I tend to put guitar strings on and leave them until one breaks or I want to change the gauge. I just replaced the strings on my tele and they were 1.5 years old. I’ve forgotten how much I dislike new guitar strings as well. So bright! The good news is the brightness goes away fairly quickly.
I love the confluence of beauty and function and that capo is right on the mark! Maybe I’ll have send some hints to swMBO for my b-day!
BTW, scabpicker check these out if you get a case of BAS… www.winginstruments.com
I’ve found recently that ChapStick will deaden a set of roundwounds in minutes. Try it! It does scent/flavor your strings for a little bit. I’d avoid the cherry for that reason.
Weird, a company making only piccolo basses. I have a EHX B9 pedal that would go great with one of those. I don’t know if I’d pay twice what I paid for my performance instrument for a travel instrument, but those are interesting.
Teuffel Birdfish guitar, a handmade exotic for sale on Reverb. For a mere $18,300.
I’ve never played one.
Tell ya what, I win the lottery and I’ll buy two; one for me and one for you! 
Also, one of these from my favorite luthier. Rick Toone is a frickin genius!
Ah, I forgot you were into the avant garde stuff swampy. Have you played a Teuffel? What do like so much about Toone’s stuff? I mean, besides the beauty of the craftsmanship, the cool designs, etc?
When you’re a Tele guy like me It’s hard to know which end to play on those modernist guitars 
No. Just… no. Guitars for me should be about simplicity. No.
Warning, verbosity ahead!
Oh I’m a Tele guy, too. That pic you posted is the first Teuffel I’ve ever seen and even though it doesn’t look like a guitar at first glance it really is as simple as a Tele is. I like elegant and simple engineering and the Tueffel is the electric guitar pared down to it’s most basic form and hand built like a Rolls Royce.
When I worked on the F-18 the thing that impressed me the most wasn’t the speed, bomb capacity, the gun or it’s maneuverability (although those things are cool), it was the boarding ladder. It folded up like metal origami, weighed maybe 10 lbs but could support 300, and did it’s job seamlessly and almost invisibly.
With Toone, I see a lot of the same thing. He pares down what a guitar should be and isn’t afraid to play with a concept while still respecting the past. Guitarists tend to be Luddites and inherently suspicious of new technology, and often for good reason (Gibson’s robo guitar is one example). The T2 link I put up shows the unmistakable lines of a Tele, plays like a Tele, but brought into this century. It also has a built in guitar hangar and bottle opener which is a mark of genius if I ever saw one. Most of his work is evolution rather than revolution and what I’m aspiring to as I continue to learn how to build.
Rick Toone:
"Leo and I would enjoy a wonderful conversation, were he alive, as kindred spirits exploring what’s possible. Whenever I round a blind corner, chasing a curve, or figuring out an easier way to do things…I see his footprint, or sometimes glimpse his smile. I don’t foresee any ego conflicts between us.
There’s too much still to learn.
Chasing guitar design for a lifetime won’t be long enough. It will take a much smarter (or perhaps arrogant) person, someone other than me, who could ever claim total mastery of lutherie."
That sums up everything I want to do with a guitar, and make you want to spend your whole day playing one of mine or continuing to love the instrument I might have repaired.
Oh, I get that the Teuffel is still played like a guitar, unlike, say a Chapman Stick, or even like a Gittler, which would be like playing an extremely scalloped fretboard.
http://gittlerinstruments.com/gittler-guitar
But as you say, guitarists are innovation-averse, at best, for the most part and I am one of those guys. I want the most basic tool there is. For Toone, I dig the built-in hanger* and bottle opener, but he really appears to be a master craftsman with an eye towards innovation. Hand carved this; hand-casted metal that, all in service to an innovative playing experience. Leo Fender was a master at designing for manufacturability - less guilt involved (to me!!) at playing a basic functional guitar vs a truly crafted guitar.
Toone’s work looks very intelligently designed and built and would love to try some as part of collecting playing experiences on diff guitars.
*old acoustics with solid headstocks are often found with holes drilled in them so the guitar can be hung up on a nail.
What’s your thoughts on using tremolo? Especially with a classic mid 1960’s blackface Fender amp?
I can’t afford $2000 for a vintage Blackface Fender amp. But this pedal comes close to the original sound.
I’m looking at this one. The demo video of it totally blew me away. The pedal uses a real transformer just like the vintage amps. It’s not just a fake digital effect.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/SuproTrem
List of tremolo songs.
http://www.gibson.com/News-Lifestyle/Features/en-us/10-Great-Songs-That-Make-Use-of-Tremolo.aspx
Might be fun playing these.
Next… maybe a chorus pedal for some surfer tunes. 
I bought a decent tremolo pedal, taught myself How Soon is Now and a couple of other songs, the put it away. I take it out every now and then and re-teach myself the same songs ;).
You have to know how you feel about effects, and whether that particular effect appeals to you. As I’ve stated here a few times, I’m not an effects guy; I keep them for specific songs for gigs.
Tremolo is one of those effects that’s niche until it’s not. With some songs like How Soon is Now and Boulevard of Broken Dreams, it’s the only thing you here. Same with genres like Surf where it’s a featured effect along with reverb, which showcases tremolo so well. Most of the time, the effect is a thin layer, adding a bit of warble to the tone.
You have to want to play slowly and let the tremolo effect shape the sustaining notes, like watching cigarette smoke drift away.
I know tremolo can be overused. Crimson and Clover sounds so dated and gimmicky now. I find it hard to listen too.
Born on the Bayou is a great song with tremolo. Definitely want to play it someday.
I got mixed up on surf. You’re right. It uses a mix of reverb and tremolo.
Chorus was big in the 80’s. Nearly every band had a Boss CE-1 chorus pedal.
Born on the Bayou is just a C7 picking the individual strings, right? Or some 7th chord. Go for it.
Yes, chorus was so damn overused in the 80’s, combined with playing a Strat in the 2 or 4 position to get those “quacky” tones. A few did it well, like Knopfler. Jamie West Oram from The Fixx with One Thing Leads to Another. The vast majority sound awful.
I’m the opposite of WordMan. I own more effects than I own guitars, and I own quite a few guitars.
I love tremolo. It can be easy to over-use. On heavy settings, it can start to dictate the rhythm of the song or obscure what’s being played. However, it’s used a lot in more subtle ways in 50’s rock that aren’t slapping you over the head with TREMOLO. It’s also indispensable for surf and psychedelic music. That demo of the Supro pedal uses one of my favorites, Love’s 7 and 7 is. That song uses tremolo really tastefully, IMHO.
They come in varied types, and all sound very different. They almost have as much variety in their sounds as distortions and delays do. I’ve had more than one pedal, and I also have it in several amps. The ones that are integral to the amp always sound better to me. They’re generally the last thing using the preamp tubes, or they actually are using the power tubes in some designs. Those different circuits can change how the amps power stage breaks up quite a bit. Heck, some of the early Fender Twin tremolos modulated the higs and lows of a signal differently. MMMMM, so many different amplifier trem circuits. Here’s a quick run-down of some of them from Guitar Player, and another that’s a little more in-depth from Carl’s Custom Amps.
Pedals can get pretty varied as well. Back in the 50’s, Bo Diddley used a DeArmond 601 that swished an electrolyte back and forth which would intermittently complete a circuit. Nothing sounds like one. Other pedals offer varying sounds and controls, and lots of them allow you to include vibrato with your tremolo. I can’t even begin to scratch the surface of the variety of tremolo pedal circuits out there. I’ll just state that it’s vast, and they all sound a bit different. The weirdest I’ve run into is the Catalinbread Antichthon, it’s a bizarre combo of fuzz, tremolo, and a noise generator. Controlled by a kind of obtuse set of knobs on the pedal itself, your volume control, picking attack, and probably how you hold your tongue. I have one. It’s not appropriate for every situation, it’s a seriously weird effect.
The Supro pedal you linked to sounds great – maybe the best pedal I’ve heard, to be honest. But, you don’t need to buy a blackface to get the lusciousness of in-amp tremolo. You can grab a Silvertone 1484 for about $200 more than that pedal, and they sound much better to me. It does have the drawback of being quite loud when you want it to overdrive (it’s not a master volume amp), and the reverb sounds like Martians are trying to communicate with you, but it’s got milkshake-thick tone when you turn it up. If you run a cable between the extra inputs on channel 1 and 2, you get to use both preamps at once for even more milkshake.
Yes, I like tremolo too much. Tremolo in amps, doubly so. I’m in danger of buying any amp with a tremolo circuit.
I just read a little bit of this thread.
I’m a new player (absolute beginner) and am hearted and encouraged.
A little background - I bought a banjo about 6 years ago. Had about 10 lessons and it was working out pretty good. I then started to develop some shoulder problems (unrelated to the banjo, but it didn’t help). I stopped playing (the very little that I could play).
My Wife and I thought that a guitar might be the way to go (it’s lighter and the neck is shorter, not as much of a reach).
My Wife bought me a real nice Martin acoustic for Christmas. And some lessons.
Very interesting to try to switch from bluegrass picking to a guitar. Not a complete different world, but more different than I thought it would be. Very strange not wearing finger picks. But I do see some people do it. The idea of actually holding a pick with thumb and finger is very alien to me. So, I’m starting off with no pics.
I’ve been working on toughening up my fingers with simple cords. Have not had a lesson yet as it takes some planning and coordination (100 miles away). What I don’t want to do is create bad habits so I think just getting some callouses built up will help before I start taking lessons.
Hey, if you’re comfy able with fingerpicks on, there are plenty of guitar players who’d love to be able to use them. Do you know if the person you are taking lessons from can use them, or at least could support you using them?
Strumming is a pain if that’s your main objective on guitar, but certainly learnable.
Very comfy with finger picks. I think most guitar players don’t use them though. Don’t want to start bad(?) habits that could turn into a roadblock in the future.
I have no idea if the instructor can use them. This it through Guitar Center, a pretty big chain, but 100 miles from my house. It works though because my elderly mother lives near the store and I visit at least 1-2 times a month.
I had a lesson scheduled for 3 weeks ago, and after I arrived I discovered it was canceled. But, they where quite gracious and are giving me 3 additional lessons because of the screw up.
Not sure what my objective is. Though I hope to retire in 5-10 years and will need something to do besides dinking beer.:D:cool:
Who cares what most players do? Look up folks like Freddie King, (my favorite of the 3 Kings of the Blues), Wayne Henderson (also a beloved builder and the subject of the infamous acoustic-geek’s book, Clapton’s Guitar), and personal favorite of mine Eric Skye. Each are excellent players who use fingerpicks, and we haven’t even looked at Country. Oh! And go to YouTube and the Acoustic Guitar Forum for Little Toby Walker, a blues player who uses them.
Check out Youtube - I have to believes there’s a ton of How To videos. I just searched “how to play guitar with finger picks” and saw bunches. Dig in. Why not take advantage of an existing strength of yours? You can add in a bit of flatpicking as you get more comfortable with the instrument. It’s all good.
A friend suggested that I try the Fred Kelly thumbpick. He uses a plastic called delrin.
I bought several slick picks for thumb picking. I really, really like them.
He also sells a set of finger picks in that same material. He calls them Freedom Picks. I’m still adjusting to them.
I don’t play much fingerstyle. Only simpler songs that use the same pattern throughout. Jerrys Guitar Bar teaches John Denver and his fingerstyle is a good place to start. His Tabs and video lessons are very detailed.
Jerrys’ Gordon Lightfoot lessons are good to. Both artists are primarily singers. They use finger picking to accompany themselves. They have to keep it pretty repetitive every measure and focus on their singing.
Jerry’s free lesson on Travis Picking got me started.
There are many versions of Travis picking. This is one of the most basic.
It’s always root note, 4th string. 1,2,3,4,1,2,3,4. Jerry recommends focusing on that. Make that bass note automatic. Using a thumb pick.
Then start adding in a pinch or a single note in between the bass notes.
The D chord is the one exception. Because the 4th string is the root note. The short YouTube lesson explains it quite well.
From there, I searched Jerry’s site for Travis Picking songs. John Denver had several.
Gordon Lightfoot uses a different pattern. I’m just now looking at his lessons. They are repetitive but different from the more simple pattern.
I often practice watching TV. So I’m not thinking too much on the pattern. It’s got to become very,very automatic. So I can start singing while I play.