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Post by snakehips on May 11, 2024 22:15:57 GMT
Hi again !
Whatever works for you ! After I broke my left wrist 31st March 2020 (1 week into the first Covid lockdown, here in the UK), the healing process and starting to try to play guitar again made things clear in my mind a few things about holding a slide and how it can affect the other fingers. With the slide on my pinky, (not all the way up, not as far as it goes), I can easily bend my other fingers AND I can have the whole length of the slide, easily touch all of the skin of the palm of my hand.
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Post by snakehips on May 11, 2024 21:01:56 GMT
I do my own bottleneck slides, I always keep empty primitivo vine bottles (thick glass). I'm happy with my slides, but everytime you mention Diamond Bottleneck Slides, I feel tempted to give it a try. I put slide on my pinky, I guess I could gain more control with narrower inner diameter. I never tried a tight fitting slide... Hi again. Contrary to that, I recommend you have a loose-fitting slide, so that you can bend your pinky, and that the slide is not "all the way up to the hilt". I actually think that the movement/bending of your other fingers are significantly restricted if ANY of your fingers are kept from bending, in a slide that is tight/snug fit.
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Post by snakehips on May 11, 2024 11:46:23 GMT
Hi there !
The one for me will be going to my work address - so hopefully, I'll get it on Monday. Will get my workbench area ready for the top-secret work. My eldest son (nearly 16yrs old) has school exams for a few more weeks so testing pickup sound will need careful.
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Post by snakehips on May 11, 2024 11:30:04 GMT
Got mine a couple of weeks ago. Excellent! I was expecting some sort of industrial looking piece of kit but it is stunning 😍 Bod, get in touch with Ian directly. I got the impression this might be a limited run! Hi there ! Far from it, if I remember correctly, Ian McWee told me that some of the leaded glass tubes are becoming less available and that this German/Swiss glass will be his main glass material in future (apart from the "standard" glass bottle bottlenecks etc). (I agree though, the website could do with an update, on how to order a Swiss/German glass slide). If I remember correctly, the glass material is obtained by a Swiss company, from German manufacturers of the raw glass, then sent to Ian's glass blowers, in England. It is my personal opinion, that a good/fat slide tone comes from a slide with large external diameter - essentially, I think more surface of the slide contacts the string. A metal slide with the same external diameter would be far too heavy, unless the glass wall was not too thick - and if so, the internal diameter would be far too big for most fingers. The German glass is super-hard - so none of mine have broken/s,ashed when dropping onto my garage concrete floor, or tiled floors, on the number of occasions I have dropped them - they just bounce lots, which is horrifying to watch though, as you are just waiting for it to smash on one of the bounces, ...... yet it doesn't/hasn't yet !). They are not as heavy leaded glass of the same dimensions, apparently, so you can have a nice thick-walled glass slide, with large external diameter, and nice internal diameter to fit your finger, giving the slide decent weight but not too heavy. The glass is that hard, that attempts to polish the surface is not that easy - so Ian sticks the "finished" slide back in the surface to melt the surface - and this produces it's ultra-smooth, silky surface. Oh yeah, and they come in lots of cool colour combinations. What's NOT to like !!!!! And yes, Michael, you just GOTTA try Ian's German/Swiss glass slides. They are fab ! Again, I'll strongly suggest anyone try these slides in a length not much more than the width of your fretboard. It means you can get really thick glass without adding any unnecessary weight on the end of your finger, that you just don't need ! (especially if you put a slide on your pinky. And, IF you decided against using a slide on your pinky in the past, WAS it because the slide you tried was too long to control, on your pinky ???
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Post by snakehips on Apr 29, 2024 16:37:40 GMT
Ha ha !!
Turns out, my friend Balta is mates with them !
While I mention Balta, I can't remember if I posted anything of his stuff before. He is a guitarist (he doesn't sing) but he puts great bands together, in Majorca as well as Barcelona (he lives & gigs between both, and even Formentera island, where one of his singer/harp players is from).
Here he is with his Barcelona-based main band, with the amazing Victor Puertas on vocals and Hammond organ. (Victor is also really fab on harmonica) :
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Post by snakehips on Apr 29, 2024 15:19:24 GMT
They live in Barcelona ? I know a great guitarist who lives & gigs there - Balta Bordoy (originally from the Balearic island of Majorca, where I first met him about 30yrs ago) He must know these guys. I'll ask him. My friend, Balta, was telling me that sadly, many of his favourite music venues in Barcelona have closed down since the Pandemic. He now gigs a bit more in Majorca again.
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Post by snakehips on Apr 29, 2024 13:04:35 GMT
And check him out on this video : Ace stuff !!
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Post by snakehips on Apr 29, 2024 12:31:09 GMT
Hi there !
Finding this guy is fabulous ! Love the audio quality too. Sounds like a Paramount WITHOUT the frying bacon.
And with his music partner on washboard :
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Post by snakehips on Apr 28, 2024 12:40:23 GMT
I have now got our six guinea pigs. They were not chosen through favouritism, but because we have a mix of home and pro players, each using a different guitar in a different way. This is the only way to know if these pickups are as universal as Elmar and I hope they are. The T-bug that Kate Phillips (GuitarKes) fitted into the Beltona sounds fantastic. Bonzo-John, Snakehips-Richard, Ken Clark-Z, Martyn Roper-Washboard Resonators, Mike Lewis-our kid and Bottleneck John-Johan. Elmar and I would like to know each person's experiences with fitting and using their T-bug pickups. Thanks all. Shine On Michael Hi Michael, Many thanks for the opportunity. Single-cone resonator guitars with F-holes are easy enough to install a jack socket into, so that we don't have to drill a hole in the guitar body. I did drill a hole in the side of my NRP Tricone years ago, for a jack socket but in my absolute stupid younger days, didn't think of tapping a pre-drilling ding into the body, with a sharp point, where I wanted the hole to go. Foolishly, I just started to drill, and it will come as no surprise that my drill bit skited about and scratched the guitar body side, around the area before the drill ever managed to stay in one place and drill properly. I have since learned from my embarrassing mistake and never done the same since. Bowing my head in shame !!! Actually, with thumb & fingerpicks on, I really struggle to plug in my right-angled jack plug into the jack socket on the side of the guitar body anyway, so I've been meaning to switch back to installing the jack socket into the tricone grill somewhere. I certainly would NEVER drill a hole into a vintage National - especially my 1931 Tricone. So, will there be any way of securing a jack socket on to the treble-side grill somehow/somewhere ?? If not yet, I'd welcome a solution for that, possibly including it with the pickup, or as an add-on extra, when the pickups become available to buy. Single-cones don't suffer aesthetically, very much at all (in my humble opinion), with a jack socket installed in the F-hole, when not plugged in, but Tricones might look a bit worse. I'd still rather mount the jack socket on the treble grill, than drill a hole into a vintage Tricone. Attachments:
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Post by snakehips on Apr 26, 2024 11:36:01 GMT
PS. I have one NRP Tricone with a Highlander Magnaphonic pickup on it, but the preamp had failed - so the pickup was wired to a mono jack and I used an external preamp. I'd be keen to try your pickup system on either this guitar,, or IF no modifications to a guitar are required, I'd try it on my 1931 roundneck Tricone.
Many thanks ! (Happy to send money now, or if I decide to keep it, send later)
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Post by snakehips on Apr 26, 2024 10:41:04 GMT
Yes please !!
Thanks !
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Post by snakehips on Apr 23, 2024 7:21:23 GMT
Hi there !
Do you have nut/saddle files - and of appropriate gauges for the strings you want to use ?
Nut files are really worth having if you mess around with set-ups on your guitars.
I recently bought a cool Kay Value Leader electric guitar, with 3 pickups. Needed some work done to it, including a refret and new nut. Although my local luthier did a great job, there was some zing'ing/buzzinggoin on, on some of the strings, when played open, but not when fretted. I deduced the nut slots where too parallel to the strings, rather than tilted down, parallel to the headstock, to give a break angle off the fretboard side of the nut. I was able to correct this problem myself with my own nut files, filling the slots at an angle. Zings gone now.
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Post by snakehips on Apr 22, 2024 7:57:01 GMT
Oooft !
He'd make non guitar players want to learn guitar, and guitar players want to give up !!!
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Post by snakehips on Apr 21, 2024 22:52:07 GMT
He would have blown away Blind Blake !
V funny guy. It’s kind of weird he got so good already, a master of so many instruments (he’s amazing on piano too).
He should be a National treasure (if he’s not already!)
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Post by snakehips on Apr 19, 2024 22:43:18 GMT
Flashy, indeed !
But how about this ?
I think the interviewer (and I believe he’s a musician too) was about to cry (and just give up playing guitar for good !), when Jeron stopped playing, ha ha ha !!
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