Here it is almost 2010 and I have somewhat gone back to the future. How? Follow along......
Early this summer I answered an ad to play with a woman from Russia who wanted to do old Russian songs, including many a tango -yeah, news to me, Russian tangos! However, once I heard some of them I realized they weren't that far from the klezmer I like so much and hell I have loved tangos ever since I first heard Astor Piazolla - how could I not, its beautiful stuff.
I have already written in here about the band, but just to catch up, they were all lovely people, and one of them in particular could even play the devil out of the violin - but the singer just couldn't sing, not even close, and it got mighty frustrating to me, especially since this was the first time I have played with people where my clarinet playing wasn't just terrible.
This was exactly at the same time I had come to then end of my rope with Kirt - I wasn't progressing enough to make it worth his while, and so it was pointless to continue. It was perfect timing, since by learning songs I was actually playing music again instead of just practicing.
So I came home after yet another really frustrating practice and my wife Barbara said, this is making you crazy, why don't you start your own band. Other than the fact that 20 years or so I swore I would never do that again for anything, there was no reason at all not to.
On the other hand, there is at least one really good reason TO start a band, and that is Barbara. My wife has always had a nice voice, but in the past few years she has been taking lessons, and its really paying off. Right now she is in a jazz performance workshop, and I am looking forward to her finishing the class, by which I mean she will sing a couple of Chet Baker songs in a local jazz club backed up by a jazz combo - not me though I just get to watch. Not only that, B tried out and got a spot in a local chorus - my gal can sing pal!
At the same time, both she and I have been listening to more and more Yiddish Theater music, and just loving it. Now I don't speak Yiddish (wish I did!) but Barbara is fluent in German, and 75% of Yiddish is German, so she can sing it straight.
Long story short, we decided to start a band. This to me is different than most any other band I have band I have been involved in, since I am not writing any songs. There is so much material out there, lots of wonderful recordings and sheet music, so we have been digging thru what we want to start with.
Now you know that I am crazy about the clarinet, and for sure these songs cry out for it, but until we get to the point where we have something worked up, well, its not like I can just play the horn parts while B sings. You also know I have playing the guitar for far too long, and in some sense I am not kidding: I stopped for most of 10 years, just playing occasionally while I was recording my destined-for-obscurity CD. In fact, it was finishing that CD that finished me on playing electronic music, and killed off my interest once and for all in rock music, except for the stuff I still like from the old days. It was at the same time I started down this road with the clarinet.
And I have to admit, I still don't go out of my way to listen with bands that feature guitar, since my enormous ego always tells me, hey, I could do better than that guy. Of course I am full of shite on that, but at least I can play the guitar, I know that.
So in this last couple of years I have become interested again, even to the point of going to look at guitars, acoustic guitars, in shops even while on vacation. I spent a great afternoon while in Madison Wisconsin checking out the guitar stores. And I came close to laying money down right then - but I didn't do it.I really didn't have a reason to buy a guitar other than just the same old instrument lust I always have had. And you know I was playing some expensive instruments to boot.
So flash forward to summer. B and I are out camping, and we have started to work on songs. I didn't want to take my old Harmony arch top with me, I would die if that got messed up but restrung B's old classical guitar so I would have something to work on songs with.
Its a pretty awful guitar to play a HUGE neck in all senses, and of course I had to spring for the (new to me anyway) high tension classical strings. Brother, let me tell you this guitar gave me such pain in my left hand I could hardly believe it. Of course I was out of shape for the guitar, but this was murder, pure murder.
In spite of that while camping I spent a lot of time coming up with arrangements for these Yiddish theater songs - and damn if I didn't start liking to play the guitar again. This was the first time in decades maybe I had played finger style ( I was a serious classical player for about six years) and I came up with some pretty good stuff, aching hands and all.
I thought to myself, if we are going to be serious about getting people for a band, we have to be good just with the two of us, cause we can't attract anyone without having some arrangements down. That, and its a challenge to come up with a good arrangement with just the two of us..
About this same time, I realized that I just wasn't playing the C clarinet I was so excited about when I bought it. Funny how something can seem so enticing until you actually get it. Gear whore syndrome, all too common.
So out goes the C clarinet and in comes a bit of cash. Not much, just $300 (full disclosure on my blog!) and one thing then another comes up, which eats up the extra cash from the sale, so while I am looking at Craigs list and smacking my head, I have to put off buying any one of the great deals on there until the time is right.
Finally, we get into a bit better place financially so I can look for guitars for real.
You know the story, there are a million things out there when you don't have the case and when you have $$, there is butkus to look at.
I had already done my homework, however: I have a great friend named Tim of long standing who is a guitar maker, up in Tacoma, WA where I used to live and we start swapping emails on what exactly I am looking for and what is important to me. I should note that Tim taught me everything I know about guitar construction, 30 years ago when I used to hang about the lutherie and pester him with questions about how guitars are made. I don't how he got anything done there with me asking everything under the sun every time I went in, but it was a great education for me.
After more playing and looking and thinking and emails with Tim, I finally decide what I want, what is important to me in a guitar: solid wood, top back and sides. Spruce top for sure, preferably Rosewood back and sides, although mahogany is a good second choice,and a matt finish. I just think not having a ton of laquer or whatever they finish guitars with these days is better, lets more of the sound out. A cutaway and some sort of pickup would be nice too.
There are so many good, inexpensive guitars nowadays. Of course, some of this is due to the instruments being made by what I consider to be almost slave labor in China, so I wanted to avoid that. In all fairness, they make some great instruments, and if the right one would have come along, I being the feckless consumer I am would probably gone for one. In fact, I almost did.
I narrow my search down to two brands: Guild and Tacoma, at least the ones made in the USA. Radically different concepts in the brands: Guilds are heavier and have more traditional top bracing. Tacomas, on the other hand, are very light with a bracing system that is not, as far as I have read, tradtional at all. My first choice would have been a Taylor, but they are just too spendy for me. My guitar student bought one and that thing sounds amazing. I like some Martins too, but like all guitars, it really depends on the individual instrument, they all come out of the same factory, and they all sound different, which I think is great. What would be the point if they all sounded the same?
I keep looking and finally see a few Tacomas. I go play the first one, a model DM18 standard dreadnought with the shiny finish is coming off all over the instrument, which is awful. I find out later that this was a problem with some Tacomas, and the factory will refinishing them for free. Pretty cool. I played this one for a long time, in a large front room with hard surfaces, and even though the strings are dead, it still has a great sound. Spruce top and mahogony sides, with lots of trim options, a bit much for my taste actually, since I like a rather plain guitar.
I decide to pass on this one, even though its $350 with a case and stand, a very good deal.
The next night I go to look at another Tacoma, a DM9. This is a slightly less pricey model, actually its pretty much the stripped down version, but still with solid wood everything. The finish is matt, and while not thick, it seems pretty tough. You can really see the grain of the wood, especially on the back, lots of the pores of the wood showing.
But of course its not the only guitar the guy has. He has three in his front room. and what the hell, he lets me play all of them. Now, the Tacoma is nice, but it has dead as a doornail strings, and the neck needs to be adjusted, I can tell that right off. Still, the simplicity of the design pleases me, tortoise shell binding (fake of course) on the neck and around the top, a very nice and thin black/white purfiling strip on the top, and a simple rosettet around the tone hole. The name Tacoma is stamped into the headstock, nothing I have seen done very often but I could see where that could cut the cost down. The neck is mahogany too, unstained, and while I would wish it was rosewood or ebony, it makes no difference to the sound that I know of.
Now I move onto the other guitars: first a Simon and Patrick, made in Canada, a pretty little thing with a beautiful headstock with the name inlaid. Classy, glossy, but cursed with having a cedar top and wild cherry back and sides. Sometimes this set up can sound good, but usually to me there is no depth, and not clarity. Its a soft sound, and I am not what you call a soft player so back it goes.
Next I play a new Alvarez the fellow just bought. Made in China, spruce top and I think rosewood back and sides, with a gorgeous three piece inlaid neck. Fancy, fancy and sounded totally wonderful. He wants $550 for it just what he paid new. Out of my price range.
At this point he says, what the heck you might as well play the rest. We move to the next room and out comes again what looks to be a brand new Epiphone, which has the best matt finish and a style right out of 1930. All solid wood too, Great axe, not all of them are that I have played, but this one sure is.
Lastly, we get to the top of his collection, a Larrive which like the Simon and Patrick is made in Canada.
This is a much higher level guitar than the rest of them, and totally worth whatever he paid for it. The sustain is fantastic, and the tone is rich and full, not muddy. I put it down quickly, I can NOT afford to go there for any reason.
We head back into the living room and I play the Tacoma once again, and again. This fellow is obviously over invested in instruments, and I don't think he plays them so much as collects them. We do some back and forth on the Alvarez, and I almost convince myself to spend more than I have, but then he says, look, I will sell you the Tacoma for $250 and throw in a set of stings.
Well, I wasn't going to buy the guitar last night, but I figured that a) there is no way I am going to get a guitar that is solid wood, made in the USA, with a hard shell case, any cheaper than that and 2) I am banking on sounding 100% better with new strings and finally 3) I can actually afford it.
So off I go into the night, back home. My wife is surprised I bought a guitar this quickly, and I am too, but once I put the new strings on it, my judgement is confirmed: this is a very responsive, loud guitar with lots and lots of sustain, and a fast and easy to play neck. Being almost 8 years old, the sound is starting to develop, and I know with more constant playing will open up more and more. Its already super, its only going to get even better.
I will be taking it in to have the neck adjusted, and putting these new "old school" strings on them called sunbeams, that I have been told sound excellent because the are wound on a round core, like was done years and years back, as opposed to the modern hexagon core strings I am used to. Once I get the work done, I think a great sounding guitar will only sound better. Oh, and I love the fact that inside the body, where it joins the neck, is this label:
Made with Great pride by Skilled craftsmen in Tacoma, Washington USA. You gotta love it!
So who needs a Taylor?