The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #133723   Message #3445427
Posted By: Don Firth
01-Dec-12 - 05:38 PM
Thread Name: Blues Videos and Blues History
Subject: RE: Blues Videos and Blues History
The only guitars along the Godin, La Patrie line that I've actually seen live was a Seagull (steel-string) packed around by a young woman who was busking her way around Canada and the U. S. a few years ago and who stayed a few days with Bob (Deckman) and Judy Nelson before moving on.

Good singer. Nice guitar.

As far as I can see, the Godin Mulitiac relies a lot on electronics, and that's an area where I will not go.

Years ago, I was meeting a friend one afternoon at a local bar that offered music in the evenings. The bartender, whom I knew, told me that my friend phoned and asked him to tell me that he would be a bit late. The bartender, who knew I was a singer-guitarist, asked me if I'd like to favor them with a few songs while I waited. I didn't have my guitar with me, and he said that the guitarist in the band had left his guitar on the band stand and he was sure that the guitar's owner wouldn't mind (?). He flipped the switch on the amp and said, "Have at it!"

The guitar was an archtop f-hole model, covered with more knobs and switches than warts on a toad.

I accompanied myself on a few songs and then played some classical stuff. I'd never played an electric before, and it was a lot of fun having ALL THAT POWER right there at the twist of a knob! I started thinking dangerous thoughts. . . .

. . . followed by the realization of how much $$ money $$ would be involved in electronic equipment:   guitars, amplifiers, speakers, and such, not to mention the logistics of lugging all that crap around—along with the fact that, for the kind of music I did, an acoustic guitar and/or a lute would be far more appropriate.

I quickly set the guitar aside and muttered something like, "Get thee behind me, Satan!!"

About that time, my friend walked in.

####

Right now, I have three full-size guitars, one classic and one flamenco, both made in Spain, and another classic made in Japan (which is actually a better guitar than the Spanish classic that I have), plus two Go travel guitars made by Sam Radding of San Diego, one nylon-string, one steel-string.

What I would like is a small guitar-like instrument (not a uke) that I could play comfortably while sitting in a wheelchair. A Renaissance guitar would be just about the right size, and it has the additional panache of being the kind of instrument a wandering minstrel actually might have used.

But two problems with the instrument:   essentially only four strings. Or "courses:"   first string single, second, third, and fourth, doubled like most plucked stringed instruments of that era. Kind of limited compared to a modern six-string guitar. But—the fellow in the video clip seems to get a whole lot of music out of it.

The second problem is that the only places you can get them are from luthiers who make period instruments, which means they are very expensive!!

So I'll stick with my nylon-string Go for the time being, but I'm keeping my eyes open for possibilites.

Don Firth