I'm Done

Bill McCloskey · Posted 16 Jun 2010 4:20 am

No, not what you think....

I'm done with my search for the ultimate jazz instrument. My ultimate jazz instrument. After much search, I've found the perfect instrument: The Clinesmith 8 string. One of the finest instruments I've ever had the privilege to own.

I've found the perfect tuning, making the final tweek last night when I changed out the top string from a G to a D: low to high: A C# E G A C E D.

I've added a 3rd finger pick for four note chords.

I want to play without a volume pedal. Just me, the guitar, and an amp (although I can see some continued search for the perfect amp).

I know what I want to play: jazz. Nothing but jazz.

As a result, I've decided to sell all my other instruments (except my Oahu Diana which I'll never sell), and dedicate what's left of my life to playing the music I love.

For me, focusing on jazz on lap makes perfect sense. Jazz does not have the built in age discrimination that other music's have from a performing standpoint. Look at Les Paul. There are a million places to play jazz in New York, from bars and restaurants, to performing venues.

From now on, the equipment search, the tuning search, the repertoire search is all behind me.

I can't wait to play this instrument each morning I wake up, and when I get home in the evening.

Hope to post some audio clips soon. Not ready yet, but getting there.

George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

Bill McCloskey · Posted 16 Jun 2010 5:16 am

You hit it on the nail George.

J. Wilson · From: Manitoba, Canada

'Gratz Bill! I salute your determination. I, myself, am heading in a similar direction, however, I want to familiarize myself with a few other styles on the way there in the interest of technique and theory. Especially since I have come from a classical and rock background.

Please let me/us know when you commence the sales of your instruments.
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Laurence Pangaro · From: Brooklyn, NY

Hi Bill,

Your excitement is quite palpable indeed! Congratulations. I think you'll be inspiring many of us to seek out our ideal instrument or at least upgrade.

I have a question about this tuning. That D on top (which I'm assuming is a whole step below the second string), is it there primarily for harmonic purposes or is there some melodic advantage to be found here?

(It'd be lovely to hear from others using similar tunings as well.)

ciao,
Laurence

Mike Neer · From: NJ

I use that tuning on one neck of my Fender, but I put the D as the second string. I found it to be more more functional there for single note playing and for other reasons.
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Bill McCloskey · Posted 16 Jun 2010 9:02 am

Lawrence,

You asked the same question I asked yesterday: the function is melodic for me so far. Having that second available on the same bar line as my triad is really helpful for lead work.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 16 Jun 2010 9:03 am

Mike, you have to get used to the out of order placement, but it isn't hard, as I'm sure you know.

Laurence Pangaro · From: Brooklyn, NY

So is the out of order stringing of some particular interest melodically or is it just to allow you to have the second on top without changing the normal C6 chord shapes?

Maybe when I eventually get an 8 string I'll try an F# on the top of my current E13 tuning.

LP

George Piburn · From: The Land of Enchantment New Mexico

Bill McCloskey · Posted 16 Jun 2010 9:35 am

Well, there you go.

Thanks for all the tips George!

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

For me, the main advantage of the re-entrant tuning is that the C and E strings are adjacent so I can play them both at the same fret while playing a fret lower on the G string.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 16 Jun 2010 9:59 am

Earnest Bovine · From: Los Angeles CA USA

Thanks; this non pedal stuff is fun and feels like exploring new territory to me, even tho I know that the old timers worked thru all this stuff many years ago.

Don Kona Woods · From: Hawaiian Kama'aina

Guy Cundell · From: More idle ramblings from South Australia

Ok. Count me in.

It is with quite a degree of reluctance that I abandon the high G as my stock tuning. Why? Because of a bucket full of arrangements that I am using and a new approach to be sorted out but it is hard to discount the accumulated wisdom above. It has made me reevaluate.

Immediate advantages:
1) Sound. I get it now. The high G is just to weak.
2) Melodic. I keep struggling with the Major third interval between C and E which so often demands a 2 fret movement. Problem solved.
3) Uniformity. The D now provides a major (or minor) pentatonic scale on a straight bar as does the Morrell E13. This is a welcome measure of uniformity whereby ideas can flow from one tuning to the other. Before this they have seemed completely different to me.

I have done a lot of work on chord voicings and voice leading in C6th with high G but when I go back and look at my work I find that while I have found plenty of voicings that incorporate the high G, not that many seem 'keepers'.

Back to the drawing board. Time to start again incorporating the D.

Edited a few weeks later: Went back to the high G as stock tuning. The D takes quite a lot of getting used to and I find that I do miss the G. For me the D will be a long term project.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 29 Jun 2010 3:59 am

Just realized that if I move the high A string up to a Bb, I have the leavitt tuning under my fingers, with a couple of string jumps.

Bill McCloskey · Posted 10 Jul 2010 6:05 am

As I progress on this lap steel journey, I made some more adjustments. Started using a much heavier bar, which is the last step moving away from dobro style playing towards a different, more interesting way of playing. The heavier bar just seems to bring out more overtones in the Clinesmith.

And I just started playing without picks. It is very freeing to just play with bare fingers and for the jazz stuff I'm trying to do, it is great for finger blocking to create clean sounds. Very wes montgomery sounding.

Still working on All the Things you ARe.

Jesse Adams · From: Orlando, Florida, USA

In your search for the perfect amp you should try to find an old Gibson BR9. I have one that was made in 1948 and it's the perfect amp in my opinion, warm, smooth. I play guitar and steel through it and it's perfect for jazzy stuff!
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Bill McCloskey · Posted 11 Jul 2010 3:50 am

Just bought a Gibson Skylark GA-5 which has that quality. Can't wait until I get it next week.

Dom Franco · From: Beaverton, OR, 97007

Bill;
I as well as many others, as we have read, applaud your ideas.
I have always played with 3 fingerpicks and a thumbpick, even on pedal steel. But I may try bare fingered, even though it kinda hurts my thumb.

I have been playing more and more jazz standards as well. Three chord songs seem pretty boring to me now.
Although I end up playing a lot of requests for Hawaiian, Country and folk songs...

Dom Franco Smile

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