Ask Me If I Care What Kind Of Spruce It Is
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- Опубліковано 16 тра 2022
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I agree with David’s skepticism of gear. The secret ingredient in most gear is…marketing. The secret to playing like David. Practice, listen, repeat.
Yay, I’m first to say David is first among UA-cam guitar instructors.
Great talk, David. As you rightly point out, it’s not about visuals; it’s about how an instrument sounds and how it feels in your hands!
Thanks David. This just highlighted to me something I already knew. I would be much better off spending the time that I waste looking at gear videos actually working on the fingerstyle five material!
One of the things about hearing you play live, (Beaumont Lagrange) and other times, is how great your guitar sounds live. It sounds like a guitar. So many amplified acoustic instruments don't sound like what they are before amplification but your guitar sounds like what it is. I hope that makes sense.
James, I’m quite certain that if you saw David playing with the 00-18 in this video then it’s no surprise that it sounded like an actual acoustic guitar. The tiny mic in the soundhole appears to be a Fishman/Crown GLM-200, which requires 15v phantom power via a 1/4” TRS jack. I used them in my 00-18 and 1930 Gibson L-5.
Love this kind of content, David. Thanks!
Loved listening to this. Thank you!
Hi David. Good story! And it reminded me of when I was writing for Acoustic Guitar and Teja was handling the gear review stuff. I had been doing interviews and lesson related stuff and he asked me if I'd like to do a gear review on a Huss&Dalton guitar. I wish I would have been wise enough to do what you did because I have a similar attitude-I really don't care about the details in a comparative way. but I thought maybe it would be good for my writing skills to give it a go. Big mistake! I hated it, rewrote it several times, and Teja, bless his heart, edited the heck out of it and basically ended up writing it himself! My method of evaluating guitars for myself is pick it up, play it for awhile, listen intently and experiment with the action, feel, etc and if I like it-I get it. None of my main playing instruments were bought with any consideration to reviews or, frankly, anyone's opinion but my own. See you one of these days...best...oj
Straight outta my heart n mind.
And. That is a great guitar story-discussion!!!
Awesome. I love your TrueFire courses! And I love hearing you play!!! Thank you!
Great advice, really appreciate !
Just great. Thanks.
Thank you, David! It's as enjoyable to hear you tell a story as it is to hear you play guitar. With a name like "Flip Scipio," there's a good chance he'd be authentic at whatever profession he chose.
Thanks David, and I’m reminded of Zal Cleminson’s recent reply to yet another interviewer’s question about his guitar choice .. “stays in tune “ .
Completely agree! We can learn on anything but when you find that one, it really pushes you to rise to the level of the instrument.
I feel excactly as you! I had my guitar checked by a luchier, and I said and felt the same as you said: Now I do not have any excuses, and that is great.
Agree, Thx share sir!
A great player once told.. it’s all in the hands… good advice I’ve learned..
David. Speaking for those of us who regularly watch your many videos and/or are enrolled in your finger style 5 membership, I’ve always wondered about your guitar. Appreciate you getting around to telling the story. Inquiring minds …
I'd been wondering about that guitar and now we know the story!🙂
Good video. This is a mantra that a lot of the UA-cam guitar folks keep hitting, that it’s in the skill, not the gear. Thanks. It’s a message that a lot of us need in this time when we’ve had to learn to play with others virtually. Gear seems to have become a replacement for that.
Off topic: I really love your hats.
I appreciate the story about your young neighbor and your gift of the overdrive. That says alot to me. Thanks also for the background on your guitar, about which I'd been curious. I play an older D-18 and would also like to know about the pickups and amplification for your 0018.
I love the gift of Music/Guitars/all Stringed instruments regardless if I’m playing my old 1968’ Yamaha FG-110 or one of my Custom Acoustics I crafted. I’m happy just picking regardless. Been playing since 1969’. I do love fine instruments- who doesn’t. Am I cognitive of different tone woods and such. Definitely. There’s magic in all of it! Appreciate all of it- Count your blessings and Play!
Mandolin Bros. was a great experience. Nothing on the east coast replaced it.
Thanks David. Thoughtful and sensible as ever. Enjoyed this video very much. Thank goodness you weren’t obsessed about one where the 12th fret meets the body or some other feature which would have meant you missed this gem...
The truth is that you could make any guitar sound great imo 😎
Yamaha guitar are much maligned I think, but with a solid top they outperform many of the competitors. As you say, forget the specs and see if it suits. All the best
I can mostly get on board with that. I surely don't care so much about what the grain looks like, or if it has some blemish, etc., but I'm becoming more of a fan of Adirondack spruce in a newer guitar. I don't have to have it, but the volume/punch I get out of that just does something that I find attractive, musically. However, all of that said, I have to confess with no hesitancy, we're rather on the same page here. I pick it up, it hits me, I love it, I buy it and enjoy it and it, more importantly, inspires me. In the end, I just want something that inspires me to pick it up. Well done and well said, David.
Dude. It’s ALL about the gear.
😂
Love the video.
Could not agree more
You are lucky! I once had a chance to purchase a triple O Martin mahogany back and sides without a case. $800 without a case, however I really loved the way it sounded and played beautifully. When home to think about it. Decide went back the next day, you know it ,sorry someone else purchased it right after you left. Moral to this story is your truly lucky it was still there when you returned.
Ya gotta love a good story about how a player met his favorite guitar.
Great video, thanks for the useful advise! Myself I'm basically in the Van Gogh model, but I reckon the way out is busking, that's going to be my hustle. I practise outside, sometimes people listen anyway. So if I can just get my repertoire together, all I have to do is get in my suit and have a collection tin handy. Then I'm basically doing the same thing as I am already, I just have to be a bit more professional.
Morning David, you know, in some sort of funny way , I feel like I had some very small input for this video. Just last week I wrote to you about your guitar, which you did respond. And low and behold this week you post a wonderful video. Like I mentioned before I am an ole guy that loves music and guitar, I just don't play very well, lol. I now own a Epiphone Masterbuilt with a cut away and cedar top. It plays better than I can play it, however, I like most have always been hopping to get a Martin. Well back to the point, this video has given me several new things to consider that I had all wrong, like the back and sides not being rosewood. Who knew? Well thanks so much for all your help. JIm
I have a similar 1965 00-18. Mine has been through hell with a few cracks that had to be repaired, but I totally get why you love yours. There is just something about the way the sound comes jumping out of these things. For me, the guitar is a little too small. I think my hands are larger than yours, the shorter scale gets a little tight for me if I need to use a capo to get a song into a key that is good for me to sing.
Thank you, great story,beautiful guitar! I don't feel as stupid now with my guitars. I did discover one is cedar over rosewood and another Adirondack over mahogany, but had no idea when I bought them.
I am like your guitar, a slightly beat up '5G that some people can find to be beautiful
I think that guitar is drop-dead gorgeous, particularly in the context of the type of music you're playing on it. I once tried an old Guild of similar size, vintage, and appearance that had an absolutely huge sound that you could hardly believe that little guitar was putting out. Way out of my price range though.
An approximate quote from George Burns: "In show business, sincerity is everything. If you can fake that, you've got it made." People who "relic" their guitars with belt sanders, or pay thousands of dollars for fake relic-ing from the manufacturers, I daresay, have a little bit of trouble with the concept of authenticity.
Yeah, I miss Mandolin Brothers too. (And Umanov, of course).
I have two exceptional martins, one is a rosewood OM - which sounds ... unbelievable and my favorite, I still suck. !8^)
Great stuff David. Thank you for this. I have very small hands and can relate to a lot of what you say on this video. I have a Taylor GS Mini which also has a very small scale length of 23.5 inches. I'm curious to know what the neck width is on your guitar. Mine is 1 and 11/16. When I bought the guitar I was deliberately looking for a narrow neck width because of my small hands, but since I bought it many people have told me that a larger neck width would be more preferable. What do you think? Am I right in thinking that the neck width on your Martin is 1 and 3/4?
That size is amazing to play. You'd think it would put out less volume. Turns out you can pick harder and get that sound. The sound board has more strength because the span is less. So go ahead over drive the hell out of it it will reward you!
I know people that have more guitars than they can possibly attempt to play that keep buying them for various reasons and I was a bit that way myself. I feel that players that are serious about what they want to accomplish should settle on a small number of guitars that support their "brand", their style. That said, I cleared out a lot of guitars and settled on what works for me. I like a 12 fret junction slotted headstock primarily, so my main two acoustics are Collings 12 fret models with the slotted headstock. One has the 24.9 inch scale like this 0018 does and is a 002H standard model with sitka spruce and indian rosewood, the other is a DS1, 12 fret dreadnaught with the slotted headstock but the stiffer 25.5 scale. I have a few others, including 3 steel body Nationals that I use. I think often guitar dealers are the real fans of different spruces, but it varies within species too. Find your style and stick with it is what I really believe.
When I was younger and concerned about asthetics and image I was not happy with the enexpensive guitar that I had. I met a guy that came over and picked up my guitar and played the thing. In his hands it souned like a $10K guitar. That's when I realized, it's not always about the look or brand of the instrument that counts. If it is set up correctly and sounds good the rest is up the player. Bling has no affect on sound.
Fishman pick ups on a Martin..The best.
Great story. I don't own any vintage instruments, but my take on the ones that look like crap, is that they look that way because they have been seriously played. People wanted to pick them up and play them, because they were great instruments. I'm a bit suspicious of old instruments that are too clean - why have they not been played much?
Buy a nice guitar, all solid wood, that you enjoy and play it daily. In a few decades it will be a vintage guitar. I have a few myself that may not be worth much to anyone (and one that has appreciated in value) but I would never sell them. My wife or kids can if they choose to after I am dead.
If it looks like spruce, smells like spruce, sounds like spruce...then it's gotta be spruce. Haiku!
That guitar picked you-Congrats
OK, but what do you think about small body guitars with mahogany top? I wish I had a place to try 4 or 5 similar and different guitars but today it's difficult to find.
Speaking of gear…. What pickup do you use on it? K&K?
I agree completely, I'm a year older than your guitar. What I have played and discovered over time, (besides that nobody wants an old guy guitar player in their band) is that it doesn't really matter what wood it's made out of as long as You like the sound And the way it plays. I took up building acoustic guitars because I could never afford a Martin let alone a vintage Martin. I've used mahogany, walnut, cherry, and maple. I've used Sitka spruce, Engel and spruce, Adirondack spruce, and they all have different characteristics that can change depending on what you marry them with in the box construction. But the design I build is an OM, I have built long scale and short scale, short being my preference. But the one I play the most is what I call a Slimline OM, it has a mix of non traditional woods and a cedar top, with a pickup. But the reason I like it is the short scale, the tone, & it's the only one there is. I only made one, there is not another guitar like it, and it's fun to play.
yeah, but what about us who cant play and DO want to know what spruce it is. lol. Have watched loads of "tuition" videos on line ...mostly to steal (copy) the licks..... but yours are by far and away ahead of any of the others. So its a thank you from me.
Back in my guitar retail days I’d often hear people wanting to change pickups on their Les Paul, or Strat, or whatever and I would wonder why they would buy a nice guitar if it sounded bad.
Would this be considered a parlor guitar? I have a cheap Lyle guitar I bought in the early seventies. I'm sure it was probably the cheapest guitar this store had. It has been used and abused but has tons of character and sounds great to me. I could only imagine how attached you are to yours. Thanks for everything.
No, it is not a parlor guitar, especially compared to true parlor guitars as made by CF Martin. A 00 sized guitar is a Grand Concert size. The 0 size is a concert and the 000 is a Grand Auditorium size. These are all Martin nomenclature from way back. What passes for a 'parlor guitar' these days is pretty much nonsense, but that's how buzz words work.
If i could afford a 50 K vintage Martin i probably would also not care what kind of spruce it is. (just checked if i was exaggerating, no there is one for 61 K available).
Just because there's *a* Martin out there costing $61,000 doesn't mean they all do. I promise you, mine didn't :-).
Me again. My “removing variables “ guitar acquiring story goes like this:
I’m sitting in the little guitar demo room at the local quality music store looking for a short scale guitar for the woman who still tolerates me.
I tell the lad to bring me guitars but hand them to me so I can’t see the brand name. A true blind test.
I feel it, l hear it, I listen, I like.
Hooray.
Watch a video of Tony Alva skating a broke swimming pool on clay wheels in 75 and then realise it Ain't About Gear 😊
Curious about the pickup you chose?
Well, I don't really play this one live anymore, but when I got it I had it set up with a Fishman Blender setup, which was brand-new at the time. So it's got a Crown mini-mic in the soundhole and a passive Fishman piezo pickup in the saddle.
Why that dare lookin like grow above the northern hemisphere around the 40 degrees latitude.😅
Amen, David Hamburger! If the guitar doesn't tell you to buy it, you've wasted your money. Coincidentally I owned a '54 & a '56 00-18 for many years. I got the '54 from my buddy John Monteleone. I traded him a 1930 Gibson L-5 and a small Stihl chain saw for it (don't ask). It served me well for many recordings, for many years. I did get that L-5 back, though.... Anyway.....I am going to book mark this video and share it with many people because you're speaking the gospel!
So I have to ask after listening to you David ...what is in your opinion a good orchestration sample you would recommend to buy or is free?
Ha! Well, I've had good luck with the Spitfire Audio samples, and while the ir flagship libraries are quite a lot, they have a low-cost series called "Originals" derived from those main libraries, and a free series called "Labs." Also a new, separate series under the Crow Hill moniker, though I'm not sure if those are orchestral samples or otherwise. Also, samplers like Kontakt - the paid version, anyway - used to come with collections of orchestral instruments as well and likely still do.
Thanks David ...Much appreciated!@@FretboardConfidential
As a photographer and writer, I am constantly writing about the same issue with camera gear. Learn the art and forget the gear.
But what I came away from here, is you kept saying, "What kind of spruce this is," not, "What kind of wood this is."
You don't play the guitar with you eyes, you play it with your fingers and ears. So now you own what is known as a distressed guitar which costs more and is very much in demand. Gee...how did you do that? Your guitar sounds great and looks like it actually has a life that is more than I can say about case queens. Besides you play it so well.
Well, nobody of the great old bluesmen we all look up to cared about gear. They just played guitar.
Ah yes, your '56 is likely Adirondak (Red) Spruce, I think Martin ran out of their stash in the 60's. I suspect it's more the age than the species, though. My fave guitar is an old '50's Harmony Sovereign that I rebraced in the 60's. It's not "objectively" the best sounding/feeling guitar I have but hey, sentiment counts; I made (in large part, anyway) that sweet thang and that's what I hear when I play her.
45/6 IIRC is when Martin stopped using Adi and switched to other spruces. There are a few mystery years in the 50’s with German, Sitka and Englemann.
OMG!! You mean all the hoopla about torrified spruce is all marketing BS??? Say it ain't so! Surely you're not going to pooh pooh all we've heard about the superlatives of Adirondack? Blasphemy and balderdash! 👍