“A Guitar A Day”
Installment #7 – the
American Guitar Continued
Takamine & Godin
Guitars
Wow, the
end of the series is already here! We checked out guitars that went from seven
strings, four pitches and mustaches, to five stringers with wedding cakes, to
six stringers with v shaped necks and pyramids. We took a quick look at the
contributions of guys like Torres and Tarrega, and Perez, Tezano and Ramirez. I
hope you got a chance to check out a few of the videos. Did you see Brent Mason
burn his electric nylon string guitar down to the ground? Oops I spilled the
beans, but don’t worry that video is coming right up! Speaking of electrifying
classical guitars.
My favorite
electric/classical guitar is my Takamine CP-132SC. It’s not high end. I think I
paid $500 for it back in the mid 90’s. But, it’s a working mans’ guitar. It sounds
awesome plugged in, it’s rugged, it holds up to temperature changes like no
other guitar. The expensive guitars are high maintenance. My Takamine is always
there for me day in and day out. This guitar has a cedar top. It sounded great
the first time I played it and 100’s and 100s of gigs later – it still sounds
great! I have played hundreds of gigs on that guitar. I played at the Mayflower
Hotel in Washington DC for three years five nights a week. This guitar has been
the consummate workhorse and has passed every performance test along the way.
I don’t see a serial number. I’m
not sure what year it was built. I did replace the pre-amp on the guitar a few
months ago, but that’s to be expected -
electronics wear out. The new thing on this guitar that we didn’t see on any of
our previous instruments is the fact that there is wood missing from the top
right portion of the body of the guitar. That’s called a cutaway. It allows the
performer to easily stretch their fingers to the end of the fret board. I really
like it. Of course classical guitarists can extend their fingers up the neck of
traditional classical guitars, but the cutaway is awesome for those of us that
do a lot of electric guitar work. Now, I have heard that having a cutaway with
a strictly acoustic classical guitar greatly affects the sound of that
instrument. That makes perfect sense to me, but having a cut away on a gigging
classical guitar for restaurants and theatre gigs also makes sense to me.
And now the Godin ACS slim SA. This
guitar is cool. It has a solid body so no matter how loud you play; you won’t
get any feedback like you might get on an acoustic like the Takamine. The Godin
also has the capability of being played as a midi guitar. There is a midi out
on the guitar that can then be connected to a midi effects rack such as the
Roland GR20. I have included a link for a video where you can learn all about
the capabilities of this awesomely versatile guitar, truly a part of the next
generation of instruments.
It’s perfect for recording and
composing. You can play any line on the guitar and since it records with midi
information you can assign any instrument to the guitar part that you record
such as flute, trumpet, or even an organ. Of course there’s no substitute for
having real players but everyone doesn’t have a budget for hiring musicians and
even if they do hire live musicians for their recordings, the midi is a fantastic
way to sketch out ideas for a variety of instrumental parts. This guitar
provides an incredibly creative outlet for guitar players that they didn’t have
for many years prior, so thank you Godin!
And so this wraps up my very first
blog series! I’ve written inspirational pieces, funny pieces and now a
researched informational series of pieces. What’s next? I have no idea. Stay
tuned. I need to get back to composing in my studio. I have played very little
guitar for the past few months spending a lot of time on the “Waves of Soul”
record release and then I rolled into this blog series. I’ll look to find a
nice balance between music and blogging. I also enjoy doing a bit of teaching
and performing. I’m going to Florida and Mississippi to perform on stage with a
Christmas musical. That will be in a few weeks. It should provide me with some really
interesting material, maybe a travel and life on the road blog. We might even run
into a drummer sault or two along the way (I describe that in on of my older
blogs).
Until next time, surf it mellow my
brothers and sisters!
Brent Mason really leans into his acoustic/electric on this
video!
How to use a Godin Multiac Nylon SA
Takamine is showed above. Below is the Godin.
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