mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 30, 2014 10:07:53 GMT
Congratulations on the new guitar, and welcome.
I have a soft spot for Tanglewood guitars as I used to work just down the road from Hobgoblin in Manchester and they stocked quite a few of them. I passed many a pleasant lunchtime noodling on a TW73.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 30, 2014 8:47:27 GMT
Lakewood has a certain system to their naming. If you played a cedar mahogany then it was most likely a 14, probably an M14, Ovangkol would be an 18, Rosewood a 32, Cocobolo a 53 and so on. Same with the sizing: A would be Auditorium, M Grand Concert, J Jumbo, D Dreadnought. CP is cutaway. So an A 53 CP would be an auditorium sized guitar with cocobolo back and sides and a cutaway. That sounds familiar - I think the cedar/mahogany was an M-14 CP. I'm fairly sure the ovangkol was an M shape, though I can't remember whether or not it had a cutaway. One thing that was a little confusing about the numbering system was that Lakewood seem to change the numbers for the back and sides wood, but not the soundboard. When they produced a few M-32 CPs with cedar instead of spruce tops, they still gave them the same number - which caused confusion for at least one guitar shop whose staff had obviously just read the specs from the Lakewood website and couldn't tell the difference between spruce and cedar. I don't know whether they still make the M-32 with cedar tops - the more recent ones I've seen have all been Euro spruce. I played a couple of the cedar ones, and they were nice guitars.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 29, 2014 9:02:42 GMT
That reminded me of trying out a Gibson a few months ago at the Music Room in Lincoln. The guy took me upstairs where it was quiet, then sat very close facing me while I played it. He took it from me and started playing while spouting wholly inaccurate facts about Gibsons and acoustic guitars in general. It was a very uncomfortable experience. I've had things like this happen a few times, usually in shops that sell a lot of electric guitars and seem to treat acoustics as an afterthought. At the other end of the spectrum, Symphony Music in Wigan has about the best customer service I've ever seen in any shop, music or otherwise. They like to get the guitars out and put them away - fair enough as they have a lot of instruments in a small space and I know they've had expensive instruments damaged in the past - but they're happy for you to try as much as you want without any pressure to buy. One of the first things I went there for was a clip-on tuner. I was only going to be spending about £15, but they took the time to get both of the ones they had in stock out of the boxes, put the batteries in, and get me a guitar to try them out on so that I could decide which display I liked best. I've never known another music shop willing to go to so much trouble for a low-value sale. While I was in buying the tuner, there was another customer in buying what was clearly his first acoustic guitar. He can't have been spending more than about £200, but they spent a lot of time taking him through the options and giving really helpful advice. When he'd settled on a guitar, they even gave him another one of the same model to play to make sure that he was getting the one he liked best. The best thing about them is that the staff seem to be able to tell when a customer wants help and when they want to be left alone to try something. Unfortunately, their high-end acoustics are mostly Taylors and Martins, which are not really my thing, but I tend to go there for most of my bits and pieces. There are some much bigger and better-known shops that could learn a lot from them.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 28, 2014 8:22:48 GMT
I've played a few M-32 CPs (two with cedar tops, one with European spruce). All three were very nice guitars for the money. Personally I prefered the Euro spruce top to the cedar, but then I almost always prefer spruce to cedar. I've played a few others as well, but I can't remember the names/numbers - I remember a nice cedar/mahogany one and one with ovangkol back and sides.
All of the Lakewoods I've played (all of which were the M shape) have been excellent all-rounders, but (for me) just a little lacking in individual character. This might be what makes them such good all-rounders. They responded well to everything I tried to do on them, but they didn't lead my playing in particular directions in the way that some other handmade guitars at comparable prices - Brook, Lowden, Fylde, etc - have done. Obviously whether that's a good thing or a bad thing depends on the player. The M-32CP always struck me as an excellent guitar for someone who plays in a few different styles and only wants to take one guitar to a gig.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 24, 2014 16:22:58 GMT
Robbie,
Really glad that you liked it and that you might be able to use it in school. If you're interested in material of this kind, have you seen the collection of songs associated with the Christmas truce of 1914 that Coope, Boyes and Simpson put together a few years ago? I'm not sure whether the CD is still available, but a lot of the songs are in the public domain anyway. I discovered it because the choir I sing with is aiming to put on a concert for the centenary this coming Christmas.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 23, 2014 16:40:31 GMT
Saw these two play a stunning set supporting Steve Knightley a year or two ago.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 22, 2014 18:14:05 GMT
If you're used to spending time learning pieces and working on exercises, what about spending your lesson-free time on the other side of playing: creating the music for yourself? If you're a singer, pick a song you like and think about how to accompany yourself in a way that suits your voice and playing style. Personally, I prefer to do this without looking up chords for the song, because (a) it's good to train your ear to hear the harmonic structure of the song, and (b) you might want to change them anyway. If you're not a singer, try it with a tune: pick out the melody on the guitar, then try to find some harmonies that work for it. Be prepared to experiment - try the melody in different octaves, try it with different harmonies, see if some of the major chords sound better as the relative minor, etc.
I think this kind of exercise is really helpful because you can work to your own level - whatever that is - and you can begin to find your own 'voice' and style on the guitar. And, of course, accompaniment is a big part of what we do as guitar players, whether it's accompanying yourself or someone else. As your knowledge and technique improve, your accompaniments can become more sophisticated - listen to the likes of Martin Simpson or Martin Taylor when they accompany singers or play harmonised melodies. But I'd also pick out someone like Eva Cassidy as someone who was a competent guitar player rather than a great one, but who really understood how to shape an accompaniment in a way that suited her voice.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 21, 2014 20:21:36 GMT
Don't forget to grade them by weight, and also by the speed at which they fall to the ground when dropped from an equal height. And also for ease of retrieval from your guitar's soundhole if dropped at an inopportune moment.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 21, 2014 20:19:56 GMT
I use the purple Dunlop one as my regular pick of choice (second row from the bottom, third pick from the right). It's the only one I've found that I like for guitar, cello-mandolin and mandolin, and frankly it's enough trouble having to switch quickly between instruments on stage without having to switch picks as well. If I'm playing mandolin and nothing else, I like the green Planet Waves ones. Mike - at least all the picks in your collection have a brand name on them. I have a few anonymous ones, and it's a real pain in the posterior to find a pick you like and then have no idea what the hell it is or where you might find another one. On a different note, does anyone else find that when you look through your collection of picks, there are always a few in there that you don't remember buying and have no idea where they came from?
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 21, 2014 19:59:27 GMT
Brian,
Glad you liked the CD.
I seem to go in phases with SoH - there are times when I only want to listen to the older, rawer stuff and others when I prefer the more polished albums from Witness onwards. For better or worse, the days when a SoH album sounded pretty much like what you would here in a live show are definitely gone.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 18, 2014 10:08:57 GMT
I hope that mandovark gets the commission to which he is so rightly entitled. I'll settle for not being lynched if you all hate the CD
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 18, 2014 10:06:14 GMT
The live concert part of the DVD is excellent. The production values seem much higher than on their previous live DVDs (Tour of Topsham and the 2001 Albert Hall gig). The Urban Soul Orchestra and other guest musicians help to fill out the arrangements, but it still sounds like SoH live.
The other half of the DVD, the making of Wake the Union, is interesting, but not necessarily one for repeat viewing. I've watched the concert several times, but never rewatched the documentary part. For me, the old Stairway to Devon on the Albert Hall dvd is a much better SoH documentary.
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 17, 2014 13:52:08 GMT
I am looking forward to the new version of the Keeper, which is one of my all time favourites. I do not think the original can be improved upon but it will be fascinating to compare the two. Thanks very much. Brian The new version has grown on me since I first listened to it. They do some really nice things with the vocals, including mixing snippets of other songs into the harmonies. If I had to choose one version to keep it would still be the original, but fortunately I don't
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 17, 2014 10:22:39 GMT
Just to throw another option into the mix. I use an Orchid acoustic preamp, which clamps onto a mic stand and so avoids the problem of having to fiddle with a preamp on the floor. Controls are basic Volume, Bass, Mid, Treble, with a mute switch for silent tuning. In my experience, it doesn't do anything to alter your tone unless you want it to. The volume control makes it easy to get a nice boost for fingerpicking. If there's a lot going on in the mix, I sometimes use a small treble boost to help the guitar to cut through a little more (this is also helpful if you play slide).
|
|
mandovark
C.O.G.
Posts: 2,989
Mini-Profile Background: {"image":"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/96/Birds_eye_maple.jpg","color":""}
Mini-Profile Name Color: ff003a
Mini-Profile Text Color: 05b724
|
Post by mandovark on Jul 16, 2014 19:42:17 GMT
Technically, Centenary Words & Music of the Great War is a collaborative project rather than a Show of Hands album (which is why it isn't available in their online shop). Steve, Phil, Miranda and members of the SoH 'extended family' - including Jackie Oates, Jim Causley, Paul Downes, Mark Tucker - provide the music, with Imelda Staunton and Jim Carter (from Downton Abbey, apparently) handle the spoken-word parts. CD 1 is a selection of poems from the First World War, read to musical accompaniments that use popular tunes of the period. CD 2 is new songs on war themes, including both new recordings of some SoH standards and some new songs.
The first thing to say about this album is that it definitely isn't easy listening, particularly CD 1. This is an album that needs careful listening and, as you might imagine, some of the sentiments being expressed are very unsettling ones (the first poem, for example, is Wilfred Owen's 'Anthem for Doomed Youth'). One of the real strengths of the project is that the poetry selections don't simply push one take on the war: the horror is very much there, but there's also patriotism, nostalgia, requiems for the fallen, families left behind writing for their loved ones in the trenches, and more. One of the aims of the project was to convey at least something of the range of ways in which the war was experienced. The musical accompaniment adds texture to the readings, but is never more than subtle. The words are at the forefront, as they should be.
CD 2 is slightly more familiar territory for SoH fans. There is a new recording of Steve Knightley's 'The Keeper' (called 'The Gamekeeper' here). It's a very good version of one of my favourite SoH songs, more textured than the original, though I did find myself missing simplicity of Knightley's original concertina accompaniment. The other SoH standard here is a strong live version of 'The Blue Cockade' - not technically a new recording as it has appeared on the Live at Shrewsbury Folk Festival DVD. The unexpected gems on this CD, for me, are the choral arrangement of Chris Hoban's 'The Padre' and a partially a capella 'Silent Night' (the best new version of this song I've heard since Simon and Garfunkel's).
There has been and will be lots of WWI-themed music this year, but for me, Centenary is a standout. SoH and their team have treated the subject matter with real respect, and they allow the words of the wartime poets to speak for themselves. There is some fine playing on the album - anyone who hasn't heard Phillip Henry play slide guitar yet is missing a treat - but for understandable reasons the music is quite restrained, without the instrumental solos that you would usually find on an SoH album. It's a thoughtful, effective and often deeply moving project. Highly recommended.
|
|