Homebrewed Music

Lately I’ve been dragging myself into the 21st century in my web design and implementation efforts. I recently overhauled my slack key guitar site, Kaleponi.com and helped out a local hula group with their site as well. All this new knowledge got me thinking about good old Homebrewed Music and its rather generic look, and the result is this new three column fluid layout. I hope you find it easy to read and navigate.

I also made a big step in my video camera arsenal with a shiny new Panasonic Lumix GH2. (more…)

I’ve owned an Epiphone Masterbilt EF-500M for a few years now. It is a very functional instrument that I bought for a very reasonable price. As a result, I’ve been curious about the relatively rare EF-500RCCE model for some time. When a 2nd showed up on Ebay for a reasonable price I snagged it. Here’s a pic:

The EF-500 is the 000/OM body size. R indicates rosewood back and sides. The first C stands for cedar top, the second for the cutaway. And the E says it has built-in electronics. The electronics are listed as a Baggs pickup, and since there’s a battery inside there must be some sort of preamp or buffer amp as well. There are no controls mounted in or on the guitar, though, so I’ll have to use an external preamp for tone and volume adjustments. Like all the EF-500 models this one has a 1 3/4 nut width. Unlike the others I’ve tried, it has a modified oval neck shape instead of a V. It also has very slightly narrower bridge spacing, 2 5/16 instead of 2 3/8.

My Epi Masterbilt EF-500M came with a decent semi-hard case. Gibson recently revised the line and now does not include the case in the base price of the instrument, so I’ll be carrying this one in a gig bag.

As I mentioned, this is a 2nd, a QA reject. While many 2nds have invisible issues, the big sap streak in the top makes it clear why this one went on the reject pile:

Luckily I’m not a fanatic about the appearance of my guitars, so I’m glad to get a price break because of this flaw. However, there are two other issues, one minor but annoying, the other serious.

The minor issue is the routing of the pickup wiring – it’s downright sloppy, hanging from the top and touching the bottom, so that I sometimes hear a sympathetic vibration buzzing along with the notes. I will fix it with a few bits of tape, but I hope other E models are put together a little more carefully.

Here’s a shot of the battery wire hanging down:

and here’s the pickup lead also hanging:

In the second shot you can also see the “broom handle” back braces, much more substantial than I see in higher end instruments.

The significant problem with this guitar is the saddle. It’s leaning forward, which is a definite structural problem.

My shot isn’t great for showing the tilt, but it shows the gap behind the saddle clearly. This incorrect construction will likely lead to early failure of the bridge, requiring a somewhat expensive fix. I plan to have the saddle slot rerouted at the correct angle and an oversized saddle fitted to correct the problem, but it is playable in the meantime.

Obviously if I think it’s worth fixing the saddle, I’m pleased enough with the guitar to want to keep it. The playability is just fine, the sound is a bit rough but quite loud, and it’s just generally a fun guitar to play. The cutaway is a big part of the fun, since I do a fair amount of playing around and above the 12the fret. Because of the broad neck heel the cutaway fits smoothly against it, giving a very clean appearance.

Since the real point of a guitar is making music, I put up a Shure KSM141 mic in omni mode, fed it through my John Hardy M-1, and captured a brief clip. I used this setup to give the most accurate picture of the guitars tone, rather than the most flattering recording, and I think the clip is pretty successful in conveying the sound of the guitar in this room.

Sample recording

Note that this is a WAV file rather than an MP3 so the download will take a bit longer. I prefer to use WAV format to maintain the best fidelity.

To summarize my feelings about this guitar, I continue to be amazed by the price/performance ratio of these Epiphone Masterbilts and other recent all solid wood instruments from China. While the construction details, playability, and sound are a step down from a Martin Vintage series (or Standard or 16 series for that matter) this is a functional instrument that’s fun to play, one I would use in just about any situation without feeling shortchanged.

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UPDATE!
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I started doing a little in depth fiddling with the Epi and made a couple of discoveries. Since I had the strings loose I pulled up the saddle to see what kind of Baggs pickup is installed, and the answer is, no Baggs at all! Instead, I found an Artec PP607. Hmmmmmm, is that legal, since the Epiphone site states very clearly that the pickup is a Baggs?? I’m sure they have a disclaimer in there somewhere but this doesn’t give me a lot of confidence in the Masterbilt operation.

The extra thickness of this multi-layer pickup may be responsible for part of my saddle problems as well.

Next I checked the battery holder, to see if I should replace it with my favorite, the B-Band “bag.” Well the answer is YES because the existing holder was barely clinging to the velcro patch. Believe me this a serious problem, because a 9 volt battery banging around loose inside a guitar can do a LOT of damage.

I’m still keeping this guitar for now, but these two discoveries certainly take some of the rosy glow off our relationship.

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UPDATE 2!
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With a little further research I have learned that guitars that pass through the refurb shop, like this one, apparently have the Baggs pickup removed and replaced with the Artec. Something to watch for when you purchase a 2nd with electronics.

I busted the budget for a new toy – the TC Electronics G Natural. I’ve been using a simple Boss DD-3 Digital Delay for my only effect, running into either a Fishman Performer Pro amp or a PA based on an old Peavey XM-6 mixer amp. I’ve never been too thrilled with my amplified sound, so I’m starting the process of (hopefully) upgrading.

The new G Natural is a floor box with big sturdy stomp switches controlling a collection of pristine effects with a clever system for storing user settings. The box includes routing for a microphone, pickup, and line inputs, but there are some limits on how these can be combined.

I’ve been working around home with the G Natch, and I’ve used it on two gigs, so I’m beginning to get a handle on the major features and capabilities. I’m sure it will reward a lot of study and tweaking, but I’m ready to pass along some first impressions even though they’re preliminary.

I made a big goof when I first began using this device. The input gain setting is buried in the levels menu, and in the “preliminary” manual that came with my unit did not have the correct information for the unit I received, so I did not understand the importance of the “Input Gain” setting. Instead, I used too much gain to boost the ouput from the G Natural, and the result was a lot of hiss. After a day or so of frustration I discovered the correct setting, then I found the updated manual online at the TC site, and since then I’ve been extremely impressed with the sound quality and low noise of the unit. So kudos to TC for creating such a high quality box, and lemons for shipping the unit with an incorrect manual.

Even with the updated manual the information is fairly skimpy, and the organization is a bit less than ideal. But since the book (actually a PDF) is so short it’s not too big a challenge to read the whole thing a couple of times and gradually pull the pieces together.

One question I had before working my unit – can the G Natural be used as a DI or Direct Input device. A DI is a device which takes a 1/4″ high impedance unbalanced input, like a guitar pickup, and converts the signal to a balanced low impedance output on a male XLR connector. This is very handy for stage use because low impedance balanced cables can be run for long distances without signal loss or noise buildup. DIs are also used in the studio for connecting bass, guitar, or other unbalanced signals to balanced mic inputs.

Since the G Natural has a male XLR on the back, it might seem that this is a DI output, but that is not the case. This connector will only deliver the signal connected to the Mic Input, not the signal connected to the instrument input. So the simple solution won’t work. However, the 1/4″ outputs are balanced, which means that a simple adapter cable can be bought or made to provide DI functionality from the main outputs. HOWEVER, TC warns that these outputs should not be connected to an input providing phantom power. This is important, and easy to overlook. On your own mixing board, you’ll probably check phantom power and turn it off as needed, but if you’re working with various sound engineers in various venues, the chance for a mistake may be too high. And in some PA mixers, the phantom power cannot be controlled for individual channels, so this limitation may lead to other problems. In other words, I think I’m going to buy a DI to add to my signal chain before I connect the G Natural to a PA other than my own.

A look through the manual will show that all the effects needed for enhancing an acoustic sound are present – compression, eq, modulation, delay, and reverb. The unit also features a “one click” boost feature that simply raises the level for solos. Notice that there is no distortion effect included – if distortion is part of your acoustic sound, you’ll probably want a different multi-effects unit.

Finally, here are some samples. I played each clip separately, so there are plenty of performance variations. The guitar is a Martin OM-18GE with a K&K Pure Western pickup.

I miked the guitar with a Shure KSM141 set flat, cardioid pattern, about 6″ from the 12th fret, through a John Hardy M-1.

Here’s the direct pickup sound, through an M-Audio DMP3.

The pickup through the G Natural, all effects bypassed (setting F9-3).

The G Natural setting F0-1, Subtle Acoustic.

Something on the wild side, F4-3, Clean Cowboy.

F5-3, Clean Chorus.

I’ve created a few user settings, here’s the one stored at U0-2.

Next time I’ll talk about the stompbox-edness of the G Natural. There are lots of useful variations to be had by stepping on the big chrome buttons.

Just before we left for Hawai`i in April, I received my handmade Go Type II Parlor guitar from Sam Radding at Go Guitars. You can see some clips of this little instrument in action at my Kaleponi Music News blog.

For the last few years, I’ve checked my full size guitar in a Calton case, but I really enjoy having a guitar with me during those long airport waits. When I learned that Mr. Radding would build one of his parlor guitars with a custom neck shape and bridge spacing, I signed up. His guitar turned out to be a great success, small enough to fit in the airliner overhead compartment, good enough to play on stage at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

When we returned from our trip, I contacted Matt Hayden to see if we could get together to compare his Larrivee Parlor to this new one. Matt’s guitar is walnut and sitka, just like the Go, so the comparison seemed like a natural.

Here are some pics showing the two guitars side by side.

The Larrivee is several years older, so the sitka spruce top has mellowed to a lovely shade. The smaller body of the Go is evident in this shot, as is the compact headstock and lesser overall length.

Looking at a closeup of the backs, I prefer the walnut back of the Larrivee with its slight curly figure and darker finish, but many people commented favorably on the interesting figure of the Go walnut. The bookmatch on the Go two piece back is nicely done, and the backstrip adds a little appeal as well.

This side by side shot illustrates the shorter body and longer scale of the Go. I think it’s amazing that Mr. Radding has squeezed so much guitar into such a diminuitive shape.

I plugged a DPA 4061 mic into my Marantz PMD670 recorder and played a verse of “Kui Lima” on each guitar. Here’s the Larrivee sample (link). The Go sounds like this (link). In person, the Go seemed a little fuller and a bit louder. In fact, everyone who tried the Go so far has expressed amazement at the amount of sound that pours out of this tiny guitar.

As far as playability, the comparison is a bit unfair. I owned a Larrivee similar to Matt’s but sold it because I had a hard time with neck shape and bridge spacing. One of the great advantages of the Go Parlor is the availability of custom neck shape and bridge spacing. The slightly wider neck and bridge on my Go Parlor makes all the difference in ease of playing.

The first generation of Larrivee Parlors, like Matt’s, were built as style 01 Larrivees, which means they were stripped down models. They were also a wonderful bargain. But these days Larrivee only builds these guitars with style 09 trim. They’re much more nicely finished but cost over twice the price of the older model. The Go, which is handmade and available with custom features, is a terrific value and a very fine way to carry your music with you wherever you go.