playing on a dark stage

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 23 Sep 2014 3:08 pm

Well,,, lights certainly work well, but,,,, we played a club for a couple months, and the sound/light man would kill the stage lights, except for the singer, on a few slow songs. He wouldn't have appreciated me lighting myself up, as that woulda kinda killed the mood. The zircs worked great on my Kline. I just stuck them to the Mica right in front of the fret lines. So you can't see the whole fret line! Who cares! They're only suggestions in my mind. I can hold the bar straight.

Jeff Spencer · Post by **Jeff Spencer** » 25 Sep 2014 3:50 am

I have a white slide-in fret board. I bought a vinyl stick on one from Tom Bradshaw. I stuck It to a piece of zinc-anneal. And keep it in the case. It's a ShoBud design which suits as the permanent one is the black plastic 3D ShoBud style. My steel is a Perina made by a master builder here in Austarlia and that is what he used. You need to make sure the scale length is the same.

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 25 Sep 2014 11:24 am

John Billings wrote:You can get stick-on jewels at a hobby store. They're tiny. In different colors too.. Danny Gatton used zircs as the side dots on his Tele. He said you could see them from the light of a candle across the Potomac. Use clears for each fret, and different colors for , 3, 5, 7, etc..

Good idea JB. The clears would help best as no matter what color the stage lights go at least they would reflect that light color rather than blend and wash out.

A black background, white markers/frets might be the easiest setup to deal with.

White backgrounds would get washed out for marker use.

And yeah, light guys in a pro setting would not appreciate a "worm" (led's on a wall that go defective and won't go dark) so having a light on a steel would ruin the light guy's night when he hits blackout on his controller and you do not.

Ken Byng · Post by **Ken Byng** » 25 Sep 2014 12:07 pm

Godfrey Arthur wrote:....And yeah, light guys in a pro setting would not appreciate a "worm" (led's on a wall that go defective and won't go dark) so having a light on a steel would ruin the light guy's night when he hits blackout on his controller and you do not....

That might well be, but the singer/front man would be even more unhappy if the steel player hit a run of bum notes!!

Godfrey Arthur · Post by **Godfrey Arthur** » 25 Sep 2014 12:37 pm

Ken Byng wrote:
That might well be, but the singer/front man would be even more unhappy if the steel player hit a run of bum notes!!

Hahaha, yeah it's a fine line to walk. I do production for major concerts and it always amazes me that the band seems to know where they are even in the dark. Guess the trick would be to not go dark too often when there is a steel player on board.

On the other side of the stage I've heard the FOH go mute as the sound guy hit the wrong button for a few seconds on a major singer/pianist. Of course the band couldn't tell what happened.

John Billings · Post by **John Billings** » 25 Sep 2014 12:40 pm

The zircs work great, and when the house lights are up, great sparkle showing from your guitar!

Dan Klotz · Post by **Dan Klotz** » 9 Jan 2016 8:03 pm

I know this is an old thread, but the situation came up tonight. I keep a 2 headed book light in my pack seat. I always have my iPad for reading charts.
The book light is clipped on by the tuning keys, the iPad is on a mic stand iPad holder. Between the two, it illuminates the fretboard pretty well.

Bill Dobkins · Post by **Bill Dobkins** » 9 Jan 2016 11:15 pm

I ordered my Rittenberry with a white fretboard. Makes all the difference.

James Sission · Post by **James Sission** » 10 Jan 2016 3:46 am

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 10 Jan 2016 10:28 am

Buddy Emmons once said that he practised in the dark. What's good enough for Buddy is good enough for me.

Dan Klotz · Post by **Dan Klotz** » 10 Jan 2016 1:40 pm

I tried practicing in the dark, or with a piece of paper on the fretboard. It wasn't too good:-(

A couple of nights ago, I had the opposite problem. The club had some extremely bright lights (with no gels). There was a huge glare off my fretboard. It's seems like a flat surface would be better for fretboards than glossy.

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 10 Jan 2016 3:06 pm

Maybe we need a fingerboard in Braille.

Richard Sinkler · Post by **Richard Sinkler** » 10 Jan 2016 3:52 pm

James Sission wrote:

That's what I need. Will also help when setting up my guitar. It's really rough when your pedal rods get crossed up with a pedal hooking to the wrong cross shaft.

Tommi Toijonen · Post by **Tommi Toijonen** » 11 Jan 2016 10:50 am

Stage should be well lit if youre performing. If not, the audience won't see the performance properly. The stage looks poor and unispiring. That is the problem.

Putting lights to your instrument (or to your hat) is a fix to a problem that should not exist.

The correct order to organize a show is described in a song called Let There Be Rock by AC/DC.

James Jacoby · Post by **James Jacoby** » 11 Jan 2016 1:04 pm

Tommi Toijonen wrote:Stage should be well lit if youre performing. If not, the audience won't see the performance properly. The stage looks poor and unispiring. That is the problem.

Putting lights to your instrument (or to your hat) is a fix to a problem that should not exist.------
Ah! Someone who thinks like me! I've always thought, a dark, dreary stage is unproductive! Why have a live band, if you can't see them! -Jake-

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Ray Montee · Post by **Ray Montee** » 11 Jan 2016 2:15 pm

have played a Rickenbacher Bakelite lap steel when the lights are turned out.....

YOU haven't lived!

Richard Topping · Post by **Richard Topping** » 16 Feb 2016 2:01 pm

Dan Klotz wrote:I've played a total of 5 gigs now. The last one was on a very dark stage. I hard a hard time seeing what I was doing, especially when one of the other band members stepped into the path of what little light there was.

Does anyone every bring some sort of light to gigs? Or is that just a rookie thing?

(I have tried practicing with the lights out, but I'm not quite there just yet)

Hi Dan,
I'm not sure if you've found a solution to your problem, but if not, then you might be interested in my illuminated fretboards.
Just check out my website which is http://www.live-edge-fretboards.co.uk for details.

Cheers for now,
Richard Topping.

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Dan Klotz · Post by **Dan Klotz** » 18 Oct 2016 12:05 pm

I found something that works very well. This clip on lamp. Its very bright!

http://www.lampsplus.com/products/led-a ... r5899.html

Ken Metcalf · Post by **Ken Metcalf** » 18 Oct 2016 2:11 pm

MSA here

Dan Klotz · Post by **Dan Klotz** » 18 Oct 2016 3:14 pm

Ken Metcalf wrote:MSA here

That's awesome!!

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 18 Oct 2016 4:26 pm

Dan Klotz wrote:I tried practicing in the dark, or with a piece of paper on the fretboard. It wasn't too good:-(

A couple of nights ago, I had the opposite problem. The club had some extremely bright lights (with no gels). There was a huge glare off my fretboard. It's seems like a flat surface would be better for fretboards than glossy.

Yes, I'm still waiting for flat-finish fretboards with something like rhinestone markers...and jewel-cut frets. Oh yeah, I'm also waiting for someplace to put your bar, wrench, and picks without scratching up the body, and without having some dumb dingus or bag hanging off a $4,000-$6,000 steel. And while I'm at it, I'm also waiting for one of our "genius builders" (that people are always talking about) to come up with a steel that could be lowered or raised an inch without having to buy or fabricate something extra...or changers that are string-end proof...or sliding pickups, etc., etc.

Seems steels today are real purty, and they play and tune like buddah. Builders really haven't done much in the "practicality department", though.

Dan Klotz · Post by **Dan Klotz** » 18 Oct 2016 10:16 pm

I put my bar on the strings on the key head, and cut a piece of felt to put my picks and tuning wrench on.

Billy McCombs · Post by **Billy McCombs** » 19 Oct 2016 5:45 am

Donny I have been using this for years works good.

If you don't want a drink holder there's this one.

Donny Hinson · Post by **Donny Hinson** » 19 Oct 2016 6:24 am

Billy, if it works for you, and you like it, that's fine.

But it just reminds me of those plastic cup holders that people used to have to buy for their cars before auto manufacturers got smart enough to include a couple of cup holders. I don't like to have to carry and fool with some dingus that should have been "de rigueur" when they built the darn thing.

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playing on a dark stage

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