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Post by snakehips on Jul 23, 2019 21:50:21 GMT
Hi there !
That Fishman Polomint (Lifesaver, for you Americans !) bug pickup is terrible.
If you don’t want an electric guitar type sound, then I strongly recommend the Highlander pickup system (wooden biscuit with special piezo pickup, Highlander preamp mounted inside the guitar, external 9V battery box and stereo jack cable). The Highlander pickups are expensive. However, there is a way ..... ! If you have an acoustic guitar preamp, you can buy just the Highlander biscuit with special piezo pickup, on it’s own, for much less than the whole system. The better the acoustic guitar preamp you have, the better the pickup tone. I strongly recommend a preamp that is phantom powered, instead of one powered by a 9V battery. I can highly recommend the Orchid Electronics acoustic guitar preamp. Worth every penny (circa £200). If you have multiple reso guitars you wanted to install quality pickups in, get the HIghlander biscuit pickup for each guitar, and ONE external preamp. Saves you money, compared to buying the whle system for each guitar. Contact Jason at National Resophonic for a good price as he/they at NRP readily/swiftly answer emails, unlike Highlander themselves.
I am trying to find time to trial a new amplification system for my Nationals, but been pretty busy lately. Will keep y’all posted how I get on in due course.
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Post by snakehips on Jul 1, 2019 23:00:11 GMT
Hi again !
I have ordered NRP cones from Thomann before, with no problems. I have also ordered direct from NRP, in California, also with no problems. Price wasn’t much different either way, but ordering from NRP direct, you get a bit of banter with them, which is nice. I’ve had 4 NRP guitars from new, over the last 23yrs, plus a few used ones, and actually only own one NRP now (a GS style 1.5 Tricone), but they still treat me like I’ve bought like 10 or more. Maybe they think I have !!! (Don’t tell ‘em !!!). Ha ha !
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Post by snakehips on Jul 1, 2019 21:44:14 GMT
Hi there !
Has the cone collapsed on the treble side ???
The biscuit and the saddle seem awfully low on the treble side, as if the cone has collapsed.
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Post by snakehips on Jul 1, 2019 13:30:35 GMT
Well, that trumps my video, a million times over !!!!!
VERY nice playing !!
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Post by snakehips on Jul 1, 2019 6:46:08 GMT
Hi there !
Howz about 5-string resonator Tenor ukulele SLIDE ? (Backed by my baritone necked vintage National Triolian (plated))
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Post by snakehips on Jun 23, 2019 14:17:11 GMT
That’s the only part of the book that disappointed me, that they even mentioned that nonsense.
The rest of the book though, we written, in my view, as someone who has actually read the book.
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Post by snakehips on Jun 23, 2019 13:26:19 GMT
Hi there !
I have read the book now - and found it very good over all. It fills in a lot of gaps in what we know about RJ’s life. There s no rehash of the crossroads deal with the devil, no matter how much some negative people are assuming there is, without actually reading the book.
The book doesn’t go into any detail about guitar tunings and such, well, it’s not a guitar book, is it ?!!! (Apart from one song). It does, however, go into a bit of detail about the guitar tuning for Ramblin’ on my Mind. It seems to me that the authors have been heavily influenced / led by Rory Block or similar, to the idea of RJ using a “secret” tuning, that RJ tried to hide from other guitar players. The guitar tuning is mentioned, as being Open F, from 6th to 1st string : CFCACF, played in the key of F.
I’ve always resisted the notion of weird tunings but had yet tried them. So, with a massive dose of scepticism, I tuned a guitar to that tuning, thoroughly expecting to be able to prove the theory wrong. Quite unexpectedly, I found I could play the Ramblin’ tune quite easily and accurately.
I discussed this with my bandmate, Prof Scratchy, who is never wrong on such things, who was VERY sceptical. So, I went around to his house yesterday, where I proceeded to try and persuade him otherwise. We had one guitar in Open E, capoe’d to F, and my National in this secret Open F tuning.
At each stage of the song, we tried to play the part, in each tuning - and it was possible, in both tunings, to make the song the same as It sounds in RJ’s recording. That is, until we got to the descending slide riff at the 12th fret, raking upwards, across the strings. THIS is what changed my mind back to Prof Scratchy’s way of thinking.
The special Open F tuning dispenses with what would be the 4th string, in Open E - that octave note. Up at the 12th fret, in Open F tuning, the root note, is just not there ! RJ clearly hits a descending triplet of notes - B, F, A (all at the 12th fret), which is the 3rd, the root, then the 5th. At the 12th fret, the middle note, the F, is not there. You have to go 4 frets down, or 5 frets up, to find an F.
Apart from that one, far too difficult to play ergonomically, note, though, either tuning seems possible.
So, we came to the conclusions : 1. If you can easily play the tuning in Open E, capo’d up 1 fret, why bother with the fancy/secret tuning ? The hassle of retuning the guitar - and as the treble string need tuned higher - with the G string tuned from G right up to A. Now, you know how easily a G string snaps, so tuning it up to A is gonna increase that chance a lot, I’d think. With the treble strings tuned extra high, and the low strings tuned extra low, keeping the guitar perfectly in tune, all the way to the end of a song is nightmare! 2. The 6th string - In Open F secret tuning, this string seems to be completely redundant - RJ never seems to play that low, and tuned down to C, the string is very flappy and difficult to play in tune. So, he needs to either completely avoid playing that string, so why bother with it ? 3. You can’t play the descending slide riff up at the 12th fret, as the root F note is not there BUT is, in Open E, capo’d up.
So, we feel we have adequately dispelled the myth about RJ using this weird “secret tuning” for Ramblin’ On My Mind.
Once again, I had to bow to Prof Scratchy’s superior knowledge and experience. Never should have bothered thinking I knew better! Ha ha !
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Post by snakehips on Jun 19, 2019 11:32:49 GMT
I thought it was Boris, as in Boris Karloff, as in Frankenstein, as in an old guitar with a replacement neck ? No ?
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Post by snakehips on Jun 18, 2019 22:18:57 GMT
Yes, Prof Scratchy’s “Boris” is awesome !
I put a video up on youtube recently of my Fraulini Angelina. Youtube username is : snakehips81
My usual make it us as you go along, not rehearsed type videos. Wish I could stick to just one tune all the way through but I’m trying to highlight the guitar rather than a particular song.
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Post by snakehips on Jun 18, 2019 12:59:59 GMT
He can always play my brand new one, when he comes to Edinburgh in July !
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Post by snakehips on Jun 18, 2019 12:48:14 GMT
Hi deuce,
You did not say if all these guitars were brand new or not.
Was the NRP guitar brand new ? In what sense did you write off these guitars as needing set-ups ? Do they just not suit your personal preferences to how you like your guitars set up (and how is that, exactly), or were they all that bad, that they would be unplayable as they were ? I'd frankly be gobsmacked if NRP guitars were unplayable from new, but not surprised at all with the others.
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Post by snakehips on Jun 10, 2019 14:57:17 GMT
Just arrived !
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Post by snakehips on Jun 10, 2019 12:29:41 GMT
Hi there !
My copy is arriving today, according to Amazon.
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Post by snakehips on Jun 10, 2019 12:07:44 GMT
For clarification on National body shape / size, do Nationals conform to Martin guitar shapes, close enough that a specific shape/size guitar case would fit vintage Nationals - and if so, what size/shape should we be looking for ? For instance, would a OO guitar case fit a vintage National ? eg. this one : www.gear4music.com/Guitar-and-Bass/Sigma-00-12th-Fret-Acoustic-Guitar-Case/19EFMany thanks for your help on this, as I'm never sure what is the ideal size for a vintage National.
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Post by snakehips on Jun 2, 2019 13:45:52 GMT
Hi there !
I'm currently thinking about 12-string guitar strings too, having just got a Fraulini Angelini 12-string recently (26.5" scale length).
It came with 13-56 strings (I've it written down somewhere what the thinner double course strings were).
I'd like to beef up the string gauges a bit more - 14 or 15 on the 1st string to start with.
Busy this week but will come back next week when I've had more of a chat with the Newtone strings guy.
All the best for now.
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