Guitars of the past - part 1

The first guitar I ever bought for myself was a cheap Fender classical. Given that it was their bottom-of-the-line, it was a far better guitar than it had any right to be. I've since seen other examples of the same model that were not nearly as good. Strung with Savarez Red Label strings, it played and sounded great. While I can't say I regret trading it in, since it no longer met my needs at the time (I needed something with a more powerful sound to be able to even hear myself when playing with other musicians), I nonetheless have often wished I still had it.

Why the change in appearance?

After setting up this blog and making a few posts, I discovered that two of my favorite guitarists, Phil Keaggy and John Michael Talbot, were using the same template for their blogs. While my first reaction may have been "great minds think alike," on reflection it seems that it would just look like deliberate imitation (especially since I added the links to their blogs), so I decided it would be prudent to switch to another template.

Of course, if anyone is reading this via an aggregator, none of this will make sense....

A bit about strings

I generally use phosphor bronze lights on my acoustics. (John Pearse is my preferred brand, but I've had good results with other brands as well, though I don't like D'Addario's packaging.) I think the Larrivee actually sounds its best with 80/20's but for whatever reason - be it my skin chemistry, something inherent in the strings, or something else - 80/20's seem to "die" very quickly, so I'll accept the minor compromise in sound and use the PB's.

(My limited experience with coated strings has not been positive, but I've probably never really given them a fair chance. The problem is that they're so much more expensive than other strings, so if you try them and don't like them, you've lost a more sizable chunk of money, and I would feel I needed to leave them on longer to get my money's worth out of them, even if I was dissatisfied with the sound.)

I've tried mediums on the Larrivee as well, and really liked the results, but started getting joint pain in my left thumb which took some time to clear up. I don't know that there's really any causal connection here, but it seems like there could be, so I'm sticking with lights for now.

On the electric I've got a set of 10's, in the "house brand" of a local music store. As I've said, I don't play electric much.

More about the Larrivee

I mentioned in my previous post that the Larrivee has a "lovely, well-balanced sound." But that's hardly a fit description of it. It's a very expressive instrument that responds to a variety of touches well, rather than imposing its own character on every piece of music. I mostly fingerpick, and the guitar can put out as much expressive tone and dynamics as I can put into it. I don't generally do much hard strumming, but I suspect it could handle that as well without falling apart tonally.

Some people don't care for the 03-series' matte finish, but I rather like it - I think it lets the grain of the wood show through more easily than a gloss finsh. The one thing I might change about it is the bridge pins - I don't care for the look of the plastic pins; I might try switching to some other pins at some point.

Still, every time I play this instrument, I find myself thinking, "Man, what a guitar!"

Meet the guitars

Time to introduce the guitars in the family.

First, there's "Evangeline," a Larrivee OM-03 (sitka top, mahogany back and sides - solid wood all around) that I got in 2004. This one is currently my main instrument. Lovely, well-balanced sound.










Then there's "Judith," a McPherson JL-40M. This is not like McPherson's current production; this is one of their early '80's triple-soundhole models. It has a solid spruce (sitka, I assume) top and laminated East Indian Rosewood back and sides. I bought it in 1984 and it was my main guitar for many years. It has a lovely, ringing tone, but sounds a bit muffled compared with the Larrivee. It has a humbucker at the end of the fingerboard which makes it quite versatile, as it can double as an electric in a pinch.









Finally, there's "Heather," an Ovation Preacher solidbody electric. It was made in about 1979 or 1980; I bought it used around 1982. Solid mahogany. This model was sort of Ovation's take on the SG theme, but with a bolt-on neck. I don't play electric much these days, so this one mostly lives in its case.





There is one other guitar in the house, but it's not in playable condition and just hangs on the wall - but that's a story for another time.

Upcoming gig

Well, I found out this evening that I'll be playing at church (with my wife on flute) at the end of July. This will be our first opportunity to do this since joining our current church; I wish the opportunities would come along more often, but at present we wouldn't be able to easily take advantage of them anyway; perhaps things will change a bit by the time we're more free to do so.

Meanwhile ... I'd better start practicing!