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Acoustic neglect.


quapman

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Ok,, after perusing through the acoustic forum it has become painfully clear that I have been neglecting my J-45.

 

Ever since I got my LP CC,, I have totally neglected my beautiful J-45.

Not to worry, I have kicked my own a$$ and I am off to give it some love.

 

Are you too neglecting an old friend?

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Ok,, after perusing through the acoustic forum it has become painfully clear that I have been neglecting my J-45.

 

Ever since I got my LP CC,, I have totally neglected my beautiful J-45.

Not to worry, I have kicked my own a$ and I am off to give it some love.

 

Are you too neglecting an old friend?

 

 

 

Have a new friend (a Martin) and it probably resents me. I'm just having too much fun learning new stuff on electric that I forget that I have other 'children'. [unsure]

 

 

Just spent two hours with my hollowbody...does that count as 'acoustic'?

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I play on my G-J archtop every morning.

 

Are you too neglecting an old friend?

Before I went on holiday towards the end of October I stuck some guitars in safe storage. On my return I brought out 'Marmalade' but three other LPs and my Strat are still there.......

 

[blush]

 

P.

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Yes. My acoustic has been thrashed on many, many gigs and now stays in case most of the time, but when I want to play honest 'bedrock' guitar, no frills, nothing else will do.

If you can't make it sound good on an acoustic all the amps, fx and bells and whistles in the world probably won't improve it.

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I have a 6-string and a 12-string and both are neglected, in my defense I did not realize just how high the action was on both and thought that playing acoustic is simply that physically hard.

 

It isn't until I read about the "Quarter height at 12th fret" idea that I realized I needed to lower the action, I gave the saddles a round of sanding and the action is getting there but not there yet. I am sure once I get the ideal action I will play both acoustics again.

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My acoustics suffer from neglect as well... though I did just play out a few weeks ago where I played both electric and acoustic. I love the acoustic but I'm so drawn to all the electronic gadgetry that it makes picking up the acoustic hard.

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I do not use my LP. She sits in a closet.

I do not use my V...though I may bring it out soon.

I keep my Nylons downstairs and I strum them while I wait for water to boil or whatever.

My SG and my Parker acoustic sit side by side and I use them about equally. I bust out my Martin when I can't get something right on my Parker. Martina always gets me out of a funk.

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Actually my current most-played boxes are a small body acoustic and a small hollowbody - albeit the latter plugged in.

 

The big AE boxes ain't been touched in 3-4 months or so.

 

Oh, Izzy... Never played nylons for music. Oh ... you meant nylon strings? <chortle>

 

m

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Yesterday I took out my Martin 12 string that hasn't been played in several months. I spent about an hour playing it and getting warmed up to a 12 string again. That evening I pulled out a PRS ES with 9s on it and after playing the 12 string, everything I played on the PRS was going sharp. I had to soften up my fretting considerably.

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I haven't been playing my acoustics lately mainly because of the condition of my hands.Even though I have pretty light 10-46 strings on them.I was thinking about putting a set of 8-38s on my Stratacoustic so I won't be completely ignoring my acoustics.I really miss playing my rare 1983 Marine Blue sunburst Yamaha FG-346-SB because it has such a unique voice,I miss my Epi EJ-160-E for obvious reasons.I also have a beautiful red to black sunburst 1966 Harmony Archtone archtop that sounds wonderful and has a fabulous neck.I have a rare 1969 Saturn 12 string that my parents ordered from the Eaton's catalogue when I was 15.It's hard to believe that I used to play it with no problem,even using it playing coffee houses,the fretboard has no radius on it to speak of and it's almost flat,I know that it would be impossible to play at this time.

 

Everyone needs a break from playing electric every now and then and picking up an acoustic really limbers up the fingers for playing electric.When I was gigging I always brought an acoustic along with me so that I could play it before we started to play and playing an electric after playing an acoustic was really easy because of going from a wider neck and heavier strings to a thin neck and light strings allows you to play much faster and able to bend the strings much farther.I can't wait to get back at my acoustics-I am really missing them these days.

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the only dreadnaught I have is my old Washburn D-10S/B.......a budget acoustic that's built like a tank.

I take it by spells w/the electrics, but the "Old Soldier" still gets plenty of playtime, I keep 80/20 "brass" strings on it & it sounds very Bluesy.....needs a cpl of frets because i've worn a few out but the action is still great, the neck only needs a tweak about every 2 yrs., and it doesn't have a case so it stays out for "quick grab" convenience.

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I'm guilty of neglecting my Guild 12 string. Still gets played once in a while but not that often. I'm basically lazy. Tuning is a pain in the butt but once tuned, it keeps its tune really well. My Taylor acoustic gets lots of play time.

When guitar buddies come over, they gravitate to my Guild. A fantastic guitar to play and the tone is sweet.

Dave

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Oh, Izzy... Never played nylons for music. Oh ... you meant nylon strings? <chortle>

 

m

 

I missed your chortles [flapper]

 

 

Has it occured to anyone to swap out what you have out to play and put your usual in the case for a few weeks? Take out the exotics or oldies? ("Put up my NEW LP/SG, why that would be sacrilige!")

 

I have my usuals out on stands and the others in a closet in their cases. Maybe swaping could be good for the closeted guitars AND the player as well. I know when I take out Martina, after I've been on Joan for months, my playing improves somehow. I have to become more aware of what I am doing maybe or the new sound encourages me to play better.

 

Just a thought :mellow:

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Izzy...

 

I think you have an excellent point there. I know a lotta folks have suggested I'm a little off kilter suggesting that different guitars put the player into a different geometry of playing but... I think that in effect you're getting at that same point.

 

A single guitar picker/owner has one geometry. The player with multiple guitar shapes played with some regularity has just enough different geometry that the bod adjusts to it as the same but different - and the mind then has also the opportunity to consider somewhat different technical approaches.

 

For example, nut width carefully measured as identical will "feel" narrower on a guitar where the balance places it farther from my left shoulder... and a somewhat different geometry of performance.

 

I'll wager, for example, that when you cinched up the strap to prevent neck pain you found both right and left hand technique angled differently, too.

 

m

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I am playing my Taylors about as much as I play any other guitar.

 

I have an 1978 Alvarez Yari dy84 that I admit,, gets little play time, but part of that is because the pickup hums like mad. otherwise a lovely old dreadnaught

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