dhanners623 Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 ...it sounded great. Played a show at the storied Turf Club in St. Paul, and I figured it would be as good a baptism as any for seeing how the guitar does in a "live" setting. In a word, problem-free. (Actually, I guess that's two words.) I had the volume set a bit less than half-way and rolled off most of the bass and all but a little of the treble. Talked to the sound guy afterwards and he said he only had my volume up a little so there was still a lot of room to go. Said the guitar had a nice sound to it. The show was part of the Turf's "Old Stage" series of shows, which usually just involves small acoustic acts, so they don't bother setting up monitors. I did ask a couple of musician friends of mine there, Dan Israel (http://www.danisraelmusic.com/ and Mary Cutrufello (http://www.marycutrufello.com/ what they thought of the guitar sound and both were impressed. And you know how hard it can be to impress fellow musicians. The signal seemed pretty clean, and there weren't any hum issues that I could tell. As far as things in the signal path, I plugged the guitar into a Boss TU-2 tuner and then into the DI box and that was it. Despite my worries about the sharp angles on the saddle, I didn't break any strings (although I did have my '98 J-45 sitting on stage as a back up) and I did do some hard strumming. But the guitar sounded great through that and with the quieter fingerstyle stuff. Still, my first stop this morning is my local guitar repair gurus, Hoffman Guitars (http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/) to see about getting the saddle replaced with something without those sharp edges. Also, a couple of slots in the nut seem to be sticking, which led to my only real issue with the guitar last night. Although it did a pretty good job of staying in tune, when I did have to tune up, sometimes it seemed balky. Then again, I'm wondering if the tuners played a role in that. So the bottom line is, once I get those issues dealt with, I think this will be a great guitar for playing out. And the unplugged tone just keeps getting better the more I play it. I'm really impressed with this instrument. And that vibe.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchie1281734003 Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 ... Despite my worries about the sharp angles on the saddle' date=' I didn't break any strings (although I did have my '98 J-45 sitting on stage as a back up) and I did do some hard strumming. But the guitar sounded great through that and with the quieter fingerstyle stuff. Still, my first stop this morning is my local guitar repair gurus, Hoffman Guitars (http://www.hoffmanguitars.com/) to see about getting the saddle replaced with something without those sharp edges. Also, a couple of slots in the nut seem to be sticking, which led to my only real issue with the guitar last night. Although it did a pretty good job of staying in tune, when I did have to tune up, sometimes it seemed balky. Then again, I'm wondering if the tuners played a role in that. So the bottom line is, once I get those issues dealt with, I think this will be a great guitar for playing out. And the unplugged tone just keeps getting better the more I play it. I'm really impressed with this instrument. And that vibe.... [/quote'] David, I am pleased for you that all went well, when you used it live, I haven`t gigged out with my one yet, but do plan to do so soon. I have put some new cheap individual Nickel tuners on mine, and they hold the tuning pretty good, so I think there may be an issue with the Wilkinson three on a strip, although probably not the tuners themselves, more the forced fitting of them. I reshaped the nut and saddle myself on mine, and they are now pretty good, and as for the tone, I totally agree with you, it just keeps getting better, infact I can`t put the Texan down! it has no right to be this good!! Steve. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 Yeah, the more I think about it, the tuners are probably the next change I'm making. There are two things I can't abide in an acoustic guitar: A "thin" sound and tuning problems. These look like they'd work: http://www.allparts.com/Gotoh-3X3-Nickel-Keys-p/tk-0977-001.htm A quick update: Just dropped the guitar off at the shop. They talked me out of changing the saddle. They said they thought it should work just fine and won't be breaking strings. They are going to clean up the nut, though. Some of the strings feel a bit tight in it; in fact, the 5th string actually sticks in the nut slot. I know that's an "easy" fix and a lot of folks have learned to do it themselves, but I don't mind leaving this to experts. On the matter of the bridge pins, their opinion was that ebony wouldn't do much for the guitar, and suggested camel bone instead. So that's what we're going with. They also may do some work on the bridge pin holes; they just don't seem countersunk enough to me. I will miss the guitar while it's on the shop, though.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Red 333 Posted March 8, 2010 Share Posted March 8, 2010 You guys would know better than I whether the tuners or the holes in the peghead are the problem, but if it's the tuners, here's a nice set from Gotoh. Gotoh 3 On A Strip Vintage Tuners With White Buttons Glad the guitar performed so well in a live setting, David. I sure would like to find an IB Texan in a local shop so I could spend some time with it. You and Frenchie have me jonseing for one, and I already have three Texans! Red 333 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dhanners623 Posted March 8, 2010 Author Share Posted March 8, 2010 I'll admit I took a chance and ordered the guitar unheard through Musicians Friend. I hate the thought of buying a guitar from a "big box" place like that without first getting a chance to play it, but none of the Epiphone dealers in the Twin Cities carried the IB'64 Texan. I was fortunate that I got a good one. And thanks for the link, but I'm not sure those tuners would fix the issue. The problem is that when Epiphone drilled the tuner holes in the headstock, the holes for the 2nd and 5th strings aren't in line with the 1st/3rd and 4th/6th strings. I measured and the holes for the 2nd and 5th strings are scooched about 2 mm towards the headstock's centerline. I think when Epiphone installs their 3-on-a-plate tuners, they must just muscle them into place. Doing so bends the capstans on the 2nd and 5th strings, and I think over time, that's not going to be a good thing to be bending those. And when I tried dropping in a set of Golden Age Restoration 3-on-a-plate tuners -- which should have been direct drop-in replacements -- they wouldn't fit because of the 2nd/5th-string holes. There are only two ways around it that I can see. The least expensive alternative is to change out the tuners for individual tuners. The other is to fill the holes, re-drill them, then do the touch-up work, and that runs into lots of dough very fast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frenchie1281734003 Posted March 9, 2010 Share Posted March 9, 2010 Glad the guitar performed so well in a live setting' date=' David. I sure would like to find an IB Texan in a local shop so I could spend some time with it. You and Frenchie have me jonseing for one, and I already have three Texans! Red 333 [/quote'] Red, how it stacks up to your Elitist and Macca Texans I don`t know, but as a guitar in it`s own right, it really is fabulous. Things I like, are, the look of it, the fact it is also an electro-acoustic, the grain of the top, which obviously isn`t of the highest quality(The specs don`t actually specify Sitka either), as in the grain being wavy, but is very similar to that of the Texan in the Beatles gear book(P146/7), and bear in mind, the original Texan wasn`t a high end guitar. The neck is a joy to play, being neither skinny nor thick, and this great tone, which far outweighs the Texans price. Plus when gigging you can leave your expensive guitars at home. It`s a no-brainer, give one a go. Steve Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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