| Author |
Topic: My Low Budget Hawaiian Guitar |
Paul Honeycutt
From:
Colorado, USA
|
Posted 5 Jun 2005 6:45 pm |
|
After a lesson with Chris Kennison a few weeks back, I've begun my C6 studies. I went out and got a couple of sets of strings gauged for C6 and restrung the National New Yorker. After messing with it for a while I've come to realize that that guitar is happier in open E. What to do?
Well, A few years ago I bought a '60's Harmony acoustic that needed a neck set. I've used it for bottleneck playing, but really haven't done much with it. Last week I picked up a Nick Manoloff extention nut on ebay and today I got to work. The first thing I did was to replace the tuners with a set of Grovers that I've had in a box for a long time. A major improvement!
Then I restrung it with electric strings in C6 using the raised nut. The final piece of the puzzle was the pickup. I have a Lace Acoustic soundhole pickup that I've used with this guitar, but it never worked too well with acoustic guitar strings. Now it's doing it's job. No, it's not a Sunrise, but it gets the job done.
Plugging it into my Rivera S120-210 amp with a little delay and chorus it sounds great. Very natural sounding, good sustain and even string volume. I sat and played it for a couple of hours. At some point in time, I'll get a Weissenborn copy, but for now, I have a solid top acoustic that works perfect for my needs. I can play it acoustic for practice or at jams, or plug in and rock out. This is going to be a lot of fun. |
|
|
 |
Jeff Au Hoy
From:
Honolulu, Hawai'i
|
Posted 6 Jun 2005 2:40 am
|
|
| Quote: |
| delay and chorus it sounds great. Very natural sounding |
Just curious, what kind of music are you playing with this? |
|
|
|
Charlie McDonald
From:
out of the blue
|
Posted 6 Jun 2005 6:14 am
|
|
Paul,
I re-assembled an old Fender Kingman and got the same results--warm, sweet sound.
I sold it to finance another guitar, then another. I've got a real steel now, a Dynalap, but miss having that old acoustic.
My advice, keep it around, when you want that particular sound. |
|
|
|
Keith Cordell
From:
San Diego
|
Posted 7 Jun 2005 6:27 am
|
|
That is essentially the setup that Kelly Joe Phelps uses to play his lap style stuff, with a Gibson acoustic converted. Sounds real interesting, I might find one and do that myself.
------------------
Rickenbacher T-Logo Bakelite lap steel, Peavey Delta Blues, Proco Rat, Lap Dawg bar
|
|
|
|
David Doggett
From:
Bawl'mer, MD (formerly of MS, Nawluns, Gnashville, Knocksville, Lost Angeles, Bahsten. and Philly)
|
Posted 7 Jun 2005 7:13 am
|
|
| Believe it or not, some of Elmore James early electric slide blues hits were done with an acoustic flat-top with a sound-hole magnetic pickup. If you get a copy of his complete set, there are several pictures of him with this rig at the time he made his early hits. Not that this has anything to do with Hawaiian lap steel, but it is the same idea. I'm sure most of Elmore's later electric slide immitators never had a clue this is how it was done in the beginning. |
|
|
|
Paul Honeycutt
From:
Colorado, USA
|
Posted 7 Jun 2005 6:31 pm
|
|
Jeff,
I'm going to be playing all kinds of music on it, but I'm trying to learn Hawaiian guitar. The chorus and delay were kind of an experiment. Usually, I just add a little reverb, but the amp has a built in chorus and I keep a delay in the loop. But they sounded pretty good. Kind of like what David Lindey does when he plays in the duo. |
|
|
|
