|
Post by snakehips on Mar 20, 2024 10:46:24 GMT
........ and hopefully the needs of reso guitar coverplate screw replacements too !!!! Any news on that front ? Thanks !
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 20, 2024 9:04:33 GMT
Hi Michael,
For my username details that are available to other users to see, I have always had my email address show. Quite a number of years ago, I changed my email address to a gmail account - and at some point made changes to my MM Forum account - so my new email address would be shown. I didn't notice at the time, but my old contact email address still shows, if you click on my username.
If I log myself in and go to my account settings, my new gmail address shows up - and if I attempt to edit it, it is already showing my new email address. But if anyone wants to contact me via email, my username details show my old email address. I've already had one person (at least) PM me to say I hadn't replied to the email they sent me - I hope no one else thinks I ignored emails they sent !! ?
Would you know how I can fix this, or who I should contact, please ? Many thanks !
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 19, 2024 19:53:43 GMT
Oh dear !!!
I can tell you this though - The new German hlass slides from Diamond bottlenecks are super-tough. I’ve dropped and smashed other Diamond bottlenecks on bathroom tiled floors and my garage floor (bare concrete, painted with concrete floor sealer & concrete floor paint).
However, dropping my German glass slides was different - they just bounced multiple times on the tiles & garage floor - it was painful to watch as was expecting them to smash at every next bounce …… but they didn’t !
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 19, 2024 18:02:49 GMT
By the way, Richard W Rinn is royalty is some quarters, for the bands he had circa 20 years ago - the Boogaloo Investigators, then they morphed into the Five Aces, when they had a change of bass player. Duncan Kennedy is on guitar on both band incarnations. Richard was the singer in the band, plus played harmonica, and a little slide guitar and even melodeon.
Check this out :
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 19, 2024 17:52:34 GMT
Love the Elmore James tune. You have a fabulous bunch of talent around you! Great slide and vocals. How are you recording this? Just the single mic in the middle of the room? Very good balance and authentic vibe. Hi there ! Yes, just the one microphone in the middle of the room. It's a Rode condensor mic, I think, into a Universal Audio LA-610mk2 preamp & compressor combo, with the signal boosted a lot to thicken the sound, then into a cheap in-line attenuator to cut the signal down so not to overload the input of the one channel used of a Zoom Z16 multi-tracker recorder. I think there is only some v simple computer editing the sound after that from a bit of free audio stuff (Normalisation etc). My friend, Richard W Rinn is of the school of do as little to the sound as possible, so you don't harm it ! There are lots of sessions on his youtube page. The following session, with saxophonist, Deke McGhee's band, he added a 2nd mic, I think it's behind the piano - and so it picks up the piano AND I think the drums much better : I love the guitarist, Duncan Kennedy, as he's just a fab guitarist and always has me in stitches. I don't know what it is about Glasgow, but they produce so many fab musicians.
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 19, 2024 14:28:19 GMT
Hi again !
Some videos of Thomas, from last year :
Mark Mumea on guitar & vocals, Thomas on harmonica, and Thomas's flatmate Ben White on guitar :
Piano on piano & vocals :
Thomas's flatmate in Aylesbury, Ben White is getting pretty good too - here he is playing slide guitar & singing :
Now, with Ben White on piano, no less, with Thomas on guitar & vocals :
Ben White on harmonica & vocals, Thomas on guitar & Mark Mumea's double-bass player :
Oh, and more recently, when Thomas was back in Scotland for Christmas, we got him in Glasgow for another Richard W Rinn session : Thomas on guitar, Richard W Rinn himself on vocals & harmonica :
And I got to record a couple of tracks - my first time ever having both piano AND saxophone, for playing an Elmore James tune, young Thomas on piano AND Prof Scratchy on 2nd guitar. The sax player (Deke McGhee) is from Glasgow :
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 19, 2024 14:10:53 GMT
Hi again !
Young Thomas Lucas, from Fife, Scotland, once a fantastic member of my wee trio with myself and Prof Scratchy, but now living in Aylesbury, England, is still playing the blues and doing quite well for himself. Last year, he was over in the USA playing with trad 40's/50's blues player Mark Mumea.
Starting soon, he will be playing piano in Dexter Shaw's band (circa around London) - and has a gig with Dexter Shaw AND the amazing Big Joe Louis ! I always knew he had the abilities to do great things - and as far as I see it, these "big cheeses" in UK blues music scene see it as well.
Details of some of those gigs are here - I just wish I could go to them !!
DEXTER SHAW & THE WOLFTONES THURSDAY- Mall Tavern - Nottinghill (basement blues) 8pm til late. FRIDAY- The Green Bottles - Leigh on Sea, SS9 (table booking’s & standing) With Special guest the fabulous Dawnette Fessey blues powerhouse.. SATURDAY- THE GREEN BOTTLES Leigh on Sea,SS9 (table bookings & standing) SUNDAY- The Blues kitchen Shoreditch with the great BIG JOE LOUIS and THOMAS LUCAS ..
Please someone here go to any of these gigs - and tell me how they went !
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 19, 2024 13:53:27 GMT
Hi there !
Welcome to the forum. On slide, there are many options - slide material, weight, length, internal & external diameter, AND which finger to put it on. There is no wrong answer ........ but !
Some slides I have seen in guitar shops are far too long ! You only need one as long as the width of your fretboard, in my opinion. Any longer, then the extra length is the length that sticks out beyond the end of your finger - adding un-necessary weight that hangs off the end of your finger, and that can make the slide more difficult to control (in my view and experience !).
People get obsessed with finding a slide that "fits" their finger, or what materials they can use to stuff inside the slide to give the slide a tighter fit on your finger. I think this is completely un-necessary. I actually believe a slide that is loose on your finger, is actually better - because then you can bend your finger inside the slide - and actively grip the slide from the inside (by keeping your finger bent). I personally believe the pinky is the best finger for a slide - AND not pushed up your finger "to the hilt".
I think a slide is best on your pinky, up just past your 2nd knuckle (ie. not "up to the hilt"), with the end resting on that fatty tissue finger pad (inner 3rd segment of your pinky).
By bending your pinky, you can place the slide on the guitar strings WITHOUT having to bend your whole wrist around the neck. And your other fingers are free-er to move/bend etc how they want. If you don't believe me, place a long slide on any finger you want, up to the hilt. You won't be able to bend your knuckles very far Keeping it there, now try and fret strings with your other fingers. Your other finger movements become limited. This can't be good !
Also, keep your thumb around the back of the neck for stability - EVEN when you bring the slide up to the top of the neck. Makes it easier to do a good vibrato, if your thumb is resting & swinging on bass side of the neck.
Lastly, I highly recommend German glass slides from Diamond Bottlenecks - with nice THICK glass walls. Plus, they look super-cool ! I truly believe you get better slide tone (fatter & more sustain) with a big fat slide (large outer diameter) - I think you get better string contact (the larger the external diameter, the flatter the slide surface the string rests on.
The larger the slide (external diameter), the heavier the slide will probably be, so another reason not to have a slide any longer than you really need (no longer than the width of the fretboard).
My favourite slides are Diamond's German glass slides - with circa 18-19mm internal diameter, (even for my slim pinky) and really fat glass for decent weight, but only 50mm - 55mm long (so not too heavy/long). At this length, a really fat slide is super easy to control and sounds fantastic.
Just my thoughts/recommendations.
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 15, 2024 13:08:39 GMT
Hi Bert,
I remember when I bought that guitar, in Evanston, a suburb of Chicago. Played it for about 3hrs one day in the shop. Went back the next day & played it for about 1 1/2hrs, still lusting over it. Then I was in New Orleans for a month, on a student exchange thing, at the LSU Dental school. Then I flew back to Chicago for a few days before my return flight back to Edinburgh Scotland. While still in Chicago, I went back to the guitar shop and played the Delphi for another 2hrs - then decided to buy it. The shop-keeper joked that I’d played it so much already he’d have to sell it to me “used” !! The shop also had a brand new Style O, and a Polychtome Triolian, but the Delphi “spoke” to me - and was thenonly one I JUST had enough money for !
I’ve always wanted to compare the cone in it with later non-hot-rod cones and hot-rod cones. I think the cone might be earlier than most of the later non hot-rod cones. Sounded like Son House’s National on the 1965 Columbia sessions, when I had it. Always wondered if I’d still think that now, now having more experience playing lots of NRP’s and vintage Nationals.
All the best to you and Janne
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 15, 2024 12:49:27 GMT
Hi there !
Not a lot of break angle over the saddle - although difficult to judge fully without having it in your hands. I’m sure the guitar would benefit from a neck reset. Unfortunately, that cone looks toast, to me ! All my opinion but I have tried to coax squashed cones back into shape (ones less squashed than yours), and while they you may be lucky and it holds up to full string tension for a while, it rarely sounds that good. A mew NRP hot-rod cone would be best.
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 13, 2024 10:50:34 GMT
Hi there !
National Resophonic were very unfortunate with the water-based lacquers they were using, because of constraints with Californian laws, using anything considered toxic. They used a number of water-based lacquers - and one or two turned out to not be great in the end. Hundreds, if not thousands of guitars were finished with these lacquers that turns out they would disintegrate, on some guitars - starting to peel off the wooden necks (and wooden bodies for the wooden guitars). And when they went back to the manufacturers of the lacquerer for some redress, they found the manufacturers had gone out of business.
I expect that IF every single NRP guitar owner that has this problem ALL wanted the issue fixed free of charge, it would probably bankrupt the NRP - and that would be the end of them. Some NRP owners had rants on guitar forums, expecting NRP to pay for shipping their guitars to NRP and back for free, as well as doing the repairs for free. I personally think that is expecting far too much of NRP. If you bought a guitar from them but you live on the other side of the world - that's not their fault.
I own one NRP guitar these days - a 2009 German Silver Style 1.5 Tricone (with a few custom features). I wasn't all that keen on the matt-finish surface of the water-based lacquer, and on recommendation of a fab guitar-player friend in Bolden, England, I polished the neck finish with T-Cut car polish. I was really impressed how it turned the neck finish into a gloss finish - and my guitar now feels more "at home" to play. Some time after that, I noticed the finish bubbling at the heel, where it contacts the guitar body, just on the bass side of the heel - two areas of finish lifting up off the wood. It's never actually got any worse. I feel that perhaps, the finish might not have started to bubble, IF I had not tinkered it by rubbing with T-Cut polish. I won't be bothering NRP about my guitar ! It's probably my own fault, in this case. Anyway, the guitar is coming up for 15yrs old now !! I'm still v happy with the polished neck surface I created - so will leave it at that.
This left-handed guitar though - enough of the finish is peeling off that you would be best peeling it all off, then perhaps having it refinished. I'm not a massive fan of those "vintage steel" finishes NRP used to do - like this guitar has, and maybe you may be best keeping a look out for a better example, as few-and-far-between as they are !??
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 11, 2024 12:37:22 GMT
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 9, 2024 17:06:38 GMT
Hi again ! Not that I ever saw this guitar in person (I was offered it for sale though), is this vintage National Style 97, by a retired Dentist friend in England, a lovely chap (used to see him at the Colne R&B Festival, every August Bank Holiday). His one was the one that had a replacement neck made & fitted by Mike Lewis, of Fine Resophonics. Here is a picture of the back of the guitar. As far as I can tell, there is a thin etched (but not coloured) border, just in from the edge, and some parts of the Hawaiian scene are etched but not coloured - the outer edges of each coloured areas, the top two thirds of the volcanos, etc. So, I think that implies the whole guitar was etched with the Style 97 etching pattern, then large portions (but not all) of the etched areas were painted over : Attachments:
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 9, 2024 16:55:26 GMT
Hi there !
I've no idea about the paint/enamel but after a while National (and the same with National Resophonic) stopped doing the coloured enamels and just did etching of the Style 97. It is my understanding that all the Model 97's were etched first, then painted/enameled. I presume this would give a better surface for the paint/enamel to adhere to.
|
|
|
Post by snakehips on Mar 9, 2024 14:29:47 GMT
Hi again !
I was sure I had seen a youtube video of one of these guitars before, and being quite surprised it sounds fairly good.
I did a search on youtube for National New Yorkers and found this :
Curiously, now I think it looks the same as the guitar you have seen for sale BUT with a different bridge AND what looks like possibly the original control knobs. If the knobs are not original, they are a darn side closer in appearance to the original knobs (see the originals on that Reverb listing again !).
THEN, I saw the other youtube video - possibly by the current owner of the guitar, now selling it.
I'm not convinced the guitar has done the best job possible, restoring the guitar - or whether it was even needed.
To be fair though, the pickup sounds fairly OK on both videos. Did you notice in the more recent video, the guitar feeding back quite a few times ?? I suspect the pickup has quite a weak signal - so the guy has to turn his amp quite high, just to get half-decent volumes.
|
|