BS: This Thread Is Open.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Donuel
Date: 24 May 15 - 12:26 AM

Leveler,
I fell/jumped into a whirlpool from a canoe and injured my hand on something sharp at the bottom of that strange lake in Maine. It severed nerves and tendons. After microsurgery and 3 years of stretching the shortened tendons there was little to no disability.
Expect 90% improvement with surgery.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 23 May 15 - 10:25 AM

I tend to step on the GAS too for that matter...

Out of boredom I just lowered the action on an Eastman dread I bought recently as a reserve stage guitar and tried 011s instead of 012s. It's changing my mind somewhat over how much you need to pay for sound quality and playability. It'll never be the Rainsong and one day I will replace the ubiquitous D41 I had many years ago (but with a HD28) but a rather pleasant surprise a couple of hours ago.

Sorry to hear about your accident leveller. I actually started playing the guitar as a result of buggering up my hand... (Couldn't twist it round enough for the violin after the accident...)


🎼🎶🎶🎸🎸🎸🎸🎵🎵🎤🎤🍻🍻💩💩💀👻

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker🎸
Date: 23 May 15 - 09:35 AM

my GAS was in remission for about 5 years but has unfortunately returned since Black Friday,
with additional complications of MAS and EMFBAS...😣





Microphones and Even More Fuzz Boxes...

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 15 - 05:22 AM

Mine's never gone away, I'm pleased to say.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 23 May 15 - 05:00 AM

To speak of a nicer affliction - my GAS seems to have returned.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 23 May 15 - 04:47 AM

when i lived in the midlands acoustic avalon was a must. i saw Eric Roche there, and Ralph McTell and loads of other people. i bought a cedar topped yamaha there one year, which i still love.

i'm really sorry for you leveller. is there any way tuning your guitar to open chords would help? i would think maybe a bit of strumming could be frustrating but good therapy. but anyway i'm sorry for you.

the food at avalon is crap. however if you go up to the roundabout where the race course is, turn to the left istead of the tright into leicester. there is a big supermarket with a nice cafe.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:42 AM

Me too Charlie!
I have a theory that great guitars show a bad player up - mine certainly don't make my playing any better! 😳

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: fat B****rd
Date: 23 May 15 - 03:32 AM

I hope things improve for you, Leveller.
Best regards from Charlie.
(Who sounds just as bad on a Martin as on any other guitar :)

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 23 May 15 - 01:49 AM

Leveller, I haven't made it to Acoustic Avalon yet, hoping this will be the year!

I'm astonished that your Lowden needs a reset - one of their big claims is that their bracing-pattern, with a kind of 'A' bracing which extends into the neck-block, makes the likelihood of needing a reset virtually zero. Mine's fourteen years old, the action's a perfect 7 and 5, and plenty of saddle left. Maybe you're just unlucky?

And it's good to hear that the Fishman Rare Earth is still doing its stuff! 👍

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 22 May 15 - 08:21 PM

thelleveler, YOU CAN DO IT!!

That guy that I just posted the link of, smashed (broke)a couple of fingers, in a fit of rage, with a sound man....and by golly, he can still smoke on his ax!!

Go for it!!

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: theleveller
Date: 22 May 15 - 10:36 AM

Thanks, Backwoodsman. To be honest, I don't miss it that much - I'd more or less already stopped playing in public. Now I've even more time to spend in the gym in a vain attempt to regain my youthful six-pack, writing (first poetry chapbook finished and half way through second novel), walking and on my volunteer Tree Health Survey work for the Woodland Trust - and to marvel at just how brilliant my daughter is (and i didn't teach her a thing).

Glad to hear the Lowden is in top fettle - mine needs resetting but I probably won't bother. Daughter wants me to take her to Acoustic Avalon in Leicester in November. Have you ever been - last time I went I had a nice chat with George Lowden, Paul Brett and James Patrick Eggle.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 22 May 15 - 06:47 AM

Sorry to hear about your accident, Leveller. Hope things improve for you soon!
Just got my own Lowden back from George's place - new truss-rod and fingerboard. She's better than ever!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 22 May 15 - 04:20 AM

Especially for this thread:

I'm Open

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: theleveller
Date: 22 May 15 - 03:13 AM

After an accident to my right hand in January which severed nerves, I can neither fingerpick nor hold a plectrum. The surgeon says I may get up to 70% feeling back in my index finger in a year or so if the nerves regrow but until then the big old Lowden and the Fylde cittern remain in their cases. But 15-year old daughter has commandeered the beautiful Brazilian rosewood cutaway Avalon (with soundhole pickup bought from Backwoodsman) and plays it even better that I did. Plus ca change as they say in Euro land.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,Guest from Sanity
Date: 22 May 15 - 12:32 AM

backwoodsman, in a thread about 'folk music' I posted a link to Rybak's 'Fairytale' of his Eurovision win.....you said you thought he was 'good', so, I'm posting this link, just to show you another side of him, 'Foolin' ' by Alexander Rybak

....AND, another performance of 'Fairytale' that might interest you....this one he is backed with an orchestra....enjoy!!!

Alexander Rybak, Nobel Prize Concert, 'Fairytale'

GfS

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 21 May 15 - 08:16 AM

Mither, that is I think the first time I've seen you say anything with proper English self-deprecation. I must be having a good effect on you. Maybe it's the S&M.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 21 May 15 - 03:10 AM

I got rid of all sorts of pa gear a while ago and these days, guitars plug either direct (via DI box) to my mixer or via an effects box, (Korg) and I bought two Alto 15 800W active speakers on stands. The sound quality of the speakers is rather stunning and being able to control the mixer from an iPad attached to my mic stand works for me.

Of course, the authentic " back line" is missing but the audience get a well balanced sound. It's just the artiste who lets it down 😝

I have an old Tanglewood acoustic amp that I plug into when noodling, especially when programming the Korg. I got rid of an old Marshall combo as my back plays me up and it was a heavy beast.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 May 15 - 06:55 PM

My wife has a Gallien-Krueger bass amp which she uses with her Fender Precision. Small, light enough for her to carry, 150 watts, very nice-sounding amp. Highly recommended for a small, 'plugged-acoustic' band.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 May 15 - 06:46 PM

I associate the Gallien-Kreugers with metal music. Interesting choice.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link
Date: 20 May 15 - 01:29 PM

Nice one, will fly, bend those notes !.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Will Fly
Date: 20 May 15 - 01:03 PM

I had a Marshall valve amp that decided to take a holiday every time I did a New Year's Eve or Christmas Eve gig - so I changed it for an H&H VS Combo.

I also had a Watkins Copycat - which, to me, gave a very authentic '50 sound. I was playing in a rock'n roll band at the time. I sold that and bought an H&H tape echo unit.

Eventually, I got tired of the rather thin sound of the H&H gear and sold it all off for a 100w Gallien-Krueger which, at the time, was a stupendous amp with a stupendous sound in a small, portable metal frame. However, the speakers wore out so I sold that about 2 years ago and now I use a 40w Roland Cube for both acoustic and electric guitars. Suits me fine.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 20 May 15 - 11:24 AM

I've got one of those H/H combos. Almost a shame I don't play country, they're good for that. But the cloth was totally cattle trucked so I put new speaker cloth - AC30 style - on it, but alas not totally accurately.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 May 15 - 11:16 AM

yes its the vox dominator i'm thinking of .....i think!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 20 May 15 - 09:59 AM

No, with a name like that it would have to be a *symphonic* metal band!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Spleen Cringe
Date: 20 May 15 - 07:58 AM

Plethora of Quatrafoils

Norwegian death metal band?

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 20 May 15 - 07:57 AM

My first amp around 1975 when I was 16 was a 2nd hand vintage 1960s Vox AC30
my parents paid 50 quid cash for.
The vox was so cheap because they were old hat boring Beatles amps
that nobody serious wanted any more.

It'd do because the whole band could plug into all the input jacks.

We did our first proper gig like that, all on stage playing through that old loud Vox.

Unfortunately it died within a few months, and the music shop strongly recommended
instead of repairing that unreliable old fashioned beast,
parents should take out HP on the brand new cutting edge technology HH 100wat transistor combo
with the space age green glowing facia panel.

Wilko Johnson used one on the telly - so that was that - HP contract signed.

The HH was impressively loud, but sounded dull and lifeless,
and I was stuck with it while mum and dad were still committed paying HP for it,
for all my following years of punk / new wave gigging
until I was 22 and packed in being in bands to go to Poly to do a degree.
I donated the HH to a west country community music collective.
That's the last I ever saw of it.

Vox AC30s however, were coming back into fashion, and the prices for the old 1960s originals
starting to skyrocket .

Letting go of the AC30 is my biggest guitar gear regret....
I was young, inexperienced, and very naive.
I bet all the repair it needed was new valves and maybe a some replaced capacitors ???

Annoyingly enough, those mid 70s HH amps are now cult collectors items
praised for their tone ???

I'd actually like to have a go on one, to see if I've now learned enough
to try to finally get a decent sound out of it ?????

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 May 15 - 07:48 AM

The Watkins Dominator was an amp, Al, not a guitar! It had a 'wedge' shaped front. Its output was 17 watts IIRC.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 20 May 15 - 06:45 AM

i used to dream of having a watkins dominator. in the cataloguethey looked a bit like John Lennon's rickenbacker.

mind you they were 39 guineas - as i remember.

those fucking copycat thing were a nightmare. in the end i gave up and just used the reverb on my carlsboro marlin.

i suppose they were a cheap imitation of the much more expensive echoplex - as used by Hank Marvin.

the first time i saw a Roland Space Echo being used live was a Tom Robinson concert. Tom came onstage and said i just bought this thing. listen to this , i keep having these fantasies about being Sting...and with that he did the Eee oh bit from Walking on the Moon acapella - sounded just like Sting.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Rob Naylor
Date: 20 May 15 - 04:37 AM

I'm with Will ....I have a couple of guitars that cost over £600: both made by the same luthier who makes most of Will's instruments. One custom-made for me, and the other acquired second-hand from its original commissioner.

They both get taken to open mics, sessions and singarounds. One is showing a few signs of wear. The other is only a few months old so still looks pristine. But the idea of having them and not taking them out to use wouldn't cross my mind.

The newer one is here:

The Scoop

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 20 May 15 - 12:00 AM

I used to have a Watkins Dominator and a Linear 50 too, back in the 60s. And a Watkins Copycat echo-unit that used tape-loops like it was going out of fashion - at least three per gig. Jolly Sunday afternoons spent cutting up recording tape from a reel, and splicing it into loops for the following week's gigs and rehearsals. Couldn't afford the 'proper' shop-bought Watkins loops.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:44 PM

I sometimes have to strain to remember, when too much polyfiller comes my way, that the thing I most like about people at open mics is the desire to make music and the courage to do so. This outweighs--most of the time--my occasional flinch at the dumchukkery to which they resort. I know for sure that if they knew a better arrangement they would use it, and the fact that they are standing up and singing forgives a great deal of error.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:38 PM

Then again there are the amps I no longer have.

HiFi - Radford SC22P and STA60. G-d they would be worth a load today

Guitar amps - a V-front Watkins dominator, a Linear 50, and a Selmer Bassist Major.

Ho hum.

And my Hornby Dublo 3-rail train set.

Oh, and the guitar I didn't buy because I was too scared of what my wife would say - a Watkins Rapier 4.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 19 May 15 - 02:20 PM

You could play football round the stage with my Rainsong. Although it is the musical width that accommodates all styles that makes it the gigging guitar. Over two grand mind, so I am not exactly keeping the expensive ones in cotton wool. Any road they all get to folk clubs. Just stage gigs with leads lying around and others walking round setting up where delicate guitars don't go. Had a few guitars go flying that way.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 May 15 - 02:09 PM

i'm reasonably careful with my guitars, but they all get bashed about.

i love the new epiphone reissues. they really are terrific value. there's a guy running an open mic in Dorchester who plays one of the hummingbird copies. its a really delightful guitar.

i couldn't resist the j200 copy. about 230 quid with fabulous electrics. mind you a decent case for it cost nearly 100.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Ed T
Date: 19 May 15 - 01:33 PM

Canadian Navy techs scour eBay for parts to keep 1970s vintage supply ships running:


Ebay 

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 May 15 - 01:20 PM

errrmmm.. do you live near a nuclear power station or biohazard disposal plant ???
the incinerator hasn't been built yet.
Berkeley Power Station is being de-commissioned (nuclear, 20 miles) but there is a nuclear reactor irradiating the plants 14 hours a day at the moment. And judging by the plethora of quatrafoils this year (though not in all the usual places) I suspect that there is maybe less ozone above us right now. Or the fungii, insects, bacteria, or viruses have been more active this year with a warm spring and wet start to the summer. But 2015 is more prolific than (say) 2014 with the same nuclear power station the same distance away.

Yes it is a good year, this year. For many reasons.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 May 15 - 01:10 PM

What a strange comment - as though guitars are only used to play folk music - and Irish folk music at that.

Here's what I do with mine:

Honeysuckle Rose

Don't think there'd be quite as much expression available with a bouzouki, somehow...

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 May 15 - 01:05 PM

but that's modern folk music...innit...???

8 to 16 over syncopated frenetic jazzy strums per bar
when just one good drawn out slow sustained strum
could do the job much more effectively...😜

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Stu
Date: 19 May 15 - 12:58 PM

Guitars - yawn. Always dum-chucking their way loudly through lovely Irish tunes. Aural polyfiller happily trowled on by the million John Doyle wannabes.

Now an Irish bouzouki, there's an instrument.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 May 15 - 12:26 PM

Anyway, the lesson I learned was there's not much point in owning mega expensive dream guitars you are too afraid to risk scratching and denting.

Too right. None of the guitars I gig regularly with cost less than £600 - most of them custom-made for me - and all of them show some signs of wear and tear.

They're for playing - not for pretty ornaments.

You can see them at:

My instruments

There are sub-pages under the main "Instruments" link.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 May 15 - 12:15 PM

I learned a bit of a lesson
when a mate of mine back in London was suddenly diagnosed with cancer
and died a few short weeks later.

He was in his early 30s and gigged every week in a very popular pub 'classic rock' covers band.

His workhorse guitar was a Squier Strat, but he saved all his cash
for a dream guitar brand new Rickenbacker.

Which he managed to buy only months before he died.

Trouble was, he couldn't then afford insurance and daren't risk gigging it
in rowdy London music pubs.

In fact other members of the band weren't even allowed to touch it
when he showed it to them in his bedroom.

He was finally laid out in his coffin with his prized Epiphone Everly Brothers acoustic;
which may have been cremated with him..

Dunno whatever happened to the Rickenbacker ????

Anyway, the lesson I learned was there's not much point in owning mega expensive dream guitars
you are too afraid to risk scratching and denting.

Hence my love of cheap 2nd hand battle scarred well worn in cast offs,
and my limit of never spending more than £200 on a single brand new guitar;
unless exceptional circumstances when I went up to £350 ish
on a few rare occasions.

eg.. original retail £900 knocked down to a third of the price in a flash clearance sale.

Mind, I've got my eyes on the Fender Coronado reissue
which still hasn't budged from extortionate 600 quid....

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 11:41 AM

I gig with any and all of my guitars - they're insured for stage use, theft (including being left in an unattended vehicle) etc., and I have £1m PL cover with the policy. If some drunken buffoon knocks one off its stand (and I had that happen to a Gibson ES330 at the Lumpers Club in Grimsby many years ago!) it'll be repaired or replaced, and if an old dear trips over the case and breaks her leg, I'm covered.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 May 15 - 11:26 AM

yes the sg was nice. it had these knobs that not only went round - allegedly if you pulled the knob out - you turned the guitar from a les paul into rickenbacker.

thats the trouble with yamaha - lots of good ideas for guitars - they change their models too often. they have now brought out a great model which requires no battery. no stability.

and they haven't brought a cedar topped model for yonks.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 19 May 15 - 10:42 AM

Bridge. I tried most Rainsongs before settling on the OM1000. It is the best of the bunch by a long shot. I was lucky enough to get the N1 solid neck before they stopped doing them, and with the optional LR Baggs electrics, it is my guitar of choice for gigging, especially plugged in. It is not only the smallest and lightest guitar I have, but is also the loudest. The clarity is stunning. Depends what you do really. It isn't a flat picking guitar to be fair, and if I flat picked more, I'd consider a dread from the same stable.

Like BWM, I can indulge myself these days and yes, as a nipper, it was a cheap Yamaha F series for folk clubs and cheap Yamaha Pacifica for the rock band. I bought a solid top, back & sides Jim Harley thirty years ago after saving up, (babies, mortgage....) and still have it to this day. Most of my collection has been over the last five years. I wouldn't gig with many of them, and wrap them in cotton wool a bit. Noodling guitars really. Perhaps local folk clubs, but never on stage.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 May 15 - 10:32 AM

my view has always been,
for the price of one excellent custom shop guitar,
somebody else can buy a pretty decent second hand car...

or I can buy anywhere between 10 to 20 or more completely adequate cheap ebay guitars.

All of 'em fit for purpose as gigging and recording instruments.😎

Maybe when I'm 60 or 65 I might think about disposing of my 'collection'
and putting any money into one or 2 'proper' guitars
like a genuine USA made Telecaster and Les Paul.

Primarily just to claw back living space,
definitely if we move into a smaller retirement home.
Besides if I were to drop dead before then
the mrs would be faced with an overwhelming task
clearing out all my accumulated gear.

Though I'm still checking ebay,
what I really desire more than any other guitar
is a late 70s/early 80s Yamaha SG1000/2000

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Amos
Date: 19 May 15 - 10:11 AM

My old Martin D-35 is my ultimate resource in times of trouble, or noodling at home. When I go out to play, I take my Apollo, built by Nick Appolonio in Portland, Maine, a guitar I love. In the wall of my living room there are three guitars hanging side by side, looking very beautiful--the Martin, a classical Spanish style I inherited from a dear brother, and an old 12-string I picked up for $200 long ago, seldom played.

Oh, and speaking of positive vibes, I now have an electric guitar! Who would ever have thought? A gift from Barky!! An Epiphone KrazyKat, I think it is. Fun to fool with. It has a bend-bar which makes it go wah-wah, and ruins the tuning when used. Clever, eh?


Sunshine and light winds in a blue4 sky. Life is simply the best alternative!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Stu
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:47 AM

" Hope you get to see them!"

They're our smallest bird, but exquisite and very similar to your Kinglets (thanks for the link). First look this morning and no sightings. They're only a few gardens away so I'll look into treats for the bird table that might attract them.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:44 AM

About 3 in the afternoon, 2 days ago, I was on the phone to my old mum [she's 83]
looked out the kitchen back window
and came face to face with a Great Tit 'hovering' a few inches away outside..

[I say 'Great Tit' because it had a black cap to the top of it's head
and the picture on an internet identification site was the nearest resemblance..
plus I had all the required "Ladybird" books when I was a small kid]

I instinctively held the phone up to the window to show my mum,
then realised I was holding the dumb BT dect handset,
not a smart cam phone...


Too be honest, I was surprised to see any kind of bird out there,
due to the mob of cats that patrol our back wall.

It was a bit scrawny looking, so hunger must have made it risk coming down
rooting for food in the purply pink flowers under the window.

I have a 12 string 1980s Washburn Heavy Metal guitar
the same bright yellow as that tit's breast plumage.😎

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Nigel Parsons
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:41 AM

I heard a definition of gynecologist as a person who could decorate an entrance hall through the letter box.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:27 AM

Quickly, before some Mudcat-ette can as the question:

I daren't take it out to gig as you need gynaecologists fingers to change the battery.

You mean you have to hold your hands in ICE WATER before a
battery change?

Dave Oesterreich

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:27 AM

Oh yes indeed Mike!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,MikeL2
Date: 19 May 15 - 09:20 AM

HI

A positive thread eh?

I had my share to "guitaritis" ( buying guitars you don't actually need !!) but a few years ago I decided to stop and sold several leaving me a couple of cheapo's to mess about on. Like Al I didn't make anything on them.

But the buying bug didn't go away. Now I buy Photography equipment and this can be far more expensive than music making.

I can afford it and my good lady is supportive so hey life is great !!

Cheers

MikeL2

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: ranger1
Date: 19 May 15 - 08:47 AM

Stu, I had to look up what a goldcrest was. What a delightful little bird! Very similar to our golden-crowned kinglets here in the northeastern part of North America. Hope you get to see them!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 08:45 AM

Yep, I played cheapo guitars for donkeys' years, Al - mostly Yams, but also a Tanglewood and a Heartwood (The Music Room's 'own label' range). But I don't feel any need to apologise to anyone for picking up a few pricier ones in the past ten or fifteen years - I worked and paid my taxes for fifty years, paid off my mortgage, raised my kids, paid for my divorce and my second wedding,nI've never smoked, I don't drink alcohol (medical necessity), I don't run expensive cars, I haven't got a motor-home or a caravan, I don't have a Harley, I don't spend fortunes on expensive clothes....but I like what I consider to be nice guitars and mandos.

I guess we all have our weaknesses! 👍😄

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Richard Bridge
Date: 19 May 15 - 07:55 AM

I think my GAS is in remission. I haven't bought a guitar for a couple of years and I even passed up on one Hagstrom J-45 and one Daion THE80W. I would like to try one of the dreadnought Rainsongs though (not the OM-size one).

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 19 May 15 - 07:45 AM

well this is it. people get very snotty about my approach to folk music - say i'm prostituting myself playing in pubs, etc. i've heard it all in folk clubs and read it all on mudcat.

however doing it for money does impose a sort of discipline. you buy the guitar you need for the best price. and when the need finishes - you move on , take the hit - cos you always lose on the deal, and get the next guitar that will put food on the table.

yes , you could cry when you think of some of the guitars you let go for nothing. cry when you think of some of the classic guitars you could have bought for just that extra couple of hundred quid - but you just bought the cheapest that would do the job.

of course you don't get it right. unless you're a millionaire - i guess no one does.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:59 AM

"Futura" not "Futera"....

can't blame predictive spelling, just my shite typing...

you can laugh at the "Burns Flyte" inspired body shape,
but not a bad sound for 'revolutionary' dense plastic foam synthetic 'tonewood'...

Shame most guitarists are generally such a conservative bunch of fender/gibson clone lovers
that nobody bought them at full retail price and the company went bust..

still... on the other hand I wouldn't have picked one up off ebay for 50 quid...😜

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:29 AM

The only possible unwanted drift in this nebulous in scope thread
would probably be negativity and closed mindedness...😉


In my 40s I bought a ridiculous number of cheap guitars off ebay
with very few real problems...

.. seemed like a good idea at the time...

Now I'm not too far off 60, and the quality of life in our house is suffering
due to my years of unreasonable OCD collecting & hoarding.
I also may soon need to investigate selling most of 'em off...

errr.. for example..

.. did I really need nearly every pickup configeration variant of the "Switch Vibracell Futera "...???


.. well... obviously... yes... of course I did...!!!!😎

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:11 AM

It isn't the expensive ones I was thinking about. A Yamaha APX4-12 (one went for £300 the other month which pleasantly surprised me) a Jim Harley dreadnought and possibly a LAG copy of the Maccaferi petit bouche. A few hundred at most between them. Make way for a decent big name to complement the three I usually use. Rainsong, Eastman and Albert Special (Reiner to everyone else.)

I might look at offloading a couple of unused electrics too.. Especially the Pacifica that hasn't been used in anger for many years now.

Sorry. Thread drift. If that's possible on this thread??

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:05 AM

My hero, Will - I admire your courage! 👍

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Will Fly
Date: 19 May 15 - 04:01 AM

I've sold three guitars on eBay - a custom classical guitar, an acoustic/electric bass guitar and a G&L ASAT (bit like a Fender Tele) - and had no problem whatsoever. All good, honest buyers and good payers. Packaging was a pain - wrapping a solid case in plastic and tape took for ever - but all went OK.

I've only ever bought one on eBay - and it was a 1961 Otwin, an East German jazz guitar by luthier Othmar Windisch - just because it was like one I bought in 1968. It was as cheap as chips, and I fitted it with a floating Kent Armstrong mini-humbucker p/up - sounded sweet!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:51 AM

'Salvo petted'? WTF? When I typed it and read what I'd typed, it said 'salopettes'.

Shitty f***ing iPad predictive text - f**k off! 😡

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:48 AM

Never sold a guitar on EBay, but I've sold a few other odds & sods - a soundhole pickup, a DI box, my old sailing-jacket and salvo petted. Didn't hit any problems but I'd be nervous trying to sell anything expensive on there.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:42 AM

If you grow grass in your shower, you need a cleaner with bleach in it.

BWM. I'll bring the magnifying glass. I had been considering an Uncle George as an every day guitar for when I get bored with the Rainsong. To date, that hasn't happened. My time with the Rookery's Collings does make me look admiringly at your HD28V that it is based on.

So many guitars. So few places to stick 'em!! I must have a clear out. EBay perhaps, but never sold anything on it before.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:36 AM

"* I say 4-leaf, quite a few were 5-leaf and some 6-leaf."

errrmmm.. do you live near a nuclear power station or biohazard disposal plant ???

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Stu
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:33 AM

Rumour on our street is there is a pair of Goldcrests nesting in a tree in one of the front gardens. I'm going to have a look when I walk past this morning. To see one would be pure joy!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Mr Red
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:18 AM

I found 330 4-leaf* clovers in a space about 6 square yards. In 2 hours, between showers.
Was that lucky?


* I say 4-leaf, quite a few were 5-leaf and some 6-leaf.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Steve Shaw
Date: 19 May 15 - 03:16 AM

As long as we try to remember that "troll" does not mean the same as "a person who dares to disagree out loud with me". Several self-appointed anti-trollers have form in that regard. Cast out the plank. Anyway, back to the fun...

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 19 May 15 - 02:33 AM

Al - I have K&Ks in all my guitars and mandolin - passive, very 'natural' acoustic-sounding, no quack, no ugly barn-doors, no heavy batteries that can leak. I use an outboard Orchid pre-amp if I'm going to a PA or, if I'm using my Roland AC60 acoustic amp, I just plug straight in to the instrument channel. They all sound excellent.

Instruments are very much a personal thing, we all like what we like and nobody can tell anyone else what they **should** like, IMHO. I have three Martins and a Lowden and I love them all, absolutely no desire for anything else (except maybe a Jim Olson, but I'll never be able to afford one of those!). It's "Pay yer money and take yer pick" isn't it?

Musket - they did a great job at GLG, they even replaced the old unbound FB with an ebony-bound one, very smooth and very nice. I'll present it for your perusal next time I get to The Mowbray.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,DTM
Date: 18 May 15 - 08:11 PM

A thread without any vi-troll?
Sounds like a good idea to me.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: gnu
Date: 18 May 15 - 07:14 PM

Lovely thread. Doug.... as for trolls and such degrading it... only if you let them. There is an old tradition at Mudcat... overwhelm them with comical and even inane posts until they give up trying to be Ahole attention getters. Old Mudcat saying... ignore the trolls.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Musket
Date: 18 May 15 - 03:33 PM

Nice to hear Uncle George has returned the Irish plank. Hope he did you proud. Don't forget, The next time you get a 24 pass, to bring it over to Ep'th.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 18 May 15 - 02:03 PM

what electrics have you got in the lowden, johnny?

i never really loved the lowden enough to buy one. then this guy down here, Mik Parsons ( he wrote the folksong for the Portland Bill kids tv program) showed me this sort of Lowden called Avalon. very expensive -two and half grand, and I really loved it. that was the gold series - its got Lowden belly but a sort of gibson j45 neck.

after that i bought a cheaper silver series - more for the white hiscox case than anything. i think the sides are laminate. nice guitar though - probably as near to a lowden as I'll ever get. I daren't take it out to gig as you need gynaecologists fingers to change the battery.

did three gigs last week with the trusty yamahas. I had retired then the central heating boiler went west so I am wearilly treading the boards once again. theres a lot of acoustic work down south, and every ten yards you come to a village with some sort of festival. you'd like it!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Doug Chadwick
Date: 18 May 15 - 01:55 PM

Sorry to be like Eeyore, but I don't think that it will take long for it to be changed into a thread that is ripe for closing.

Hope I am proved wrong.

DC

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,HiLo
Date: 18 May 15 - 01:39 PM

I love the concept of "open". Me and the better half are planting veg tomorrow and I am open to a new plan for the root veg. Built a raised bed last autumn and all root veg will go there.
Tomorrow I have to cook for six, I am open to suggestions.
Great concept, hope it stays "open" and positive.

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 18 May 15 - 01:24 PM

It's a nice bright sunny day in The Backwoods of Lincolnshire too, now that this morning's rain (for which I was grateful, having just put weed 'n' feed granules down on my lawns, which needed watering in) has moved away.

I'm a happy bunny, having got my Lowden back from the Lowden workshop, replete with a new truss-rod, fingerboard, nut and saddles - playing and sounding better than ever. Cost a packet but, hey, some things just gotta be done! 👍

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,Pete from seven stars link
Date: 18 May 15 - 01:23 PM

.....Murphy's law..,!

Subject: RE: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: Dave the Gnome
Date: 18 May 15 - 01:22 PM

Is it open as in open for business, open as in not secretive or open source? Or some other meaning. Maybe to do with golf...

Whichever, yes, positive is good. As long as negative does not take offense at that.

Subject: BS: This Thread Is Open.
From: GUEST,punkfolkrocker
Date: 18 May 15 - 01:13 PM

It's a nice bright sunny spring day...

..no harm in being open to positivity for a change...😜

.. and don't this thread title already make mudcat look a friendlier & more inviting place...???


So despite all the bleakest shite life can throw at us.....

=====================================================================

Me ?, I'm sort of feeling an open vibe
because the mrs has just agreed I can buy a new 'power user' specced computer,
so I've now nearly got all the gear I need to start recording my assault
on trad folk music......

then within hours, the big old microwave combi oven completely packed up,
so we'll have to buy a replacement for that first.. oh well...

but it was a pleasant experience to feel positive for a short while....
===================================================================
Right then, this is all your thread now..
do what the **** you like with it.....