An Update and A New Friend.

OK, first post of 2013, the first in about 7 months...!?!? NOT good, but I guess that's Life. 

But I am happy to say that the time has not been entirely unproductive. Took a trip up to Portland, Oregon last August to visit a friend, which was a nice getaway for a few days. On the music side of town, I discovered a new artist named Lianne La Havas (via these Youtube videos, here and here, not to mention here), who I think is an awesome, young talent. The first new artist I've been genuinely excited about in a LONG time. I got to see her perform twice here in L.A. since my discovery last September - a solo gig at the Hollywood Amoeba Records, then again with her band, at the Roxy in November. I was not disappointed at either show - she's already a pretty seasoned performer at such a young age. I can see why - she's been performing, touring and promoting the heck out of her debut album, and hasn't stopped yet. I just caught her on Jay Leno recently, not to mention she just released two more music videos.  Whew...

In between those two shows, I also got to see a rare performance by Chocolate Genius Incorporated, a band/project led by songwriter Mark Anthony Thompson. Been following his music since the first album in 1998, and was glad to be able to finally see him perform live.

Apparently, musical talent runs in his family... His youngest daughter Zsela (17 years old as of last year...?) has an EP of songs called "All of the Above", which I think is also great. He produced the tracks, BTW, pretty evident if you're familiar with his work. Anyway, the songs are available for free streaming on her Bandcamp page, with an option to purchase the songs for a $5.00 (or more) donation. Very cool - I certainly hope she does more music in the future.

But enough about them, this blog is supposed to be about ME, haha... Briefly, I haven't forgotten about or abandoned my intentions laid out in the last post - to produce 3 tracks using a different DAW program for each one. I really have no excuse why they are taking so long, other than that excuse called LIFE... Art all too often plays second fiddle to Life in my world, sad to say. The good news is that the first track is in the mixing stage right now. With any luck, fingers crossed, I should have a mix to post here very soon.

But in the meantime, Here are some pics of a new friend I've acquired as of last weekend. I've sort of been jonesing for a new acoustic guitar for well over a year now. I do have an acoustic that I purchased back in 1994 (19 years ago!), and it's actually still playable, in great shape and sounds pretty good, especially now that the wood has matured some. But I suppose I wanted to take a look at what else is out there, and explore other tonal options. More specifically, I'd been looking for an acoustic with a slightly smaller body, which usually makes for a guitar lower in overall volume, which would help me because my singing voice is naturally pretty low in volume in comparison to the guitar I've been playing; it drowns my voice out in many cases. A smaller scale guitar is also naturally easier to hold and handle. Standard acoustic guitar bodies can be thick and a little unwieldy. This one feels closer to an electric guitar, lightweight and comfortable to play.

At first I purchased a guitar online, made by a manufacturer called Wechter. I was really happy with it, except that it had improperly installed frets (the small metal pieces installed on top of the neck that determine what notes to play). Several frets were not flush to the neck, and looked like they might work themselves loose with time...! After I reported the problem to the store and shipped it back, they determined that it wouldn't be worth trying to repair, and wouldn't be getting more in stock anytime soon. To me that really meant that they were not willing to pay for that level of repair - I'm pretty sure the frets could be fixed, but it probably wouldn't have been cheap. So, in the end I got a refund. A real shame that guitar didn't work out.

A few weeks later, I came across the guitar I eventually settled on, the M-120, made by Guild. The body is about 7/8 the scale of a standard acoustic guitar's body, but the neck is standard scale, but thin, for easy playability. The body is solid mahogany, top, back and sides, reputed to be a "warm" sounding tonewood, as opposed to "bright". As you can hopefully tell from the pics, the wood is a nice warm reddish-brown color. The neck is made of mahogany as well, with a fingerboard made of rosewood. No fancy ornamentation like on other (more expensive) guitars, but it does the job it's made to do.

Front...

...and back.

A nice additional feature is the electric pickup system installed with volume and tone controls inside the soundhole, so I can plug it into an amplifier or recorder just like an electric guitar, if I so choose. I see that coming in handy if I want to quickly lay down a track for a rough idea, and I'm too lazy or impatient to set up a mic, haha.

Guitar cable connects to an amp or mixer right here. It simultaneously serves as the guitar's rear strap button.

Tone-wise, I must admit the Wechter sounded a little "sweeter", but it's not a brand that's sold all over the place like Fender or Gibson, so their guitars are unfortunately harder to find. But this Guild is no slouch either. After some preliminary miking tests, I believe I will get some pretty nice sounding tracks recorded with this guitar, with less volume to potentially disturb the neighbors with in my building. The neck shape feels really good in my hand, and the frets are just fine, haha. It also came with a hard shell case, a nice plus. This Youtube video was a major factor in my decision to check it out.

Close-up of the body's wood grain.

Inside the case...

So, that's my journey in finding the new addition to my instrument family. I've hardly put it down since bringing it home, so I'd say that's a good sign. Looking forward to many, many hours of enjoyment with my new pal. The only thing is I have yet to come up with a name for it...! Silly as it may sound to some, I've named pretty much all my guitars and basses. Any suggestions? If not, I guess I'll wait until a name comes to me.

All for now... I will do my darnedest next time to not take so long between posts, for those actually still coming here to visit.  If so, then thanks...!