Acoustic Things

[ashstralia]

So half my gigs these days are purely acoustic; amplified of course.
Let's hear from the acoustic players, show your stuff, describe your setup.

My setup through trial error and budget (bearing in mind I don't want a heap of extra gear on top of my electric rig) is this...

Takamine p3dc into boss cs2 into korg ax1500. Line out 1 of korg into peavey valve king amp. Line out 2 into tc helicon voicelive gtx, which also provides mixing some guitar into the P.A. feed, along with my vocals.

I also wanted to be able to pull off some shreddy bending and legato type things, so I experimented with string gauges. A lot. I've found my ultimate compromise between tone and ease of playability is 52w,42w,32w,18p,14p,10p. Tuned standard A=440.

This could be had for well under $2000, and sounds great.

[Seshmeister]

Poof!

[ashstralia]

Ya had to edit that? It's a bloody four letter word!


Edit; the original post was probably a 4000 word diatribe about the acoustic instrument's pivotal role in the downfall of modern society...

[Seshmeister]

Nah I added the smile in case poof on it's own was too blunt.

[ashstralia]

There's got to be other people here who play acoustic?

I'm treating it as a a sideline, but I've already seen how we can show up to establishments and pull out acoustic instruments, belt them just as hard. And the older folk stay and drink and dance, rather than shield their ears and get the next courtesy bus.

Ya gotta remember, people in their late 60's were twenty something when jimi and zep and the who, stones et al were at their peak. We're seeing that. I often joke that by the time we hit the nursing home 'oldies classic' circuit, sweet child o mine will be our most requested song.

I'm gonna try one of those o port thingies in the takamine on Friday. I'll report my findings.

[vandeleur]

Back in the day , we used to do these busker nights .
Just roll up me the singer maybe the bass player and do acoustic versions of new songs .
I've always been a believer if your song sounds shitty acoustic adding distortion and a band is just hiding a shit tune .
Plus we used do support sets for mates cover bands for free just to try out new stuff .
Really basic couple of acoustics straight into the pa and the singer .
Acoustic stuff is good when you wanna play a couple of tunes guerrilla style .

We did this radio programme and did the single acoustically part of the deal of the interview to prompt stuff . But the producer was cool and sent us the full acoustic session which we used to give away but he said a lot of decent size bands had either refused to play the show or refused to let it be aired because of prissy guitarists not wanting to sound so raw or being all precious about how they sound .
Puffs

[Seshmeister]

I've always been a believer if your song sounds shitty acoustic adding distortion and a band is just hiding a shit tune .

Yeah that was a rule we lived by too.

I hear that the Poison unplugged gig wasn't incredible...

[ashstralia]

Well hang me high, but I'm actually enjoying the challenge of having to play well without loud amps and fx!

[vandeleur]

There is definitely different dynamics involved and some of the tried and tested tricks and tics we have all picked up don't work as well acoustic .
But it is fun , I liked the whole turn up ,tune up and fuck off aspect of it

[ashstralia]

Yeah man! Less gear to lug.

I'm sure we're all singing better now too, cause you can actually hear yourself.

[ashstralia]

Righto, installed the o port and jammed for 3 hours today. It definitely does what the company claims... Much more headroom before feedback happens.

Slightly less acoustic volume ( 5% max ) but not an issue for me. I got the ivory coloured one at cost, and it looks great too. I recommend.

[vandeleur]

I read about those o port things are they very expensive ?

[ashstralia]

$49 Au retail van. There's 2 sizes and 2 colours (black or ivory) have a look on the web, you'll get one pretty cheap.

I was just playing unplugged in the quiet of my loungeroom, maybe not as much volume loss as I thought... We were jamming today at full stage volume, and the improvement is very noticeable. I love it.

And no, I didn't get it free, and no one's paying me to plug it. (Pun intended)

[Seshmeister]

I've been looking at this pic for a while.

What body type is this, I think it's maybe a dreadnought?

[vandeleur]

Is she using those bad boys as a capo

[ashstralia]

Ughh... Tatted chicks are a total turn off.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dreadnought_(guitar_type)

[fryingdutchman]

Came here because thread description said "anything with a box and a hole."

I can't tell you how disappointed I am in the thread content after having my expectations raised so high.....

[fryingdutchman]

I've been looking at this pic for a while.

What body type is this, I think it's maybe a dreadnought?

I do enjoy the thing with a "box and a hole"....but her tats are a bit much...

[vandeleur]

I don't mind the rock chick tat look , but from a loaner not keeper perspective .

[vandeleur]

Actual to totally fuck up ash's sensible acoustic thread with more totty tat talk.
Kat Von d sometimes looks great and other times like she just needs a good fucking wash

[ashstralia]

Yeah, doesn't float my boat.

[vandeleur]

All the more for me mate

[ashstralia]

All the more for me mate

You know she'd be up for a bit of council gritter action too, mate! *nudge wink

Fuck we've well and truly derailed this, innit?

[Seshmeister]

I don't mind the rock chick tat look , but from a loaner not keeper perspective .

So LOANER






KEEPER?

[fryingdutchman]

You know she'd be up for a bit of council gritter action too, mate! *nudge wink

Fuck we've well and truly derailed this, innit?

Back on track...

My only acoustic right now is a Madeira that I've had since I was about 13 years old.

Made by Guild...has been a steadfast instrument for me. Quite similar to the one on the left in this pic...

[ashstralia]

They both need a quality clean up bro. I have a la patrie nylon string classical which is perhaps the most well made guitar I've ever seen. The attention to detail is insane.

The boys and girls at Takamine use that as their starting point...

[ashstralia]

I put plectrum strings on the 12 string.. Holy shit, why didn't anyone tell me how fucking great these strings are???

I think a big reason I never gave them a look in was $. Fifty bucks wasted if ya don't like them!. With our strong currency now they're comparably priced to the ones we all know and love, not twice the price.

I highly recommend.

[ELVIS]

There's got to be other people here who play acoustic?

I do, and more and more...

I play probably 75% acoustic these days and I think I'm a much better electric player for it...

I also find myself grasvitating towards Hank Williams Sr. and Neil Young...

Neil owns Mr. Williams Martin, BTW...

[ELVIS]

Grasvitating ??

[vandeleur]

I agree with E playing acoustic makes you more disciplined it is less forgiving of mistakes than an electric .

[ELVIS]

Yeah, you can readily hear every mistake...

[vandeleur]

If you make a mistake in your bed room and no one ever hears it , does it make a sound ?

[ashstralia]

The idea is to bruise your fingertips and make all the mistakes in the rehearsal room so that when you play live in front of real people for real moolah, you're as good as you can possibly be. That's my philosophy.

[ELVIS]

That's right...

I don't want to pay good money to watch someone try to learn a song...

[ashstralia]

That's right...

I don't want to pay good money to watch someone try to learn a song...

Or tune up...

[Seshmeister]

That's right...

I don't want to pay good money to watch someone try to learn a song...

You don't want to pay good money to do anything.

[ELVIS]

Shaddup and get this website working correctly...

We all know you bought the cheap plan...

[ashstralia]

Elvis, on the grid for another month or 36.

How's you reconcile that voodoo? Apparently with some talismans and ancient incantation they can override your newcomer god.

[ELVIS]

You smoking Krusty weed or something ??

[ELVIS]

Dude, my latest obsession is Travis Picking...

Been leaning towards Rockabilly this kind of stuff lately...