The Steel Guitar Forum

Umm, I hope it was clear that I was kidding... I wouldn't want to give the wrong impression.

Of course I think it's great about the new instruments and I was just expressing a bit of friendly jealousy.

-Travis

That's funny Steinar. I was thinking about warning you about that. Stop spending all of your time researching instruments - scrubbing ebay - dinking and tweaking. This is all energy that you should be spending playing your instrument and writing new music.
I've spent far too much time with the instrument obsession. Like finding the ultimate pickup - researching, buying, testing, trying out live with the band - and I have have about a dozen unfinished songs that I rarely spend more than an hour a week trying to really focus on completing.
I think you have the touch and the tone to make an incredible CD and I can't wait to hear it - so get busy!
Now should I expect posts from you in the equipment section about microphones and preamps and plug ins...? I did that and decided, when I sit down to record at home I spend more time with the gear than I do with the song... and that is wrong.
I do plan to get this instrument to a similar state as my Weissenborn and hope the sympathetic drone strings will just ring out, so I don't have to master a new tuning or whole new instrument to record with it on at least one song.

So did you party it up and have a great birthday - I hope so. I was working and listening to V.M. Bhatt today.

Dwight

Did Macaferri ever make a plastic steel guitar? I realize plastic steel is a contradiction in itself... did he make a plastic squareneck?

steinar: don't drink and mail...

Travis,- no problem at all, I got the joke

Dwight,- I think I'm over the worst 'gearhead' period in my life, but there definitely was a time when I was constantly changing pickups and whatever on my electrics. I THINK I'm past that, with the possible exception of my Weissenborns where I'm still not satisfied with the pickups..
It's more that I want to take advantage of the possibilities of a new instrument, I hate to sit one year down the road knowing that I could have perormed so much better on this recording if I'd just waited a little...

But it's no big deal, just a thought.. I still have my Lapcasters.. (and a hangover)

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

Congratulations on your new guitars guys!

Dwight, until you get the hang of it, go slow with that Mohan Vina! The acoustic music consumer safety board recommends you tune it:

E, G#, E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E,E, E

Andy, I just reread your Debashish interview. Any idea on when his guitars will be available? They sound like an easier conversion from a Weissenborn player.

Steinar - sorry, if I was elaborating too much. I've wasted a year or two on ebay madness. And as far as recording gear, you've mastered that stuff down from the recordings you have given me.

As I mentioned, I thought I was going to get the mandocello, electric mandola, Weissenborn-sitar on the next CD and I feel exactly as you do. That if I just postpone another 6 months, I could work on the stuff and do a better job - but all it results in for me is another 6 months gone and very little progress.
I'm sure you'll have better control over the madness... Unless, you go for a mohan vina... then maybe you should give it another year...

Dwight

On one hand it would have been great to leave the engineering to an engineer, the bass to a bassist, etc. Just go to another studio and only concentrate on my guitar playing.
But as you know, studiotime and a full band don't come cheap, and also - as much as I hate to admit it - I've become quite a control freak over the years.

I hate going through the process of rehearsing the stuff with a full band, if it's for a live show then it's not a problem, that's a completely different approach, but I would probably drive folks mad in the studio...
Probably a side effect of being spoiled by having my own little studio and the freedom to work when and how it suits me.....

Some of what I do is what I consider 'soundscape painting' and when I do that the arrangements pretty much evolves during recording. I find that very hard to do with a band, it's something I must do on my own.

Fortunately I've realized that studio gear doesn't have to be billion dollar state of the art gadgets,- I pretty much look at whatever I have available and then tweak it until it sounds good to me. Guess I work very intuitively, both as a player and engineer, I've never read 'The Book'

I'll have my CD out during '04, at least that's for sure!


Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

Andy are all the E strings tuned in unison or different octave pitches?

Steel guitars are like "free time" and "cash" ...

You can never have too many/much ...

Thats a beauty !!!

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<font size=1>www.horseshoemagnets.com </font>

Steinar,

The GeorgBoard is a pretty one, and he seems a good guy, I did some emails with him a while back, have you got it yet, Im wondering how the pickups are for hum, output, tone. He makes some real good looking consoles, too.

BTW -I play a buunch of tunings, Im doing a lot of E-13, its nice. I like the low E too.

You guys crack me up, I'm putting off a project's completion till the studio is just right and I get my instruments tweeked. ;-/

Also , that Indian Guitar seems like A LOT of instrument for the dough, even if you have to do extreme-setup.

Oh yeah, Dwight, it just struck me that the Forum at "guitarseminars.com" (I think) might have somebody who knows the proper way to tune a Mohan Veena. There are some Debashish fans who hang out there and Bob Brozman posts occasionally--he would know how to tune one.

-Travis

Yep, the IGS forum is the place to post for tunings for the Mohan Veena,- Brozman is one of the moderators and Debashish shows up from time to time.

Chuck,- I 'll post a full report when I get it. Fellow Norski and forumite Christer F. has one, from what I understand the pickup is just as 'hum-sensitive' as other singlegoils, but have a nice output, overdrives nicely when that is called for.

I am a little concerned about the hum myself,- does Jason Lollar make humbucker replacement pickups for these?

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com


<FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Steinar Gregertsen on 17 December 2003 at 03:05 AM.]</p></FONT>

Dwight - I'll send you Debashish's email and you can ask him.

Oh, the E's are all unision .011 gauge but the G# is a .078.

Steinar..I got the same ls from GB. I have recorded with it a couple of times. There was no perceivable hum in the recording and I did nothing special.

I read a fellow got a different pickup for his GB from Jason to warm it up.

I think the pickup is fine for my tastes.

Cliff,- yeah, I hope it will work fine for me to. I've heard some of the stuff Christer has recorded with his GB and I really like the sound.
I'm used to dealing with the singlecoil hum when I record (strats are my main guitars, and I also have a singlecoil in my 'Lapcaster'), usually it's just a matter of finding the right spot away from amps and other stuff that interferes. And I always turn off my PC screens when I record, those are the worst 'hum creators'...

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com

Jason Lollar has many options ...

Lollar's Replacement Pickups

His single coils are the most "hum-free" I have ever heard.

A fellow forum member had the "Gibson Console Grand 8" pickup dropped in his Georgeboard.

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<font size=1>www.horseshoemagnets.com </font>

Hey Rick, it already has a Lollar pickup in it. I think the SUper Sustainer. Nice fat sound it has.

Cliff, George P. used Lindy Fralin's Super Sonics in those Georgeboards ...

George posted this the other day ... <font size=1>scroll down to the bottom </font>

I had the pleasure of corresponding with him the other day ... a very dedicated and nice guy, who builds some real beauties.

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<font size=1>www.horseshoemagnets.com </font>

It arrived early this morning!!

And it is the most beautiful solid bodied guitar I've ever seen, the photo really doesn't do it justice. And I can swear those hulagirls on the fretboard really IS dancing!

The sound, as far as I have managed to find out, is very good,- great sustain and a clear and focused tone that can handle anything from the softest whisper to full overdrive. Not as much noise as I feared either, but I will have to test it more in 'real life' before I can pass any final judgement.

But so far I'm extremely happy with it and this seems to be a very good weekend and Holiday.

Merry Christmas everybody!!

Steinar

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www.gregertsen.com