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The Story Of My Grandfather's Guitar (long)


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Well, I have an update to the original story.I just returned from a trip to Costa Rica with my Father. After dinner and drinking a bunch of Imperials, we started talking about the Guitar. It turned into an opportunity to get him talking about his father. He opened up a bit more than I've seen him do in the past and I learned a few new tidbits. Apparently my Grandfather came to this country earlier than what my aunt had implied. Either she embellished or I misunderstood, but he came here in his very late teens or early twenties. Meaning, of course, he was here when the guitar was built in 1926.So the most problematic part of the provenance is solved. He didn't order the guitar from Santiago as a 26 year old man.Apparently he joined the Merchant Marines and the guitar accompanied him on some of those trips. Still trying to verify these new items.

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Really nice pics (and guitar). Do you have the rest of your harem online for our viewing pleasures?
That is truly exquisite. No wonder you are so proud of that guitar. It's so awesome to see.
Thanks guys. It really is neat having a bit of family history that is so personal and a piece of functional art. I don't have any pics of the rest of the Harem, but I'll work on it.
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  • 4 weeks later...

Sitting here trying to ear Partitia #3 in E Major from a violin solo and covert it to bass.It's hard. I'll have it nailed down by sunup, though. That song is *all* about timing and execution which only comes with familiarity, but I should have the notes down shortly.

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How are the tension compared to regular flats?Part of the reason I love my 760FMs is because of the tension. When I was learning I played a jazz bass, and always plucked close to the bridge. I liked the feel, but didn't like the loss in depth I'd get. When I switched to the P bass I realized I would need to pluck over the pickup (or slightly next to it with the covers on) and i needed the higher tension to offset that.
Sorry I forgot to reply to this.Tension is fine for me. I'll probably be sticking with these. I really am not seeing much of a sacrifice in tone at all, over rounds. They do mar the board more than pure flatties, but significantly less than round and the change in tone i negligible, so I think these are where I stay. Of course, I do 90% of my playing through this weird little Korean import bass headphone amp, still use passives, etc so I should probably STFU about tone all together.
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  • 8 months later...

He's in Atlas Shrugged. I'm surprised you didn't know that.

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Picked up a used practice amp off Craigslist.Peavey 115s w/ Sheffield. I like the onboard electronics. Chorus is pretty good.
Peavey used to make an amp and cabinets with speakers they called "Black Widows" - great great great thumping.
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  • 2 weeks later...
Peavey used to make an amp and cabinets with speakers they called "Black Widows" - great great great thumping.
They're in that class of American made consumer goods I just love...Ruger Firearms, Ridgid Tools, Peavey Amps, Maglite flashlights... Fair price, high performance, durable as all fuck, made to not break... Big fan of the AK-47 philosophy and Peavey Amplifiers work right into that. Been using them forever, always buy used models made in the 80's or 90's. Have one smaller practice guitar amp from the late 70's. Yet to buy a newer one.The only downside is that the amp has waaaaaaaaaaaay more balls than I can put to use, since I live in an attached unit. At 4, it's rattling the windows, at 5, it's hardly tolerable, at 6+, it's easily small to midsized indoor venue concert level.
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