Lunch Report 30/4/13 - Which would you pick?

Hello Folks,

Haven't eaten any lunch yet, but it seems likely to be some fruit and cheese today, after I get back from the impending gym session. The good news is I got a call back from an interview yesterday, so everything is looking swell.

Something new?

Yesterday I poked at some things I would like to see from G&L, and it turns out I am not entirely alone, just mostly alone. Which leads to my ridiculous request of the day, I would like to see a 7 string single coiled out MFD beast. Like a S-500 or the like. That would bring me back in a real hurry. There is kind of a void there in the market (albeit a very small one), that is not filled by the humbucker excessive domain that is extended range. I enjoy having the 4 or 5 extra notes at my fingers all the time, and feel like it can open up some fun chordal movements. I am not the modern chuggy type by any means, I picked up a 7 because I found myself writing with the range of the instrument limiting on occasion. The same reason that I got a 6 string bass really. Maybe I've got it all mixed up, playing the bass 'too high' and the guitar 'too low', but I am not about the change that now.

So a single coiled out 7 string MFD beast... That would be stellar. Toss on a oil finish neck to trump satin and I might be in heaven, but I am becoming less caring of that with time. As long as it isn't sticky I can't pretend to care. Some companies, like Carvin have necks finishes that are sticky as heck. Others like G&L are fine when they are satin, but the gloss is a deal breaker for me. Companies like EBMM have very nice gloss or satin painted necks, no issues at all from me. All comes down to the finish, material choice on that front seems to be very important to some folks for many reasons, mine is comfort/ ease of playing.

So what, if brought to the front, would you open your wallet for in a heart beat from G&L? There is mine.

Picking up on something

Picks, picking, and picks! Such a wonderful topic, and I am a bit of a kook when it comes to which ones I like. For a few years I played a thin agate pick, and was doing just fine. The chirp wasn't too bad, and I made due. It was balanced and it got away with it. A bit of scratch (ala Gilbert) but I liked it at the time. Then along comes a start up company called Gravity Picks, toting acryllic (much like V-picks), and after trying a few samples I bought more, because they went through the strings with a lot less resistance than the stone I was playing with. These picks just glided through the strings.

After a while I finally settled on a standard sized 'Stealth' 3mm thick (http://gravitypicks.com/picks/stealth/), and this pick is just great. It shows a bit of wear, but it has been in service for 5 months now and is going strong. I had a bit of issue with grip, but nothing some light scoring with a cutting wheel on a rotary tool didn't fix. Even though the pick is fairly thick, I do not have much issues with noise from it at all.

So a few days ago I decided to return to the fold with stone again, maybe this new shape, with a thicker pick. Seemed a logical extension. The picks I got were 4 and 5mm thick, and go through the strings wonderfully. But I can't use them for anything but clean as with gain they chirp like mofos. Any angle, doesn't matter. When you start anything resembling tremoloing picking prepare to have your ears blister. The neck pickup isn't bad at all, but the bridge brings it way too far. I just can't do it. Maybe if I slam a bit of compression I'll be able to balance it out, but I don't like to whip out the pedal board every time I play. So for now, the Gravity picks are winning.

On the horizon, I might buy a very pricey pick, mostly out of curiousity. Have a friend that plays these and swears by them http://hufschmidguitars.bigcartel.com/ . Could be fun, but it is a bit of a gamble as these are certainly some of the more expensive picks I have seen. Having played a bunch of different picks though, when you find something you like, it makes a world of difference. So might be worth the try either way.

What do you pick with, do you care, and are you the adventurous type in that respect?



Vehicles

In this last year I came to a milestone, late by all accounts, in owning my first vehicle. I finally had the means to acquire one comfortably, and took the plunge. I was shopping in the compact - > mid size car market as mileage is pretty important nowadays, and I am cheap. I ended up buying a Mazda 3, over the competition, as something about it just felt a little more fun. This has impacted a lot of things, for the better. Groceries are a piece of cake, and I have a lot more time than when I had to rely on transit. Doesn't even cost much more, in retrospect (for the gas). One of the down sides was I had to change gym's, as the university one had absolutely no nearby parking (convenient) except the over priced university parking. As I wasn't having any of that, and am not a terribly large morning person I found a suitable gym elsewhere. While not as nice, it is not full to the brim of students any time after 9am. Given that I currently have 3 week stints off work, getting up at 5:30 just to hit a workout doesn't agree with my schedule, that early is reserved for things like work to me, I just do not wake up well without absolute necessity. So overall, the car has made life very convenient, but it did require a few changes. Overall for the better.

Would you forsake your car for more 'friendly' modes of transport? I certainly would not.




Have a good day folks.

I don't know about lunch today either. Something new? Maybe an 80's Collection from G&L and bring back some of the craziness... I use a few types of picks and can adjust to about anything. Mazda's a good and all are made in Japan. I don't drive often, but when I do, I like performance and resale value.


Cheers,

Will

Lunch is looking like 1.5 avacado, jarlsberg, a mango, a glass of milk with some protein supplement and maybe some other piece of fruit.

Something new?

ASAT Z-3 or Comache 12-string. I'd sell my Rickenbacker in a heartbeat if a G&L 12 was available.

GG

Something new?

ASAT Z-3 or Comache 12-string. I'd sell my Rickenbacker in a heartbeat if a G&L 12 was available.

GG

+1

An eight string (a 4 with octaves) L-2000 with would go well with a Comanche XII release

elwood

I had leftover Pizza for lunch. It was as good as it was last night.

I can't honestly say what I would like new. I have a lot of options already but if I were looking for something different at the moment, I would probably get a Classic S Launch Edition to match the Launch Asat that I have already. It may be totally different tomorrow. I am finding that I have pretty much everything that I would like. Almost sad isn't it?? I did send in to Ron Kirn on a custom last night and he was back with a price and wait time within 45 minutes. I rarely find anything that interesting that much anymore. I have to admit that some of the recent G&L's have been pretty interesting.

When I was a kid in Northern Minnesota cars were a big thing. I inherited a car from my uncle when I was 18. Boy, did I take care of it. As I got older, cars became a need more than a want. Our lifestyle in the US is not geared around public transportation so it is rare for someone not to have a car. I was still driving my 93 Olds 98 up until last May. I had to get something larger to transport band gear. My Chrysler T&C does a great job of that and made life a lot easier, especially loading and unloading. It get decent mileage on the highway and seems to be very reliable. I use my Gold Wing a lot in the summer when the weather is nice. Speaking of weather, we are supposed to get more snow in the next couple of days. I think that we will have all time records in most of the lakes for the latest ice outs ever. Most lakes are still covered with ice. -- Darwin

i like the cool pick beta 1mm. it has a silicone grip, very sticky, and a very articulate tip. zero noise at any speed. i tried many picks, v picks, blue chip, many expensive picks, and none of them play as well. this is a very stiff pick, glides across the string effortlessly, but has a very definite pick attack, which the thicker picks seem to lack. i like the way v picks play, just not the way they sound. picks make a huge difference in tone, as much as any other singe factor.

Would you forsake your car for more 'friendly' modes of transport? I certainly would not. .

In a heartbeat. Registration costs a heap here, around $600/year for a small car. Add fuel costs, tolls, parking, speeding fines, insurance and repairs/maintenance and it's surprising that they're so popular. Given my close proximity to my place of daily toil, my preferred mode of transport is the bicycle. We also have weather here that's conducive to cycling year round, it might rain and be cold, but it's pretty much never below 0, more often than not winter temps are around 14C. I do have a car but it gets used sparingly - I drive it to gigs and to the market each week and thats about it.

New stuff for G&L - an SC2 with no body contours!

Hi Kyle,

I'd shell out my $$ for a shorter scale SC-2. Tobacco burst or sonic blue with a GOT maple board please.

I've visited cities around the world where I could happily live without a car - mainly European cities. Unless you live in the inner city, you definitely need a car in Melbourne. Our public transport is very good at getting people in and out of the city, but need to get across town? Forget it.

I live only 7 km from work, but it takes 30 minutes to drive there due to traffic, or about 1 hr by bus. I value my life too much to attempt cycling with the B-double trucks and kamikaze drivers Then I have to pick up the kids from school care in the evening. So I resign myself to the high cost of motoring. I have a small Renault hatch that does 50 mpg, so petrol isn't a major cost for me. I have free undercover parking at work which also very convenient. Even though my mates mock me for driving a 'girl's car' I like being able to park in tight spots that SUV drivers can't get near.

Picks: I've been using Dunlop Tortex for the past 15 years. I don't have a favorite thickness. I keep a couple in every guitar case, and if those go away I grab one from a nearby stash. I have to restock about once a year. I just did that last weekend, with about 20 new picks in a variety of colors.

I gave my six year-old a beater short-scale bass for Christmas. He's still too young to learn to play, but I though this would be a good opportunity to get comfortable with holding the instrument and learn how to get sounds out of it. I showed him how to use his fingers to sound notes. Last week he informed me that that he had decided to play with a pick instead, and that he prefers a 1.0 mm thickness ("the blue one", as he put it). Apathy about picks must not be hereditary.

Something new: I would be all over an accurate re-issue of the G-200, or just about anything they might build with a 24.75" scale and MFDs. A baritone would be a no-brainer for me too.

Vehicles: Most of my daily commute is on public transportation. I either drive seven miles to catch a bus into the city, or twenty miles to catch the subway. The subway is always thirty minutes from station to station, but the bus can be anywhere from an hour (minimum) to well over two hours. Bicycling to the bus is not an option, as the only two ways out of my neighborhood are a winding road with no shoulders that is prone to flooding at high tide, or up about a mile of 15% grade.

I've been very happy with my VW Jetta wagon. The diesel engine gets about 40 miles per gallon. I have managed to puncture two tires in the past month though, to the tune of almost $400.

Ken

Been using Herdim picks to my satisfaction for the last decade but I do not care too much.

I would open my wallet in less than a heart beat if G&L would bring that baritone guitar Leo finished on his last day at the factory into production. Also up for the aforementioned 12-strings of which Dean Coy has done at least one (a Z-12) in his skunk work project.

- Jos

Jos - A baritone just might do ti for me too, now that you mention it, could be good fun.

Ken - Funny you mentioned tortex, as I played the blue, 1mm tortex before moving to stone the first time. For them it is mostly a wear issue. I don't like picks wearing out easily. I don't ever take picks to the bass though, as I hate the noise they tend to make (at least in my hands) and the amount of movement required due to the string spacing. My playing style, right down to harmonics (artificial, natural, tapped, etc) rely on me not having a pick in my hand should I choose to employ it on the bass.

Philby - Interesting you mention the fabled transit of European cities, they do seem to have a leg up on N.A, or in your case Australia, but I am willing to be it comes back to the space issue all over again. Maple boards are always a hit in my world.

Jamie - one unfinished SC-2 coming up. We'll just rough cut the body and ship er out. Sounds brutal with costs there, and I complain in Ontario due to private auto insurance costing me a fair bit more than say, British Columbia.

Louis - That pick sounds interesting, is it the polycarbonate models they are selling, currently with the sand grips? I will need to give it a look. I can imagine your experience with V picks is very similar to what I am feeling with these stone ones, from the sound of it.

Darwin - I could make some jokes about you not wanting anything new, but I will respectfully decline . Best of luck procuring some launch editions. I know what you mean about finding stuff that is particularly interested. I am currently quite happy where my stable is at. I noticed I forget to provide a picture today, better give 2 tomorrow I suppose. Being special folks and all. I know what you mean about cars becoming a necessity, but I do like a good drive. The weather is definitely on the odd side this year, southern ontario is turning into the sauna it is though.

Elwood - I think there is a good reason we don't see many 8 string double course basses

GGJaguar - The ever elusive electric 12 string. Could be interesting, but can't say I would be in line.

Will - Sometimes a little crazy can help attract a different eye, which can be good for most any company. Although you do have to hope it pays for itself.

Louis - That pick sounds interesting, is it the polycarbonate models they are selling, currently with the sand grips? I will need to give it a look. I can imagine your experience with V picks is very similar to what I am feeling with these stone ones, from the sound of it.

yes, the beta carbonate model, but with a silicone rubber grip rather than sand. similar material to the dunlop ultex, but with a great grip and a more defined tip.

Something new ? I'd really like if they put MFD humbucker as an option for the ASAT deluxe... You can have it with the F100, but I can't stand that design.

Picks.... I began 20 years ago with yellow tortex. I discovered not so long ago the huge difference pick can make in feel and sound.
I had a love story with a coconut shell Dugain, I really loved the sounds I had with it, but the finger print in it is unbearable.

So.... Back to my black Jazz II and I'm happy with them, and they're cheaper than the Dugain


(Edit) oh, the car.... I have a strictly utility Renault, that car is supra reliable, but the gas runs at 1.6€ per liter, and I have the strict recommandation of doing an endurance sport every day, so I bought a very nice bike ( specialized source comp) and I really enjoy going to work with it, I'm in a joyful mood everytime I ride it

Something new?
A baritone Z-2 (yes, 2) would be really nice. Not for chug, but big piano twang.
To be picked with two bare hands-worth of fingertips and sometimes a Bumblebee thumbpick.
Might need a bigger motor than the OLD Rav4 to get the bari in sideways though!

Elwood - I think there is a good reason we don't see many 8 string double course basses

There aren't many missed guitar buying opportunities that I brood over, but one of them was a fretless Yamaha 8-sting double course that I saw back in the 90s and just couldn't find a way to buy. That thing really sang. If I ever see one again, it's not getting away!

Ken

Been using Herdim picks to my satisfaction for the last decade but I do not care too much.

I would open my wallet in less than a heart beat if G&L would bring that baritone guitar Leo finished on his last day at the factory into production. Also up for the aforementioned 12-strings of which Dean Coy has done at least one (a Z-12) in his skunk work project.

- Jos

Dean had actually completed four of them. That link shows each one.
It's still an ongoing project but has been stalled for some time, trying to work out
tuners. We found some at NAMM which might have some potential and Dean
said he hopes to score some of those tuners and then get another neck from the factory
to try them out. BTW my name is toward the head of the list.