Small Body Guitar Test

[E-minor7]

No need to hide your shame with the Easter eggs; the mix of string types are enough to throw us of the trail, and it was good of the Blues King to fess up and offer us some small conciliation.

 

You might be right - I never had coated strings in the equation as blues to me is a purist retro-style and coating in my world signalizes modernity.

 

Not that the guits sound artificial.

 

 

Just a personal thought.

 

 

 

 

[BluesKing777]

I bought the Elixir 80/20s for the Martin CEO7 when I picked it up at the shop. I want to move to the long lasters, and both the Nano standard and the Nano 80/20s are very nice.

 

Since I work on computers, most of the time I couldn't get dirty hands if I even wanted, so normal strings last me a long time these days, so Elixirs are going to last until they die of old age!

 

The guy that recommended both the CEO7 as a great guitar, and a used guitar earlier purchase, was the same guy that recommended the 80/20s, so. He was on the money.

 

 

And a key to the blues style I play on the recording is the thumb and ONE finger style with brushing of the strings blurring the sound some.....

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[mojogood]

I liked #1 best and guessed the order to be: '37, '59, CEO7.

 

Nice demo and very nice playing style!

[chasAK]

I guess the CE07 is shining pretty well. My favorites were1,3,&2.

 

[BluesKing777]

One thing is sure - I like the Elixir 80/20s and should have tried them way back, but I saw it mentioned somewhere that they were 'bright' strings and I generally shy away from bright...for country blues, but now, well.....

 

I am working up the nerve to put the 80/20s on the Martin CEO7...can only try them and if I don't like, well...wooooossshtt.

 

I must just try them on everything.....

 

 

Anyone here use the Elixir Nano 80/20 12s?

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[Rambler]

LG-3, L-O, CEO-7 Gotta say they all work really well in this style. Third guitar has a really nice treble shimmer that gives it a really old sound. Honestly, it's hard to pick a favorite here."

 

My ears are hearing heard what Nicks says. said. I was sure the last one was the Martin. So fat and articulte. And I just played one of those thigns over the weekend. As for guitar #2, it had that holow quality I tend to associate with the L0-L00s I ve heard. Flummoxed.

 

Darn fine picking by the way.

[BluesKing777]

Thanks Rambler....flummoxed!

 

 

The little princess has been working online at home with teleconferences about restructuring their system....I know all this because I have heard this end of the phone conversations for 2 days and it seems to reverberate through the whole house...not sure if it would be better to hear ALL the phone combatants and their side of everything, or just bits....SO I said to the hound about a drive and he rolled his eyes, grabbed his collar and put on his lead himself and stood by the car....well he almost did, but he was happy to hit the country road that heads to the huge freeway to the city and a music shop........I was going to send the dog in with a note for my supplies so I don't get distracted, but he could come out with the new Bob model they have, so after a nice spin down 4 lanes each way of nutjobs going who knows where, I nipped in the music instrument shop and came out with:

 

3 packs of Elixir Nano 80/20s lights like those on the Gibson L-0.

 

2 packs of Elixir Nano PB lights like those on the Gibson LG3.

 

2 packs of the newer Elixir HD lights that have 13 etc on the high 3 strings, but normal light on the bass strings. The plan is to try these on my J45 and my D28 instead of lights - I don't like fingerpicking on mediums on a dread when the strings get a bit old, as it all seems to get a bit hard to do. You know how the guitar is great for months sometimes and then you pick it up one day and it just feels 'clogged'? I reckon these new HD lights will be the bomb!

 

Maybe some more flummoxing tests coming up with those hd lights on the dreads and also the 80/20s on the Martin CEO7?

 

Or I may forget it and just have a nap to recover from the freeway fever....(why is it called a 'free'way when it is a Toll Road?)

 

 

BluesKing777.

[blindboygrunt]

I've tried quite a few different strings on the J45 BK .

I was stuck with 11's for a while as I thought I'd try the old 'easier on the fingers' idea. Just got a slightly lesser sound and a tendency to squeeze the strings slightly sharp. I could do with a lighter touch ..

 

Anyway , back to 12's .

Daddarios , well they're vanilla aren't they. Available everywhere and absolutely nothing wrong with them. Good strummers , possibly the best. I've never tried the Gibson strings . have been assuming they'd be a brother to the dadarrios

Martin lifespans I like a lot , especially for finger picking.

After years of having it in my head that I didn't like elixirs I bought the 8020's and after putting them on I initially thought I'd been right all those years but after a week or two they may be my favourite at the minute .

I'm guessing that my playing style has changed as I used to be plectrum only player with a lot of strumming. Elixirs tend to sound all string and no guitar when they are attacked , but for gentle picking and the odd chord they are great. Gentle on the finger , long lasting and a nice sustain.

The EXP coated are nice strings also but they seem to just die suddenly like a sniper is at work whereas the elixirs hang on in there and slowly fade. In fact I usually changed elixirs because they look like they may break rather than having to change them because of death of tone or the sticky dirty stage.

I may try elixirs PB next as that is the string that put me off elixirs in the first place , just to see if my style has changed and works better with elixirs now , or the 80/20 construction is what I like.

 

No such thing as the perfect string I reckon. Too many tributaries running into the river of progress to stick on one type forever.

 

With the amount of sliding up and down the fretboard (and i dont mean bottleneck) that you put into your playing I can see why you'd like these elixirs.

 

Elixirs , then lifespans then EXP for the current top 3 in coated strings here.

Although the lifespans are the quickest to please after a string change the elixirs soon overtake them after a couple of weeks.

 

 

Keeps things fresh searching for strings , trying new capos etc.

[BluesKing777]

Thanks BBG.

 

 

I got a whole bag of Elixir allsorts now to try, but the roadie has gone on Easter holidays and my string changer has done a hamstring of the winding fingers.....so that leaves ........me to do it and it would have been an easier decision to pick which guitar to change if I had only bought one packet of strings!

 

I will let you know about the HD lights, BBG, but I would stay with the 80/20s on your J45 - the normal Nanos are a bit dull and so I found them great on a guitar that is a bit too bright - my LG3.

 

The other one for your J45 for some fun could be those things I am allergic to - Martin Retros - itchy rash on my hands, but boy they sounded good on the old Gibson L-0, though quite a surprising sound that some people can't stand.

 

 

BluesKing777.

[BluesKing777]

Now, about me playing these individual guitars......

 

On each guitar when I bought them, I was thinking I would be playing 'this' and they would be good for 'this', but as is the way of the world - they are better at 'that', if that makes any sense?

 

So I guess the recording above is the kind of thing that I do mostly and each guitar is VERY, very, very good for that style, as you can hear (fairly classic 'blues' guitar wood - 2 guitars with mahogany/adi and one with mahogany/sitka). So at the back of my mind when about to buy them each, I probably envisaged me pounding away at the famous Lightning Hopkins E type riffs.

 

But ownership over a period of time sees experiments in all kinds of tunes and riffs and tunings and strings and on it goes............

 

 

So I have found the old L-0 is great at fingerpicking arpeggiated chords in a classic rock tune with the capo at the 3rd fret for some reason..... the same tunes are better with the capo on the 2nd fret on the LG3, and I don't like capo-ing the CEO7 much at all just yet - a bit 'new' sounding up the frets as yet.... but the same tunes sound good on it at the cowboy chord end.....

 

Another thing I do a lot is 'up strum' and scrape with my index finger and brush down with my thumb - and each one of these 3 guitars sound great like that, where other guitar go 'mushy'.

 

Another aspect - when I got the Martin CEO7, I thought of it as similar to what it may have felt like in about 1937 when my L-0 was new - a small light mahogany guitar and I was going to use the CEO7 as a sort of go everywhere, well I won't say beater, but along those lines without beating it up hopefully. The old L-0 and the LG3 are tough old boots, but I wouldn't take them to the blues night for example, and I initially thought the CEO7 was the guitar for the job - add a u/s pickup....but now I think of it differently and a real one off that is really something and the blues nuts at the club are NOT getting their mitts on it!!!!

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[E-minor7]

Anyway , back to 12's .

Daddarios , well they're vanilla aren't they. Available everywhere and absolutely nothing wrong with them. Good strummers , possibly the best. I've never tried the Gibson strings . have been assuming they'd be a brother to the dadarrios

Martin lifespans I like a lot , especially for finger picking.

 

After years of having it in my head that I didn't like elixirs I bought the 8020's and after putting them on I initially thought I'd been right all those years but after a week or two they may be my favourite at the minute .

 

I'm guessing that my playing style has changed as I used to be plectrum only player with a lot of strumming. Elixirs tend to sound all string and no guitar when they are attacked , but for gentle picking and the odd chord they are great. Gentle on the finger , long lasting and a nice sustain.

 

I may try elixirs PB next as that is the string that put me off elixirs in the first place , just to see if my style has changed and works better with elixirs now , or the 80/20 construction is what I like.

 

Appropriate tri-test-time - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjcNhAosXqY

[62burst]

Good to hear BK looking to put the test subjects all on the same strings; and mix them up for another chance to pick them out.

 

In trying to jump back & forth from the same part of the clips from the string comparison test Em7 had linked to, one thing stood out; how much easier it was to find a certain place in the clip from BK's SoundCloud clip than a YouTube clip. The graphic points of the sonogram(?) displayed on the SoundCloud player made it easier to find the specific points in time, and the clip automatically stopped playing on SoundCloud, allowing an a/b/c of single pick/strums.

 

These were good points to pop in and give a listen to the same chord hit on each of the 3 guitars:

 

Martin CEO-7 (clip length=72s):

 

 

'59 LG-0(clip length=99s):

 

 

'37 L-0(clip length=98s):

 

 

The old Gibsons had a more active looking sonogram; the graph of the Martin looks smoother. Maybe BK can tell why the 2nd and 3rd clips came out with a longer length(?)

[BluesKing777]

Appropriate tri-test-time - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yjcNhAosXqY

 

 

Thanks Em7, that is a good test!

 

 

Too late - I already bought the sales pitch for all those brands!

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[BluesKing777]

Good to hear BK looking to put the test subjects all on the same strings; and mix them up for another chance to pick them out.

 

In trying to jump back & forth from the same part of the clips from the string comparison test Em7 had linked to, one thing stood out; how much easier it was to find a certain place in the clip from BK's SoundCloud clip than a YouTube clip. The graphic points of the sonogram(?) displayed on the SoundCloud player made it easier to find the specific points in time, and the clip automatically stopped playing on SoundCloud, allowing an a/b/c of single pick/strums.

 

 

Thanks 62Burst.

 

I was going to trim into 3 files and save, but...you know.....I didn't.

 

 

And I played the CEO7 a bit in the morning and decided the MB strings on it could do a few thousand miles more, so I got hold of the string changer guy (me ) and got stuck into putting the Elixir HD Lights (80/20s) on to the HD28v...very interesting! (Though it is lucky they dont make Heavy Duty HDs because that would make it: HD-HDs on the HD...)

 

The 3 thick strings are normal lights with the 3 higher strings 1 blip extra each to give more meat on the top without killing the poor fingerpicker with mediums on a dread.

 

Mission acomplished, but too soon to report without more mileage....though I have got rid of the tinny 1st string sound and just MAY have made the whole thing harder to play....

 

I'm thinking the Elixir 80/20s are very similar sounding to the Gibson MBs, probably why I liked them on the old L-0, now that I think about it - long life MBs!

 

 

BluesKing777.

[BluesKing777]

Good to hear BK looking to put the test subjects all on the same strings; and mix them up for another chance to pick them out.

 

In trying to jump back & forth from the same part of the clips from the string comparison test Em7 had linked to, one thing stood out; how much easier it was to find a certain place in the clip from BK's SoundCloud clip than a YouTube clip. The graphic points of the sonogram(?) displayed on the SoundCloud player made it easier to find the specific points in time, and the clip automatically stopped playing on SoundCloud, allowing an a/b/c of single pick/strums.

 

These were good points to pop in and give a listen to the same chord hit on each of the 3 guitars:

 

Martin CEO-7 (clip length=72s):

 

 

'59 LG-0(clip length=99s):

 

 

'37 L-0(clip length=98s):

 

 

The old Gibsons had a more active looking sonogram; the graph of the Martin looks smoother. Maybe BK can tell why the 2nd and 3rd clips came out with a longer length(?)

 

 

 

 

The 2nd and 3rd clips got a bonus progression each! .

 

 

No robotic exact metronomic tunes from this erratic player, though I did try very hard to sit and play in the exact same position from the mic....

 

BluesKing777.

[BluesKing777]

Well, I have gone through some picking lessons on the CEO7 this morning and at the end of the little session, I swapped over to my D28 with the brand new Elixir HD Lights and belted out a couple of versions of Bob's "Sweet Home San Remo" on strings and a guitar that aren't supposed to be much for the blues and well, guess what?

 

Like I said above somewhere, I was intending to use the CEO7 as a go-everywhere and jam type of guitar, not a beater, but...close.....except now that has changed and I don't want it mauled by the blues sharks anymore...............

 

 

 

 

 

So my new beater will be the guitar my sister gave me - it is REALLY hard to play:

 

 

 

 

 

Front:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Back:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[E-minor7]

 

Tjeps, , , glad we had the back in too - what a tiny charmer. .

 

 

[BluesKing777]

Little sister said: "What do you want in Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand - duty free- when I go on holiday?"

 

 

 

Jokingly, I said: "A guitar please!"

 

 

 

That is what I got!

 

 

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[BluesKing777]

I am really enjoying the Elixir HD Light 80/20s on my HD28v. I am trying not to splurge them on other guitars at the same time and spread them out a bit, so they dont go off all at once like old light globes.

 

 

I was trying to remember when I changed the strings to Elixirs, (some people write down the date and put it in the case but the Guitar Gods dont like that much and like to throw spanners), I saw an old thread here about strings and I pipped in about putting the Elixir Nano PB 12s on to my LG3 last June and I probably had them on there for a couple of weeks......

 

So the Nanos have lasted about 10 months and I play the LG3 quite a bit - the coating has just started to fade on the 5th string 2nd fret.

 

 

I had the older Elixir Polywebs with the thicker coat on a guitar that I gave to a friend who is primarily an electro, but he wanted an acoustic for backing tracks, and I bet my socks that those Polywebs are still on that guitar years later now!

 

I doubt the Elixir 80/20 formula would last as long -hope so.

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[Fbeard]

BK, I really like your playing style. Especially your right hand technique.

[BluesKing777]

BK, I really like your playing style. Especially your right hand technique.

 

 

Thanks FBeard!

 

 

It is mainly thumb and index for everything, other fingers when needed......

 

 

 

Now that I think of it, two more hands would be err.....'handy'.

 

 

 

BluesKing777.

[Jedediah]

Number Two was louder. Can't tell if it is the guitar or the kind of strings that give it the volume. Jed