Baby time

Another unplugged weekend, indoors. This Baby Taylor is perhaps one of my most treasured acoustic. Many friends & acquaintances have warned me to steer clear of such novelty instruments; these are not real guitars, they exits to appease a certain segment of the market, they said.

The Baby Taylor is as real as it gets. Yes it might have its niche appeal but I'm extremely happy with its playability & tone. The latter was a surprise package; this guitar delivers tones beyond its ridiculed form. In fact, it's one of the best for those of us who do not have volume projection in mind. It just sounds very lush compounded by the fact that it's a bolt-on make. The slim neck profile is a bonus as well as it induces a very electric guitar playing experience which is something I'm more accustomed to. 

Of course, some fresh strings before playing started. 

Shimmed

This is my AZ2203N in prussian blue finish. This has been discontinued, the remaining finish in the catalog is the seafoam green. I left the default strings in tact since Day 1, those were a set of 10s. I brought this guitar out to have 9s in there instead. If you are interested, this is my personal take on the AZ2203N: CLICK 

After the re-string, the action felt wrong. Wrong here is that discordant feel when things don't go my way. As this is my guitar, it has to conform to my way(s), no compromise. After spending a day with 9s which felt very repulsive & assessing the situation, I decided to shim the pocket. This was the simple remedy that did wonders. The point I'm trying to drive at is this; we sometimes assume that a simple change in string gauge would not cause an adverse reaction to set up but that's quite a grave assumption. I'm not saying there should be a microscopic assessment of things after a change in string gauge but it's definitely a consideration if things don't click as well as before. 

Re-string Friday

Weekend is here! Time to get lost in gear indulgence once more. Of course, for someone like me with very little else to do, this is something to look forward to. The RG550 gets a re-string, GHS 9s this time round.

It also gets a new set set of string lock shafts. These are replaceable so it's something not to get too worked up over when they become rusty / corroded. 

Kiesel joy

Re-string Saturday. 😊

The previous string set in my Kiesel DC was the Elixir with whatever celebrated coating preferred by the masses but not me. I was just enduring them & they felt wrong under my finger tips. This is not a performance appraisal so there's nothing to say about Elixir's durability quotient which is rather renowned by now. 

The substitute strings- a set of 9s by Stringjoy. You won't get this off the shelf, it's strictly an online purchase. It's critical how your preferred string set influence the way you play, regardless of the touted technology surrounding the hype. I'm not putting Elixir down for what they do but they definitely do not address my preference. We have our personal preferences & we are free to choose. 

Re-string: Baby Taylor

Done yesterday at Bukit Panjang for Ms. Sian Ying- Baby Taylor. Re-strung with Ernie Ball's Earthwood set of .011 & it sounded lovely. The instrument badly needed a fresh set of strings but it was well taken care of; no dings, no scratches. I've told my friends to take care of their instruments in terms of handling & this is the reason why- at the end of the day, you only need to attend to the strings as the guitar would be in good shape to love you back. 

Re-string Saturday: Ibanez RG460

The morning was spent re-stringing my Ibanez RG460. It was the most played guitar for the last 2 weeks or so. Those D'Addario .009s are something; they sound real crispy when fresh. This got me playing unplugged for a while, just to enjoy that moment. It's like wearing a nice pair of fresh socks; you just want to keep wearing them till it's time to stop walking. Anyway, I just wanna share the benefits of playing unplugged as a warm up routine (if you want to try something new):

• playing without amplification compels us to pick a little harder to make ourselves heard, especially with a solid body guitar. This would make us pick 'properly', it makes us put in a little more effort & control to discipline our picking hand.
• ditto the fretting hand; we push down our digits harder to make every fretted note heard & not pick a muted note.
• playing without distortion & especially unplugged, makes us think differently. Shredding is pointless because it makes us tired very quickly. We end up playing 'nice', melodic arrangements because we subconsciously tell ourselves to give into a different objective- one which doesn't emphasize technicality but a routine that avoids mistakes.
• finally, when we plug in, we feel things are much easier to play & we continue playing with less tension coming from both hands. We automatically tell ourselves to ease up a little & realize that those moments when we play without a proper/ dedicated warm up session, we were actually exerting more force than necessary. In addition to affecting our motor skills, it's taxing our minds & tired minds manifest more mistakes than the ones in control.

Re-string at CCK: AO

This guitar belongs to a member of parliament here, I worked on it yesterday:

• Fretboard treatment- cleaned + re-moisturized
• Polished frets
• Lubricated nut
• Re-string

The brand- Alpha Omega. If you are of a certain age, you'll remember this brand, don't see it being sold here any more.

The guitar gives off a deep, warm tone. The body here looks big, almost concert-like.

Strings used- Ernie Ball Everlast, coated phosphor bronze\, a set of .011...

Re-string Sunday: Ibanez RGR08

OK this week, it seems that I hate all guitars with more than one pickups (ha!), or maybe I am on a restrictive journey to manifest creativity. More importantly, I gave my Ibanez RGR08 a re-string, an overdue re-string, in fact.

Previously, I had a set of DR colour coated strings in there which lasted forever so a re-string for this guitar was never on the agenda but those strings aren't really immortal, the colour coat flaked off & those exposed portions rust and they must go.Lots of gunk on my fretboard as well so a little cleaning up should go a long way (to playing enjoyment).

Many of you might not be familiar with the non-round wound strings unless you play bass as well. These are basically windings which are flattened & the immediate effect is that you feel the smoothness upon handling. Jazz dweebs might be having flat-wounds in their guitars which are a more extreme interpretation to this technicality, so they don't feel that gap there between the windings. Any other differences to note? Definitely:

1. Flat-wound strings aren't as bright-sounding, this is the reason why jazz players love them for their warmth. Engage your neck pickup & you have some of the smoothest, rounded, warm tones out there.
2. The flatter the winding, the longer your string life. Why? Lesser dirt (or virtually no dirt at all) trapped between the windings.
3. Not as noisy- obviously due to the flatter surface so you won't hear that noise resulting from dragging your fingertips along the string length.

As for me, I'm taming the active pickup's top end by using a less bright set of strings, maybe this might work for you, no harm trying, yes? :-)

Anyone going to Beez's later?

Re-string: Ibanez RGA32

Yesterday's re-string adventure: Ibanez RGA32, this one's mine, of course. I've been playing this guitar for the last few days just to hear those pickups in action & it could use a fresh set of strings. D'Addario .009s in there. I also re-conditioned the body just a little bit...

Re-string/ Set up (Ep 1)

I am still offering this service: CLICK

Brother Koi contacted me on Wednesday to have his guitar looked into but he's at Bt Batok. I have some spare time yesterday so it was no problem at all, we met up somewhere near Bt Batok central to get the job done:

• Re-string
• Fretboard re-conditioned
• Neck bow reduced
• Action lowered

Someone asked me if I differentiate the services offered, ie: Re-string only/ set-up only. If a re-string is done, a quick set-up would be obligatory-  I don't leave you to deal with the quirks of a fresh set of strings, I make sure they conform to the standards before you get your instrument back :-)

If you are in the Bt Batok neighbourhood, I'd be glad to attend to your instruments.