I always assumed that the difficulty of playing increased with the square of the number of strings.
Which is why I could only manage the drums.
Which is why I could only manage the drums.
Guitars on a boat
- Thread starter Allowishish
- Start date
Where do you keep a halfstack on a 37' boat?
-- Sold my last 'real' amp a few years ago - a Dan Armstrong 4x12 Dan9 with a Dan head. Now just the crappy battery powered boat amp and a computer full of fake amps at home. Lots easier to move around.12 strings are (imho) actually pretty easy to play - most guitar players they can just pick em up and play them. Not total mastery or anything, but play chords and stuff just fine.
Lack of frets is harder. I started out playing bass guitar, and later learned how to play string bass. A fretless was easy after that.
AJ 200S VS
The Guild is an F212XL (1969).
Plus a D25 BR Guild 6 string, early 1960s
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I have a number of keyboards... but limit my boat axe to a Korg Krome workstation, 61 spring loaded keys,keeps the weight down. Has sequencer and arp, and you can plug in to laptop for more options. It's carried in a gig bag and stowed in the pilot berth. It doesn't have the feel and dynamics of 88 weighted keys but lugging a full size keyboard down the companionway is a disaster in the making.
If I were going to take it cruising, I'd get a hard shell case and pack it full of moisture absorbing packets. My old dock neighbor was a good guitar player, we used to set up in the cockpit and jam. He liked Al deMeola and Yngwe... I'm more Bill Evans, Oscar Petersen and Horace Silver.... so.. we met somewhere in the middle and butchered all the standards from the Real Book. Ah... those were the days. Neither of us ever left our instruments on the boat for any length of time.
I have a inexpensive, nylon string, single cutaway classical guitar that I'll take down on occasion. I've never left it down there...but if I did I would loosen the strings, keep it in the case with moisture packets.
You don't need weighted keys to get the action of weighted keys. Casio (of all people) has a mechanism that amplifies the mechanical load buy a factor of 4. The key moves about 3/4 inch, which moves a lever inside about 3". This gives the inertia feel of a real piano without the weight. I know a few well accomplished piano players who use the Casio as a sequencer, because they like the feel. (It also tends to work much better when you cover up the Casio name plate)
I play for myself (and my wife and friends a little)
I do not enjoy playing for others.
A few weeks ago on the boat someone was looking at one of the abandoned boats next to ours while I was playing the Clash’s Bankrobber.
I was horrified when they asked if I wrote that song.
Not because they didn’t know the song but because I played and sang in front of someone I did not know.
So I just need the song to be “ok”
I do not enjoy playing for others.
A few weeks ago on the boat someone was looking at one of the abandoned boats next to ours while I was playing the Clash’s Bankrobber.
I was horrified when they asked if I wrote that song.
Not because they didn’t know the song but because I played and sang in front of someone I did not know.
So I just need the song to be “ok”
I would never buy a Casio.... sorry... they just don't have the sounds... and sound is the difference between a toy and a real instrument. ALL newer, pro quality spring loaded key instruments will have a "touch" adjustment... though not a weighted feel the dynamic changes.. which can actually emulate a weighted key... and all this is done electronically so the keyboards remain lightweight... Spring loaded keys are nice for pretty much everything except an acoustic piano... organ patches are played more realistically with plastic, springed keys, cause that's the nature of an organ... the dynamic is in the volume pedal.
Anyway, it's fun talking about 'em...
If you are genuinely interested in the physics of wood, read Understanding Wood, by R. Bruce Hoadly. I'd bet if you did, you wouldn't challenge what I previously wrote.
Even though the Martin writer meant to say to keep the guitar's surrounding air between 45 and 55% relative humidity (RH), the real issue is what the wood's equilibrium moisture content (EMC) is. Wood shrinks as the EMC goes down and expands as the EMC goes up. It doesn't happen fast and the effect is not large, especially with quarter sawn lumber that is used in most good guitars. That is why RH cycles are OK for guitars, even rapid RH changes. Long exposures to RH extremes is what drives EMC to dangerous levels.
Atmospheric temperature does not appreciably affect wood. However, Martin uses a finish that is sensitive to rapid warming if it has gotten thoroughly cold. Likewise, very high temperatures weaken the glue used in guitar-making. But not 78 or even 95 degrees Farenheit.
OK, let's leave the wood science behind for a moment and take Martin's care guide, and its good intentions, to heart. I don't read anything there that states or infers that all humidity above 40% is good, nor do I see anything about avoiding rapid changes in the RH of the surrounding air. That paranoia is rampant on guitar forums, but is simply not valid.
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Thanks for your input, jwing - very interesting.
Since I’m not an expert, I think I’ll stick to the advice of the folks from Nazareth (in more ways than one).
Since I’m not an expert, I think I’ll stick to the advice of the folks from Nazareth (in more ways than one).
I bought a Celviano (Casio) piano, mostly because it was the best sounding, nicest feeling, electric piano in the price range. Sure, if you pay twice as much you can get a bit better sound but I'm not a professional so I'm not that fussy. The Celviano feels and sounds MUCH nicer than my old school acoustic piano. Better key action, much richer and fuller sound. Similar to photography, cheap electronics have outpaced the analog world so we can now get much better results with less money. Sure, if you spend 10x (100x...) as much you can get better acoustic equipment but bang for your buck, cheap electronics are significantly better.
For guitars (back to the original thread) I bought a cheap pawn shop guitar with some friends when we were backpacking. It was good for sitting around the camp fire but not the sweetest sound. It did have surprisingly good action. I wouldn't take my Takamine on the boat but I do have an old Yamaha FG-331 I've considered sailing with. Surprisingly full sound for a smaller guitar and really fun to play.
I got one of those off of Craigs List and gave it to my daughter as her first acoustic. I agree with you. It has a very nice sound for such a low-end guitar. The one I got was solid black. Later .... after she got rather good on the guitar, I purchased her a very nice Ibanez (electric-acoustic) and traded her for the Yamaha. The Yamaha is now my knock-about guitar.
Interesting insight into the finger thing. I have "old fingers" and never really learned to play anything... but in the last year and a half my wife has been insisting that I learn the Uke. Well indeed my first issue was getting my fingers first "tough" and then second... able to go where I told them to go. Hell, I can touch type like a madman... but getting fingers to go where I want on a small fretboard has been a royal pain. (and I really mean pain...) Just playing for a half hour to an hour is painful in my forearm... Those left hand muscles have never had to work independently like that before. Developing muscle memory is taking some serious time.
I have gotten to the point now that when I play I try to find shortcuts in my finger placement for the next chord... to make the transition smoother and faster. Quite a few chords are really a wide stretch for my fingers... Ab on Uke for instance.
I am finally starting to see progress... but it really does take some serious time and effort to get those fingers to work in that manner.
BTW Guitar on a boat... ha! Gotta small boat... we bring Ukes. GRIN
I am not a wood expert, but will follow a manufacturers requirements to a “t”. I have a Taylor 415cethat cracked while I was playing it at home. I keep my home in the recommended range and have several humidity monitors. I had to take photos of the the monitors and the whole home humidifier to prove to Taylor it was kept at the appropriate humidity. They repaired it for free. If I hadn’t followed their rwcommends, it would not have been covered. So, if you are leaving your guitar onboard for any lengthy time, you need to keep it in range or use an HPL or carbon fiber model. If for a weekend, don’t worry about humidity.