Except for ripping most of the wiring out of my 7-string I have not done much hacking lately, but I have been thinking about amplifiers.
When I first got interested in extended range instruments I decided I needed a really good amp that would handle rumble as well as screech. I decided to get something based on a 4X10 cabinet, since they have that reputation. What I ended up with was a Peavey 4X10 cabinet with a horn and a Hartke bass head.
Small retail businesses everywhere are taking a beating from big boxes (Best Buy, Guitar Center) and I am so glad that I live near two awesome independent music/instrument shops (three if you count West Music). In Cedar Falls we have Bob's Guitars, run by Bob Guthart. That really is his name and he really is a great guy.
In this case I spent my money at a relatively new shop, Luke's Music Stop in Waterloo. This was before Luke moved to 4th Street so it was pretty cramped. I sat there, noodling on different amps and other customers would come in, practically having to step over me to get to the counter and buy their drum sticks. I'm glad he got a bigger space. Now you can turn around with more than one set of strings in your hand.
In spite of being new and small, Luke's had this hot used amp. Everything I plugged into it sounded great--basses and guitars. I didn't dare turn it up very high in such a small space.
Speaking of size, the Hartke head is small. It is rack width and 2U high. The cabinet, on the other hand, is big and OH MY GOD heavy. Luke and I both struggled to get into my Honda Civic. This was an unpleasant experience and one of the reasons I bought an old pickup shortly thereafter.
Peavey has a reputation for making serviceable but not great gear. I don't know why. The horn in this cabinet doesn't make it shrill or tiny but it does eliminate the muffled quality some guitar and bass amps have. It is a little known fact that the 10" and 12" cones in most instrument amps don't put out much above 5KHz. That's right. The top 1 1/2 octaves of human hearing is not reproduced by most guitar amplifiers. I have not measured what comes out of my Peavey 4X10 but it sounds HOT.
The sad thing is that I have barely used this amp. I recently moved it from my basement to the upstairs room where my Fender Hot Rod and music computer are. I love my Fender but it sometimes sounds slightly dull. I plugged my Gibson SG into my Hartke/Peavey amp tonight and let it rip. I suddenly remembered why I bought it and just how exhilarating standing in front of a guitar amp can be. I don't know if it is the horn, the cabinet size the extra wattage or a combination of things, but I got something back tonight. Sometimes over-powered and unnecessarily large is just right.
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Sunday, December 25, 2011
Making: Being Blocked: 2011
I've been blocked for months. From summer until now I have produced almost no music. I've only posed a few things to my blogs. I barely use Google Plus. My e-mail traffic is even down.
As 2011 grinds to it's confusing conclusion I'm going to share a quick idea about Making and call it a year.
The usual excuse for not creating, making or doing is that we lack the knowledge or skill. If we do not believe we can do it well we tend to not try to do it. But what if that weren't the standard? What if mediocrity were the goal?
My motivation for my guitar mods has never been a "superior instrument" in terms of aesthetics, tone or craftsmanship. It has always been features like range/register, simpler electronics or scale. Thus, a playable (not excellent) instrument with those characteristics is a success. Excellence, if I want to focus on that, can come later.
If one wants to be free the quality of that freedom is paramount, but the tools of achieving it need only work. If I grow my own basil, rather than buying it from a supermarket chain, does it matter whether or not it is exemplary basil, or just that it tastes like fresh basil? If it is really important to me to have excellent, not just fresh, basil I am free to work toward better crops in the future.
A coworker complained recently that mediocrity and low expectations are a real problem in our workplace. He's right. He's also talking about a group of professionals who are supposed to be experts in our fields. Making is typically non-expert, non-professional and often experimental. The standards and motivations are entirely different.
When it comes to Making it is better to just wade in.
Saturday, October 15, 2011
Occupy Cedar Valley
This isn't directly related to hacking or guitar mods but it is really important.
Sunday, July 10, 2011
Expanded Offerings from Octave4Plus Strings.
I mentioned Garry Goodman's Octave4Plus Strings in another post and looked at his site to see what he's been up to recently. He has done the world of extended range instruments another huge favor; he has significantly expanded the variety of strings offered.
When I first discovered Octave4Plus it mostly offered super-light strings, and some normal gauge strings to pair with them. Now they cover the other end of the scale, too, plus a variety of cores and wrappings for wound strings. Now, not only can you put an E4 on a 34" bass, you can get your sub-contra-bass strings from the same source.
But wait, there's more! You can choose the flexibility of your low strings, from floppy to "cheese slicer." Some of you may argue that this isn't really new. Some strings have always been stiffer than others and different core shapes have been around for decades. Ya, but in these combinations? With this precision? Paired with the other options on offer?
We're talking about musical freedom here. How cool is all this?
**** For those who don't know, Garry Goodman is a pioneering extended range bassist who didn't take it laying down when he couldn't find the the strings he wanted for his upper register. He couldn't buy the strings he wanted so he researched the problem and, eventually, started making and selling the strings himself. He now offers strings for the top, bottom and middle of guitar and bass family instruments of various sizes at octave4plus.com.
When I first discovered Octave4Plus it mostly offered super-light strings, and some normal gauge strings to pair with them. Now they cover the other end of the scale, too, plus a variety of cores and wrappings for wound strings. Now, not only can you put an E4 on a 34" bass, you can get your sub-contra-bass strings from the same source.
But wait, there's more! You can choose the flexibility of your low strings, from floppy to "cheese slicer." Some of you may argue that this isn't really new. Some strings have always been stiffer than others and different core shapes have been around for decades. Ya, but in these combinations? With this precision? Paired with the other options on offer?
We're talking about musical freedom here. How cool is all this?
**** For those who don't know, Garry Goodman is a pioneering extended range bassist who didn't take it laying down when he couldn't find the the strings he wanted for his upper register. He couldn't buy the strings he wanted so he researched the problem and, eventually, started making and selling the strings himself. He now offers strings for the top, bottom and middle of guitar and bass family instruments of various sizes at octave4plus.com.
Extra High Strung Guitar and Botched Bridge Repair
It's been an interesting couple of weeks. I've finally gotten back on the luthierie horse in a big way. I've botched, and then sort of recovered, a major repair project. I've also take big steps in one of my original instrument projects. I'll blog about that next.
The repair I screwed up is a parlor guitar, an Italian made Douglas of unknown age. I don't even know if this is the same "Douglas" brand available today. A former friend picked it up for me at an estate auction several years ago. I almost forgot I had it until my son found it in the basement and asked me about it. Could it be tuned up an played, he asked? "Probably, but it sounds like a cereal box," I said.
Then we were both curious and I started poking around. The bridge was split horizontally (sorry, no picture) and evinced a previous, poor, glue job. The tuners were horrible. If there is a truss rod it is not accessible. It was about what you would expect from an older, inexpensive instrument that had not been properly cared for.
The first clue that there might be more to this pathetic instrument than met the eye happened when I unstrung it to replace the tuners. A 2" x 1" X 3" block of mahogany fell out of the sound hole. I think it was wedged under the bridge. If you know why, please e-mail me.
One thing I got right on this guitar was I added some radius to the neck. Originally it was entirely flat. I pulled the first three frets and sanded a gentle curve, just in that ar
ea, where we play open chords. I didn't get the frets back in just right, but it is more comfortable to chord now.
I decided to give this Douglas a bridge transplant similar to the Yamaha I did last winter. The difference was I wanted to use a Telecaster style bridge. This isn't an inherently bad idea but I didn't think it through and screwed it up pretty badly.
My first big mistake was failing to plan the new bridge's height. For some reason I assumed the Tele bridge's adjustability would cover all of my imprecision. I wanted a piece of wood between the Tele hardware and the top of the guitar and chose a piece of rosewood. I knew it would need to be profiled down but I didn't measure and I left it way too thick. I did not realize this until I had attached everything to the top. At about the same time I realized I had also placed
the whole bridge/saddle assembly too close to the neck.
I didn't want to remove ANOTHER bridge from this guitar's top so I got out my files, drill and hack saw and set about further modifying this bridge for action and intonation. In stead of "near perfection" the new goal was "playable." It also ocured to me that lower tension would give a little action, so I strung it up with the lightest D'Addario acoustic strings I could find.
It wasn't enough. I took two further measures. I expanded my adjustment for
action to the nut and 0-fret. I also decided this was a great opportunity to experiment with high strung tuning. This turned out to be fun. Not only did it allow me to put even less tension on the neck, perhaps helping the action a bit more, it also sounds really cool and satisfies some of my curiosity about this practice.
Not being one for moderation I pushed high stringing a little past the "Nashville tuning." If you Google "Nashville tuning" you will get information about a couple of steel guitar tunings and a description of tuning a standard guitar with the additional strings from a 12-string set. Guages would look something like .012, .016, .010, .014, .020, .030 rather than .012, .016, .024,
.032, .042, .053.
I currently have the guitar strung .006, .014., .007, .009, .013, .009. That's right. Nothing big enough to wind.
It is tuned E4, B3, G4, D4, A3, E4. The .006 and .007 are Gary Goodman Octave 4 Plus strings. The others are either DaDdario or juststrings.com bulk strings. Making the Es E5 is possible withOctave4Plus strings but I wanted to keep the
tension down. Also, these specific strings were not designed for that.
Because the note names match standard tuning any guitarist can play a guitar set up this way. If I had more time I'd post audio. You'll just have to string up a guitar this way yourself.
The repair I screwed up is a parlor guitar, an Italian made Douglas of unknown age. I don't even know if this is the same "Douglas" brand available today. A former friend picked it up for me at an estate auction several years ago. I almost forgot I had it until my son found it in the basement and asked me about it. Could it be tuned up an played, he asked? "Probably, but it sounds like a cereal box," I said.
Then we were both curious and I started poking around. The bridge was split horizontally (sorry, no picture) and evinced a previous, poor, glue job. The tuners were horrible. If there is a truss rod it is not accessible. It was about what you would expect from an older, inexpensive instrument that had not been properly cared for.
The first clue that there might be more to this pathetic instrument than met the eye happened when I unstrung it to replace the tuners. A 2" x 1" X 3" block of mahogany fell out of the sound hole. I think it was wedged under the bridge. If you know why, please e-mail me.
One thing I got right on this guitar was I added some radius to the neck. Originally it was entirely flat. I pulled the first three frets and sanded a gentle curve, just in that ar
ea, where we play open chords. I didn't get the frets back in just right, but it is more comfortable to chord now.I decided to give this Douglas a bridge transplant similar to the Yamaha I did last winter. The difference was I wanted to use a Telecaster style bridge. This isn't an inherently bad idea but I didn't think it through and screwed it up pretty badly.
My first big mistake was failing to plan the new bridge's height. For some reason I assumed the Tele bridge's adjustability would cover all of my imprecision. I wanted a piece of wood between the Tele hardware and the top of the guitar and chose a piece of rosewood. I knew it would need to be profiled down but I didn't measure and I left it way too thick. I did not realize this until I had attached everything to the top. At about the same time I realized I had also placed
the whole bridge/saddle assembly too close to the neck.I didn't want to remove ANOTHER bridge from this guitar's top so I got out my files, drill and hack saw and set about further modifying this bridge for action and intonation. In stead of "near perfection" the new goal was "playable." It also ocured to me that lower tension would give a little action, so I strung it up with the lightest D'Addario acoustic strings I could find.
It wasn't enough. I took two further measures. I expanded my adjustment for
action to the nut and 0-fret. I also decided this was a great opportunity to experiment with high strung tuning. This turned out to be fun. Not only did it allow me to put even less tension on the neck, perhaps helping the action a bit more, it also sounds really cool and satisfies some of my curiosity about this practice.
Not being one for moderation I pushed high stringing a little past the "Nashville tuning." If you Google "Nashville tuning" you will get information about a couple of steel guitar tunings and a description of tuning a standard guitar with the additional strings from a 12-string set. Guages would look something like .012, .016, .010, .014, .020, .030 rather than .012, .016, .024,
.032, .042, .053.
I currently have the guitar strung .006, .014., .007, .009, .013, .009. That's right. Nothing big enough to wind.
It is tuned E4, B3, G4, D4, A3, E4. The .006 and .007 are Gary Goodman Octave 4 Plus strings. The others are either DaDdario or juststrings.com bulk strings. Making the Es E5 is possible withOctave4Plus strings but I wanted to keep the
tension down. Also, these specific strings were not designed for that.Because the note names match standard tuning any guitarist can play a guitar set up this way. If I had more time I'd post audio. You'll just have to string up a guitar this way yourself.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Upcoming Guitar Projects
I've not just been neglecting this blog. I've been neglecting all things guitar.
That ends now.
I have five projects in the queue. It is unlikely I will finish then all this summer but they are the pool I will draw from in coming months.
1) Fix up thrashed flattop for friends in Des Moines
I have an old Italian flattop that needs tuners, a new bridge/sadle, and some other body work. The idea is to make it playable...and sound less like a damp cereal box. Asuming I am successful I have guitarless friends I want to give it to.
2) Hephestus II
One of the neck blanks I glued Way Back When is to become a 30" 8-string, like my 6-to-8 conversion but shorter and more playable. I've been talking about this for a LONG time. I think i'm finally going to start serious work.
3) Bajo Sexto
I also want to make a 30" bajo sexto.
4) High-strung 12-string
I have seen similar instruments referred to as "octave mandolins." What I have in mind is a short scale 12-string guitar strung with some combination of "Nashville" hi-strung, doubled and octave stringing. I think it would be fun to play a small instrument that jangled but made room for other instruments.
5) 7-string Soloing Instrument
The other smaller instrument I have been thinking about is a short-scale instrument specificaly for soloing. Tuned in straight 4ths a 23.5 scale with 7 strings should be pretty comfortable to improvise with. If the lowest string is tuned to something like G2 or A2 the high string would go up to C5 or D5. Sounds a little crazy but if it works it could be pretty fun!
That ends now.
I have five projects in the queue. It is unlikely I will finish then all this summer but they are the pool I will draw from in coming months.
1) Fix up thrashed flattop for friends in Des Moines
I have an old Italian flattop that needs tuners, a new bridge/sadle, and some other body work. The idea is to make it playable...and sound less like a damp cereal box. Asuming I am successful I have guitarless friends I want to give it to.
2) Hephestus II
One of the neck blanks I glued Way Back When is to become a 30" 8-string, like my 6-to-8 conversion but shorter and more playable. I've been talking about this for a LONG time. I think i'm finally going to start serious work.
3) Bajo Sexto
I also want to make a 30" bajo sexto.
4) High-strung 12-string
I have seen similar instruments referred to as "octave mandolins." What I have in mind is a short scale 12-string guitar strung with some combination of "Nashville" hi-strung, doubled and octave stringing. I think it would be fun to play a small instrument that jangled but made room for other instruments.
5) 7-string Soloing Instrument
The other smaller instrument I have been thinking about is a short-scale instrument specificaly for soloing. Tuned in straight 4ths a 23.5 scale with 7 strings should be pretty comfortable to improvise with. If the lowest string is tuned to something like G2 or A2 the high string would go up to C5 or D5. Sounds a little crazy but if it works it could be pretty fun!
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Tuesday, January 25, 2011
Non-standard Instruments Vs Novelty Instruments
Sometime last year I went to check out an independet guitar shop in Des Moines I hadn't tried yet. I never made a second visit.
I was initially encouraged by what was on the walls. Before I got too far into making my rounds an employee greeted me and asked what I was looking for. I asked if they had any extended range instruments in stock, like seven-strings.
If he had been smart he would have just said "No." "We don't get much call for those" would have been OK too. So would "Let me see what I can order."
What he said was "Try Best Buy."
Why any independent retailer would be so quick to redirect business to a big box I don't know. But he also dismissed me based on my interest in multistring instruments. Somehow he came to believe they were novlties, aimed at kids who...I don't know, saw them in heavy metal magazines?
So, I won't be back. I didn't tell him how I felt, but it's his own fault for jumping to conclusions...and not doing his homework.
I was initially encouraged by what was on the walls. Before I got too far into making my rounds an employee greeted me and asked what I was looking for. I asked if they had any extended range instruments in stock, like seven-strings.
If he had been smart he would have just said "No." "We don't get much call for those" would have been OK too. So would "Let me see what I can order."
What he said was "Try Best Buy."
Why any independent retailer would be so quick to redirect business to a big box I don't know. But he also dismissed me based on my interest in multistring instruments. Somehow he came to believe they were novlties, aimed at kids who...I don't know, saw them in heavy metal magazines?
So, I won't be back. I didn't tell him how I felt, but it's his own fault for jumping to conclusions...and not doing his homework.
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