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Post by pete1951 on Jan 14, 2024 13:10:14 GMT
James ( you may have seen the ‘making a steel body resonator ‘ on ‘the Workbench ‘ last year) has now used bronze as a body material ( he has also done brass earlier) and is making a couple of single cone resonator guitars. As usual his videos are interesting and fun with some good music when he is not talking. Pete
This is the middle video, just posted, the other 2 ( and his older ones) are well worth a look.
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 11, 2024 20:03:57 GMT
Oh! Doesn't one have heating in ones shed? One does have heating, but only enough to keep frost and condensation out . It is in fact an old garage, and well insulated, but to keep it up to 20 Celsius is more of my pension than I want to spend! Pete Amps and guitars don’t mind cool temperatures too much, but frost and particularly condensation can do some damage. I have a small storage heater that keep the chill off, but it’s only comfortable to work in for any time from April to November One piece of advice for storage of guitars is “ only store them somewhere you wouldn’t mind sleeping “. So the attic ( freezing in winter boiling in summer ) is not good. My ‘shed’ though not warm, would be fine ( with a thick blanket or 2.)
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 11, 2024 18:13:14 GMT
I'd give it a go! If the body is relatively undamaged. Don't forget Pete us retiries have to look for any excuse to get down the shed. 😊👌👍 Biggest problem at the moment is that the shed is too cold for good gluing! Will have to do a lot of it on the kitchen table,which is not ideal. Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 11, 2024 17:08:04 GMT
There are several cracks you can’t see from the photo and a few splinters are missing. Looks like I may need some tubes of Araldite! Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 9, 2024 14:18:26 GMT
Here it is,
Didn’t measure the impedance or power of the magnets, but the pickup worked well
Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 9, 2024 14:13:19 GMT
Had a Concorde lap steel, sold it to Ken ( a forum member who lives in Leeds) who may still have it? I did a video at the time , will see if I can find it Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 9, 2024 10:02:46 GMT
Very surprised by hindsert’s result. It could be to do with the quality of the aluminium used? Or possibly the cooling or heating of the T bridge material? It certainly goes against all the received wisdom of many years.
It would be interesting to see it the cast and machined bridges are the same alloy. Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 4, 2024 14:09:58 GMT
I am revisiting some of the first songs I started to play on slide guitar. Peg-leg Howell’s Georgia Skin Game and Robert Johnson’s Come on in My Kitchen.
Come on in My Kitchen is a very simple song , no chords to worry about ( ok, it’s an extended 8 bar, with the usual changes but they are just implied when Johnson plays them). And most of the work is on the top couple of frets. But it’s all about the details. My friends band now does a version which sticks in a full 5 chord, sacrilege!
Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 4, 2024 14:08:12 GMT
Whoops, sent the same post twice but can’t remove,only edit. Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Jan 3, 2024 19:49:40 GMT
Most ( all?) old National guitars would have been engraved using sharp edged tools rather than a rotary machine. There are loads of YouTube videos on using both methods. I have tried ( with edged engraving tools) on some scrap metal but one slip and the piece is ruined, so never persisted. A rotary tool looks much easier to control, but the effect will not be the same as an old National. Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Dec 30, 2023 14:52:54 GMT
Posted this 4years ago,
Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Dec 30, 2023 14:33:32 GMT
Apologies for sidetracking this thread. Is it just me because I have never understood the appeal of this band that have always been highly regarded and had a cult following. For me they were a very poor imitation of Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band with some Bonzo Dog Doo-dah Band thrown in. Their timing is all over the place, the vocals are out of tune and the mandolin playing is not clever, musical, avant garde, or off-the-wall, it is just out of tune nonsense. The only person playing well is Graham Hine on the slide guitar. What Jo Ann Kelly ever saw in them I have never understood. Maybe it made more sense in 1969. Captain Beefheart, on the other hand, was an incredible artist that surrounded himself with some of the world's great musicians and made a handful of albums that are timeless masterpieces. Oops.... back to mandolin tunings! Shine On Michael I never said that were any good, just that they had slide mandolin! Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Dec 30, 2023 8:42:08 GMT
If you are just playing lead licks then DGBD may be the way forward, ( as an open G player this would make for easy crossover) however for more rhythmic stuff I think I would choose a tuning with a pair of strings a 5th apart . So 1515 or 5151 .
Pete
Bret Marvin and the Thunderbolts used slide mandolin not sure what tuning
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Post by pete1951 on Dec 29, 2023 15:29:13 GMT
I think I made a video of me experimenting with GDGD or AEAE, will look. Pete
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Post by pete1951 on Dec 29, 2023 15:28:40 GMT
Mandolin top strings are generally 010 or 011s. If you want to use a guitar tuning you could follow the gauges of a standard guitar set. So 010 014 017 022w or close to those gauges, the double strings mean you can have slightly lighter strings for slide without rattling on the frets.
Strangely standard mandolin sets usually have an 014 on the second string, even though it is a 5th below the 010 top.
Alternatively you could use a standard mandolin set and tune GDGD, with the top strings going down a tone,. This gives a ‘modal ‘ tuning ( is that what it’s called?) neither major nor minor which can simplify things . If the top strings are too slack they could be replaced with a gauge up from standard mandolin.
Pete
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