Thursday 13: Martin Guitars

In Nazareth, PA, the Martin Guitar Company builds guitars for those of us who like to do a little strumming.

Martins are terribly expensive guitars, though. I don't own one.

Anyway, we toured the finishing factory. It was a one hour tour and with my health issues I was a whipped by the time we finished.

What we saw was how a guitar is made.

This is the exterior of the Martin Guitar Company. It says "established in 1833" on the front there.

 

This cutout shows you the parts of the guitar - the top assembly, anyway.

 

Before a piece of wood is cut into the well-known guitar shape, it is thoroughly checked both by laser and visual inspections for blemishes or thin spots. Wood that does not meet quality standards is not used.

 

This is a display of how they bind the sides together, using clothespins, after the wood has been shaped in a days-long process.

 

Lots of guitars. They try to put out nearly 200 guitars a day.

 

 

This is what  a guitar looks like without the neck, polish, or decoration.

 

Our tour guide explained how the fret boards are placed on the guitar necks.

 


This man was inspecting the guitar for quality. The guitars are checked at every step.

 

These are guitar necks, which will be fixed to a guitar body. Some are fixed with machines; others by hand. The ones done by hand can take about an hour to place properly. These, of course, are custom guitars and expensive.
 

 

A display showing the guitar and how it is put together.

 

Guitars that have been stained and polished await additional work.

 

I like the sunbursts. (The reddish looking ones).

 

The factory was huge. It took us over an hour to tour it.

 

This robot polishes guitar bodies to a high sheen.

 

Martin also has a factory in Mexico which is making cheaper guitars. They are not made from real wood but instead are created from composite wood. I played the small one (second from the tour guide's hand - that other thing is called a backpacker) and personally found it lacking in tonal quality.

The guitars made in Mexico have an "X" in the model number and range from $429 to $879 and up. The guitar *I* would like to have (if I could find one to play first) is an OO-18 Authentic 1931 made of genuine mahogany that looks to be about the same size as the small cheaper guitar that I played. The OO-18 has a price tag of (gulp) $7,499. So there is a big difference in price between an "X" guitar and a non-X Martin guitar.

A Martin Dreadnought D-455 Authentic 1936 made of Brazilian rosewood sells for (big gulp) $59,999.  And custom guitars sell for much more than that. I suspect noted musicians routinely come in there and pay $100,000+ for specialized instruments.

More on guitars tomorrow. They also had a museum, and I will show pictures from that.

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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 468th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday. 

The Crooked Road

In far southwestern Virginia, there is a "trail" called The Crooked Road. It runs through 19 counties and 54 towns, and starts in Franklin County. It totally misses most of the Roanoke Valley, though, and runs south of the city.

As you can see, it follows a path from Rocky Mount, down into Floyd and makes it way around to the camel's head part of Virginia. There are not many cities down in those directions, though there are lots of towns and communities. Here is another website about it: Click This Link.

Roanoke has an interesting music scene; I don't know why it is not a part of this trail. Maybe it is not rural enough.

In any event, the Blue Ridge Institute and Museum, which is located at Ferrum College, has a display about The Crooked Road.

Over the weekend, we took a ride to the Institute to see what we could see.

The Crooked Road exhibit was mostly placards with information about various types of music and some famous musicians that lived in the communities along The Crooked Road. You may be familiar with Ralph Stanley and June Carter Cash, to name two.

The display was nicely done, with lots of information and photographs.

 

I confess I was a little disappointed that there were no actual musical instruments in the room.

 

However, if one had the time, there was plenty to read and study.

 

Virginia has a deep history of music, with roots in Irish, German, and Scottish sounds.

 

Virginia's music is one of banjos, dulcimers, ballads, and blues.

 

Some of the sounds were heard all over the nation.

 


Bluegrass didn't have its own festival until 1965.

 

Gospel, bluegrass, country music, folk songs -
Virginia is for music lovers.
 

We enjoyed our tour. The Blue Ridge Institute was smaller than we anticipated and the room with The Crooked Road exhibit in it did not seem to be well humidified. I had hoped to see a collection of musical instruments - old guitars, dobroes, banjos, tambourines, harmonicas, or whatever - but none were in sight. The docent on duty said they had a large collection of items in storage; it is a shame they could not be displayed.

Rocky Mount now has a new place for musicians called the Harvester Performance Center, and it is attracting many recognizable names to its performances. It seems to be quite the draw for local folks interested in music.

Anyway, take a jaunt along The Crooked Road sometime - I don't know what you'll hear, but I imagine it will be genuine.

Ear Worm in My Mind

For reasons known only to the interworking of my brain, I have had two Five for Fighting songs stuck in the my head for well over a week now.

The songs are 100 years and Superman.

Interestingly, on the first song, I can't find an agreement on the lyrics. The words are all over the place in a couple of stanzas.

On the official video, it says, for example:

I'm 33 for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm a they
A kid on the way, babe.
A family on my mind

But other lyric spots on the Internet say this:

I'm thirty three for a moment
Still the man, but you see I'm of age
A kid on the way
A family on my mind
I have no idea which is right, although I tend to go with the version on the official video because, well, it's official. However, the second version actually makes more sense to me.

In Superman, there are a couple of lines on the official version that say this:

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve
I'm just out to find
The better part of me

That version doesn't go on to give the full song. So later there is a stanza that says this;

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve
Men weren't meant to ride
With clouds between their knees
But I tend to hear it as

I can't stand to fly
I'm not that naïve
Men weren't meant to ride
on suicide machines.

I know that the latter one is wrong and something coming out of my little pea brain, but it also makes perfect sense to me. For some reason, it makes me think of 9/11.

So why are these songs stuck in my head?

The first one is about aging and growing old, something which seems to be weighing on me here at the half-time of my life, as the song calls it. Then I'll be 67, just like that. Whoosh - time moving on. Plus, 100 years is a long time to live. Only a fortunate few get to do that and still have their wits and body working. The idea of being old and just a body without a brain scares the bejeezus out of me.

As for the Superman song, I think it's the line, "it's not easy to be me" that has that refrain running through my head. I'm having a difficult time right now; I can't get my pain levels under control, and I am feeling rather frustrated. If I sit around and do nothing, I don't hurt so bad, on the one hand, but on the other, it makes other body parts start to degenerate. And then everything kind of hurts.

At least the two songs are alternating back and forth in my head, so I'm not stuck on just one ear worm.

My New Mini

While we were in Charleston, I found a guitar store that carried a small-bodied guitar I'd been looking at online.

It's called a Taylor GS Mini. It's a high-end student guitar, much better than something you would pick up at Walmart, anyway. I'd been checking forums online and the Taylor had been highly recommended as having a clear, crisp sound considering its size. If you follow the link, you'll see it's not that expensive for a guitar.

However, I wanted to play one before I made the purchase. I seized the opportunity while we were out of town, and ended up buying it.

The guitar has a different look than most western-style instruments. This one has a mahogany color. It sounds nice, though it has taken me a while to adjust to the smaller fret board.




My new little baby.



My new baby next to my Takamine classical parlor-sized guitar. It's just a little smaller than it's older sister. Note
the difference in the size of the neck and the fret board.

Many guitars come in what they call a "dreadnaught" size. I simply can't play them well because I can't hold them. I also have trouble reaching around them because I have problems with my back. They are big guitars.

This little mini seems to be working out well, and I am playing more. That was the goal, to play more. I used to enjoy making music but had let that get away from me during life's other pursuits. Now I'm hoping to return making lovely sounds.

Thursday Thirteen

Today I'm going to talk about guitars. I've been playing the guitar since I was around 12, but I have gone through long spells of not playing at all. Sometimes years. Then I pick it back up and play a while. However, I do not play as well as I once did because I don't practice.

There are many brands and types of guitars. No one likes the same thing, and everyone has a different opinion as to what is best. I think you get what you pay for in a guitar, generally, and so the more money you can put into an instrument, the better the quality of sound as well as ease of play. You can buy guitars from $100 to $10,000 and up.

In my dotage, I prefer a small-bodied acoustic guitar (which seem to be difficult to find in my area). I have back problems and the larger dreadnaught body acoustic guitars are hard for me to handle. Electric guitars, too, no longer interest me because they are too heavy for me to hold.

You can click the links to find out more about the guitar brands if you want.

1. Gibson. I learned to play on a small Gibson (I don't remember what style), and I think highly of Gibsons, particularly with higher end models. Gibson is famous for its Les Paul brand, an electric guitar that most musicians play at one time or another. If I were going to purchase a new guitar, I think I would like the Gibson L-00, a 12-fret red spruce limited edition small-body guitar (priced at $2,799). However, I've not had my hands on one and I won't make such a purchase without playing the instrument first. Gibson has been around since 1902.

2. Yamaha. I have a small bodied Yamaha FG-150 that my grandfather gave to me in 1981. The guitar needs a new set of tuner keys and new strings and it's pretty beat up. Yamaha has been around since the late 1880s, but it has been in the US since about 1960.

3. Takamine. The guitar I play the most these days is a classical Takamine that I purchased myself about 25 years ago. (I can't believe I've had that guitar that long.) It has excellent sound quality and I get a lot out of it for what it is. It is a mid-line guitar, not the best, but not the worst, either. Takamine has been around since 1959.

4. Alvarez. I took my nephew guitar shopping about 8 years ago and he chose an Alvarez to take to college with him. I don't know if he ever really learned to play it or if he even still has it. Alvarez has been around since 1965.

5. Gretsch. My father had a big orange Gretsch electric guitar. It was huge and much too large for me to play. Gretsch has also been around since the 1880s.

6. Taylor. I had never heard of this guitar until I saw a youtube video of a girl playing one. I loved the sound of it. I wouldn't mind having one of these little beauties. They can be incredibly expensive, running in the $9,000 range, although Taylor has a little GS Mini guitar for about $600 that I would like to see up close and personal one of these days.

7. Martin. To be honest, I don't know of anyone who doesn't love a Martin and think it's one of the better guitar brands out there. I would certainly like to have one (apparently I want them all, don't I?). Martins appear to have been around forever, at least from the timeline on the website. It starts in the 1700s!

8. Epiphone. My parents gave me an electric Epiphone in 1977 and I still have it and always will even though I can't hold it anymore to play it. It looks exactly like a Les Paul and frankly it plays better than some Les Paul's I've played. Epiphone has been making instruments since the 1870s.

9. Ovation. Ovation guitars used to be rounded back and plastic, or at least the one I owned was. I traded it on the Takamine because I couldn't hold on to it to play it. Ovation has been around since 1966. I haven't seen a new Ovation in years but from the look of the website, the guitars have changed quite a lot.

10. Fender. The Fender Stratocaster is a famous model of electric guitar, probably second only to the Gibson Les Paul (in my opinion) in terms of playability. Buddy Holly played a Stratocaster.

11. Ibanez. I have never been a fan of Ibanez, but all guitars deserve a second look every now and then. They've been around since 1958.

12. Guild. This is not a guitar brand I'm overly familiar with, but I noticed some of the local dealers are carrying it. They've been around since 1952. The acoustic guitars look nice in the pictures. Next time I'm in a store I will have to play one and see how they sound.

13. Blueridge. This is another brand that I've seen in the local stores. I've played one a time or two and thought they were okay for a lower-end model. I am seeing more and more of them, though. Apparently they are built by a company called Saga, which has been around for about 35 years.



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Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here if you want to read other Thursday Thirteens and/or play along. I've been playing for a while and this is my 408th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Dear Guitar

To my dear guitar,

I just wanted to let you know how much you mean to me, my Takamine beauty. You have a wonderful sound and I use you for more than the classical music you were made for.

With your versatility, I can jam and rock out all I want. It helps, of course, that no one is listening, but even so, you hold a special place in my heart because you allow me a different mode of creativity.

My Takamine, you are also the first guitar that I picked out for myself. Prior to you, my guitars had been given to me by others, but you, my dear, were my choice. I remember sitting down in the Fret Mill in downtown Roanoke over 20 years ago and playing you. Your neck felt good, I loved the feel of the nylon strings, and I even liked the fact that as a classical guitar you lacked the little neck markings of a western. That meant I'd really have to learn the fret board if I wanted to play you well. I loved the smaller body and your gorgeous sound.

Over the years, you've developed a little bend in the neck and the strings do not lay quite so well near the guitar body as they once did, slowing the action of the neck, but that only shows you've aged well. You're not marred with scars or other markings because I've taken good care of you, though there are places where I've played you so much that you can see where I've touched you. I've given you polish and shine, changed your strings, and lovely caressed you, much as I might caress the cheek of a lover.

My fingers find their places on your neck without my thinking of it, and then sound rings out softly or strongly, depending on my mood and my song. You have hummed quietly while I worked out the chords to a new song, or attempted a different strumming rhythm. You've patiently sat there while I wrote the words to my own songs, few though they are.

You have caught my tears when I've sang Starry Starry Night, a Don McLean tune that always makes me cry. You've felt the beat of my heart as I've driven home the last refrains of Stairway to Heaven. You've winced, I'm sure, as I've attempted Sweet Home Alabama and never yet successfully figured it out.

My dear, sweet, lovely guitar, you have and continue to bring me much joy. You sit patiently, sometimes for months, until I remember you, and you are always there. Sometimes you've gone a little moody on me and are a little out of tune - weather will do that - but with a twist of a key, you forgive me and the sounds again sing out.

You know, my dear little guitar, that I am not and never will be, the most accomplished of players. I am dabbler, a jill-of-all-trades, but I love you as an instrument and as an extension of my soul. I hope, my little Takamine, that you have enjoyed your time with me, and will continue to be my darling little guitar, always.

My sweet little guitar.

Scarborough Fair

Thursday Thirteen

I am happy that young people have their music - I hope they remember it as fondly as I do the music I listened to as a teenager and young adult.

Without further ado, here are some links and embeds of my favorites:

1. American Pie, by Don McLean. This is the song that will make me stop whatever I am doing, and sing along. And yes, I know all of the lyrics.


2. Vincent (Starry, Starry Night), by Don McLean. This song used to leave me sobbing when I heard it in the car.

3. Seasons in the Sun, by Terry Jacks. I remember when this song came out in 1974 (I was 11 years old). I have a vivid memory of my friend Ann and I singing this song together out in the playground at Breckinridge Elementary School and drawing a crowd as we did. In high school, Ann and I ended up in a Top 40 band together. We did not play this song at that time, though.


4. Wildfire, by Michael Martin Murphy. My mother liked this song, too.

5. Time in a Bottle, by Jim Croce. Such a lovely love song.

6. You've Got a Friend, by James Taylor. This song used to make me cry everytime I heard it.


7. Make It With You, by Bread. Another lovely love song.

8. You needed Me, by Anne Murray. This one still makes me cry.

9. You Light Up My Life, by Debbie Gibson. This song was a #1 hit, but it received a lot of bad press at the time, I recall, or maybe just a lot of ribbing from people my age. However, this is the very first song I ever sang in public. My father had a band and they played a dance at Breckinridge Elementary School. I had learned this song on the guitar and was singing it at home, and my father invited me onto the stage to sing it. I nearly passed out from fright but did get through the song.

10. Sugar, Sugar, by the Archies. A fun song, and a great reminder of Saturday mornings and my childhood.


11. You're So Vain, by Carly Simon. One of the first "adult" songs that I understood and related to.

12. We've Only Just Begun, by the Carpenters. I love anything by The Carpenters, but this song is especially lovely.

13. Mandy, by Barry Manilow. This is another song I learned on the guitar and played in public. And I thought Manilow was cute.

To be sure, I know all of these songs to sing and play on the guitar. The Carpenters song and the James Taylor song are the hardest; lots of chords.

Feeling a little nostaligic this morning!



Thursday Thirteen is played by lots of people; there is a list here. I've been playing for a while and this is my 248th time to do a list of 13 on a Thursday.

Music: In Your Dreams

In Your Dreams
Stevie Nicks
2011
13 songs

Music is not something I blog about much, but I love it and I listen to it daily. What I don't do is buy it. I tend to listen to what I already own, turn on the radio, listen to the music on the DirecTV satellite, or listen to Pandora on the PC.

However, Saturday I purchased Stevie Nicks newest CD after reading a review of it in the newspaper. I have always liked Stevie Nicks. I have several Fleetwood Mac albums and a couple of her solo efforts.

This newest album is very smooth. If I wanted to mix it with the music I already own, I would not hesitate to toss it in with my Fleetwood Mac, Melissa Etheridge, and Sheryl Crow albums, for it flows much like their songs do.

My favorite song on this newest album is Annabel Lee, which is taken from the poem by Edgar Allen Poe. How cool is that? Very cool!

Lots of nice guitar sounds, and Nicks hasn't lost a thing with age. Her timeless, haunting vocals are still full and strong.

If you click on the Amazon link, you can hear a preview of the songs. I highly recommend a listen if you're curious. The preview is free, though you might have to poke around a bit to figure out how to make it work.

Blue Christmas

Now that it is officially the Christmas season, I have a confession to make.

I am not that fond of this particular holiday. One reason is my estrangement with my father, which makes the season bittersweet and emotionally tiring.

In fact, when I sing carols, I sing "Deck the halls with Melancholy, fa la lala lalala there's no way I can be jolly..." which always earns me a "tsk tsk" from my husband.

He loves the holiday, so I try very hard to be joyful for him. I don't complain about the tree (if not for him I wouldn't bother) or the wrapping or the cards or the decorating. I do my best to get into it but I usually have at least one meltdown.

When I was a child the holiday was a time of great strife. My parents fought like insane rabid wolves this time of the year; I suppose they were cooped up in the house together too much. When your parents are yelling and throwing things at one another, it does not make for anything other than great trepidation. Certainly it does not lead to much in the way of anticipation when you're more worried if Dad will still be there in the morning than if Santa is coming.

It is cold and I worry a lot about folks who don't have a lot of money. I just know they are suffering.

Also, there is all of this crass commercialism and gimme gimme and I want I want I want, which I find to be a downer. I love to buy things for other people, or make things for them (I make pounds and pounds of fudge and give it away; I do enjoy doing that). But I really dislike being told "I expect this from you" unless I have specifically asked.

My husband has to work Christmas Eve this year. That day has always had more importance to me than the actual Christmas Day, and I enjoy going to the community Christmas service with him. That won't be happening this year.

I won't grumble about it again and from here on you'll probably think I just adore Christmas. I think it is a very sad holiday, though, and I hope I and others remember that many folks get the blues this time of year.

Remembering Karen Carpenter

Karen Carpenter of The Carpenters was one of my favorite singers.

Every year I enjoy hearing her Christmas carols. Her songs remind me of my teenage years. I grew up on this voice. All I wanted to do was sing like Karen Carpenter.

What a shame she was unable to enjoy her work and live to see a long life.

She died at the age of 32 from complications from anorexia. I remember hearing of her death; I was home sick myself with mono at the time.

I have watched footage of Karen in concert. She really seemed happiest when she was playing drums instead of singing. She has a perfect voice, though. I am glad she was able to share it with the world.

The Word is "Joint"

Last night while watching a Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers concert on TV, I noticed the interesting censorship that is going on this silly country.

In the song You Don't Know How It Feels, they messed with this line:

Let's get to the point. Let's roll another ????

WTF? (They do it on the video I linked to above, also.
Here's an uncensored version of the song.)

The censured word is joint. As in a marijuana cigarette. I am about 1000 percent sure that when this song was released in 1994 that the word joint was NOT censured. I wonder if it's censured these days on the radio, too. Maybe they just don't play it anymore.

Let's get to the point. Let's roll another joint.

And what doesn't get censured? What objectionable things did I hear Tom Petty sing about last night that wasn't bleeped out?

How about ... drinking booze and getting into a woman's jeans? It's not okay to roll a joint ... but it's okay to mess around and possibly impregnate a woman. And it's okay to get drunk.

I am so glad we have our priorities straight in this country. (That was sarcasm in case you missed it.)

I suppose this is part of the war on drugs. Another government initiative that has never made sense to me.

No, I don't use drugs but I think the policy of locking up someone for smoking MJ is ridiculous. Europe treats drugs as a health issue, not a criminal one, and I think that is the better way to go about this.

Obviously our way isn't working, so it's time to look to something that seems to be modestly successful.

In the meantime, government and TV and everyone else who thinks they know what is good for me, stop censuring my art. And everything else. What are we, a bunch of wilted flowers?

I hate censorship.