is this guitar player in Brantford in the early 70 -90’s called Scott Merrit. The man was a god on guitar. He played in the open tuning style that I had only heard of at the time, but have never done anything quite like. I must admit that when he went into the local guitar shop called “Music and Sound”, I would just put down my guitar and pretend that I didn’t play. I know it was a fantastic missed opportunity by a little kid, but could you blame me I was in grade 8.

He was awarded a Juno for the best upcoming artist and vocalist in Canada in the mid 80’s. Scott had the same 1959 Fender Duo-Sonic that I have. The big difference between both of ours was that he had cut a handle hole in the upper right portion of the guitar where you might rest your right forearm on, while I left mine complete. It was the neatest thing to look at. While I was over at his place in high school, he showed it to me.

I guess if Jimmy Page can use this guitar at all of their Knebworth shows for Misty Mountain Hop throughout the 70’s, then it’s good enough for me!

If someone has ever done this type of work on their guitar or is very talented with a router, can you give me some advice on the pro’s and con’s or even alternatives to this procedure?

Keep on Jammin’

Getting the RD Artist ready for battle

March 28, 2007 by Chris

The other day I had to do a few errands like pick up some grocery’s and earth worms for our turtles. Oh BTW, we use to have lots of reptiles like, Chinese Water Dragons, and a HUGE Iguana named Napoleon that we called our son who I miss every day, and some turtles.

Before starting off I decided to go to the 12th Fret to finally start paying more attention to my electric guitar ambitions. I haven’t restrung my RD in years. Whenever I broke a string, I just put another one on from the pack that I bought ages ago.

Yes, I really do feel bad about not paying proper homage to this beauty but, I did not have any use for it for a long time.

While visiting the store, I ran into my favorite guitar technician Tim. This guitar master is very knowledgeable in his field. He’s the type of guy you can sit down with and ask for honest opinions about what direction you should take in any situation. Tim has the uncanny personal trait of making you feel relaxed and at home. He has that trustful older brother demeanor. He is also the proud papa of a 16 day old boy, whom I’m sure is a guitar prodigy to be.

So I told him what I was looking for and he started to ask me about what setting/intonation I was using. I felt a bit like a rookie when I told him I had no idea. So as not to directly acknowledge my stupidity, he started explaining my options to me. Ahhhh, finally dodging a big bullet. I was saying to myself, “thanx for not dwelling on that too long Tim!”

He asked what type of feel the guitar strings had in regards to malleability or flexibility and he directed my attention to the D’Addario XL EXL110’s. These electric strings are nickel wound and have a regular light gauge to them.

How you restring your guitar is the most important thing that you will ever do to your axe.

You have to make sure that the way you wind them around the tuning pegs are perfect in every way.

How you thread the string through the eyelet – or the little whole on the tuning head- is very important. The length at which you start winding it, the tension that you have on it, using your other hand, and how close they are placed together on the shaft of the tuning peg is paramount.

Imagine when you are measuring an angle. If you start a little bit off, as little as one degree, it will only get worst at the end of your project. Does that make sense to you?

The strings are on, and the windings look good. Now it’s time to start working them in! For further results, tune in next week!

Keep on Jammin’

My second amp – a Silvertone Sears modell 26122

March 19, 2007 by Chris

I can’t believe what you can find out there online.

I was writing a post today and as usual, drifted into la la land. Or should I say down memory lane.

I came across this guys site and he had the same amp that I had when I was in grade 7, I think. It was called a Sears-Simpson 12-watt head .

This amp was purely for looks. It had a huge cabinet that was very impressive to look at for the uninitiated guitar player wanna be. I do believe it only had a 12 inch speaker but the big black box made it look like many more were hiding in there.

I just kept this thing around and used it to play through until I was given my HIWATT. After a while I had a great idea on what to do with this under utilized big black box. I just to put it underneath my HIWATT to make it look even bigger. Boy was I the cat’s meow back in the day.

The speaker box was very light but durable. I never tried to hook it to the HIWATT because I thought that the speaker cones (the little round things in the middle of speakers) would end up being shot out it to the other side of a room.

This is the amp that I had to use my BOSS Distortion DS-1 with because it had no distortion on it at all. Now I know why it didn’t, because it was a bass guitar amp! This was a true case of size over substance.

Keep on Jammin’

My Medal Pedal – Boss Distortion DS-1

March 16, 2007 by Chris

I honestly did not use this pedal much after obtaining my 50 watt, HIWATT 1/2 stack, but it was invaluable until I did. This was the first pedal that I got when I was like the kid that Jerry Doucette sang about in his greatest song ever, “Mamma let that boy, play some Rock & Roll”.

It was overpowering at first, for a young kid. That was in the pre-metal/experimental years.

Eventually I learned to tame it, or was it the other way around, interesting? I had dropped that thing so many times I can’t remember but as they say, “takes a beating”!

Some of my friends used the Over Drive pedal. I just thought that it was not what I wanted my music to sound like. It was too rough and not well defined, honest – that is what I said when I was a kid!

Which one do you like?

Keep on Jammin’

APEX 420 Home or Studio Mic

March 12, 2007 by Chris

The APEX 420 microphone is just fabulous for anyone who uses it for home, professional settings, or even live settings. The greatest upside in my eyes is it’s durable construction. Remember, when some closet superstar singer comes over to your house/studio to see this thing, you won’t have to worry about them damaging it when the get their curious fingers all over it. It’s nice to have a scratch resistant finish as well.

I was first introduced to it by Rick Jones, of the Toronto renowned G-Force Media Productions Team. It’s a great product that they use with stunning results. Rick has used this item to capture the voice qualities of soft, hushed tones of his customers to the aggressive Rock/Hip Hop extremes, effortlessly. He has even used it for some of my cuts using my Larrivee L-03 acoustic. The G-Force Media Production page is in the redesign stage now, but when the redesigned site is up you’ll be able to listen to music and audio samples and hear for yourself how nice the Apex 420 microphone’s sound really is.

It is used for various jobs. It is basically a pressure condensed mic. If you have the time, research this type of mic, it’s impressive. You will be able to make it switch from a directional or omni-directional mic. In live gigs it offers excellent feedback rejection and better isolation of the sound that you want, not the sounds that just show up for the hell of it.

So if you get the chance to use this mic then do it, it’s worth the drive. If anyone is in the Toronto Area, give Rick a call and listen for yourself.

Keep on Jammin’

Trying out Thumb picks

Searching for new guitar picks

OMG you gotta hear it to believe it

Guitar side ports

More on my 1959 Fender Duo Sonic

Time to overhaul my Gibson RD – Artist?

Getting the RD Artist ready for battle

My second amp – a Silvertone Sears modell 26122

My Medal Pedal – Boss Distortion DS-1

APEX 420 Home or Studio Mic

Meta

Archives

Search

Pages

Blogroll

My Store

Other Sites

Meta

Archives

Search

Pages

Blogroll

My Store

Other Sites

Tags