Guitars of ER

Seeing the aluminum necks and mention of 40's Martins, I need to show off this one.

1950-something Harmony H40. Somewhat modified (not by me).
 

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According to Mr bbbamI....

Basses left to right are: '99 Carvin BB75, '76 Fender Precision Bass, '98 Carvin BB75F
Amps: '66 Ampeg B15N, '14 Ampeg PF500 and PF210 speaker

The Fender PBass was bought used. He's had it for about 33 yrs.

He found the B15N on eBay about 15 yrs ago. It was a basket case. It has been completely overhauled with modifications.
 

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What a great thread, and good to see so many nice guitars. Here are a few of my own (sorry about the lap steel photo -- I rotated it in the Explorer, but:confused:)

Not shown (they're in their cases) are a Taylor 25th anniversary that belongs to DW (who doesn't play guitar :)), another 6-string Taylor, and the first guitar DW bought me, an Ovation Legend 12-string. This year I took stock of what I hadn't played in a long time, and sold a Taylor T5, a Taylor classical (yes, I like Taylors a lot), and a Fretlight electric (if you don't know Fretlights, they have 6 LEDs in each fret and are great for learning chords, scales, and new chord voicings).
 

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Wow! I am not worthy!

Some really nice stuff here. I love the Taylor sound, but was never willing to pony up the $$. My best instruments are a Fender American Deluxe Tele and a Tacoma acoustic. Then a handful of instruments that won't impress anyone.

I picked up a couple of 100 buck "beach" guitars for various reasons throughout the years. The scary things is that I record with these and, occasionally, even play in public. The nice acoustic is a case queen that is rarely played, excepted as the preferred axe when my buddy occasionally comes over. He refuses to touch the junkers if the Tacoma is around!

I also have a Epiphone short scale bass, again 100 bucks or so. Amazingly, real bass players love it! I don't know any better because I've never played any other bass and won't pretend to be a real bass player.

In a way, I like the cheap stuff because I don't have to worry about it. My American Deluxe fell off the stand years ago and dinged a few frets. The input jack needs replacement, a common issue with tele's. My Tacoma is losing it's clear coat, but still sounds and plays great. Very frustrating given the $$ involved. The cheap stuff: nothing bad ever happens or at least nothing I would notice.

I've have a few amps and effects but don't use them much. Seems like most of my music making is laying tracks down "dry" into Garage Band or Logic, then fooling around endlessly.

PSA: Apple has a 90-day free Trial for Logic. I've used Garage Band for years, and have been auditioning Logic. I absolutely love it! The compressors are great, and the presets give a useful starting point for my type of music. Many aspects are very similar to GB, but somehow I get much better results from Logic. I'm planning to buy it when my trial expires.
 
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PSA: Apple has a 90-day free Trial for Logic. I've used Garage Band for years, and have been auditioning Logic.

Glad to hear you're having a good time playing and recording. And not to get into a DAW war, but I'm familiar with both Garageband and Logic, and also spent years with Cakewalk/Sonar, and about 10 years ago moved over to Studio One and recommend it most highly for its "from the ground up" approach to designing and DAW. But you also can't go wrong with Logic.
 
Glad to hear you're having a good time playing and recording. And not to get into a DAW war, but I'm familiar with both Garageband and Logic, and also spent years with Cakewalk/Sonar, and about 10 years ago moved over to Studio One and recommend it most highly for its "from the ground up" approach to designing and DAW. But you also can't go wrong with Logic.

I too have been using Cakewalk Sonar for a long time. Now the platinum version is 100% free (Cakewalk Bandlab) so I still use it. The new owners are giving it away and are supporting the product with several updates/improvements every other month and it supports VST2 and VST3. Cakewalk Sonar integrates well with my Roland MIDI controllers and hardware synthesizers. It's nice to be able to control the DAW (including recording transport functions), hardware and software synths directly from one MIDI keyboard.
 
I too have been using Cakewalk Sonar for a long time. Now the platinum version is 100% free (Cakewalk Bandlab) so I still use it. The new owners are giving it away and are supporting the product with several updates/improvements every other month and it supports VST2 and VST3. Cakewalk Sonar integrates well with my Roland MIDI controllers and hardware synthesizers. It's nice to be able to control the DAW (including recording transport functions), hardware and software synths directly from one MIDI keyboard.

I had started with the base Studio One version when it first came out (won it at the NAMM show), and upgraded to Pro a bit later. By the time Cakewalk/Sonar first went kaput (before Bandlab) I was already on S1 full-time (I checked on the Bandlab version out or curiosity and thought it smart both to make it free and keep it mostly the same, though I understand some of the Platinum features might not have been retained).

I recently had to open a Sonar project to check an old project, and after refamiliarizing myself with its workflow remembered why I switched to S1 -- just personal preferences re: workflow I guess. Best of luck with recording projects.
 
Here are a couple of Martins that I have. The mahogany is a 00-15M Custom, the spruce is an 00-18V. The 00-15M was half the price of the 00-18V but I have to admit I like the mahogany tone best.
 

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Glad to hear you're having a good time playing and recording. And not to get into a DAW war, but I'm familiar with both Garageband and Logic, and also spent years with Cakewalk/Sonar, and about 10 years ago moved over to Studio One and recommend it most highly for its "from the ground up" approach to designing and DAW. But you also can't go wrong with Logic.
I too have been using Cakewalk Sonar for a long time. Now the platinum version is 100% free (Cakewalk Bandlab) so I still use it. The new owners are giving it away and are supporting the product with several updates/improvements every other month and it supports VST2 and VST3. Cakewalk Sonar integrates well with my Roland MIDI controllers and hardware synthesizers. It's nice to be able to control the DAW (including recording transport functions), hardware and software synths directly from one MIDI keyboard.

Thanks for the thoughts on DAW's. Maybe not as sexy as axes and other pretty hardware, but I'm finding more and more that I rely on DAW post processing for my sound. The few times I play live for an audience just involve a junker acoustic with a fishman pickup and amp to life to the sound.

I've played with Sonar-Bandlab and was extremely impressed with the guiter effects and amps. I never got serious since I've chosen to remain a Mac guy and Sonar-Bandlab is PC online when I last checked.

Thanks for the Studio 1 recommendation. Both of your comments seem to reflect my own research. I may try out their free version. I find all the price levels confusing, though, and their top level is twice as expensive as Logic. At some point, I just need to get back to making music! :facepalm:

Getting back to hardware, here's my favorite axe:

IMG_0816(1).jpg

Beautiful and plays like butter.

I've been tempted to pick up a humbucker guiter. Nearly bought an Epiphone Les Paul years ago. Love SG's too, but I don't see them around much. Maybe a Strat...

Honestly, I was growing bored with my Tele and tube amp sound. Probably my limitations as a player! These days, I'm spending more time in my DAW (Logic or whatever) playing around with different effects and virtual amps in order to get more sonic variety as part of the recording process. It seems much more flexible and inexpensive. I never developed a hardware pedal board and performing amp setup due to the high cost of hardware and my very limited needs re live performance; my more interesting stuff is just recorded in my basic home studio.
 
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I had started with the base Studio One version when it first came out (won it at the NAMM show), and upgraded to Pro a bit later. By the time Cakewalk/Sonar first went kaput (before Bandlab) I was already on S1 full-time (I checked on the Bandlab version out or curiosity and thought it smart both to make it free and keep it mostly the same, though I understand some of the Platinum features might not have been retained).

I recently had to open a Sonar project to check an old project, and after refamiliarizing myself with its workflow remembered why I switched to S1 -- just personal preferences re: workflow I guess. Best of luck with recording projects.

I had the Sonar Producer 8.5 version with all the soft synths and then the Sonar X3 version. Then Roland sold Cakewalk to Gibson and things went south after Gibson filed for bankruptcy. Gibson sold Cakewalk to Singapore based Bandlab Technologies who made it a freeware platform. Cakewalk Bandlab is the full Sonar Platinum version (64 bit version only) but it does not come with all the soft synths the original Platinum version came with as part of the $500 bundle. However, all the soft synths that came with my previous versions plus all the third party VST plugins and synths run on Cakewalk bandlab without any issues. It also works well with my Line 6 POD HD for recording guitars and bass. However these days when I want to compose something quickly I just play the guitar and bass parts with my keyboards along with the synth, piano, strings, and percussion tracks.
 
@Tom52 those Martin mahogany-tops are very underappreciated IMO. I love the warm tone. Is the "custom" aspect the wide nut? If so, perfect. :)

I don't have a picture handy, but I've re-braced a couple old Harmony guitars (from ladder to X), and one of them was a mahogany-top. I copied Martin's 15-style bracing pattern. I like it, but I still like the Martins a lot better.
 
EKO 12 string 1969, EKO 6 string 1969, DeArmond Pilot Pro Bass , DeArmond T-400 (orange), and DeArmond X-155 (tobacco burst). There have been others in the past but this is what is left. All are in showroom condition. EKO was popular in Europe and England in the late 60s. They also made Vox. My 2 EKOs are now more than 50 years old. DeArmonds were modeled after Guild and sold in the US for a few short years. I bought these around 2000 so they are only about 20 years old. Action is very smooth on all of them. Unfortunately arthritis makes for limited playing these days.20210228_125359.jpeg20210228_125449.jpeg20210228_125544.jpeg20210228_125712.jpeg20210228_125924.jpeg
 
Very impressive range: 6-string, 12-string, jazz, bass.

For those who are getting stiff in old age, would nylon be an option?
 
@Tom52 those Martin mahogany-tops are very underappreciated IMO. I love the warm tone. Is the "custom" aspect the wide nut? If so, perfect. :)

I don't have a picture handy, but I've re-braced a couple old Harmony guitars (from ladder to X), and one of them was a mahogany-top. I copied Martin's 15-style bracing pattern. I like it, but I still like the Martins a lot better.

Both the 00-15M and the 00-18V have 1.75 nut which I much prefer on an acoustic.
 
Very impressive range: 6-string, 12-string, jazz, bass.

For those who are getting stiff in old age, would nylon be an option?


Unfortunately nylon strings do not address stiff hands or arthritis. They are easier on the finger tips if they are not calloused.

Many of the well made electric guitars that have been given a good set up with appropriate strings can be very smooth, soft to play, and easier on the finger tips than most acoustic guitars.
I had a chance once to play a mid 60s Mosrite that was given a professional set up with strings almost touching the frets that seemed to play itself.


Cheers!
 
Very impressive range: 6-string, 12-string, jazz, bass.

For those who are getting stiff in old age, would nylon be an option?
That could be part of a solution, but the neck width and shape of classical model might not work for you. The neck is usually wider and thicker. But it depends on the individual guitar of course.

Classical models can be very different. If one learns proper technique and posture then when you play you're minimizing the stress. Just now I picked up my beater which is pretty much normal classical guitar parameters. My fingering hand is not really liking this, especially not playing much over the past. So all of my proper technique is not helping much with injuries in shoulder, wrist, finger joints, and so on.

If you play one note on a classical, though, it requires less finger pressure than an acoustic.

That reminds that hand size and finger length are worth something. You can overcome a few problems that come with short stubby fingers, but your hand has to be comfortable with a given guitar neck.

Unfortunately you have to buy and try. And a cheapo guitar will be very challenging.
 
Unfortunately nylon strings do not address stiff hands or arthritis. They are easier on the finger tips if they are not calloused.

Many of the well made electric guitars that have been given a good set up with appropriate strings can be very smooth, soft to play, and easier on the finger tips than most acoustic guitars.
I had a chance once to play a mid 60s Mosrite that was given a professional set up with strings almost touching the frets that seemed to play itself.


Cheers!

Obviously it varies from guitar to guitar, but Taylor acoustics have a pretty good reputation for being "easy to play". On my Taylor I can easily play barre chords up to the 12th fret. That's one of the reasons I bought it.
 
I see Taylor Guitars have been mentioned a few times. Are you all aware of the United Airlines Broken Taylor guitar Saga? Baggage handlers broke guitar, airline wouldn't pay for it. Members of the Sons of Maxwell wrote a trilogy of songs about the incident. Here's the first song, it's catchy!
Here's a wiki article, There is a better right up, but I can't find it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Breaks_Guitars
 
Unfortunately nylon strings do not address stiff hands or arthritis. They are easier on the finger tips if they are not calloused.

Many of the well made electric guitars that have been given a good set up with appropriate strings can be very smooth, soft to play, and easier on the finger tips than most acoustic guitars.
I had a chance once to play a mid 60s Mosrite that was given a professional set up with strings almost touching the frets that seemed to play itself.


Cheers!

Per this article:

"Studies have proven that the finger movements and exercise related to playing can actually help arthritis sufferers. In fact, arthritis sufferers who began to play an instrument improved the dexterity and strength in their fingers and other muscles. Instead of stopping, practice for shorter periods of time and be sure to stretch and warm-up every time you pick up your instrument."


https://makingmusicmag.com/how-to-prevent-and-treat-arthritis-in-musicians/

I try to play some piano/keyboards or guitar/bass every day to maintain my dexterity.
 
Per this article:

"Studies have proven that the finger movements and exercise related to playing can actually help arthritis sufferers. In fact, arthritis sufferers who began to play an instrument improved the dexterity and strength in their fingers and other muscles. Instead of stopping, practice for shorter periods of time and be sure to stretch and warm-up every time you pick up your instrument."


https://makingmusicmag.com/how-to-prevent-and-treat-arthritis-in-musicians/

I try to play some piano/keyboards or guitar/bass every day to maintain my dexterity.

Well there's my motivation to stop procrastinating about my ukulele and piano playing...

Thanks!
 
Here is my stable. I played when I was young and then restarted in 2016. I mostly play classical guitar music on classical guitars, but dabbled in jazz for a bit. I am strictly fingers/nails. I am sure that I own a couple picks, but it would take me a while to find one. First is a classical guitar built by the Australian luthier Ashley Sanders. It is a spruce top with Burl Ash sides and back (lattice design and this is a marketing picture from a guitar dealer). Next is a traditional classical guitar built in Valencia, Spain by Jesus Marzal (cedar/Indian Rosewood). Lower left is my 1975 Gibson ES-175D (I am the original owner). And lower right is my Yamaha SLG200W which is my 'travel guitar'. I can plug headphones into it and play in a hotel room and my wife can still watch TV. It is set up like a classical guitar with a 52mm neck width and nylon strings.

dave
 

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