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Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | Bill,that is an interesting comment, that a guitar sounds better the more it is played. in another post i mentioned that i thought something from a previous owner stayed with some guitars and this might be what it is. i can understand the changes caused by wood aging, but do the vibrations from playing or handeling and maintaining account for the sound change caused by playing? |
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Location: NJ | I think alot of it come from the physical characteristics of the materials (woods, lacquers, etc.) just "mellowing" and having the ability to "breathe" more.
I just saw an ad in AG magazine (I forget the manufacturer) and sales "pitch" was that they use the same type of lacquer that's used on fine violins and (like violins) the older they get, the better they'll sound.
Has anyone ever heard/played an Olson?
Made by some guy in St. Paul, MN.
Highly touted by both James Taylor and David Crosby.
Supposed to REAL nice, but I've never seen one, though. |
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Location: NJ | unfortnately the Adamas is a new phenomena in the world of guitars. Time will hold the only true answer to our questions regrding tone.
Elias I will buy you a goodall for #31 and hopefully you will grow old with it and witness the tone maturing.
Cliff
thanks for your kind words re my elliott randall interview. Eliott is a great guy and we keep in touch occasionally over the phone or via e mail we keep missing each other but swear that we will meet up for lunch or something some day at a Namm show or something.
I am a big steely dan fan and love his work with them I was aware of his work in the Pit for Jesus Christ Superstar.
Eliott is a really nice guy and very talented. I hope that some day we have the opportunity to meet. Maybe one day I will get all my interviews etc published in some book form too. who knows stranger things have happened.
[ April 04, 2002: Message edited by: alpep ] |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | I would much rather buy a 40 year old Martin that was played every day than one that lived in a closet. (Actually I'd but both and flip the unplayed one for big bucks, but that's a different scenario) The one I'd want to play is the one that was played. They're broken in, they just sound better, they feel better. Do I have scientific evidence? no. It's just been my experience that the played guitars sound better. The same holds for soild bodies, strats and less pauls, why wouldn't it be true for Adamii as well? |
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Location: Scotland | Adamii, So that's the plural af Adamas. I once had two Musicman amps. Did I have 2 musicmans or 2 musicmen? I could never work that one out. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Good question
maybe 2 music peoples amps? that way you're politically correct while you're at it. |
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Location: NJ | musicman - music persons |
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Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | bill, do you think that the same thing re better sound from a played guitar would apply to a ukII as well or is it something to do with the wood. i too have felt that a frequently played guitar had something special going for it. i just thought it was something left over from a 60's love in and figured it was me. so it is interesting to find someone else who has handled more guitars in a week than i have total with a similar opinion.
that would be a great new job!! for those rich execs who dont have time to play that new adamas but want that well played sound. send them to dr musicamex's tropical guitar spa for a weekly therapy session. optional stage and applause exposure at additional cost. closet guitar specialist.
i can see this really taking off and will probably need several employees----------or is that the 60's coming through again? |
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Location: NJ | russ;
My resume amd application are on their way to you post haste (on the next mail burro)! |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Russ, If nothing else the neck would feel better after years of use. I've also heard of people putting their guitars out on a stand and putting a transistor radio, turned on, down inside the guitar and just let it play. Whatever...... |
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Location: SoCal | On this same note, I read an article a few years ago in a guitar magazine about a company that had developed a machine which produced loud noise and vibration, and which could literally break in a new guitar in a matter of hours. They claimed that it was the equivalent of years of playing and made the guitar sound better. Haven't seen anything on it since. Who knows?
Reading about all these slot head Adamii, my only hope is that these guitars get played on a regular basis. What a crime it is when a rare and wonderful guitar sits in it's case all day long.
Therefore, cwk2, if yours is in the closet and you'd like to find a good home for it where it will be played and cared for........
[ April 05, 2002: Message edited by: moodypi ] |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Moodypi,
all too true but then I've got a bunch sitting in the closet so I'm guilty on many counts. Then again, it's so hard to get rid of some things, these are after all emotional decisions, not really logical decisions. |
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Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | if it is noise and vibration, my guitars have gotten alot of experience since they have come to mexico. mexico is the king of third world countries in their appreciation of volume and chaos. we get to a crowded beach with a high decibel level and go "oh shit" while the mexicans say "que bonito" or how beautiful. to them, our ideal deserted quiet beach would be "muy triste" or very sad. even in metropolitan los angeles i have a hard time sleeping these days because it is too quiet.
bill, you gave me an excellent idea. instead of a transistor radio, i could put a little tape recorder in my guitar for those slow late sets. i could be giving my guitar the necessary attention while taking a nap behind sunglasses. by the time the 4th set rolls around most of the audience are too close to the worm to notice anyway. "damn, that guy is fast---hardly looks like he's moving". AND no mistakes!!! last night there were over 50 people standing! a wild night. the season is coming to an end and everyone is wringing the last little bit of fun out of it. |
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Location: NJ | Paul, I've actually heard that very same machine!
Here in "metro NY", it's called "57th & 7th at about 4pm on a Friday". It also serves as a method for testing loose teeth!
My slothead sits on a stand safely tucked between two bookcases gets at LEAST 15 mins. of "exercise" a day, gets it's strings changed enough to one day cause a "phosphor bronze" shortage, and gets occasional (as I've stated in another post) "audience exposure" when conditions are deemed "safe" enough. In fact, tonight after work I've got an acoustic duo gig, and tomorrow a "full blown" band gig at some redneck bar in the "hinterland" of northern NJ (where she'll abide safely at home). A couple of my friends are "appauled" that I take it "out" from time to time, but it's an INSTRUMENT. It was designed to be PLAYED (maybe I'm sharing some of Russ' "60's mentality").
ps: I'm in the process of composing my "Virtues of the Slothead Adamas" letter to Acoustic Guitar magazine. |
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Location: UK | There is definately something about wood in a regular played guitar.
My old Fender 12 string when i used to play it daily about 7 to 10 years ago, used to "Sing", i was in a friends studio one day and strumming a certain sequence of chords, there was a harmonic resonance in the background, a little like an accompaning vocal, it astounded everyone present.
I then hung up the Fender until this year, when im just starting to get into playing again,(and this time properly :rolleyes: ) it just hasnt got that tone anymore, i changed strings and all sorts, its just sorta dead :( |
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Location: SoCal | I agree with what's been said here. You've got to play guitars, even old valuable guitars. That's what they were made for.
And cwk2, I was just teasing a little a while back. Even tho' I wish you'd just send me (out of charity -- hey, I don't have any money, I'm just a small time thug!), one of your slot heads or your Elite prototype, I know how hard it is to part with guitars. I've got an Ovation classical with action that's impossibly high. If I was smart, I'd sell it (got an old Country Artist that is my main nylon string) and buy something different, like a 97 Collectors. Can I bring myself to sell the classical? Hell no. Stupid, stupid, stupid.
Now, having said all that about how guitars need to be played, I think I'll go pull out the family heirloom, a 1914 Martin 00-18 that was my uncle's and his uncle's before him. THAT guitar, I'm just the caretaker for.
Paul |
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Location: puerto vallarta, mexico | paul, it seems a guitar almost 90 years old would fall apart if you played it. maybe the horses they made the glue from were better back then. i have an 00-18 ny 53 years newer. |
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| My favorite slot head adamas is the one that is or was, I havent seen it lately. In engineering at ovation. Clean as a whistle. loud as foof. |
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Location: 6 String Ranch | Loud as FOOF? Ques Que Phok? (Pardon my French) Was that one an acoustic or acoustic electric? |
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Location: Chicago | Paul, it looks like both 51 & 57 went to Wings, so it's 50/50 that you saw the same one that samova has!
Speaking of Wings; I'm seening Macca's concert this Wednesday & Thursday. Wonder if I'll see an Adamas! |
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Adamas Slothead s/n list, The Final Word
