Guitars on a boat

Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
All this discussion about Martin guitars makes me so HAPPY. LOL Maybe you might look into a Steinberger headless with a small Pignose amp and you should be good to go. Takes up no room.

I don't have a guitar onboard, but if I did it would be a Martin Travel guitar. Tone is not that important. I would probably install some K&K pickup so if I want to busk at the harbor the guitar could be heard.

JMHO
 
Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
I don't play "Yet", ...
The trick to learning to play is not actually learning how to finger chords or run scales ...but rather.... getting your fingers to do what your brain is telling them to do. I've taught a bunch of people to play and there is a moment (usually about 3 weeks in) where a person suddenly can play and then they accelerate fast. I think it takes about three weeks for the fingers to learn to obey the signals from the brain. Most people give up before they hit that magic moment. Once your fingers start working then all you need to do is learn to read a chord diagram. It is harder to learn on an acoustic because the strings hurt your fingers at first. Electric guitar strings don't require as much pressure to fret.

SO! work with a song that you really enjoy so you will stick with it long enough to hit the magic moment.

I usually have my "pupils" start with "A long way to the top" by AC/DC because it is mostly a single chord (A) that you hammer on then pull off so you are forced to practice hitting the correct strings over and over and over again. It is a great way to train your brain. Once you get your fingers to behave, learning a new chord is not hard. Most songs have only three chords in them anyway. Chords down near the tuning pegs are called "open" chords. Once you get those down, you can play most folk songs and anything that Dillon wrote...then you will graduate to bar chords. That takes a different type of hand strength that most people don't have but once you develop the hand strength, bar chords are the easiest way to play guitar. If you learn to bar chord you can start playing "box patterns". Almost all rock & blues songs are some variation of a box pattern so once you get that down, you can usually play along with anybody, and almost all Cream, ZZ-top songs are box pattern variations... you just need to know what key your are in... or in other words, which "box" to play.... (Cream = E; ZZ-Top = G) that opens up a whole lot of songs to you... next is power chords and last is scales (if you want to do leads).
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Is it just me or does there seem to be a strong correlation between music lovers and sailors? I think I see an interesting survey on the horizon (pun intended).
 
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Jun 21, 2007
2,105
Hunter Cherubini 36_80-82 Sausalito / San Francisco Bay
Is it just me or does there seem to be a strong correlation between music lovers and sailors? I think I see an interesting survey on the horizon (pun intended).
Most sailors, on this forum anyway, are what my Scottish grandmother would sometimes reference about people. She always looked up to "Doers".

Doers I think have interest to try their hand at just about anything. Sports. Hobbies. Cook for themselves. Play (or attempt to play) an instrument. Fix, or try to fix, the Yanmar or Universal before calling the technician.

Seems participants so far on this thread are acoustic guitarists. I appreciate the sound also. Still have my college bought Ovation Ballader. Serial No. 5061. Manufactured in 1968. One of the very first made. Was even before Glen Campbell made them popular. I pick it up to play from time-to-time. But for the reasons of my previous post, I mostly use electrics, some with both magnetic and acoustic simulating piezo pickups. Besides hearing an fingerstyle quasi symphony (between the numerous mistakes and blowouts anyway) through my head phones, and it doesn't bother my wife when we are in the same room, I like that I can easily adjust an electric's action lower so it plays like butter compared to a typical acoustic. Particularly higher up on the fret board. Adjustment is much harder to do on an acoustic. Over time, due to the constant pull of the strings under tension, the sound board "bellies" up which lifts the strings higher. The saddle can be shaved down only so much to compensate. Then neck resets are needed. Not a DIY job. And not cheap to have a luthier to fix! That is one advantage of owning an all carbon/graphite acoustic.

Back to the acoustic sound. Here is a Youtube link to a wonderful solo fingerstyle rendition of "Sloop John B." Got to be one of the best sailing songs. Hard to tell on the video, but isn't that a Martin guitar that Mr. Holloway is playing? Mr. Holloway never smiles on any of his videos. Same for the 100+ songs/music/tabs and lessons on his website and YouTube. But his speaking voice is very much the opposite. Very positive.

 
Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
Acoustic guitars love humidity, preferably 40%+, but it needs to be relatively constant. This is especially true if the top is solid, not laminated. It’s low humidity, like we have in AZ, or sudden changes that cause harm. Keep it in a case with a small hygrometer. My acoustics live in cases here at home with humidifying devices inside. They’re happy. My electrics also live in cases but without the need for humidifiers as they have laminated semi-hollow bodies.
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
My acoustics live in cases here at home with humidifying devices inside. They’re happy.
My Special 20 Honer lives happily in my pocket and has never had issues with humidity. I prefer the A because it plays cross harp in E, which is what a guitar is tuned to. I played with Bob Ward in the cockpit of my father's sailboat while anchored in Trellis Bay once.

http://bob-ward.com/BWPR.html
He was very kind and said he enjoyed playing with me.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Jan 18, 2016
782
Catalina 387 Dana Point
My mexiStrat lives on the boat. Use a roland battery powered amp that's got decent effects built into it. For me to enjoy playing an acoustic it's gotta be a pretty dang good guitar - I like very low action. I had a low-end ovation that I just hated - even strung it with 009's and I still hated playing it. (And it sounded bad with those tiny strings on it) So it went to a friend.

The strat, for a $200 craigslist find (with case) is a fantastic axe for it's price. Sounds quite good. Plays very well. I've got it set up great. Humidity hasn't affected it noticeably. Stays in tune for weeks unless I screw in the whammybar - but that's true of all strats. It's cheap enough that if it was ruined I wouldn't loose any sleep over it.

It's lots smaller - which is a benefit over an acoustic to me. And I can play very quietly if it's just musical masturbation.
 
Sep 20, 2014
1,320
Rob Legg RL24 Chain O'Lakes
Anyone use a good Bluetooth speaker with an electric? While I've not tried it, some of the better bluetooth speakers can crank pretty well and are water resistant. I have a Sony with a 25 hour battery life that I use on the boat. (But not with a guitar)

...now a volunteer helping churches with sound system issues.
I'm so sorry for you LOL. And yes, I've been doing church sound for over 45 years (34 years at the same church). Did proaudio in my past life.
 
Jan 12, 2016
268
Hunter 410 Ladysmith, BC
I bought a Taylor GS mini KOA for my boat guitar. Sounds great, and stores easily on board. That said I bring it home mid-September til April as we aren't living on board.
 
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jwing

.
Jun 5, 2014
503
ODay Mariner Guntersville
Acoustic guitars love humidity, preferably 40%+, but it needs to be relatively constant. This is especially true if the top is solid, not laminated. It’s low humidity, like we have in AZ, or sudden changes that cause harm.
I bolded two unfounded myths.

Here are more scientifically accurate statements:

The RH does not need to be relatively constant and sudden RH changes do not harm guitars. Wood used for guitar making has been dried before being formed into a guitar. Properly dried wood does not absorb or release moisture rapidly. Guitars can easily withstand diurnal RH cycles from 50% to 99%. In the winter, they can easily withstand transfer out of a room or closet or case humidified to 60% into a living room that is 20% RH for lengthy playing sessions.

Acoustic guitars do love relative humidity that is close to the RH in which they were built. They can be damaged by long exposures to RH significantly lower or higher than the RH in the place they were made.

So, if you want to keep a wood guitar on a boat, check the monthly average humidity for the place that the boat will be and the months that it will be there.

The statements above pertain to boats that are not heated or refrigerated. For guitars kept in boats or buildings that are heated/and or cooled, the outdoor RH is not directly relevant.

If you raise the temperature of air, you reduce the RH. Therefore, heated spaces have lower RH than outdoors.

Refrigerated air has often had moisture extracted, but still leaves the A/C unit at near 100% RH. The chilled air mixes with the warmer room air and the resulting mixture can have a lower RH than before refrigeration. However, if your A/C unit is oversized, or you run the room temperature too low, the RH can get quite high in a refrigerated room.
 
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Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
unfounded myths
News to me (and every guitar player or technician I've ever met).
What’s the “scientific accurate” support for your statements?
 
Oct 30, 2017
183
Catalina c 27 Lake Pueblo
It takes time/extended exposure for the wood to absorb the ambient moisture.

Over the course of a few months it will increase the moisture level or decrease to create an equilibrium with the average atmospheric levels.


It will not do this short term. It also will not do it if it is being returned to a controlled climate (a/c and/or heat)
 
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Jan 2, 2017
765
O'Day & Islander 322 & 37 Scottsdale, AZ & Owls Head, ME
From Martin & Co.'s website:

PROPER CARE OF YOUR INSTRUMENT
HUMIDITY, TEMPERATURE AND STORAGE
Your instrument is made of thin wood which is easily affected by temperature and humidity. This combination is the most important single part of your instrument’s surroundings.
C. F. Martin recommends that you keep your instrument’s humidity level between 45-55% and temperature between 72-77 degrees Fahrenheit. If either humidity or temperature get far away from these conditions, your instrument is in danger. A rapid change in temperature or exposure to cold can cause small cracks in the finish. We recommend the use of a hygrometer/thermometer to measure the relative humidity and temperature surrounding your instrument.
 
Feb 17, 2006
5,274
Lancer 27PS MCB Camp Pendleton KF6BL
My '75 Martin D-35 has had some issues over the years due to humidity and temperature changes. It has been to the East Coast, to the West Coast and all the way to Korea. It needed a neck set, the pick guard needed to be replaced and the bridge just needed to be reset. There is checking in the finish and some small cracks under the high E and B strings, but not all the way through the wood. All of this is not unusual, and being the original owner of the guitar, it was repaired for free.

So, do take care of your guitar(s). They can and will last a long time. Something to pass on to your kids/grand kids/great grand kids...
 

MitchM

.
Jan 20, 2005
1,009
Nauticat 321 pilothouse 32 Erie PA
collings o body, vega irish tenor banjo , stiver f mando, a bunch of hohner crossovers and a few hohner chromatics. that is why we need a spare cabin .
 
Oct 19, 2017
7,732
O'Day 19 Littleton, NH
collings o body, vega irish tenor banjo, stiver f mando, a bunch of hohner crossovers and a few hohner chromatics. that is why we need a spare cabin .
I have a banjo and a baby Taylor, my wife has an Adamas, I also have a cello, but unless I only sail solo, it ain't coming on Dragonfly.
Edit: don't think that because I own these instruments that I know the first thing about playing them. I play with them, but only the harmonica do I actually play.

-Will (Dragonfly)
 
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Jan 19, 2010
12,362
Hobie 16 & Rhodes 22 Skeeter Charleston
Acoustic Guitars
  • Two Takamine
  • Ovation
  • Yamaha
  • Epiphone
Electric Guitars
  • Yamaha
  • Epiphone (Hollow Body)
Bass Guitar
  • Epiphone
Mandolin
Dulcimer
Electric Banjo

BTW: If you are in the Lynchburg area Oct. 12th, you can hear my band play at the Loose Shoe Brewery (shameless promotion):cowbell:
 
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Feb 26, 2004
22,759
Catalina 34 224 Maple Bay, BC, Canada
I know they told me to take care of my guitar, but my first one bit the dust just 2 years ago, I got it from my parents as a gift, circa 1957, very inexpensive no name, but fun at college and camp.

So now I just terrorize the boat instead of my new Epiphone and the Guild 12 string guitars. :)