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Post by bobcarter on Oct 9, 2014 20:25:27 GMT
That were champion, Bob. Loved the fact that you didn't feel the need (as I usually do) to fill up empty spaces but let thre silence engender expectation for the next phrase... marvellous stuff. Thank you, Leo, that's very kind. Interesting you should say that. I ran it past my wife during development, whose advice was (this is the technical term, I believe), "Take away some of the plinky plonky bits." So I did!
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 9, 2014 11:41:26 GMT
Thank you, Martin! As others have said, I deliberately avoided listening to the other entries before getting mine finished, but it's really nice to be able to sit back now and enjoy what everyone else is up to!
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 8, 2014 12:42:47 GMT
Looks amazing! Very exciting to see it coming along...
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 8, 2014 7:03:15 GMT
Thank you, Keith and vikingblues for your kind comments -glad you liked the tune. I've been experimenting a bit with recording set up at home recently and that was one channel mic and one from a little mic modelling amp.
Looking forward to hearing more entries - already been some great stuff so far! Terrific to get to listen to everyone's creations especially when they're fresh off the press just for the competition.
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 8, 2014 6:53:40 GMT
................. Regarding the quality of the vocals, let's say that my family, who have to put up with them a lot, would disagree! That's what families are for Pete! I have only to reach for a guitar and Mrs O'C leaves the room before a note is played or sung. Keith My cat does the same, Keith, with an added withering look of disgust on the way out.
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 7, 2014 21:28:30 GMT
So, here’s my entry – thought I’d better get it in as the build seems to be proceeding rapidly and I'm off on holiday next week! Writing tunes is not something that comes easily – I manage one about every three years if I’m lucky, and there’s so much wonderful stuff out there by other people to play - but I’ve really enjoyed having a reason to sit down, get on with it and come up with something, so a big thank you to Colin and Dave. I’ve called it “D-iscovery”, and there are a couple of motivations behind the tune (apart from the obvious one of wanting a crack at what looks like being a beautiful guitar): D-iscoveryThe choice of tuning: It’s in open D (DADF#AD). When I first started getting into instrumental fingerstyle, the first tune I learned (“The Irish Girl” by Adrian Legg) was in D, but despite learning lots of pieces in various tunings since, The Irish Girl was still the only tune I knew in D. So now I’ve got another one! Plus as I wasn’t very familiar with the tuning and chord shapes, I thought I might come up with something rather different from what I normally play, which is pretty much what happened, actually. The title: I had in mind the kind of things you want to discover when you're trying out a new guitar and seeing if it’s for you. What’s the sustain like? What about dynamic range? How sweet are the harmonics? How does the neck feel in your hands? What range of sounds and voices does the guitar have hidden away? Does it suit your playing style? So I wanted something which explored quite a few of these, maybe the sort of tune you could run through in a guitar shop to get a feel for a new instrument. I also think one of the magical things about a good guitar is that it should push you to become a better player and expand your horizons, while at the same time actually helping you to improve, so I wanted something that I personally found quite challenging to play and also incorporated some things I’ve been trying to get better at recently, like harmonics. Anyway, here it is. Phew, I'm going to need that holiday now…
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 4, 2014 21:27:58 GMT
What's the difference between a guitarist and a foot spa?
A foot spa bucks up your feet.
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 4, 2014 21:16:35 GMT
Hi
Just to say that the Natural Faiths are different from Naked series mentioned here (you mention that you're comparing High Gloss and Natural in the post title). The Natural and the Naked series have quite different price points.
Although I haven't got one myself, I've always taken the opportunity to try Faiths when I find one in the shop, and have always been impressed, especially with the High Gloss - the High Gloss Neptune is my favourite and I almost bought one a while back when shopping for a guitar around the £700 mark but went for something else in the end. The Naked ones I've tried have seemed less special, but have the advantage of course of being a fair bit cheaper! Don't have much experience of playing the Naturals.
If you look at faithguitars.com under the "guitars" menu you can easily compare the woods on the different models - as other comments say, the High Gloss have Rosewood sides, the Natural and Naked mahogany.
Happy shopping!
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Post by bobcarter on Oct 4, 2014 17:58:59 GMT
Looks lovely, that's for sure Colin. But progress is seeming to be pretty quick - any chance you could slow down a bit as I only have the seed of an idea for a competition tune so far!! Keith Quick indeed! I agree, Keith, I think I may need to take next week off work....! ;-)
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Post by bobcarter on May 19, 2014 17:13:30 GMT
Thank you, Keith and Mark - glad you enjoyed the review. Mark, shame you're not using yours so much, but from reading Keith's post, perhaps you should sell it to him!
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Post by bobcarter on May 18, 2014 20:11:02 GMT
I have a Larrivee L03RE (spruce/rosewood and with LR Baggs pickup) and I like it very much. I would agree with the comments above that the L02 series are pretty similar and cheaper, though I don't think they do a rosewood version. The neck on the 03 is one piece compared to the the 02, though not sure that makes much difference.
The Larrivee has a wide fingerboard (46mm at the nut) which I love but maybe not to everyone's taste. They're all known for being very balanced and I'd say that's true of mine too. Can maybe be a little muddy in the bass but generally I like sound very much.
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Post by bobcarter on May 18, 2014 18:47:26 GMT
Well, I reckon writing a review for something just the day after you've got it can be dangerous, as there's a tendency to be overly positive before the "honeymoon period" is over. But I've spent a good time playing with this since I got it yesterday and think I've given it a good going over. If it starts to do anything horrible or crashingly disappointing in the coming weeks I'll update the review below! Playing, as I do, instrumental twiddly stuff (without nails as well) unamplified round the folk clubs, what I was looking for was something that was small, battery powered and could lift the volume just a little, as I often find myself a bit on the quiet side. Nevertheless, I was hoping to find something that sounded decent rather than the standard tinny practice amp. In steps the Yamaha THR5A, one of Yamaha’s THR range (the rest are for electrics) of modelling amps. And, yes, the 5 means 5 Watts (no need for your earplugs). It’s tiny, really tiny (look up a video on YouTube) and runs on mains or batteries. I’d originally been looking at Roland’s Mobile AC, but although that too was small and ran on batteries and admittedly is £50 cheaper, it sounded like playing through a transister radio to me. Just as I was leaving the shop, I saw the THR5A sitting unassumingly in a corner, decided to give it a go and instantly fell in love. It doesn’t look like a combo amp. It looks more like a small amp head used by a rock band. But it’s definitely aimed at the acoustic player. Retailing for £176 everywhere it seems at the moment. Unlike the rest of the THR range, which feature amp modelling, the THR5A features mic modelling. Choose between Condenser, Dynamic, Tube and Nylon settings plus an “EG Clean” for electric guitars. The Blend control mixes the relative proportion of “direct from pickup” and “modelled” signal, except when using the EG Clean setting, when it functions as a Gain control. The rest of the controls are Master, Volume, Tone (a more sonically complex and usable adjustment that you’d think), and two effects knobs, one covering Compressor, Compressor + Chorus and Chorus, the other covering Delay, Delay + Reverb and Hall Reverb. One other button functions as three things depending on how long you hold it down - an onboard tuner, a “tap time” button for the Delay (which is really handy), as well as the option to turn on or off the amp's “wide stereo” feature. One of the things I love about this amp is that all the effects, buttons and adjustable things are really usable. Most of the time I find that the majority of such gizmos are useless to me (the fixed On/Off “Chorus” effect on the Roland, for example, I didn’t like at all and would never use) and end up using just one or two sounds, but here I think there’s a place for everything. Fingerstyle players doing instrumental stuff are probably going to prefer the “condenser” setting, but the others are also usable and add some interesting colours. The ability to mix the wet/dry signal is really useful. The THR5A is not really intended as a performance amp (though it can produce a reasonable volume for its size, actually, and that’s what I’m plannning mainly to use it for), but rather as a high quality practice amp and, crucially, recording tool. There’s a USB output and the unit ships with a copy of Cubase (haven’t had a chance to try that out yet) as well as a downloadable editor which, via the computer, gives access to additional effects including flanger, tremolo and noise gate (don’t think I’ll be needing those - acoustic Cure covers anyone?!). There’s also an AUX socket for input from mp3 player, etc and a Phones jack. So far, I love it. The blurb promises professional studio tone, and I don’t think that’s too far off, actually. You certainly get an instantly “polished” sound which I haven’t been able to find when using other amps. As a recording tool, I’ve only tried it out briefly, not using the USB interface but just taking a line out via the Phones jack to my Zoom R8. You can hear the results by following the links below. Same tune three times, using three of the models, condenser and dynamic with a steel string and the nylon setting with an electro classical (though the nylon setting is usable for steel string too)! About 80% modelled signal and 20% direct from the undersaddle pickup. No effects or EQ at all from the Zoom R8, just the amp, using a bit of Compressor (really useful for ironing out those peaks and troughs – how did I ever do without one?!) and a bit of reverb. soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-condensersoundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-dynamicsoundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/black-is-the-colour-nylonDo they sound like they’re recorded with a mic? Well, no, not really, but they do sound rather “airier” than the straight pickup sound. I suspect the ideal option would be to use a blender pickup on the guitar or to mike up as well during recording and mix the two signals together. Like many online reviews have said, in an ideal world a proper Line Out (rather than just the Phones, which are fine but of course mute the speakers) would be nice and could make the unit more useful on stage as a monitor. One thing I thought was nifty about the Roland was that you could mount it on a mic stand, and that would be handy to help it project in a small venue or for use as a monitor. Maybe they’ll add those in the “Mk II” version. Anyway, I like it! If you’re looking for a really fun little amp, one you can even use live if you don’t need to be loud, you could do worse than to have a look at the THR5A.
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Post by bobcarter on Jun 17, 2013 14:11:53 GMT
Thank you. Yes, I love the Adrian Legg tune too. It's a fantastic album all round, actually - Guitar for Mortals. Never overly keen on Adrian's sound - a bit processed for me - but his tunes and playing are outstanding.
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Post by bobcarter on Jun 17, 2013 12:33:44 GMT
Hi Phil
Thank you! Took a fair bit of "rubbing tummy and patting head" coordination confusion before I got there. The groove's not quite groovin' as it should (compare to Adam's toe-tapping original here: but it's a new one and I'll get there.
And yes, I've played a few Brooks myself and they're lovely too!
Cheers Bob
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Post by bobcarter on Jun 16, 2013 17:58:20 GMT
Just got this last week, and Keith asked me to post something about it, so here goes: Had been looking for another decent quality but not too pricey guitar to complement my other decent guitar, a Larrivee L-03R (spruce/Indian Rosewood). Being cedar/mahogany, this does the job beautifully, a very different sound and feel from the Larrivee. I've uploaded a couple of tunes to try and show how it sounds: soundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/the-netsman-and-the-lairdsoundcloud.com/bob-carter-2/superstitionI'd originally been thinking of getting one of the Faith Neptune series (exactly which one I hadn't decided), as although maybe not an obvious fingerstyle player's guitar, I'd played a few and thought they sounded lovely and resonant and you got a lot for the money (nice looks, good pickup system and a hard case). But I was using the online chat facility at Richard's Guitars (rguitars.co.uk) talking about the Faiths and in the discussion Richard recommended I think about the Stonebridge as an alternative. Since Richard's Guitars in Stratford is quite a way from me in Dorset, I ended up instead at Guitar Village in Farnham, where I happened to be passing anyway. I lined up the Stonebridge (£749) + three of the Faith Neptune series (Natural, Trembesi and High Gloss, £600-£719) and spent the next 2.5 hours in the shop fiddling about endlessly between them. The High Gloss quickly got dropped as it had a dodgy pickup and unexplained rattle (though this was the model I'd originally intended to buy). The two other Faiths sounded great for what they were, were very playable and sounded lovely plugged in, but in the end it just didn't feel like you were getting the same quality of guitar. I didn't need a hard case anyway (I have a spare), though the electrics would have been nice. Anyway, to the Stonebridge: Very light, very responsive, and quite punchy and loud. It took a few minutes to get used to the top end, which is much zingier than my Larrivee, but it has a solid bottom end to complement it and is beautifully rich in harmonics. Shipping with medium gauge strings (13s, Elixir) I expected it to feel a bit heavier than the 12s I'm used to, but the guitar has a very loose feel and is easy to play. The 45mm nut gives generous string spacing while not being quite such a stretch as the 46mm on my Larrivee. I'm no expert on woods and craftsmanship, but it seems very tidy, lovingly made and the wood looks gorgeous. A satin finish, so maybe will be a little prone to dings, but I'll look after it! Machine heads are smooth, higher geared (or is that lower? I never know - fewer turns to make a change anyway) I think than the Larrivee's (which are 18:1) but stay in tune nicely. Intonation seems pretty much spot on. Guitar Village were helpful and patient (though there's a few things they seemed unsure of - they said it was strung with D'Addario 12s, but the Furch info sheet that it comes with states Elixir 13s and that's what they feel like) and have a great selection of guitars. They wouldn't move on the price, though, despite me putting on my best friendly-haggling smile, but did throw in a spare set of Elixir strings. Still getting used to my new toy of course, but so far very pleased. Would recommend anyone considering a fingerpicking guitar around this price range to take a look.
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