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Hamer Guitars USA might be coming back soon.


BCR Greg

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To the point of both cellos and "going after that last 10%"......

("Bowing is getting better, although I made the mistake of trying out a thousand dollar pernambuco bow - jeebus, it really does make a difference. so that's on this year's to-buy last 10%").

Pernambuco is (some say) taking materials such as Brazilian Rosewood to the "next level". I gave in to the hype about 2 years ago and bought a guitar with a solid pernambuco NECK about 2 years ago. (From a limited run of 25 PRS DGT Private Stocks). Fortunately, found one used and avoided SOME of the original upcharge. As best I know, that is no longer even offered as an option, at any price.

I would have a hard time describing the difference between it and "similar" guitars with such materials as Brazilian necks. IMO, there is a certain magic to the sound that is not completely related to "unobtainium". Def worth the premium price to me.

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32 minutes ago, django49 said:

To the point of both cellos and "going after that last 10%"......

("Bowing is getting better, although I made the mistake of trying out a thousand dollar pernambuco bow - jeebus, it really does make a difference. so that's on this year's to-buy last 10%").

Pernambuco is (some say) taking materials such as Brazilian Rosewood to the "next level". I gave in to the hype about 2 years ago and bought a guitar with a solid pernambuco NECK about 2 years ago. (From a limited run of 25 PRS DGT Private Stocks). Fortunately, found one used and avoided SOME of the original upcharge. As best I know, that is no longer even offered as an option, at any price.

I would have a hard time describing the difference between it and "similar" guitars with such materials as Brazilian necks. IMO, there is a certain magic to the sound that is not completely related to "unobtainium". Def worth the premium price to me.

Owner of the guitar shop down the street is mostly a classical player, and tells me his cellist friend was excited about his $50,000 pernambuco bow.

Makes me feel better about dropping $500 on a perfect vintage Hagström last week.

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1 minute ago, polara said:

Owner of the guitar shop down the street is mostly a classical player, and tells me his cellist friend was excited about his $50,000 pernambuco bow.

Makes me feel better about dropping $500 on a perfect vintage Hagström last week.

The pernambuco neck was less than 1/10th that......But I got the guitar for free. ;)

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2 minutes ago, polara said:

Owner of the guitar shop down the street is mostly a classical player, and tells me his cellist friend was excited about his $50,000 pernambuco bow.

Makes me feel better about dropping $500 on a perfect vintage Hagström last week.

Makes you wonder how much better their ears can be than ours.
Personally, my ears are terrible, but I can still tell a great guitar from a good one. That said, I can't tell a $300 pickup from a $75 one. I know what I like, and that's about it.

Or could it be that there's a certain amount of cork-sniffery going on with the classical orchestra players as well, but their stuff just costs a great deal more than even guitar players' stuff?

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3 minutes ago, kizanski said:

Or could it be that there's a certain amount of cork-sniffery going on with the classical orchestra players as well, but their stuff just costs a great deal more than even guitar players' stuff?

That shouldn't let us feel guilty on the GAS addiction.

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6 hours ago, tobereeno said:

pretty well! starting on the Steinberger lends a couple advantages. First, it's an electric, so my shredder sensibilities straightened the truss rod and lowered the bridge for string action height you'd never see on an acoustic. and because the string deflection is less than on an acoustic cello due to my setup, the "fret markers" are pretty spot on. So I haven't had to go through any memorization of where notes are. On the other hand, I've realized just how much added power being able to change note intonation lends to melodic lines; you're not stuck with equal temperament. I just dove into the deep end straightaway and am working on the Elgar Cello Concerto (not the most technically challenging piece to be sure). It's a bunch of singing passionate melodic lines, and in a couple places I found I was out of tune, or so I thought. I checked the "sour" note with a Peterson Strobe tuner and nope, I wasn't out of tune. But to get these notes to sound right, I found I had to play certain notes slightly flat. Anyways, those dot markers for every note - every damned beginner cello ought to have those. Oh, and my pinky now has two callouses - a guitar callous and one on the side from the cello. lol.

Bowing is getting better, although I made the mistake of trying out a thousand dollar pernambuco bow - jeebus, it really does make a difference. so that's on this year's to-buy list.

I'm hoping that modeling technology will eventually allow my electric to sound like Yo-Yo Ma's Strad; I read somewhere that, similar to amp modeling, someone modeled a Guarneri Del Jesu violin. Kind of like the string instrument counterpart to a Variax guitar. If they can nail that modeling technology, the value will be immeasurable, because the instruments you'd want to model are truly unobtanium - you've got to have what, $10-20 million on hand AND luck out on timing.

Anyways, if you're really interested, I highly recommend an NS Design cello. They are a million times easier to play than any acoustic cello, nevermind the Yamaha electric cello. You can get them fretted as well, which is what I wanted, but I'm now glad I got the unfretted version. After playing the thing for three months, I've found that fretless basses are a lot easier to play, so the skill translates over to any unfretted instrument. It sounds great too - just make sure you've got some nice hall reverb going. It'll take any number of effects as well, but for a more authentic classical cello sound, all you need is reverb - if you listen to classical recordings, none of them are dry. I can't tell if it's natural reverb or added in, but it's pretty important!

That sounds really cool! I wasn't aware that they made them with fret markers, seems like a no-brainer good idea to me! 

It's definitely on the "when I have more cash" list for me. Along with a million other things, ha. 

Right now, I'll make do with my computer program, Native Instruments. It's called a pretty good sound sampling of violins/cellos. I know it's not the real thing, but sounds very nice and is super fun to play. And easy lol. I hook up a midi keyboard to my computer. 

Still trying to figure out the best way to get it working live for some variety in our show, strings and horns on a couple of tunes would be nice. I need to pick up a laptop, one more thing to buy. 

Have fun with it! It's always admirable to me when someone picks up a new instrument and sticks with it. 

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1 hour ago, kizanski said:

Or could it be that there's a certain amount of cork-sniffery going on with the classical orchestra players as well, but their stuff just costs a great deal more than even guitar players' stuff?

Mos Def. So much cork sniffed, that some consider having their nasal passages lined with it. Classy.

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Chances are if you're sniffing cork, you'll probably end up soaking it too. At least in the movies I've seen.

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Easy there, Johnny Dangerously!

 

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40 minutes ago, Ed Rechts said:

Yeah, thanks for the thorough investigation. In the age of dubious media, emotion-baiting headlines, and "fake news", it's good to know we have a warrior on our side that goes past the press release disinformation to dig out the nitty-gritty.

Anyone here have go-fund me campaign experience so we can compensate for this important trip into the lions den?

Surely 22 pages of our attention warrants reparations for airfare, NAMM-priced chili dogs, and the interpreter fees that delivered us this critical update.

Yea, because, somebody held a gun to your head to post in this thread.....<_<

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After page 7 I only allow myself to delve into this thread once per day.

And everyday, I read it, I laugh, I shake my head in wonder, and I think why? Why? Why, do I keep reading this?

 

It's The HFC.

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5 minutes ago, Hbom said:

After page 7 I only allow myself to delve into this thread once per day.

And everyday, I read it, I laugh, I shake my head in wonder, and I think why? Why? Why, do I keep reading this?

why.jpg

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5 hours ago, django49 said:

To the point of both cellos and "going after that last 10%"......

("Bowing is getting better, although I made the mistake of trying out a thousand dollar pernambuco bow - jeebus, it really does make a difference. so that's on this year's to-buy last 10%").

Pernambuco is (some say) taking materials such as Brazilian Rosewood to the "next level". I gave in to the hype about 2 years ago and bought a guitar with a solid pernambuco NECK about 2 years ago. (From a limited run of 25 PRS DGT Private Stocks). Fortunately, found one used and avoided SOME of the original upcharge. As best I know, that is no longer even offered as an option, at any price.

I would have a hard time describing the difference between it and "similar" guitars with such materials as Brazilian necks. IMO, there is a certain magic to the sound that is not completely related to "unobtainium". Def worth the premium price to me.

 

5 hours ago, polara said:

Owner of the guitar shop down the street is mostly a classical player, and tells me his cellist friend was excited about his $50,000 pernambuco bow.

Makes me feel better about dropping $500 on a perfect vintage Hagström last week.

Sounds like a good nominee for the endangered wood species/Customs watch list/Paperwork PITA item of the day:

http://www.wood-database.com/brazilwood/

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3 hours ago, Sugartune said:

Mos Def. So much cork sniffed, that some consider having their nasal passages lined with it. Classy.

The interesting thing about this term is that people who know anything about wine don't sniff corks-you visually inspect them-sniffing is an immediate indication of pretend-pretentiousness.

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2 minutes ago, serial said:

The interesting thing about this term is that people who know anything about wine don't sniff corks-you visually inspect them...

Spoken like a true elitist!

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2 hours ago, kizanski said:

Spoken like a true elitist!

I learned that waiting tables...

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