NBD (new bass day)

Boy it's been a long time since I've posted anything... and it isn't because nothing has been happening.  Life has been rich, full, and busy.  So this post is going up because it is an easy one...  I'll try to get some other new ones up soon.  There is a lot to write about.

I've always loved the sound of a good fretless bass.  They allow an incredible amount of control over the envelope of the sound from the shape of the attack to the sustain that you just don't get on a fretted bass.  It begins with the singing tone referred to as "mwah" by bass players but goes well beyond that.   All of that control requires... control on the part of the player and there is the issue of intonation.  With no frets, moving your finger a fraction of an inch takes you into or out of tune.

I've owned two in the past.  One simply was a lousy instrument and nobody could have made it sound like what I hear in my head.  The other was a decent bass.  Of course the real piece was that I wasn't really a bass player when I owned either one.  Over the past few years, as I've been playing bass in the church band, I'm becoming a real bass player rather than just a guitar player, playing at bass.  I'm hoping to have some more opportunities playing bass as a backup player for local singer/songwriters.

A second piece has come into play.  Bass guitar builders are much more adventurous than guitar builders and bass players likewise.  This allows the builders to push the envelope a lot further than guitar builders from interesting designs to multi-string extended basses (some of which have as many as 21 strings - here's a link to a video of a Bee Bass 9 string from NAMM if you're interested).

Bee Bass GrooveBee

One company called Bee Bass builds some instruments that really catch my eye aesthetically and sound really, really good.  While I would have loved to own one, even though they are priced reasonably for the quality, they still are priced beyond my budget at this point so they really didn't even inspire any GAS (guitar acquisition syndrome) in me... until I saw that the builder - Fred Bolton - had a demo instrument up on e-bay for a silly good price.  Nobody bid and the auction ended.  Fred posted the bass again at a lower price.  I remembered a similar situation with my first Lowden where it had presented itself when I wasn't looking for a new guitar and that Lowden changed the direction of my playing forever.   I couldn't help thinking that this Bee might do the same thing for my bass playing.  I bid.  I won it and became the owner of a fretless Bee Bass GrooveBee.  It sounds killer and I think it is a beautiful piece of art even before it is played.

I'm in love with it even as it challenges me to be way more careful of my technique and aware of my intonation which was never even an issue with fretted instruments.  I'm working at both.   The bass inspires me to work at both so that makes it easier.   Here's a video of my bass made by the builder... you can hear the mwah.  What you don't hear is how aggressive the low end can be.

GAS

Guitar players talk about an affliction called GAS - Guitar Acquisition Syndrome. It stems from this belief that if only I can finally find the right guitar, the perfect guitar, then my playing will be incredible and the music of the spheres will find its release through my fingers. Two other ideas feed it - the first is that we live in the golden age of guitar building. There are literally hundreds of incredible builders who, in spite of the growing scarcity of the best wood, are building better guitars in more designs than have ever been done in history. This excellence trickles down even to the larger factory companies like Martin and Taylor building as many as 400 guitars a day and to the least expensive guitars built in Asian factories at numbers dwarfing the American factories. The second idea goes back to the Summer of Love. Back in the hippie days, consumerism was frowned upon and owning more than you needed was a serious no no... except when it came to musical instruments, especially guitars. Somehow, it was still OK to have very expensive guitars.

The three ideas come together and many guitar players go through instruments like candy. If you look at the classifieds on any guitar forum, you'll see significant numbers of hand built instruments for sale with prices nearing 5 figures or passing that barrier. Wherever you see a gathering of guitar players with their instruments, you're likely to see some serious and beautiful guitars.

I'm not as susceptible to GAS as I once was because I'm pretty happy with my Lowden which is pictured above. When my previous Lowden was stolen in Philadelphia in '99, the folk at Lowden were amazing to me and built me a very special guitar. George himself carved the bracing in my guitar. I've been playing Lowdens since about '87 and the sound fits me. So, even though I deeply appreciate the art and beauty of lots of what I see out there, it is difficult to imagine finding something that I really want instead of my Lowden.

FAR-West was one of the largest gatherings of guitar players I've attended so it was fun to see what instruments the performers had and what accessories they were using (also included under the general malady of GAS). I didn't count anything so these are just guesstimates... but fun for me none the less. It seemed that the single most popular make of guitar was Martin. That surprised me. I thought Martin had been dethroned by Taylor... which seemed to be the second most popular company. I wasn't surprised that neither one was a majority. I saw lots of smaller company guitars and a number of high end single luthier built instruments. I know how much money guitar players make so that part does surprise me... There was a very small number of Asian built guitars and one or two Larrivees, a quality Canadian factory built guitar that also has a factory in California.

Among the small shop guitars I saw a number from Santa Cruz Guitar Company who build Martin inspired guitars of very high quality and a few from James Goodall who builds a more modern style of guitar. I didn't see any Lowdens, Collings, or Bourgeois. I didn't see all of the players so I may have missed one or more of any of these companies. Then, I saw a number of the single luthier guitars... I saw one each of a Greenfield, a Sexhauer, a Wingert, and an Olson. All of those guitars pushed me towards a bout with GAS - beautiful sound, immaculate craftsmanship, sublime materials - although my wallet is nowhere near fat enough to even consider one. Then there were a few guitars that I didn't recognize which were likely built by other single luthiers without the same degree of recognition, at least to me.

Accessories were also interesting... I participate on the Acoustic Guitar Forum where a regular discussion comes up about cases vs. gig bags. It feels almost like my teen years when you were either a Ford or a Chevy person. There are a variety of different ways to carry and protect an instrument from high cost, extremely protective,low weight carbon fiber cases to cheap gig bags that are little more than a nylon grocery bag which do nothing more than keep the dust off. There are lots in the middle. Again, no counting, but from what I saw people carrying around, about 1/3 seemed to have Caltons. These are relatively expensive (around $800), very heavy fiberglass touring cases. If you're going to hand a $10K guitar to a baggage handler... they are a good idea but because of weight and size, don't ever expect to carry one onto a plane and figure that if you have to carry it very far, your arms will stretch to orangutan length. I had one for a while and appreciated the protectiveness of it, but it was far too heavy and bulky for me so I sold it. Another 1/3 had high quality gig bags. These usually run from about $150-$350 and are made of heavy nylon or leather with thick foam padding. They are much smaller and lighter than the Caltons and usually have some system of straps to wear them on your back. The argument for them is that because of the smaller size and weight, it is easier to keep your guitar in your hands or on your back and safe. FWIW, all of my guitars live in quality gig bags including a wonderful custom leather bag for my Lowden made by Glenn Cronkhite. The rest were in factory hard cases - the kind that usually come with a guitar when you purchase it and cost from about $80-200 on the aftermarket depending on the quality and company. I didn't see any carbon fiber cases even with the most expensive guitars.

So...no GAS for me... but I got very, very close to catching it again.

cool

growing up in the flower power days, materialism was a definite no no... except when you were talking about guitars. Then, you could own as many really cool guitars as, well, you could. More recently, materialism became trendy and owning huge numbers of guitars or a small number of very expensive guitars has even become an investment strategy. I try to avoid that temptation and my bank account impedes the reality... but I still find myself suffering from G.A.S. - guitar acquisition syndrome. My favorite guitars are build by George Lowden & company. I think George's design was a key to the movement of new fingerstyle guitar styles. Indeed, one of my fingerstyle playing friends Michael Millham, once remarked that Lowden was the guitar company owned by the largest number of his fingerstyle playing friends. I love my Lowden and can't imagine ever not owning & playing one.

Occassionally, though, I get GAS for someone else's guitars... and one builder who guitars inspire me from a distance - I've never played one - is Michael Greenfield, an individual builder who works in Canada. His guitars are gorgeous sounding... and really expensive.

Here is a video of Andy McKee playing his brand new Greenfield... I can only imagine how this guitar will sound as it opens up...

GAS

Guitar Acquisition Syndrome... well, not exactly... I've been jonesing for a ukulele for some time. The idea of this little guy that I can easily carry with me anywhere is very attractive.

They have become very popular with baby boomers with too much money looking for toys and there are scores of builders building incredibly beautiful instruments. The one on the right was built by Tony Graziano who also built the guitar that my daughter Alexis owns (a beautiful little guitar).

And if you think of Tiny Tim when anyone mentions ukuleles, watch Jake Shimabukuro.

Kenny Hill New World

Well... the Kenny Hill New World guitar is here. I love it. It has not been played a lot so it will open up considerably as it gets played but already the bass notes are rich and full and the trebles are sweet and warm.



It has a nice spruce top and Indian rosewood sides and back. The fingerboard is wider than a typical steel string but still more narrow than a classical plus it feels as if it has a slight radius - typical of steel strings and not found on classicals.

The next steps are to get a pickup for it so I can amplify it and use it to play out and to get the finish fixed. The previous owner had an unfortunate accident with the finish and a bit of it pulled off by the endgraft. I think the finish is French polish, an old method of applying shellac that is only used these days on high end classical guitars and in restoring antiques. The finish is extremely labor intensive and fragile but it sounds great on a guitar. The other upside is that it is relatively easy to repair. I'm waiting to hear back from the company before I move ahead with getting anything worked on.

In the meantime, I've started through a book on Brazilian guitar called Guitar Atlas: Brazil from Alfred Publishing. I'm learning all of these wonderful chord voicings that were previously completely outside of my guitar vocabulary. They sound great but boy is my hand getting tired. And the rhythms are a little different from anything I've done before too. Once I have a sense that I've got much of this under my belt, I'll try their book on African guitar and they even have a book of Japanese style guitar... I'm hoping it is reflective of koto playing. That would be fun too.

GAS again

Well... I've got Guitar Acquisition Syndrome again.

I love the sound of a nylon string guitar. I've always wanted to learn to play bossa nova and some of the African acoustic styles that work well with nylon strings... but I don't bond with traditional classical guitars. I've owned three or four through the years. I get one, play it for a while and it just doesn't work for me... I don't like the neck shape or nut width. And the guitars I've owned didn't have as much sustain as I prefer (perhaps a more expensive classical would have but these didn't). There is something about the sound though... some styles really require it and there is just something there...

These days, there are a number of companies that build a hybrid style guitar with nylon strings, bracing similar to a classical guitar, and a neck similar to a steel string guitar's neck. I think that should make the difference for me. So, I'm selling a few pieces of gear and beginning the search. Godin and Guild build guitars of this style that are in my price range.

In the meantime, here's a video of Sara Tavares playing a nylon string guitar. She does a wonderful mix of Brazilian, African, and Portuguese music. If you search my blog, there is another video of her doing a tune called Balance that I love.

NAMM 2

Toni asked whether I got to see the rest of NAMM or if I spent the entire time at the Lowden Booth... I did get to see the whole deal (I even think I saw Bono at one point). I didn't take any photos of people other than the one of Thomas and maybe two of some very strange looking folk...

This year, NAMM didn't seem have as many innovative products as some other years but there were some interesting products and some changes. It seemed there were more ethnic instruments with lots of ukulele companies that I don't remember seeing before. Also, every year there are some wood dealers but it seemed there were more of those too. There were a few small products that looked cool such as a new Kyser capo.

I played a few guitars and one amp and looked at a few that gave me GAS... The one product that is getting attention from me is an electric guitar that also can produce accurate acoustic sounds. Thus far, every one that I have played seems to compromise one or both of the sounds so we aren't there yet... but when we get there, I'll be ready with my wallet open. I also have some interest in solid body midi/acoustic guitars... Those have arrived and some look amazing (see the Rolf Spuler below). One of these days, I'll either buy one or build one. Here are a couple of guitars that caught my eye.

This guitar by Rolf Spuler was the coolest design. Unfortunately I didn't get to play it... but from looks alone as well as a well thought out design, it gives me serious GAS.



I played this guitar from XOX Audio Tools. It played great and sounded good (as much as one can tell at NAMM). It gave me a little GAS... but not enough to worry my wife.



For any shredders out there, Gary Kramer has some cool looking designs aimed just at you. I'm not into shredding but the design seems to well though out...



For the purest, Nik Huber builds some amazing guitars... the woods and the workmanship in these guitars is awesome



A number of acoustic companies have entered the electric market - Taylor and Collings are both building fairly traditional looking electrics. Breedlove never built traditional looking acoustics and their entries into the electric market looks equally unique. Again, I didn't get to play this guitar but the design really caught my attention.



There were scores of great acoustic guitars around but unless you really are into them, the photos don't tell much... This one however deserves a look. Every NAMM, Martin brings a few incredibly garish guitars with WAY too much inlay to show that they can put more pearl and abalone into a plate of wood than anyone. The workmanship is stunning. The guitar is just ugly and incredibly expensive.