BluesKing777
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Posts posted by BluesKing777
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I put a small selection of what is available at Sweetwater - there are more models but you have to open them to see if they are in stock.
So you search ...Gibson acoustic> Newest:
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/manufacturer/Gibson_Acoustic?sb=newest
BluesKing777.
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23 minutes ago, j45nick said:
Where legal, pot is cheaper in this country than those cigarette prices.
Hmmm......
Well, don't try to bring any of that!
As a matter of fact, as you are not bringing ciggies or Gibbies, what are you bringing?
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, j45nick said:
That reminds me of when I had to bribe a Suez Canal pilot with two cartons of Marlboros to keep the pilot boat from ramming into my boat taking him off. Never been so glad to get out of a country in my life.
You know the ways things are going here lately, it could be the same here except the fight will be over 1 carton of Marlboros.
An article in a newspaper recently said tobacco was to rise 12 1/2 % in September and that will make tobacco more expensive for an ounce than silver!
Even so, my old brand is now $50 a pack and I am so, so glad I gave them away somehow....they were about $7 or $8 a pack when I quit. But $50, revolutions have been started over less! A pack a day say, $350 a week! Wow. My old friend the piano player used to smoke only roll your owns, except when he wanted my nicer ones, but he was a cheapskate first class and lucky he is no longer around because he would be smoking dried banana skins.
BluesKing777.
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https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CSRSJU34VS--gibson-acoustic-1934-jumbo-vintage-sunburst
Lucky I bought some pawn shop older versions of the last two linked! Don't need those, at least.
BluesKing777.
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51 minutes ago, j45nick said:
I have no idea where I might find a willing customer for such a thing.
Yeah, doesn't matter - the car is STILL at the mechanics, hope he is still alive - waiting to hear 'how much' before I get the J50 fixed....patience tested. Phoned, no answer - machine...works alone, could be there, could be not......
But if a new Historic, any type at all really Nick, turned up, well, he can keep the car!
Plus the Better Half still smokes and asks for a crate of US smokes, no ugly photos of gangrene mouths on the front of packets. Hers are now...gulp...$AU 46 per packet of 25 and Aust Customs only allow 2 packets through!!! So if any of your boat mates have any contacts...we could meet outside the Heads - just kidding of course.😳
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, j45nick said:
Here's a discussion. Be aware that he is coming at this from a northern hemisphere approach, where the end of the year is in the middle of winter. The opposite holds for the southern hemisphere, so you have to change the seasonally-based references to reflect that. Just remember that December is the middle of summer down under.
Aust doesn't have any Sitka or similar. Closest in guitars that I know is Bunya Pine.
If you brought some cash and want a little souvenir to take back from Aust, Nick - here is the (Evil One) in Australian Blackwood back and sides, Bunya Pine top (very wide grain), Desert Acacia fingerboard and bridge...I have never seen or played one:
808 (00 deep body):
dread:
https://www.acousticcentre.com.au/collections/maton-1/products/ea80c-australian
BluesKing777.
P.S. the smart traveller probably bring 6 or 10 of the new Historic series Gibbie acoustics, if you can only bring one - LG2! plus the J45 banner reissue, then the.....>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>😁
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This video about the Anthem from Reverb.com is interesting. (but in the first video above and in the various forums, a lot of people also have the Baggs Venue DI to tame the EQ. A huge advantage of my Maton AP5-Pro system is the sweepable mid controls on the upper bout to cut the yoinky mid sound... hence the Venue DI. Sweeping and cutting the mids can also cut the annoyance factor! But you know, just saying it is jinky without saying what it is plugged into or the style of playing or if in a band or solo....etc
BluesKing777.
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Not much interest in this video here it appears, but I thought 4 guitarists taking turns playing 2 Baggs M80, Baggs Anthem and Baggs Lyric would be number one on the hit parade....
Sunday afternoon here and I have will give some of my thoughts.....
I have a Baggs M80 and my Dove I just bought has an Anthem already fitted. I have been tossing a coin between an Anthem (full version) or a Lyric to put in my 2002 J50. The Lyric in the video is the guy on the right. I like that one best, but people (on forums) all seem to can it. Also in the video, they all run to a Baggs Venue DI. I don’t know if the guitarists EQ’d their own sound or someone else did it for them. My guess by looking on their faces is the guy on the far left was too loud and the others couldn’t hear themselves properly. But that is only Detective BK777 First Class urrrrrr, guessing!
Now, honest, I quite like the Anthem in my Dove and have merrily fiddled away since I bought the guitar and have achieved what I consider my second best plugged in sound....best by a long shot 20 - 30% are my Matons with AP5-Pro pickup systems, which you can almost just plug direct to that enemy of all pickups - the Mixer console. EEK. Though people do this all the time with all kinds of truly ghastly pickups designed to scare even Joe Ramone.
Back to the video and the M80 of the guy on the left sounds like.....an electric guitar. Now I have found with some heavy EQ from various devices that I can get a nice sound from my M80 and the bigger my guitar, the better the sound. I have put the M80 in my J50, plugged both that and a vocal mic to my Boss VE8 and if I STRUM a song while singing with mic up louder, the spill from the mic added to a soft guitar strum is....very nice. But if I fingerpick hard, the bass goes to Telecaster mode and the highs turn Strat. If I play lead lines it turns to a Les Paul. I just want to sound acoustic. Fully impossible, but the Matons are close and then it is easy to fingerpick without thinking about the out of control bass sound.
So to play my J50 somewhere plugging direct with no gadgets, (except EQ and DI and....), I will need to get the Lyric or the Anthem, I conclude. The advantage of the full Anthem model is that I can turn the mic part totally off and run the Element part to my Tonedexter to get a realistic ‘guitar through mic’ sound, to avoid feedback problem of an internal mic. And yes, as they all cry: “Just get a K&K!”, - I have a couple of guitars with K&Ks and I run these to the Tonedexter, but don’t like them without that, plugged direct.
I was going to a friend’s to play the Dove with Anthem flat out in his PA....flat sticks to iron out some wrinkles before inflicting it on the blues club, but he lives high in the tree line and it has been blowing a gale all weekend, trees down, rescues etc. Patience for another time. He also has some Maton dreads I am keen to try plugged. Wind is getting worse now and the blues club starts in about an hour and a half from now....might just go to the beach and try windsurfing without a sail....
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, PatriotsBiker said:
I can dig it! I have an evil record button, too. I also have a someone hears you singing filter. The Ramone reference was from a world class rant following an Eagles song I bashed out in record time. Something about the last living Ramone calling and asking me to slow down so that the rest of the band can rest in peace. I'm paraphrasing, and I did mean no disrespect to the Ramones. and don't even know if where is one left. I covered that up at the end of the rant by suggesting that in all fairness that I might have been mistaken that that perhaps it was Howard Stern. But then again, I added, why would he be worried about the Ramones?
I do tend to get over myself in quick fashion with a good rant. Wish I could have had one last night.
I'm looking forward to hearing your cover, btw.
I don’t think I can do the promised acoustic version as I haven’t been able to locate the published sheet music....
Though I could come up with a DADGAD version maybe played on my Lowden O22, probably a beautiful guitar I have no right to play....especially if I play Ramones tunes on it. First I would need to find out how to squeeze their famous E chord into D.
BluesKing777.
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My sister brought me back an Abbey Road kit last year when she went to London.
I have been wearing my Abbey Road hat recently....it has the name in 60s swirly writing and people try to read it, impossible, and go a bit cross eyed.....but I man, how cool is it to have an Abbey Road official hat?
That is my contribution.
I heard they were going to re-do “Hey Dude”...oops, sorry, wrong movie.
BluesKing777.
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New "Let It Be" documentary AND movie soon...
BluesKing777.
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Baggs pickups demo:
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, PatriotsBiker said:
It's BK Ramone! 🙂
Sadly enough, I did that to one of my own songs this week and my wife picked up on it. Good times. 😀
I like it, BK Ramone! Don't laugh anyone. I was talking to a friend during the break before out last set in a band one night and I went to find the other 6 or 7 of the band and it appeared they were broker than I thought - they were all sharing a cigarette. Times must have been real tough... But then the first song started, supposed to be the gentle slow blues 12/8 time to ease in to the set. Bang! Drummer starts at Ramones speed.......pfffft. And I thought to play alone from that night on..solo..me and guitar....😎
But you know, hate to admit it but Mr Perfect can speed up too. I went through some tunes a time or 2, worked on some arrangements of others, came back to this one, played a lovely spacey version with possibly all the wrong lyrics, tightened it up and played it again and thought: "I like it - I will record this sucker!" Plugged everything in, oh no..pressed that evil Record button, hit the first chord wrong and ...sorry, sped up. Got the words correct, if wobbly, a major achievement remembering all those....
Next up - my acoustic only version of "Hey Ho, Lets Go!" Lyrics are easy!
BluesKing777.
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45 minutes ago, PatriotsBiker said:
BK, you done pretty good to fit that song into your style and made it your own. Always admirable.
The question of lyrics and hearing the words clearly seemed to me to be only a question of speed and fitment. I'd never heard it before, but I found the version by Cold Chisel. Their first verse alone was 22 seconds long, and yours was 15 seconds. Someone put speed in your beer? 😁
Thanks PB!
I was playing their...(Snare hit/rim shot - da dah)...live version!🍻🍻
BluesKing777.
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45 minutes ago, j45nick said:
Hah! for those who missed the cultural reference, here it is. The equivalent of the drunken masses yelling "Freebird".
At least the BB's had chicken wire between them and the ravening crowds:
At the biker festivals it was usually: "Know any Canned Heat? Barnsey?" (leather throat singer of Cold Chisel).
"Well, yes, but you won't probably like my version, SIR!"
"Play it anyway, Hurry up! The strippers are on next."
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1 hour ago, j45nick said:
BK,
That's a tough song to sing, and you've done a great job. I had to listen with the lyrics up to understand it all.
It's pretty much another generation's take on Eric Bogle's "And the Band Played Waltzing Matilda."
I'm headed back to Oz for a week or so of work in two weeks. Songs like both of these remind me of the price Anzacs have paid for the follies of their American and British cousins.
Thanks Nick!
You could sit at the airport when you leave and sing........well the last train, plane or on the awful Friday night traffic to the airport...last lane out of...😷
Yes, 1977 the tune came out as Vietnam was fading and everyone was angry...and it is probably a cross between Bob Dylan (songwriter Don Walker's fave!) and The Band Played....I have a version of that too! All in my "Grate Orstra-yin Songbook", which the first song is the saddest song possible known to man - "The Pub With No Beer"...and then "I Love To Have A Beer With Duncan". Then "Up There Cazaly". And worse: Seekers "Carnival Is Over" or such......
I don't drink beer at all but it handy to have these tunes in your pocket when you get a Australian version of the Blues Brothers "Rawhide" moment - car broken down in Nowheresville, NSW and guitar has to be played on the corner. Wear the blue singlet I keep in the guitar case! Welcome to stage! "Save-A-Door Harley", (Salvador Dali) .etc!
BluesKing777.
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I first saw Ian Meadow's site when I bought my 2002 J50 recently....
For those that haven't done this - a good use of the site and maybe his intention, is a comparison of all the guitars he records. He plays exactly the same thing only on all the different guitars, so you can for example, play this 1955 Gibson J50 (in nice headphones preferably) and then play the other guitar(s) you are interested in to hear the difference(s).
So, first - the 1955 J50........Then compare that to something else he did, like the Southern Jumbo above and then perhaps the Eastman version of a slope shoulder. Don't listen to too many different guitars at once or your ears get fatigued.
I was posting the examples for you, but for some reason I kept getting a Martin dread posted, so anyway, look them up on his site: Ian Meadows. He has lots!!!
BluesKing777.
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Thanks 40YP and Lars!
I have been experimenting with the Neumann KM184 mic - I only ever use one mic with all EQ flat, no compression to get a natural sound - with the boom arm of the mic stand straight up in the air like a crane. The very sensitive mic will search and find any clothing or breathing noises and turn them into explosions if I have the mic in a more usual mic position. Just trying to make it easier to do a song, but I have to 'hold my breath'. I think the vocals are loud enough but to get it over the edge of the guitar level, I just need to sing upwards a little bit more. I did this just before and it works!
BluesKing777.
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Thanks much, Kelly!
I should point out that I am not a war vet of any kind, just a singer of songs and player of guitar. (the song above is about returning home to Australia after the Viet War and I was a little bit young for it in 1973 as mentioned in the song.)
BluesKing777.
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1 hour ago, E-minor7 said:
The Maton and Taylor present what must be the something between severe silking and crossgrain. The Marts 18 too, but the HD28V is very straight forward where mine has significant zones of bearclaw.
I actually like both, , , silking/crossgrain bein' somewhat sophisticated - bearclaw raw and dramatic.
Lowden O22 cedar almost a block of cheddar, , , if you allow this daft first impression. All in all grain from coast to coast in that herd. I guess the luckiest destiny for a piece cut wood is to end in an instrument and learn to vibe. .
The Lowden stays in DADGAD tuning tuned down 2 steps...C bass .....that is pretty much what it is made for. The build quality is amazing and it is only a 'standard' Lowden in the scheme of things...all hand rubbed and polished and hand rubbed and polished from a gloss to what it has become and..and..and.... it nearly drove a friend crazy looking for a join line or a fault...Made by the angels and music and guitar fairies in Ireland!
Now, I can sit down and play any of the guitars I posted and think: "Hmm, I'm really glad I bought...X plus X " (mahogany plus sitka, say), or "I'm so glad I bought size ...X.." and most people could easily hear the difference.
But to hear the difference a bit of cross silking or a really fine grain versus a course grain guitar top? 😎
BluesKing777.
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Maton, not Gibson sorry frothers, but the blurb when purchasing my Maton Messiah 808 size said the top is AAA Sitka Spruce. All looks nice and creamy but honest, I wouldn't know a AAA from a BBB or....but I have read that the rating is usually based on looks and availability at the time of rating (by the wood people).
My Martin Ds look like nice tops, no idea of rating but probably AA?
My new Taylor 717e Builder's Edition has a nice top with a slash of bearclaw that I thought was a dent but it is in the grain. No idea what rating:
1937 Gibson L-0 - no idea what it is:
1959 Gibson LG3 - again, no idea and hope someone tells us!
1993 Lowden:
Cedar top on my Lowden O22 but as mentioned earlier, the workmanship is just amazing - my photos may not show it enough but you can look at the top and try to find a seam...... it IS a 2 piece top!, back is 2 piece as well:
2007? Gibson Blues King L-00:
BluesKing777.
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Thanks much, RatherBW!
BluesKing777.
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Thanks for listening and commenting.
I did notice something like you mention when I listened to the playback, but liked it enough to post it anyway. It is a matter of getting the idea down. I know a tradesman shouldn’t blame his tools and all that, but I think I am still getting use to singing with the Dove and using my normal settings the Dove has taken up my vocal’s EQ a bit.
BluesKing777.
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I just recorded my nothing at all like the original version acoustic guitar/vocal of "Khe Sanh" by Cold Chisel/Don Walker.
The original is a screamer rock band song, but I like the lyrics/song by Don walker, so I 'folks'd' it.
Played on my 2005 Gibson Dove.
BluesKing777.
Baggs Pickup Fever
in Gibson Acoustic
Posted
Another happy customer!
The next thing to try is an added preamp to fool around with, sorry I mean to ‘experiment scientifically’ with...but the aim is to get more control over your pickup level and very importantly, the EQ.
Baggs Align EQ, Baggs Venue DI, Fishman DI.....plenty of different ones to try. It can be a lot of work if you haven’t done it before but you might be glad when you are playing live and the fab sound you had at home is turning to poop.
But back to the Anthem.....after torturing mine for a few months, I have arrived at the sound I like most with the mic on full blend and the volume on full. Then I carve bits out of the tone with a preamp/EQ. For my style of fingerpicking, I like it sounding clear, balanced and precise so when I launch into something like a rag or blues in John Hurt style for example, the bass notes don’t boom or sustain too much and get in the way. Once I have that sorted, I have my ‘platform’ and I can do any kind of tune, any style.
BluesKing777.