Monday, January 26, 2004

Played one of those small bodied Gibsons today. Curly walnut back, lot's of Mother of Pearl inlay. I picked it off the shelf and said to my self, "I'll bet the bass is terrible." Guess what! The bass was terrible! Stay away from these gorgeously decorated, heavily discounted small bodies. They are awful!

For half the price, I played a auditorium sized Taylor 414. After a very few notes I forgot about the size, marveling at resonance and voice of this instument. The Four Hundred Series will always remain my favorite.

There were several good players in the Acousic Room at lunch. Nice fingerpicking, one fella' on a 1963 J45 Gibson. He had great timing, not hurried, and made the forty year old Gibson boom and ring. A real pleasure filled half hour lunch.

Saturday night my wife and I made it to Borders in Lawrenceville. As we entered I realized one of those dreaded Saturday Night amatuer musicians was playing. I told Deb that I hoped it wasn't a frammer! I hate unskilled players who fram at their guitars in the mistaken belief that volume displays passion. Well to my amazement Tony Capri proceeded to weave a tapistry of tonal patterns. Using a variety of open tunings, he walked through disonant bass notes and resolved them like a good writer ties up the loose ends of a tightly knit yarn. Each song wandered on for three or four minutes before he added a haunting vocal. And even then I didn't want the song to end. What a joy to hear someone so thoroughly adept at opening up his heart through music.

Wednesday, January 21, 2004

Hopfully I will soon be the owner of a Nikon Cool Pix 4300. One of the things I want to do is post pix of the guitars I'm talking about on this site.

Or I could put the Nikon up for sale on e-Bay and buy a guitar with the money I get!

Friday, January 16, 2004

Saw another clearance item at Guitar Center...a Martin Rosewood Sunburst cut from $1999 to $999. Problem was it had a tiny split down the front of the top, running all the way from below the bridge to the bottom binding. I'm sorry but I would never buy a guitar like this. Pooh Pooh on Guitar Center for trying to push this off on some unsuspecting player!

I decided to swallow my pride and go in for a lower cost Alverez. I played the Maple Jumbo yesterday and it sure plays easy and the price is certainly right ($400). The sound is sort of nondescript but miked up it will be fine. I'll get it within the next couple of weeks. If it ain't love, it'll have to do...till the real thing comes along.

Wednesday, January 14, 2004

Played a couple of deeply discounted guitars at Guitar Center at lunch. First was a Taylor 910CE, regularly $3900, for $2900. Played beautifully, sounded wonderful. Taylor resonance is unsurpassed and on this model it was spectacular with midbass notes hanging in the air. Dave Matthews was on the overhead speaker so I started playing along with double stops in E. The Taylor held it's own volume wise with the cranked Matthews.
Next to the Taylor was a Martin Keb Moe Signature Model. Regularly $3700, Sale price $1999! Problem with this one was the bass E tuner knob was stripped off. Probably would cost a hundred to fix it. The Motherr of Pearl inlay was impressive. The woody drone of the Martin bass A was less powerful that the Taylor but matched it in resonance. The harder you thumbed the Martin deeper and darker went the note...not louder but deeper. Both were equiped with electronics making the decision a tough one. Hey, is my credit good yet!

Thursday, January 08, 2004

Galaxy is having a big Larivee clearance sale: prices from $665 to $970 on top of the line, brand new Larivee's. Hey, is my credit good?!

Tuesday, January 06, 2004

Played a Gibson Songbird at Galaxy...$1295. Very comfortable, clear distinctive bass, not muddled like the old Kalamazoo Gibsons. The Montana guitars are truely worth the money. What a great story! Gibson had such a storied past and then hit the skids during the 70's. Poor quality, labor problems, corporate buy out to a European conglomerate.

Then, in the mid 80's I think, some of the original luthiers bought the operation back from Norstrom and moved it to Bozeman. An enthusiastic labor force, dedicated master builders and a very progressive Design/Marketing team has put the Gibson mark back amoung the leaders. Hat's off!