The guitar corner

[page]

It's a quiet instrument, I like that. Mine has a real wide fingerboard, which makes it a bit hard to play. But I keep it simple, not the instrument I'd be playing scales on anyway.

I'm not a classically trained, the jazz chord/melody thing works well on it. I have a Godin La Patrie Concert, got it a few years ago for $400.

I don't play it too often, but I just tuned it up and I think it will get some play this weekend. I haven't been playing too much gtr, rediscovering piano (synth) since the holidays.

Ah, ok. I thought you were making a joke because of the smiley you posted and you didn't really like it. I like the quiet too, maybe especially since my own work is for small intimate setting and I therefore choose the simple but also serene tranquility that it can bring . I've always liked the duo of guitar with singing, they have something special and fit each other well I think. I've learned to play on this one, mainly chords for accompaniment of the singing of the children in my classes and the known popsongs everyone does, but a bit of melody playing too. I've always wanted to learn to accompany myself too, but haven't in jazz so far. At some point my left shoulder began to hurt too much and I couldn't really play anymore. I'm trying to pick it up again after a number of years and I need to re-learn a lot without getting the pain again and also I have to learn to play the diminished and sus chords and others I didn't learn before but need to know. Some musician friends advise me to choose piano over guitar since I have played that too in the past and jazz chords would be easier that way, but I hope I will be able to get at the point of performing with it somehow.

That is a beautiful instrument you have!

Edited 25 Jan 2014 by page

[7/4]

oh yes, I love it!

Edited 26 Jan 2014 by 7/4

[page]

I like that "sweet and lowdown" sound too, and I spent years as a drummer, so the bass is fascinating to me as the "partner" to what I used to do. Hard on my finger though, which are starting to be a bit arthritic. ;(

I didn't know you had that kind of trouble. I'm sorry to hear about ith. Health is a great good, I'm well aware of that.

[jazzbo]

Just something I inherited. Plus I worked with my hands for years and put them through their paces. It's early stage now, we'll see how it progresses in the years to come.

[jazzbo]

Okay, I'm going to make a recommendation for a very cheap guitar that delivers.

A few weeks ago one of my neighbors stopped me and said "I heard you playing your guitar." I thought uh-oh here comes some complaints and at least they're talking to me about rather than complain to the management. But instead she said she only hears my guitar when she passes in front of my place, not inside hers, and she liked the sound of what she heard, said I must have a really nice guitar and wanted some advice about what to get her son (13) who's getting interested in playing guitar and has a beat up old nylon-stringed acoustic that a friend sold him, but he wants to go electric. So I talked with her about her son a bit and her budget and looked around. I volunteered to throw in a cheap little Epiphone amp I never used that is lying around and she wanted to spend less than 200 so that gave me a bit more wiggle room.

So I looked at Fender and Epiphone starter kits and guitars and I looked at Rondo music. Something made me think he would like the Douglas Hadron 625 Rondo sells so I ordered one to check out.

It came in two days and blew me away. Neck through design, very strong pickups, very nice fit and finish, strikingly good looking guitar. All mahogany, decent hardware, and plays VERY easily, as easily as my Telecaster which is my benchmark for a really easy to play guitar. The neck through is a big plus for its feel and ease, and the neck is a good size for smaller hands (this guy has decent size hands for his age). Has a tunable bridge and strings go through the body. Decent sustain between that and the neck through. A Super Strat set up and looks very cool in its natural finish.

Very nice sounds, you can get a warm rich sound or you can get a screaming sound, and it never sounds thin or really harsh. Honestly for 170 bucks I don't know how they do it. If I were to single out one flaw I would say that the middle (single-coil) pickup is a bit low in input and doesn't balance as well with the neck and bridge. But in the 2 and 4 positions it sounds pretty darned good, so there you go.

The young man was BESIDE himself. He is very happy. He loves it. Every now and then I can hear HIM playing and though he's beginning, he really WANTS it, so who knows. I have happy neighbors and worry just a bit less about playing here myself.

This is a very good guitar for the money. I was very pleasantly surprised. If you know anyone looking for a starter guitar, or a decent player that they don't have to shell out a lot for. . . .

http://www.rondomusic.com/hadron625nafx1.html

Edited 30 Jan 2014 by jazzbo

[Jerry_L]

I bought a couple of Douglases from Rondo, jazzbo. They both were o.k. but had that slightly off neck feel of a cheap guitar. One I sold, the other I modded and use for slide. Sounds like you got a better than average one. I do like neck thru's, though, and that's an unbeatable price.

[jazzbo]

Jerry, this was truly a surprise to me. The neck felt far better than I thought it would, and even the frets were well-dressed and it intonated properly. I have never had another Douglas, I do have an Agile fretless Silverburst Les Paul copy that is also a surprisingly good guitar (but did cost twice what this one did I believe).

[7/4]

Rondo was a music retailer for years here in NJ until they closed up shop and moved off to NH. They were only about a half hour from my apt.

[Bluesnik]

That guitar's beautiful. It reminds me a bit of that time when neck through guitars and active pickups were first seen at the end of the seventies, beginning of the eighties.

Edited 4 Feb 2014 by Bluesnik

[jazzbo]

Right, this one is a bolt-on, but his standard "GT" model is a neck through, and he's building one for me. I'm making this a jazz-centric guitar pickup wise, and having it set up for Black Diamond "Pure Jazz" strings, which I really really like.

Looks like this before pickup changes.

[jazzbo]

Got my neck through GT model in from Troy Post. It's all I wanted it to be and more. The pickup configuration really delivers me a wide range of sound, and the feel of the guitar is nice and tight like a Martin, I can get an acoustic sound, a late 'fifties Grant Green sort of sound, an SRV sort of sound, a Jim Hall on Les Paul sort of sound. VERY happy. Troy Post is an excellent luthier and he was wonderful to work with, he really made sure I got what I envisioned.

Pickups: Neck: Seymour Duncan Little '59er (single coil sized humbucker); Middle: Seymore Duncan Little '59 Humbucker (neck version); Bridge: DiMarzio Air Classic Humbucker. All three coil-tapped.

Note: picture before installation of pickups, looks the same except the neck pickup is not single-coil, is a humbucker, looks different.

Edited 3 Mar 2014 by jazzbo

[Shawn]

Got my neck through GT model in from Troy Post. It's all I wanted it to be and more. The pickup configuration really delivers me a wide range of sound, and the feel of the guitar is nice and tight like a Martin, I can get an acoustic sound, a late 'fifties Grant Green sort of sound, an SRV sort of sound, a Jim Hall on Les Paul sort of sound. VERY happy. Troy Post is an excellent luthier and he was wonderful to work with, he really made sure I got what I envisioned.

Pickups: Neck: Seymour Duncan Little '59er (single coil sized humbucker); Middle: Seymore Duncan Little '59 Humbucker (neck version); Bridge: DiMarzio Air Classic Humbucker. All three coil-tapped.

Note: picture before installation of pickups, looks the same except the neck pickup is not single-ended, is a humbucker, looks different.

Gorgeous guitar.

[jazzbo]

Thanks Shawn. Yes, it's lovely in person and these pickups really sing.

[BFrank]

Nice piece of lumber you got there Lon.

Congratulations!

[jazzbo]

Thanks! I'd say "I'm done" but even I wouldn't believe that. But I am going to sell a Tele and some basses, and some amps, at some point this year.

Edited 3 Mar 2014 by jazzbo

[7/4]

Nice guitar. I've started to thin the herd, I've had a D'Angelico Excel (c.2006-2007) on Craig's List for two weeks. There's been a few nibbles.

[jazzbo]

That's definitely a nice guitar! You'll find a home for it.

[Homefromtheforest]

Has anyone here played a Ken Lindermere guitar? Just played one at a friends place a few weeks ago...has a really weird body shape. Very interesting guitar...made in Chile.

I'm still digging my Hagstrom super swede...plays and sounds great through either my '71 super reverb or my '48 champion 800. I can't handle unorthodox body shapes like that Lindermere...just doesn't feel comfortable to me.

[7/4]

2000 Music Man Sterling fretless bass

I sold this to a dealer last weekend, needed the cash. I really haven't played it much in the past five years. I didn't want to piss off the neighbor across the hall and once she got kicked out of the building, I was too busy with guitar.

Still, I'm gonna miss this bass. Fretless is so much fun.

Edited 6 Apr 2014 by 7/4

[jazzbo]

Nice looking fretboard! Yeah, fretless rules. I have a Fender American Deluxe Jazz fretless that just is an amazing instrument, and a Wishbass which is a wild one, makes you work but it's rewarding too.

[7/4]

I still have my G&L S500 fretless gtr. I haven't been playing it, but it's time again. Needs lighter strings, I have .011 flatwounds on it as an experiment. .010s are more responsive.

Edited 6 Apr 2014 by 7/4

[jazzbo]

Yes, I have an Agile Les Paul copy that has a fretless board, I run .10s and I really like it. It's a surprisingly well-crafted guitar for the price and a pretty silverburst. I need to put it into rotation again. So many guitars, so little time!

[Homefromtheforest]

=

Edited 1 Jun 2014 by Homefromtheforest

[7/4]

=

Autographed by Terje Rypdal?!?!?!? Way cool.

[Homefromtheforest]

Yup! Probably the cheapest strat u can get(made in Indonesia $100 squire bullet) but bought the day of the concert a few years back on a whim...met him before the gig and he signed it for me! He plays a strat that has the exact same color so close enough