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The Fifth Course

Thoughts on playing mandolin family instruments, both acoustic and electric varieties.

  1. Downs and Ups

    Went into the studio for most of the day on October 9. In retrospect it feels like a waste of $150.00. But Things improved a little more than a week later...

    I arrived at the studio on Friday hopeful of getting at least two songs in the can under the watchful eye of a professional engineer using some good mics. But I ended up with two lousy tracks I don't feel I can use.

    The problems stemmed from lack of preparation and equipment failure. I figured I could walk ...
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  2. Fun Group Project

    Over on the guitar discussion board I moderate, http://santacruzguitarplayers.com, I started a group project. I supplied the basic tracks of a song (percussion, guitar, voice) I had written and demo'd with GarageBand on my Mac. I asked the folks on the board if they might contribute some lead instrument ideas.

    I was having difficulty getting a lead instrument track down on a demo for a song I had written, called "Big Valley." The idea arose from realizing I could ask ...
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  3. A Strawberry Music Festival Mandolin Preview

    The Strawberry Music Festival held at Camp Mather, near Yosemite National Park in California, runs for 4 days around both Memorial Day and Labor Day. Thursday (9/4/09) marks the beginning of the Strawberry's fall festival.

    This fall festival line up is an exciting one for me. It's heavy, as usual, on roots music featuring a lot of folks I've never heard --or even heard of! So I'll be soaking up new (to me) music almost all weekend.

    But the mandolin players, as far ...
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  4. Even at an Outdoor Gig, Power Ain't Everything

    Farmer's Market (Oakdale CA) gig in July. I was playing through my new Marshall G15R CD amp (15w solid state, 8" speaker). I would have taken the Ampeg J12T (15w, 2 EL84s, 12" speaker) but I was told the gig was "acoustic." I did not want to bring too much firepower to the gig and scare the organizers off, so the Marshall ended up in the back of the Prius.

    The gig went really well, and the city of Oakdale hired us back for a late August date. The Marshall, ...

    Updated Aug-31-2009 at 4:01pm by Daniel Nestlerode (short addendum)

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    Gigging
  5. Mandolins at the Healdsburg Guitar Festival

    Some of you mandophiles are probably aware of the Healdsburg Guitar Festival. Every two years Luthiers Merchantile International of Healdsburg CA puts on a convention and exhibition for guitar luthiers. A few hundred one-man (or very small shop) builders bring examples of their work hoping to sell or take orders from custom instruments. LMI also hosts discussion panels and luthiery lectures for builders. For players, they offer instrument demonstrations of the exhibiting builders' work, a cabaret ...
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  6. Studio Log: Señor Circus Aug 6-9, 2009; Acoustic and Elec. Mando

    I am thinking a stripped down approach is a good one for this installment. So much went on during this long weekend that writing it all down here in prose is impractical and will make for less than riveting reading. With that in mind I’ve decided to share the Studio Log I created. But to add some interest I have included notations where and when interesting parts occurred or insights were gained.

    Personnel
    o Tim Lechuga, AKA Señor: Bandleader, producer, acoustic guitar, ...
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    Recording Sessions
  7. Playing Electric in an Acoustic Setting

    [This past weekend, I was working in the studio (Blue Dragon Studio) with Señor Circus and kept a log. I wrote down a bunch of thoughts and will share them with you as I get them together. As a bit of a warm up –writing is a process as much as music is—I thought I would share my thoughts about playing electric in an “acoustic” setting.]

    Studio work this past weekend was punctuated pleasantly by a pair of two set gigs. The first was on Friday evening at Billy Goats Tavern, the second ...

    Updated Aug-10-2009 at 6:06pm by Daniel Nestlerode (Clarity)

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    Gigging
  8. Going into the Studio

    Bandleader, Tim, of Señor Circus has booked time at a recording studio way up north near Mount Shasta CA. Both Tim and the engineer want me to bring "everything." "Everything?" says I. "Everything" says Tim.

    The engineer is apparently excited to see how I got such a convincing Santanaesque tone without a guitar. He also wants to see the mandocaster. Plus we'll be doing a couple of acoustic gigs in the area. So...

    Two amps, two emandos, ...
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    Recording Sessions
  9. Converting an Epiphone Mandobird into a Mando(la)bird

    I bought this Epiphone Mandobird new in 2005. Musician's Friend was selling off their stock of gold sparkly and seafoam green models. The cool to cash ratio was extremely high because the price was so low.

    After playing with it for a little while I decided that the E string was too quiet. And because I'm not handy with a soldering iron, I decided to resting and reintonate for mandola tuning rather than buy 1k pots and install them.

    Mandola tuning has another advantage ...
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  10. Ode to a <gasp> 12 String Guitar

    I bought it new in 1990 from a little shop in Davis, California that no longer exists called plainly enough, Davis Music. It shipped in from St. Louis on special order. It was magnificent, my first new guitar. But it was summer and St. Louis is very different in the summer from Davis. The neck settled and the 12th fret sprung within 2 weeks. But a trip back to the shop and a visit with their luthier set it right.

    It was my main guitar for 7 or 8 years. Gigged with it in dozens ...

    Updated Aug-01-2009 at 2:27pm by Daniel Nestlerode (added photos)

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