Mike's Gang August 2009

Over on the Acoustic Guitar Forum, people sometimes post a picture of their guitars, and it can inspire interesting, enlightening and introspective discusson among fellow players. This is mine.

I hope sometime soon to do this for the electronic backline part of my musical possessions, and that will be much more Bose-related!

It's all about making music!

Best, Mike

Thanks for posting that pic!

I always enjoying looking at the various models of acoustic guitars that people post from time to time.

I especially like that you have labeled yours. Many pics I see don't have labels and I frequently cannot ID the various guitars unless it's really obvious, or unless the owner mentions them individually in the post (which I find rarely happens).

Stu

Thanks Stu - cool to hear... Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for starting this, and I really appreciate the legend at the bottom.

As I look at the picture I cannot help but notice the two Taylor 615's (the two black ones right?)



Do they sound different?

The reason I ask - is you have a really nice selection of different kinds of instruments. At least I can imagine that that each one of them would have a distinctly different sound and feel to them. All of them of course except for the twin Taylors. Am I missing something here?

Back in the days when ... well never mind, way back I acquired too many this 'n thats and eventually I had to bind myself to a couple of rules because I was running out of space:

1. If it sounds like something else you've got, you can't have it.
   
   
2. Nothing comes in unless something leaves. (I think that on some forums this is called the spouse rule).
   

and finally - not a rule but a mantra

No matter what you do, it's still just you.

Hi again Mike,

I noticed that on three of your guitars you have Florentine cutaways. Is that a preference or coincidence?

I definitely prefer the Florentine cutaway to the softer Venetian cutaway (e.g. on the Gretsch)

Hey Mike,

You got me thinking about this (uh oh).

9-String
So Taylor has the XXXV 9-String
"Players who crave a splash of 12-string shimmer but don’t want the full 12-string sound will love the hybrid nature of our first-ever 9-string. "

You interested?

Neck Width and Profiles
Do you have any particular issues or concerns moving from one guitar to another with different neck widths and profiles?

That's a lot of lumber
How do you store them?
Do you keep them out on stands?
Hang 'em on the wall?
Do you have to do anything special to manage the environment (humidity / temperature)?

Finishes - Bursts and Solids
You've got an even split of bursts and solids (excluding the Uke - a beaut and in a class by itself). Is that deliberate?

Buying Criteria
Do you acquire with your eyes or your ears, your hands or ...

GAS (gear acquisition syndrome)
When was the last acquisition?
Anything on the horizon?

ST! All right - here we go... I think the discussion is the very best part, especially the STORIES that go with the various instruments. Your specific questions first:

The Taylors...
I ordered the first Taylor in 2006, making my specific choices from specs on their site but thru my guy at Guitar Center. I knew I wanted a Jumbo, knew I wanted black, knew I wanted Florentine, and ebony buttons - that's all I customized. Color ties you to the 600 maple series at Taylor, the only series they will stain or paint. I don't know much about woods but I like the way my maple Guild sounds so that was fine with me. I chose what they call Transparent Black, because I thought seeing the wood grain would be good - I was right, but also wrong, but it turned out fine in the end. Got the guitar, LOVED it, but... the trans black turns out to look Country Gentleman brown in the light. Very pretty, but not black.

So, after a great year with my software company and lots of Rivers West gigs in 2007, I decided to learn from what I "ordered wrong", and do it again, right! So, I ordered glossy black first off. I also upgraded the trim to ivoroid with abalone etching, and that combo on the piano black is just striking, stunning, classy. Also added a pickguard which the 06 did not have, and ordered NO Taylor ES electronics, which I learned that I DETEST capitalized, and had a B-Band system installed (in both). I now have a custom Fishman Infinity Matrix system in the 2008 Taylor - it's perfect. Just need to do ebonoid buttons, which Taylor will not do anymore. The 2006 is for sale, too bad now is a terrible economic time to sell nice guitars.

And I'd say I buy with my eyes, and my heart. I kinda of EXPECT guitars I like to sound good, and I don't discriminate very much between the sound of one kind of wood versus another, or one body shape versus another. I can identify an acoustic versus an electric, and that's good enough for me. :-)

Rules?
I try not to have any music rules, other than I won't play in a smoky bar from 9pm til 2am for $50 bucks, and I WILL play covers. If I want or need(?) something, I'll find a way to buy it, usually! Of course, my dear wife thinks this approach foolish I'm sure.

Where They Live?
Regretably for me, I do not have a "music room" in my home, where I could hang them. Regretably then for my dear wife, she has to put up with guitars sitting around in many rooms! I've come to LIKE seeing my troops around in different places. I keep the old Martin by the bed, the Taylor and Tele in the TV room, everybody else has found a similar comfortable place. I bought a bunch of the nice Taylor stands for the home. I've never done anything special about humidity, never done anything really, with no issues, except for one dumb thing years ago.

Necks:
Naah, everything seems to feel pretty natural - I've never even measured any of them. ONE exception... the Strato-12 neck seems really narrow, and I'm having to concentrate pretty hard to play it. Conversely, one of my pals had a slotted D35 with a real wide neck, and I didn't enjoy playing that guitar at all. Give me something relatively normal and I'm happy.

Cuts and Colors:
The Finishes - no sinister master plan, this is how they came to me! Closest thing to this kind of planning was when I recently sought an E-12. Didn't want a Ric - been there done that, nor a Gib - headstock's too huge, and I saw this Strat on eBay - my detail analysis consisted of "kinda cool - it'll look like a brother or cousin of the Tele"! I even bought a tortoise pickguard for the 12 but it doesn't match, and I decided to leave them like they are.

I particularly do not care for the standard Taylor Venetian cutaway, but very much like the sharp Florentine on the jumbo Taylor shape - so that's that. The 137, I just LIKED! The similar cutaways are equal coincidence and preference.

Last and Next?
The most recent one in is the Stratocaster 12-string, just a few months ago. You may remember me publicly wondering about a 12-str effect or pedal... ended up with the real thing, as predicted and advised!

I don't really want or certainly don't need anything. As I said Taylor #1 is for sale, as is the Gibson 137 - kinda hate to part with it, but I'm not playing it and hope to find it a good home.

It might be nice to have a nylon string, but I can only think of And I Love Her, so will live without it. ONE dream though - I would like to commission Taylor for a WHITE 655 Florentine 12-string, to mirror-match my big Taylor. A little hard to explain to the Guild, like I had to with the Martin when I got the Taylor...

A Little Bit Funny...
This was the very first time I've had ALL my guitars together in the same room, and it was very fun for me to see them tres bien ensemble! The little uke had never even met several of them...

ST - THANKS for inquiring, interesting insightful questions as not surprising. I've probably over-orated, as usual, but I'm glad you responded! Maybe some stories later, if interest...

Best, MIKE

OH --- The new Taylor 9-string AND the Martin McGuinn 7-string are a little interesting, but for me - I'll stay with the even dozen. Fun to try though, when I can...

And finally - that's super cool the way you blurred my picture and circle-focused the sharp cutaways... You ARE the tecno-master!

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike in Texas,

About 6 years old, this pic holds most of the guitars I had at the time.

1969 Gibson Hummingbird, Takamine LTD-2002, Takamine LTD-2000.
1990 Alavarez Yari DY-45(Martin D-45 copy), 70s maple Epiphone, 1981 Ovation (stereo) Classical.
1993 Custom Shop Fender Stratocaster (black holographic finish), Fender Nashville Tele Deluxe (tex mex strat and tele pickups with a Fishman acoustic saddle pickup), Galveston Resonator/Dobro.

Since then I've added a Dean Key Largo acoustic, CA Legacy AE, Takamine EN-20 Jumbo, 1998 Taylor 714CE, and a Line6 Variax Acoustic.

Hi Mike,

About where they live and specifically environment and humidity Bob Taylor thinks this is so important that he did

a series of videos about Humidity

Hey there Rain,

I thought that I was the only one who had a guitar racks like that in a home setting.

HAHA ST!
Yea, I moved out of that house and we built a new one.. I sold the rack and now they all hang on the wall. (well, 6 at a time for now)
I tend to play the Taylor, CA and Line6 Variax on gigs (weekly) so they stay in the cases.

I've been fortunate to not be forced to sell any of the guitars so far. (the Crate acoustic amp in the bottom right sold to an ex-gf, the tweed Blues Deluxe used to be Johnny Lang's practice amp, and the Fender Cyber-Twin on the lower left is still in a road case and hasn't been fired up in 4 years...)

Hi Rain,

I hear ya. I packed up those racks and roll one of them out at big home concert acoustic jam sessions so that people have a nice place to put their guitars if they want to hang them.

I don't use them at home any more. Just too much dusting!

Hi again Mike,

The Taylors
Thanks for the story behind the Taylors. A snapshot is just that - a picture frozen in time and the history puts it all in perspective. Now that you mention it, I CAN see the Country Gentlemen brown through the stain. Perfect description.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike in Texas:
... too bad now is a terrible economic time to sell nice guitars.

and it's a great time to buy. But I don't get the impression that you buy these things as financial investments. I know I don't.

Things may be tough but at least we are not looking at these things wondering how they would taste or how long they would burn.

quote:

Originally posted by Mike in Texas:
And I'd say I buy with my eyes, and my heart. I kinda of EXPECT guitars I like to sound good, and I don't discriminate very much between the sound of one kind of wood versus another, or one body shape versus another. I can identify an acoustic versus an electric, and that's good enough for me.

I read the Larrivée Guitar forum and occasionally the Acoustic Guitar forum. I've been tempted after reading there to look at a 12 fret slot-head or sloped shoulder dreadnaught or a pure-bred hog (all mahogany) or to think I can hear the difference between mahogany back and sides and sapele. But I just can't make the generalizations fit to overcome the wildly divergent and individual nature of different combinations of all the factors that go into each specific guitar. About the only things that I have found to be incredibly consistent are the composite axes and the electric steinbergers.

At the heart of it, if I hit the strings and a sound comes out - I'm happy. If the sound is in tune; nirvana

Rules
Thank goodness there are no more smokey bars around here (smoking ban). Playing from 9pm til 2pm, I can't do that any more. I played 3 1/2 hours straight on Friday night. We had a bathroom break in the middle - seriously, like 3 minutes I think. Stupid me. I know better. My hands can't do that any more. That was four days ago. Today is the first day that I've been able to fully make a fist with either hand.

I play covers and originals. I like to play what the audience wants to hear. I have been looking at these tired old hands and wondering how many hours I have left in them. Over the last few days I've been seriously thinking about how I really want to consume this non-renewable resource. I may need a new set of rules to maximize my personal return for the time I have left.

I have looked at a few guitars lately but haven't found anything that would get me to open my wallet. I did see this crazy nylon stringed jazz guitar a couple of months ago. Hand-made in Brazil, this had 14 frets to the body, wide-neck like a classical, florentine cutaway (my favourite kind) and the most amazing neck joint. There was virtually no heel. The shape of the cutaway just flowed like water over the bottom of the guitar, washing over the neck joint like it wasn't there. It was beautiful to play, to feel, to look at, and this thing sounded amazing. The owner was talking about getting it refinished because it was looking a little rough. To him this was a player's tool. It had nicks and scratches and wear marks in the finish. Nothing more than cosmetic issues. He treated it like a pickup truck, with respect but not reverence. Now THERE was a guitar I would buy if it had been for sale.


Nice talkin' with you Mike.

more in a bit


PS

quote:

Originally posted by Mike in Texas:
And finally - that's super cool the way you blurred my picture and circle-focused the sharp cutaways... You ARE the tecno-master!

Snagit ← this is the best tool of its kind I have ever used. $50 bucks.

Hey...

That was a little inside joke to myself... Around Dallas, seems the ONLY steady gigs for bands are the late shift, and I imagine the places are no smoking now - but maybe some of the pure bars still smoke, I don't know - not for me, for many reasons. Then, I have a few friends who really show disdane for playing covers, like it's beneath them, and those who do play covers are "less than" themselves as artists - kinda cracks me up. I just heard Paul Sir McCartney play Buddy Holly and Jimi Hendrix in front of 40,000, not to mention GH and JL tunes. Covers indeed! I play my heroes' great tunes with honor!

I'm starting to wonder How Long also. But I'm sticking with it! I'm sure you will too... But I MAY back off the outdoor Texas summer gigs somewhere between as much as possible and 100 percent! Gotta choose your battles...

Later - Mike

Hi Mike,

What's the story behind the binding and abalone markers on the D-28 fingerboard? That looks like my '73 D-41.

O..

Hi O, long time...

Exactly, pretty much. :-) I got my 28 in the summer after high school in 1970 (after I sold my rock and roll 335), from the original owner. I loved the guitar and assumed, correctly, that I'd never be able to have a D-45 like the big guys, or even a 41. A local guitar sales guy was going to Martin Luthier School, and talked me into letting HIM put a 41 fingerboard and custom inlays on my guitar, as his big project, with the pros overseeing every move. I was young and gullible and let him do it. He actually did all right, but the inlays are way too large and worst of all, he hit the top with some tool and they had to refinish the top. It would and should be so much darker by now if not for that. If I knew then... I would have kept it original. There's a few more war stories with this old guitar, but it sure sounds and looks real good. The Brazilian Rosewood back and sides are exceptional most people say, and I haven't contradicted any of them yet.

I wish we could get our Martins together for a session one day!

Good to hear from you! Mike

Mike,

That's a great story. I really like it when there's a story behind an axe.

quote:

I wish we could get our Martins together for a session one day!

I've got a '77 D-41 that would love to come to that party! It's real purdy but it don't get out much.

I got it 'cuz I figger'd I'd never be able to get a '45.


Hey - do you name your guitars?

I don't, but that's because I try not to get too attached to them.

Where they Live
I used to leave many of mine hanging on the walls.

-= Here's a little story for you =-
Then one day there was a tour at the Larrivée factory here in Vancouver. There were a bunch of folks flying in from all over to pick up their Guitars. Larrivée had done a special run of instruments for people who belonged to the Larrivée forum. Anyway, all these Larrivée loving folks were in town and I was interested to see where mine had been made. It is rumoured that my other main player (a Morgan) was actually hand-made in the same building.

There is supposed to be a big jam after the tour so I grabbed one of my Larrivées (a nice one), (well okay, they are all nice), (okay - the nicest one) and I headed down to the factory. I got there a little early and I ended up speaking with an amiable fellow. I asked him if he could tell me why my high E string was getting caught under the second fret (I do bends and pulls and it would sometimes get stuck under there).

"Let's have a look".

So he looks at it and in a second or two he confirms the year, model, production run, it's original selling price, what it might be worth today, that it is in excellent shape AND that it is very dry.

He looks at me very sternly and says, "This instrument is staying here. We'll fix this and then you will never let this happen again.
This fellow - pointing to someone - will take care of it. Call us in two weeks."

I start to protest but one more look from him and I realize it's pointless.

So I went to the jam empty handed, but got to play some really nice instruments. Just about everybody but the left-handers asked me to play their new guitars so they could hear them. We had a lot of fun.

During the two weeks I figured out that the humidifier unit in my air conditioner had gone on the fritz and my relative humidity was hovering around 30%. The folks at Larrivée told me that I should be around 45-50% most of the time. They also told me to get the guitars away from the ceiling because it was probably warmer up there.

I also found a crack in the finish of my D-41. It ran from the bridge down toward the end pin. Right down the center of the top. Somewhere in there I came across those videos from Bob Taylor about humidity and how to repair humidity related damage. Today you couldn't find that crack without a magnifying glass.

Anyway - the Larrivée is fine. The Martin is fine. The air conditioning is working and the relative humidity is fine.

I have a couple of hygrometers stuck up where I have some of my hardier instruments hanging. The more fragile instruments tend to live in their cases with humidifiers.

My two main acoustic guitars for playing out are that Larrivée I mentioned and the Morgan. Not surprisingly (to anyone who knows the relationship between the two companies, these guitars have exactly the same dimensions. So I have my road case and at any given moment, one or the other of those guitars is in there. If I'm playing solo, I'll probably take the Larrivée. If I'm playing with others, I'll take the Morgan.


Epilogue:
The amiable fellow at the Larrivée factory was Jean Larrivée's son John.

OH yes - lucky for me its 50% humidity or higher year round here on the coast. Its 69% right now.

Well, questioning any interest, I first sent this to ol' ST, who urged me back "up front"...

Hey ST,

That thread's kinda died down, and I felt a little funny drawing attention to myself and possessions anyway, but...

I started out, after THE Ed Sullivan Shows, with a cheap acoustic at 11 or 12, then a cheap electric, then a cheap acoustic 12 string... maybe one more cheap electric, don't remember..

But at at about 14 or 15, my mom took me to Dallas (big city and hour away from our small town called Corsicana) to buy my cherry 335, with some money she inherited from her mom - that was quite a guitar for me in our high school band.

My senior year 1970, the Deja Vu CSNY album came out, and I found a little all mahogony Martin in a garage sale that looked just like Stills' guitar on the cover, for $25, and for a short while I actually owned TWO guitars, pretty rare in my circle of pals. I sold the "Civil War" Martin to a classmate for $100 - thought I was a pretty savvy businessman! The band closed for business when we graduated, and James Taylor was on my radar, and I decided to start college as an acoustic guitar guy, sold the 335 (DUMB!), and found my D28 in the Dallas classifieds. Bought it from the original owner, a young man who had moved up to a D41, without a case for $335, interestingly. Bought my first hard-shell case for $65 of my hard earned dollars - I had used a light case for the 335, that I padded with cotton sheet covered foam rubber cutout piece.

In my early 20's, single, I had a Martin D35-12 that I could never get in tune - before I knew a guitar could be "set up", and a D35 "forklift" guitar. This one was a light but broad-grain rosewood, and had been actually punctured on the top where your right elbow rests, by a forklift, and then very expertly repaired - killer guitar! I sold it to one of my best mates, and his daughter has it now - STILL in the family.

Later, I "needed" an acoustic 12 for some rare performance, and borrowed a Tak (I think) knockoff of the Guild Jumbo from my favorite guitar sales guy at the time. Loved it. Then with some software bonus money, I could get my own, and he found me the real thing for I think $900 - the blonde 412 I still have. it's a 1975 and became mine late 70's...

In 1990 we reunited our band The Others for our high school reunion, and I opted for a Deluxe American Strat with Lace Sensors, and a Roland JC120. I could never do the Strat justice or make it sound good at all, had a custom remake of my old 335 made, ditto - sold it too, and evolved into being a Tele guy - first a Mexico and now the Japan, with high end electronics & hardware. Also had a Mesa Boogie Mark IV for a while - great amp, and then went vintage with a 1964 Super Reverb - my favorite guitar amp, traded it in for the Bose! Oh - in high school I played thru the solid state Vox Super Beatle - also killer, but I digress. Also, sometime around the Strat-335-reissue time, I went for a Ric 370-12, for a year or two, but lost interest and sold that too.

I got the Gretsch Jumbo to be my "Rivers West" guitar, as I never could get a pleasing amplified sound out of the Martin, kinda wanted it to stay home anyway, and wanted to explore the synth with RW, and sure was NOT going to bolt or even paste that thing on my beloved Martin. The Gretsch was relatively cheap and still has the synth pickup permanently installed, and is still a cool guitar.

Two more HORRIBLE, horror stories about that tough old Martin, and then I'll let you go...

In 1980 & 84 I had a couple of kids, and very rarely played the guitar. It stayed cased in my closet for stupidly long stretches of time. One time I got it out and the BRIDGE had pulled up - SHUDDER! A good luthier expertly glued it back, but either then or I think a little later, the same fast-talker guy who did the 41-fretboard convinced me that for a brighter sound, and bridge stability, I should use a brass saddle, AND nut, AND the bridge should be bolted down with visible brass. OH how dumb was I! Of course, I later had all the brass replaced with bone and the bridge filled with wood and sanded back. Similarly, the black original pickguard warped and partially pulled up. I had always wished my Martin had a tortise guard (even though it doesn't match the circle), and I did that repair MYSELF, absolutely not knowing what I was doing - I didn't know about spot-heating the glue, pulled the old one off with a pocket knife. MIRACLE guitar, despite its dumb owner! Looks pretty fine now though. OK, all that's Story #1!

One December, a bunch of us were walking around my neighborhood with our guitars, carolling. I only owned the Martin, and was using my old hand-tooled western strap made by my uncle, the guy who made Elvis' guitar cover, you may recall that story. Well, it was COLD, I had my hands in my coat pockets, and... yes, the old strap gave way, and my treasured 1969 Brazilian HIT THE CONCRETE! My friends were HORRIFIED, but oddly I was cool - knew my guy could fix it like new. I tuned it back up and we went on - my friends couldn't believe that I wasn't in tears or suicidal. Man - there were SPLINTERS! And a pretty long hairline crack. But, it's fixed, you CAN see the biggest repair place fairly easily, but it's solid, sounds great, and looks very good - but WITH these stories of "character".

ONE LAST ONE... The UKELELE...

Between 5 and 10 years ago (time FLIES!), I began to notice my heroes playing the new-to-me cool-looking Taylor guitars, and I found out an old friend had one. I particularly liked the Koa (which I'd never seen), jumbo models of John Denver and Kenny Loggins. Sure I could never justify or literally afford the $4,000 stratosphere, I just longed. Somewhere I saw this little, very pretty, Koa and Abalone UKELELE! $125 bucks. I could do THAT, and pacify my yearning for those beautiful Taylors. I also read of another hero George Harrison's love for ukes, gifting them to his mates... OK! Turns out it's fun as heck to play - I put a wound low string on top so it seems more guitar-like, got a chord book, and can play several favorite Beatle songs, even blues Honky Tonk sort of, and Beginnings by Chicago. I LIKE the uke! Later, decided to "Go Black" for my performing guitar, found the made to order maple Taylor series within my reach, and now I have the best of both worlds! Life is all right!

Heading home - take care... MIKE

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Mike in Texas,