Went one big round and...

It's funny how the stuff that you used when you first started out sticks with you... now that I have more spending power, I decided some time ago to start trying other more expensive strings, but eventually I went back to this.. the 7 dollar per pack strings that I always liked. Maybe it's the feel that I am too used to, maybe it's the tone.. can't explain it. Sometimes the best stuff doesn't have to be expensive.

Daddarios. Love'em. ;)

I had to upload this...

Let It Be (Laurence Juber Cover)

Takes me back to the days of XKJ... something tells me we'll all start jamming together again when we're all old uncles.. or are we already?!?!

Daddario EXPs vs Elixir Nanowebs Phosphor Bronze

Daddario EXPs

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Elixir Nanowebs Phosphor Bronze

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Strings, strings, strings!

Trying out various brands of strings with my latest acquisition - recently I have been converted to coated strings largely due to necessity - more guitars, less time to string them all up. Coated strings work best since they last much longer.
The above are the ones I bought recently to try. To date my favourites are still the Elixir Nanowebs Phosphor Bronze for tone and longevity.

Will post back with the results as I go through the strings.

Wonderful Tonight - Masaaki Kishibe Cover

My gf's favourite song..

Shugo Tokumaru - Parachute

Interesting, fresh and original!

New Toy - Zoom H4n

Got this as a birthday present from my beloved.
Here is a video I recorded using the Zoom H4n. Youtube compresssion seems to have robbed some clearness out of the video - still figuring out which is the best format to post to youtube for guitar videos. Maybe someone can help me out?



So far I love the H4n's onboard microphones, they are a bit on the bright side but easily tameable using EQ. Moreover, there are two more microphone inputs should I not want to use the onboard mics.

Elixir Phosphor Bronze Nanowebs

These are my current strings of choice - they give the phosphor bronze tone that I like from the D'addarios I liked coupled with the smooth feel that I've grown to like. It's really nifty for reducing finger squeak for recording and somehow I find that I can play slightly faster on strings with this kind of smooth feel.

These strings are still brighter than the D'addarios .. maybe 6.5 on the treble knob if the D'addarios are 5. The brightness gives it a somewhat modern sound. Antoine Dufour uses these strings and you can tell from his recordings that they sound really bright. Of course, I think he mixes in some of the magnetic pickup into the mic-ed signal to achieve his modern-sque acoustic percussive groove-based playing tone.

Have mine strung on my Timothy S10J for about a month now, and it still sounds good. Now it is slightly less bright than when I first strung them on, but still it's plenty bright.

Oh, I think Brendon from http://www.bgwguitars.com/ in Singapore has the best price for Elixir strings.

Goodall Guitars

These are the guitars that are being raved about all over the net. They are expensive boutique guitars and the sound justifies the price. Walked into Guitar Gallery and tried out two of these guitars, a Parlor and a Grand Concert type. Playing it I couldn't help but grin - these sounded really good - significantly better than my Timothy S10J. But the price - ouch.

I couldn't justify getting a Goodall with my current financial situation and playing skill. But something tells me that I am going to get one in the future. :p

Taylor Guitars

Taylor guitars are kind of the de-facto guitars of the contemporary christian worship world. They are immensely popular, due to their trebly cut-through-the-band kind of tone. I think they are just about the most popular "high-end" guitar brand in Singapore, which explains why Sinamex is still going strong after so many years.

So I walked into Sinamex close to closing time. Not too many Taylors left. Tried a 814ce, supposedly one of the best of their "electro-acoustic" series. The tone was as expected, Taylor-like, extremely trebly with not much bass. It sounded nice for strumming and aggresive picking. But I what I wanted was a fingerpicking kind of guitar so balanced and sweet are two adjectives that would fit my perception of such a guitar.

Next I tried a GA4 - sounds warmer than the 814ce but the tone didn't blow me away.

The condition of the guitars were great and many people like Taylors.

Guess I'm just not a Taylor fan.

Martin Guitars

Martin guitars need absolutely no introduction.
They are the guitars favoured by many of the well-known artises who play guitar. Clapton, John Mayer, etc. As a result, they are not cheap at all. But one of them could be the guitar-that-i-would-keep-for-the-rest-of-my-life.

So I walked into City Music and asked to try the Martins. I tried many of the OM/OOO models and these are my thoughts on those I could remember.

OM-28V - Bassy sound. Needs a good setup and new strings. Couldn't get used to the V-neck coming from my Timothy S10J. I actually thought that this would be the one having heard recommendations from a friend. Played it 2-3 times but didn't like it.

000-28EC - Short scale, sounds kind of thinny which I didn't expect. Because, you know, it's a Eric Clapton. Didn't play this one for long either.

000-28 - Similar in tone to the 000-28EC, but with a smaller nut width, I think.

And a few others from the standard series 15, 16 which didn't really make me reach for my wallet. :/

There could be other reasons for my verdict - one is that City Music doesn't have a specialised guitar room with dehumidifiers for the Martins. As a result, they may suffer from humidity, get wet and become less resonant. Also, the person testing out the guitar will have to deal with the noise coming from the salesmen and the electric guitar players. And we all know that guitars sound better in a smaller room where you can hear the reverberation - makes it sound bigger.

Ayers Guitars

I walked into Music Theme and asked to try the Ayers. Having heard rumours that Timothys are actually made by Ayers gave me some anticipation for them. The clean no-bling look of the lower-end models somewhat attracted me. The sound was pretty nice as well for the two low-end OM-shaped ones I tried. One was full mahagony, and the other was spruce with mahagony back and sides (I think).

For the price it was being offered at, these are two I would consider if I wasn't looking for the guitar-that-I-would-keep-for-the-rest-of-my-life. They have a nice woody sound, just need a good setup. But they didn't scream "buy me now!".

Next I tried the higher-end Ayers. They have a different tone, I'm not sure whether it was the gloss finish, but it felt somewhat less resonant that the cheaper ones. I tried one that looked like my S10J , and another that was full Koa. Didn't sound fantastic to me, and I actually liked the lower end models better!

Quest for the guitar that will blow me away...

Having just come back from a country where I could not buy any guitars, and having gassed from a Fender Strat to a Semi-hollow to a high-end acoustic (It's a cycle), I was once again set free to revell in my GAS now that I am back in Singapore.

Hello again Davis Guitars, City Music, Guitar77, Music Theme, Ranking Sports, Guitar Gallery, Sinamex, Swee Lee!

And thus it was set that my next guitar would be an acoustic that I would keep for the rest of my life. Like my Timothy S10J.

And thus the shopping begins...

Right Behind Tommy ... Kotaro Oshio

This guy has his own style - a fascinating combination of picking plus strumming unlike any other guy I've seen before.

Unlike Tommy, Kotaro Oshio doesn't seem to age! He can still pass off as a teenage rocker..

I hereby declare him my no. 2 guitar idol!

And they're off!

Finally the Elixir's are off my guitar and back on are D'addario EJ16s.
I would sum up the Elixir Nanowebs 80/20s as follows :

Likes
- Lasts really long, sounds bright even when I took them off
- Doesn't corrode easily with my acidic hands
- Fret noise reduced, good for recording
- Smoother feel

Dislike
- Feels stiff and less dynamically responsive for first 3-4 days or so, maybe due to the new coating

The left hand finger nuances that I felt were missing, were perhaps a figment of my imagination. Maybe when I used the D'addarios before I was in a drop tuning, and the vibrato came more easily.
In any case, I'm really impressed with the Elixir strings in the way it keeps its tone and longevity.
Next I'm gonna try the Elixir Phosphor Bronze Nanowebs - perhaps this will give me the advantages of the Elixir plus the tone of the EJ16s that I've always liked.

Going back to Singapore next week so probably I will be able to get the Elixir Phosphor Bronze Nanowebs for a good price.

Elixir Strings

Just got these Elixir 80/20s Nanowebs. Ran out of D'addario EJ16s - the strings that I have always used since getting an acoustic.
Well, people refer to these as "condom" strings and I think I know why. There is more protection against my acidic hands (I wear out D'addarios in 2 weeks) but not as much pleasure. Seems like it is not very sensitive to naunces in the fretting hand. For example, I am pretty sure I don't hear as much vibrato when I do the B.B King thing compared to D'addarios. But these Elixir strings are really bright! Think if D'addario is 5 on the treble knob, these strings are like 7.5. The tone is alright, but kinda plasticky if you wanted to compare with the D'addarios. Bending these strings gives a weird feeling also.

Guess I'll use these until the end of my days here. :/

Don't ask how much I paid for them here in Israel. Thank god for Davis guitar in Singapore.

The Future of Music?

Free music seems to be a god-given right for people nowadays. All you have to do is to fire up BitTorrent, surf to Mininova.org, search for the album you want and download it. If you have a fast connection, the entire "transaction" takes place in virtually minutes. The music industry has tried several deterrent methods, like suing the people who share and download the music. However it has been largely unsuccessful. Seems like downloading music is an unstoppable phenomenon of the Internet age.

I remember I used to use cassette players with two cassette slots to "copy" cassettes when I young. This was tedious and probably considered the most primitive form of piracy. However, there was still a feeling that the "copy" was inferior to the actual product, and eventually if I loved the songs I would get the actual tape.

Nowadays it is so much easier to pirate that some people don't even realise that they are doing it. Virtually anything that comes out of the computer speakers can be pirated, and it is close to cd quality. (Not many can hear the difference between say, 192kbps Mp3 vs Music straight from the cd) And even less care about the difference. What I'm saying is that basically recorded music, as long as you can play it on your computer, is doomed as a commercial product.

What I feel is that recorded music will go the way of advertisements and promotions for the artiste. This music will be used to spread awareness and the live shows will probably make up the bulk of the artiste's income.

Just like the past. Where people paid to go to theatres to see artistes perform.

And now, if artistes are going to make serious money out of their careers they will have to travel.

It's funny how we've gone one complete round with music distribution.

Be Thankful

I used to say that Singapore is a boring place, and now I am in a part of the world where it is really exciting hah - news is updated by the hour.
There is a on-going sense of impending danger, people can carry carbines into restaurants, parking lots. It's starting to all get a bit too much for me. I've realised that there are people here who mask themselves from all the bad news around them, delving into their hobbies, interests to escape from the cruel news of war. While I do not feel that this is the best way, I can understand why they do so.

I miss the times when I can go into a shopping mall, sit there for hours on end and not worry about things like suicide bombers or even that army boy with a M16. I can understand why the people here are allowed to carry guns around with them but it still makes me uneasy.

The women here serve NS too. Be thankful, Singapore girls!

Makes you not take what we have in Singapore for granted - security. Sure, we bitch about the erp, and all the other wonderful policies our government dishes out from time to time. The fact that is anyone can walk in the street and not worry about being the next headliner on the news.

Give me boring.

Okay - this has absolutely nothing to do with guitar, but just had to say it.

Major GAS Attack!!!

Martin 000-28EC

Martin OM-21

Martin 000-28

Want to be BFF (Best Friends Forever)?
Get me one of these!