[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"roughplanet" wrote in message

Iain, I have just purchased a new jazz guitar as my arthritis makes
playing classical guitar, with its wide neck & fingering too difficult
these days.

That's what makes music such a great hobby. It is also very very
therapeutic. What kind of music do you play, Ruff? I can manage
only one chord on the guitar E minor. Ya can't get too far with that:-)

I also managed to get a nice Laney tube amp to accompany it, and, would
you believe, it has the same tubes as my TT SET amp, vis 12AX7's for
drivers & EL84's for finals. What a coup!

Brilliant. What make is the guitar:-)

From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

The guitar was a sample from a well respected Chinese manufacturer
(Electa) who, because it was their first offering, really put a great deal
of effort into it. I am amazed at how well the Chinese can build ANYTHING
if they REALLY want to.

Yes of course they can! Their marketing strategy is to get cheap
goods on sale, at an irresistable price, to get them noticed, and then
by pushing up the quality, secure sales in the higher brackets.

The neck & fingerboard are as good
as those on my old Gibson 355. I really don't know how they do it, either
for the price or even at all!

Careful scrutiny:-) Chinese tube amps used to be copies of 1950s
and 1960s American and British designs. Due to the poor (money saving)
transformers and components generally, the level of performace and
reliability in particular was not too good. Oddly enough, their chassis
(which cost a lot to fabricate elsewhere, are good, that is, of course
if you like the Chinese cosmeticstyle.

Bringing budget priced tube amps onto the market was something
of a double-edged sword. The cheap amp gave people who might
not have otherwise bought a CJ or similar, the opportunity to get
the "glowing musical experience" The down-side is that these cheapo
amps were prone to failure often within weeks. This gave people
the idea that tube amps are inherently unreliable:-(

This axe sounds wonderful; exactly like the guitars Jim Hall plays & I
bought a few books on scales; Eb, Bb, etc. together with some scores, and
as you suggested, hope that there's not too many of those bloody sharps in
any of the tunes:-).

Chords, keys and scales a fascinating and essential part of music.
The chap with whom I shared the Merlot the other evening has a PhD
and teaches music theory. I approach it from the other end - the
practical side:-)

E maj and A maj seem to be the favourite keys for guitarists. I used to
play in a quartet with a guitarist who could play in any key - he used
a capo:-)


Cheers
Iain

[roughplanet[_2_]]

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...

"roughplanet" wrote in message

Iain, I have just purchased a new jazz guitar as my arthritis makes
playing classical guitar, with its wide neck & fingering too difficult
these days.

That's what makes music such a great hobby. It is also very very
therapeutic. What kind of music do you play, Ruff? I can manage
only one chord on the guitar E minor. Ya can't get too far with that:-)

I used to play trad jazz (4 string banjo), modern jazz (7 string
semi-acoustic) clasical (Concert Classical nylon 6 string) blues (6 & 12
string steel stringed guitars) bluegrass (5-string banjo & lap steel) & folk
(5-string banjo & 6 & 12 string guitars). But not all at the same time :-).

I also managed to get a nice Laney tube amp to accompany it, and, would
you believe, it has the same tubes as my TT SET amp, vis 12AX7's for
drivers & EL84's for finals. What a coup!

Brilliant. What make is the guitar:-)

An Electa. They have been around for many years but have really lifted their
game of late.

From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

I used to have both a Martin DB6 & DB12. I was doing a gig in the ACT one
evening when a young guy came up to me and offered them both to me for £500.
It turned out his father was the US Ambassador & the family was returning to
the US the following week.
Did I buy them? Does the Pope **** in the woods?

Yes of course they can! Their marketing strategy is to get cheap
goods on sale, at an irresistable price, to get them noticed, and then
by pushing up the quality, secure sales in the higher brackets.

The neck & fingerboard are as good as those on my old Gibson 355. I
really don't know how they do it, either for the price or even at all!

Careful scrutiny:-) Chinese tube amps used to be copies of 1950s
and 1960s American and British designs. Due to the poor (money saving)
transformers and components generally, the level of performace and
reliability in particular was not too good. Oddly enough, their chassis
(which cost a lot to fabricate elsewhere, are good, that is, of course
if you like the Chinese cosmeticstyle.

Bringing budget priced tube amps onto the market was something
of a double-edged sword. The cheap amp gave people who might
not have otherwise bought a CJ or similar, the opportunity to get
the "glowing musical experience" The down-side is that these cheapo
amps were prone to failure often within weeks. This gave people
the idea that tube amps are inherently unreliable:-(

This axe sounds wonderful; exactly like the guitars Jim Hall plays & I
bought a few books on scales; Eb, Bb, etc. together with some scores, and
as you suggested, hope that there's not too many of those bloody sharps
in
any of the tunes:-).

Chords, keys and scales a fascinating and essential part of music.
The chap with whom I shared the Merlot the other evening has a PhD
and teaches music theory. I approach it from the other end - the
practical side:-)

E maj and A maj seem to be the favourite keys for guitarists. I used to
play in a quartet with a guitarist who could play in any key - he used
a capo:-)

So did I for the first few years. It sure beats the hell out of finger
strain.

ruff

[Jenn[_2_]]

In article ,
"roughplanet" wrote:

From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

We truly are experiencing a "second golden age" of the guitar builder's
art. See Mike Baranik (which I play, along with the fantastic Martin
OMC-28m Laurence Juber), the late Lance McCollum, Kevin Ryan, James
Goodall, et al.

[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"Jenn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"roughplanet" wrote:

From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

Yes of course. It's the same with recording equipment. There
are many microphones that are Neumann look-alikes, but that is
where the similarity ends!

We truly are experiencing a "second golden age" of the guitar builder's
art. See Mike Baranik (which I play, along with the fantastic Martin
OMC-28m Laurence Juber), the late Lance McCollum, Kevin Ryan, James
Goodall, et al.

Good news. Despite the attractions of DVD and plug-
and-play entertainment it is encouraging to see so many
youngsters carrying musical instrument cases.

Iain

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 19, 1:21*am, Jenn wrote:
In article ,

*"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. *Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

They are made about 15 miles from me. Circles Pines is a north metro
suburb of the Twin Cities.

The first time I played one it didn't cost nearly that much. :-)

[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!" wrote in message
...
On Mar 19, 1:21 am, Jenn wrote:
In article ,

"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

They are made about 15 miles from me. Circles Pines is a north metro
suburb of the Twin Cities.

Have you ever had the chance to visit their workshops?
If you ever get the chance, it would be interesting to hear
about it.

The first time I played one it didn't cost nearly that much. :-)

Shame you didn't buy half a dozen:-) Or did you? :-)

This thread is quite unique in that most good threads
are quickly highjacked, and turn from interesting topics
into a chimp fight.

This thread, started as a chimp fight, been
high-jacked and turned into an interesting topic:-)

Iain

[Jenn[_2_]]

In article ,
"Iain Churches" wrote:

"Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!" wrote in message
...
On Mar 19, 1:21 am, Jenn wrote:
In article ,

"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

They are made about 15 miles from me. Circles Pines is a north metro
suburb of the Twin Cities.

Have you ever had the chance to visit their workshops?
If you ever get the chance, it would be interesting to hear
about it.

For sure. They really are fantastic instruments. For a solo player who
plays Olson, see the great Al Petteway.

The only Olson that I've played was of one of my favorite combinations:
cedar and rosewood. My two favorite top woods are cedar and adirondack
spruce.

[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"Jenn" wrote in message
...
In article ,
"Iain Churches" wrote:

"Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!" wrote in
message
...
On Mar 19, 1:21 am, Jenn wrote:
In article ,

"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

They are made about 15 miles from me. Circles Pines is a north metro
suburb of the Twin Cities.

Have you ever had the chance to visit their workshops?
If you ever get the chance, it would be interesting to hear
about it.

For sure. They really are fantastic instruments. For a solo player who
plays Olson, see the great Al Petteway.

The only Olson that I've played was of one of my favorite combinations:
cedar and rosewood. My two favorite top woods are cedar and adirondack
spruce.




Jenn. The subject of tuning, which we have touched on briefly is
a fascinating one, as it affects so much the way the instrument
sounds,. and I feel this is probably something about which
those of us who do not play guitar are not very aware.

Could youi possibly give us some pointers on this topic,
preferably in a new thread, cross-posted as this one
is between RAO ad the Oz group.

TIA

Iain

[Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!]

On Mar 19, 9:27*am, "Iain Churches" wrote:
"Shhhh! I'm Listening to Reason!" wrote in ...
On Mar 19, 1:21 am, Jenn wrote:

In article ,

"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.
They are made about 15 miles from me. Circles Pines is a north metro
suburb of the Twin Cities.

Have you ever had the chance to visit their workshops?

No, unfortunately. Maybe I can make a run up there one of these days.

If you ever get the chance, it would be interesting to hear
about it.

If I do I'll let you know.

The first time I played one it didn't cost nearly that much. :-)

Shame you didn't buy half a dozen:-) *Or did you? :-)

People who live in Rome probably don't visit the Forum very often
either. :-(

I used to see them in local shops for reasonable money, but they were
still in the Taylor/Martin range.

This thread is quite unique in that most good threads
are quickly highjacked, and turn from interesting topics
into a chimp fight.

This thread, started as a chimp fight, been
high-jacked and turned into an interesting topic:-)

The law of averages says that has to happen once in a while. :-)

[George M. Middius[_4_]]

Iain Churches said:

highjacked
high-jacked

It's "hijacked". No hyphen, no "-gh". The word is not descended from any
relative of "high".

[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"George M. Middius" wrote in message
...


Iain Churches said:

highjacked
high-jacked

It's "hijacked". No hyphen, no "-gh". The word is not descended from any
relative of "high".

Thank you George. English is no longer my first language.
Your tolerance is appreciated.

Iain

[MiNe 109]

In article ,
George M. Middius wrote:

Iain Churches said:

highjacked
high-jacked

It's "hijacked". No hyphen, no "-gh". The word is not descended from any
relative of "high".

Except for "highway".

Stephen

[[email protected]]

On 19 Mar, 10:27, "Iain Churches" wrote:



This thread is quite unique in that most good threads
are quickly highjacked, and turn from interesting topics
into a chimp fight.

This thread, started as a chimp fight, been
high-jacked and turned into an interesting topic:-)

Iain

"at least" until Arny reads a two minute primer on guitars,
and casts himelf as an expert, saying that no one needs anything more
than a $250 Ibanez

[TT]

wrote in message
...
On 19 Mar, 10:27, "Iain Churches"
wrote:



This thread is quite unique in that most good threads
are quickly highjacked, and turn from interesting topics
into a chimp fight.

This thread, started as a chimp fight, been
high-jacked and turned into an interesting topic:-)

Iain

"at least" until Arny reads a two minute primer on
guitars,
and casts himelf as an expert, saying that no one needs
anything more
than a $250 Ibanez

Don't you mean he will say all you need is your Guitar Hero
game and your PS3. It's all digital so it has to be better
;-)

Cheers TT

[roughplanet[_2_]]

wrote in message
...

On 19 Mar, 10:27, "Iain Churches" wrote:

This thread is quite unique in that most good threads
are quickly highjacked, and turn from interesting topics
into a chimp fight.

This thread, started as a chimp fight, been
high-jacked and turned into an interesting topic:-)

Iain

"at least" until Arny reads a two minute primer on guitars,
and casts himelf as an expert, saying that no one needs anything more
than a $250 Ibanez.

BWAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!! Struth Clyde, you really know Arnie well, don't you :-)?

ruff

[Arny Krueger]

wrote in message

On 19 Mar, 10:27, "Iain Churches"
wrote:



This thread is quite unique in that most good threads
are quickly highjacked, and turn from interesting topics
into a chimp fight.

This thread, started as a chimp fight, been
high-jacked and turned into an interesting topic:-)

Iain

"at least" until Arny reads a two minute primer on
guitars,
and casts himelf as an expert, saying that no one needs
anything more than a $250 Ibanez

I win again!

[calvin coolidge]

On Mar 18, 11:21�pm, Jenn wrote:
In article ,

�"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. �Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

We truly are experiencing a "second golden age" of the guitar builder's
art. See Mike Baranik (which I play, along with the fantastic Martin
OMC-28m Laurence Juber), the late Lance McCollum, Kevin Ryan, James
Goodall, et al.

My brother has a Goodall. It's a fantastic instrument, a work of art.

[Jenn[_2_]]

In article
,
calvin coolidge wrote:

On Mar 18, 11:21?pm, Jenn wrote:
In article ,

?"roughplanet" wrote:
From the recording point of view, Guild and Martin sound very good,
but my favourite acoustic has to be the Olson, as played by James
Taylor.

James Olson makes fantastic instruments; among the very best that I've
heard. ?Of course, you pay dearly for that tone, starting at $12,500.

We truly are experiencing a "second golden age" of the guitar builder's
art. See Mike Baranik (which I play, along with the fantastic Martin
OMC-28m Laurence Juber), the late Lance McCollum, Kevin Ryan, James
Goodall, et al.

My brother has a Goodall. It's a fantastic instrument, a work of art.

Yep, fine instruments.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdYIk...&p=E41C7DB1089
26BDF&index=0&playnext=1

[Iain Churches[_2_]]

"roughplanet" wrote in message
u...
"Iain Churches" wrote in message



Ruff wrote:
I used to play trad jazz (4 string banjo), modern jazz (7 string
semi-acoustic) clasical (Concert Classical nylon 6 string) blues (6 & 12
string steel stringed guitars) bluegrass (5-string banjo & lap steel) &
folk (5-string banjo & 6 & 12 string guitars). But not all at the same
time :-)

Pretty versatile. One of my favourite instruments is the flat back
mandoline. One saw them quite often on pop sessions at one time.


I also managed to get a nice Laney tube amp to accompany it, and, would
you believe, it has the same tubes as my TT SET amp, vis 12AX7's for
drivers & EL84's for finals. What a coup!

Brilliant. What make is the guitar:-)

An Electa. They have been around for many years but have really lifted
their game of late.

That seems to be the game plan for many makers of musical
instruments. They get in at entry level, and then start to push
up the quality to provide interemediate and professional grade
instruments. The Devil is in the detail:-)

I used to have both a Martin DB6 & DB12. I was doing a gig in the ACT one
evening when a young guy came up to me and offered them both to me for
£500. It turned out his father was the US Ambassador & the family was
returning to the US the following week.
Did I buy them? Does the Pope **** in the woods?

Sans doubt!

There have been some pretty informative posts about guitars and tuning
on RAO (not everything there is cross posted flame!)

E maj and A maj seem to be the favourite keys for guitarists. I used to
play in a quartet with a guitarist who could play in any key - he used
a capo:-)

So did I for the first few years. It sure beats the hell out of finger
strain.

But then we get back to the basic argument that certain pieces only
work in certain keys.

Cheers
Iain

[TT]

"Iain Churches" wrote in message
...

Pretty versatile. One of my favourite instruments is the flat back
mandoline. One saw them quite often on pop sessions at one time.


Do I detect a reference to Mike Oldfield and Tubular Bells here? ;-)

Cheers TT