I got into CBGs before I heard of Steve but love his stuff now. I saw him on Jools Holland's New Year shows a couple of times and it blew me away. Just got tickets to see him at Leeds on Jan 27th. Anyone been to his live shows yet?
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It always pays to experiment !
One of my crazier experiments has been to mount the pickup to slide on a couple of brass rails and then use a kind of 'whammy bar' type of lever to move the pickup back-and-forth along the rails. I eventually abandoned the idea as it was too prone to rattles and I couldn't figure out a way of using it successfully in a performance.
If you combine the sounds from one moving and one fixed pickup - or have two pickups moving in opposite directions - then you can get some interesting changes in the sound as different harmonicw come in and out of phase at different pickup separations.
Thanks Kevin. I admit I hadn't checked where the pickups on a strat were placed - now it all kind of makes sense. I'd been meaning to try rigging up a guitar with some sort of arrangement like that to experiment with pickup positions but haven't got around to it. As with so many things in life, someone else did the hard work first.
Kevin Lawton said:
Yes, you are rght about that pickup position. It is about the same place as the middle pickup on a Fender Strat or Burns Marvin - and many other guitars also. One of my guitars has just a single magnetic pickup which sides on rails between the bridge and the end of the fret-board, and there is a strong 'presence' to the 'voice' of the guitar when the pickup is at about that position.
Yes, you are rght about that pickup position. It is about the same place as the middle pickup on a Fender Strat or Burns Marvin - and many other guitars also. One of my guitars has just a single magnetic pickup which sides on rails between the bridge and the end of the fret-board, and there is a strong 'presence' to the 'voice' of the guitar when the pickup is at about that position.
Junk Box Instruments said:
Thought I'd post this in this strand because it keeps all the Seasick Steve talk under one heading. At the fest in Birmingham a couple of discussions got around to the tuning Steve uses on his "3-String Trance Wonder". Part of the plan for my Cohiba CBG was to try using Steve's tuning and string arrangement. According to a post in the forum on Steve's own website he uses an open G tuning of G-G-B. That's a low G, another G an octave up and then a B four semitones up from that. This seems to be born out by a couple of YouTube tutorials by a guy who does some good renditions of Steve's tunes. (Check him out at https://www.youtube.com/user/DT8230) I also followed the information I had about Steve's string gauges, which is that he uses pretty heavy strings - eg. the low G is an 'E' string from a medium gauge set tuned up three-semitones, the high G is a 'D' string tuned up five semitones and the B is 'G' string tuned up four semitones.
Another feature I tried was copying Steve's pickup placement. I observed from photos that he taped his pickup on at a position that's about the same distance from the bridge as the third fret is from the nut. I reckon that isn't totllay a fluke and that he found there's a kind of sweet spot there where you get a good combination of harmonics.
Thought I'd post this in this strand because it keeps all the Seasick Steve talk under one heading. At the fest in Birmingham a couple of discussions got around to the tuning Steve uses on his "3-String Trance Wonder". Part of the plan for my Cohiba CBG was to try using Steve's tuning and string arrangement. According to a post in the forum on Steve's own website he uses an open G tuning of G-G-B. That's a low G, another G an octave up and then a B four semitones up from that. This seems to be born out by a couple of YouTube tutorials by a guy who does some good renditions of Steve's tunes. (Check him out at https://www.youtube.com/user/DT8230)
I also followed the information I had about Steve's string gauges, which is that he uses pretty heavy strings - eg. the low G is an 'E' string from a medium gauge set tuned up three-semitones, the high G is a 'D' string tuned up five semitones and the B is 'G' string tuned up four semitones.
Another feature I tried was copying Steve's pickup placement. I observed from photos that he taped his pickup on at a position that's about the same distance from the bridge as the third fret is from the nut. I reckon that isn't totllay a fluke and that he found there's a kind of sweet spot there where you get a good combination of harmonics.
you supported him? mint! He cracks me up with his banter between songs but he is a good guitar player too, as I mentioned before - 'goddam that sounds GOOD!'. Anyone for boob scotch?
HOLLOWBELLY said:
Damn straight Anthony-he is SUCH a nice guy and treated me SO well on the 2 gigs I supported him on last September-not only is he gr8 musicwise but he's SO godamn funny-man, my jaw was ACHING-seriously-after watching his set in Newbury-total entertainment-you'll getcha monies worth I tell you. Bob Log for Prime minister!
Damn straight Anthony-he is SUCH a nice guy and treated me SO well on the 2 gigs I supported him on last September-not only is he gr8 musicwise but he's SO godamn funny-man, my jaw was ACHING-seriously-after watching his set in Newbury-total entertainment-you'll getcha monies worth I tell you.
Bob Log for Prime minister!
Hey guys,
on the subject of great live acts, go see Bob Log III. You've probably all heard of him before, but I saw him for the first time late last year and he was spot on. He wears a helmet with a telephone receiver stuck on the front which he uses as a microphone. Its better than it sounds...
I particularly liked the song he "wrote with his guitar", its called "Goddam that sounds GOOD!". Brilliant.
he's on tour in the spring, I knowhe's playing in Sheffield in April, but he's going to a few places over here. Well worth making the effort to see him.
I knew you would have a great time , hard not to when SSS in the house - cant wait to see him again myself - got to get in quick for the tickets though
Glad you enjoyed it mate
juju.
Replies
One of my crazier experiments has been to mount the pickup to slide on a couple of brass rails and then use a kind of 'whammy bar' type of lever to move the pickup back-and-forth along the rails. I eventually abandoned the idea as it was too prone to rattles and I couldn't figure out a way of using it successfully in a performance.
If you combine the sounds from one moving and one fixed pickup - or have two pickups moving in opposite directions - then you can get some interesting changes in the sound as different harmonicw come in and out of phase at different pickup separations.
Kevin Lawton said:
Junk Box Instruments said:
I also followed the information I had about Steve's string gauges, which is that he uses pretty heavy strings - eg. the low G is an 'E' string from a medium gauge set tuned up three-semitones, the high G is a 'D' string tuned up five semitones and the B is 'G' string tuned up four semitones.
Another feature I tried was copying Steve's pickup placement. I observed from photos that he taped his pickup on at a position that's about the same distance from the bridge as the third fret is from the nut. I reckon that isn't totllay a fluke and that he found there's a kind of sweet spot there where you get a good combination of harmonics.
HOLLOWBELLY said:
Bob Log for Prime minister!
on the subject of great live acts, go see Bob Log III. You've probably all heard of him before, but I saw him for the first time late last year and he was spot on. He wears a helmet with a telephone receiver stuck on the front which he uses as a microphone. Its better than it sounds...
I particularly liked the song he "wrote with his guitar", its called "Goddam that sounds GOOD!". Brilliant.
he's on tour in the spring, I knowhe's playing in Sheffield in April, but he's going to a few places over here. Well worth making the effort to see him.
Glad you enjoyed it mate
juju.
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