Mike54 Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 I heard an interesting story and a great string maintenance tip the other night, and thought I'd share it here. I play a lot of Blugrass music, and I play out of the house with various groups of folks about 8-10 times a month. We have a bluegrass association here in the Reno area that meets for workshops and jams once a month. So the other night, one of the best acoustic guitar players around, and maybe the best I've played with (sort of hate that phrasing, but you know what I mean), sat in with our Beginner/Intermediate workshop and was teaching us some alternate chord shapes, G runs, etc. His name is Charlie. So Charlie related this story.... In the late 80's he was in a band that was opening a festival show for Doc Watson. If you aren't familiar with Doc Watson, look him up on YouTube and give a listen. Arguably one of the best flatpickers who ever lived. In fact on the Gibson site, Alen Roth gives some Doc Watson-style lessons, and one of the comments refers to Jimmy Page totally "borrowing" from Doc on a whole section of Bron Y Aur stomp. You can look up the Arlen Lesson the YouTube the Led Zep song and see/hear it. It's pretty cool. But I digress... So Charlie is warming up back stage, and Doc, who is blind, says "Hey, guitar player!" Charlie says "Who, me?" Doc - "Yeah, you. Your low E string's dead." Charlie - " I know, I need to change it." Doc- "Tune that string down some." Charlie said he tuned it down about 1/2 a step and plucked it. Doc- "No. I mean way down. To where you have about four inches of slack between the string and the neck." Charlie did as instructed. Doc- "OK. Now pop that thang HARD 6 or 7 times." Charlie did as instructed. Charlie said he thought maybe the wound string had dust and finger oil and crap in the grooves, and maybe slapping it against the fretboard would knock some of it loose. He looked but didn't see anything come off the string. And he still doesn't know if that was the reason. Doc- "Now tune it back up and try it again." Charlie tuned the string back up and started playing, and it sounded like a brand new string!! Said he kept that same set of strings on the guitar for two more months. So after Charlie shared that story, I told him I had another acoustic, my Martin DXME, at home with that exact problem. Don't play it much and didn't want to take the time and money to change the strings, and Charlie told me to try it when I got home. I did exactly as reported above, and it works like a charm. I repeated it with A and D, and although they weren't as bad, they both sounded better after popping them a few times. So if you have a wound string that is starting to sound a little flat, or 'dead', give this a try, and you'll get another couple of months of good playing out of your strings. Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zombywoof Posted August 6, 2010 Share Posted August 6, 2010 Love It! Seems like it might be worth a try. I will let you know how it works when I do. And Jimmy Page never borrowed anything - he just came right out and stole it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 They don't call him Doc for nothn'. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
brianh Posted August 10, 2010 Share Posted August 10, 2010 One of my favorite pickin' tunes of all time: [YOUTUBE]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS9oRdOfGDI[/YOUTUBE] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wootpow Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Another one of my favorites with Doc Watson that is great! Mind you he had Leo and Chet http://youtu.be/La-QiWzwgOM Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vestapol Posted September 7, 2011 Share Posted September 7, 2011 Thanks for the tip, Mike, and especially for the story. I've been a Doc...and Merle...fan since 1967. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
el capitan Posted September 12, 2011 Share Posted September 12, 2011 Thanks for the "Windy & Warm"clip.I can play it-but not like that! Like Bob Dylan said "He plays like water running." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TommyK Posted September 13, 2011 Share Posted September 13, 2011 By dingies, it worked. I pulled out 'Epi', my FT145SB. She'd been complaining I never take her out any more, so I decided to see if she was in shape to go Bluegrass jamming last Saturday. I tuned her up, but the low E string was dead. Just not as much ring as the others. So, I dispensed with the detuning part and pulled the E string away from the fretboard, then let it snap back. I did this 4 or 5 times. :blink: Wow! what a difference! Epi and I played out that night and she sang beautifully. \:D/ I just hope she'll take me with her next weekend. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bobouz Posted September 14, 2011 Share Posted September 14, 2011 Thanks for the tip, Mike, and especially for the story. I've been a Doc...and Merle...fan since 1967. Since the early '70s for me, with Windy & Warm being a huge favorite. The version I have is a very early one with Doc & Merle. What a sweet tune. Wonderful to see Doc playing it up close. Thanks brianh for posting it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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