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How To Be A Gear Snob:
Simon and Patrick
Give to the Poor
By Corralee Booth |
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A great deal of people start of their musical endeavors with an
acoustic guitar. It is one of the building blocks of song writing
and most people, whichever musical direction they choose, will either
need or want one at some point in their journey. People often ask
me about good cheap acoustic guitars and what's the best deal going.
Well the best deal I've ever seen was the solid top Yamaha my friend
got at a garage sale for a dollar. She had no clue what a great
deal she just got and originally went looking for Tupperware! Don't
hold your breath though, such finds are few and far between. Not
everyone can find such a great deal and garage sale shopping can
be exhausting and fruitless at best. So where do we start then?
When looking for a good acoustic guitar, there are a great many
things to consider. Craftsmanship, wood choice, neck joint, the
type of lacquer used, direction of wood grain, strength, aging capabilities
and even where the wood was found. Overwhelming? Well there's a
company that will sacrifice nothing to get the absolute best sound
possible for the lowest dollar investment.
Simon and Patrick are the "Robin Hoods" of guitar manufacturers.
They take the richest of solid woods, hand craft them into durable
beautiful guitars and give them to the poor. When I say rich wood,
I mean solid top cedar or spruce for their entry level guitars with
wild cherry back and sides and a maple neck with rosewood fret board.
Hand crafted with precision usually reserved for high end guitars.
They give these fine guitars to the poor by way of selling them
at awe inspiring low prices. You can probably pick one up for around
$330.00 - $375.00 (Canadian).
There are many important things to consider when buying an acoustic
guitar, and Simon and Patrick have put these considerations to heart
in the construction of their instruments. I shall lay them out before
you:
The top of the guitar needs to be solid for the best possible sound.
Most of your sound comes from the top and every grain of the wood
needs to vibrate to create sustain and amplify the sound of the
guitar. If there are gobs of glue in between layers of the wood,
it can't vibrate freely, now can it? Solid tops are therefore essential
for all gear snobs. A nice solid top also will "age" meaning that
the grains will open up to be able to vibrate even more freely therefore
creating more sustain, more volume, deeper tone and a better sound
all together. Ever have a guitar that even though it was totally
old and beat up, it sounded like god? Aging, is the answer to that
my friend. The pro series have solid backs too. You can really feel
it vibrating against your belly and its adds so much to the tone.
| *So
how do you get your guitar to sound aged? |
| 1) |
Play
constantly. |
| 2) |
Make
sure its out on a stand in front of your stereo so it will
vibrate with your stereo too. Its the vibrations that cause
the aging effect. |
| 3) |
Consider
a softer top like the cedar. It already has more of an aged
sound over the spruce top guitars. |
| 4) |
Keep
it in tune. The vibrations are more even and balanced then. |
Not
to say that anything laminated is bad. The satin series guitars
have a layered back and both the satin series and the pro series
have a three layered side for stability. The top layer and the inside
layer is either wild cherry for the satin series, or whatever the
solid back is on the pro series (mahogany, flame maple, rosewood,
or whatnot) the middle layer is maple though to add strength and
strength is very important for the integrity of the sides. So here
it is no doubt important to have laminated wood. As I said, most
of the sound comes from the top anyway.
The type of neck and the neck joint is important. You want the sound
to travel up and down the neck, but to be able to transfer right
to the body of the guitar as well and not get completely absorbed
by glue or lost in bad joints. Simon and Patrick uses a wood to
wood type of a neck joint that is strengthened by rock maple dowel
inserts. In the flat finish series, the neck is made out of silver
leaf maple and the high gloss finish guitars are a mahogany neck.
When trying out a Simon and Patrick, get someone to play and just
pinch the end of the headstock while they are playing. You can feel
the vibrations and know that the joints, wood choices and the angled
back headstock style are all working well to your advantage. Try
comparing it to others as well and you'll see what I mean about
good vibrations, because the Simon and Patrick will kick their butts.
There are two things that we as a user and unwitting abuser may
do to wreck this awesome neck joint though. I have seen it time
and time again. The first is to let the guitar dry out so that the
wood shrinks away and causes a little gap in the neck. We need to
have a relative humidity 40% or higher in our guitar's environment.
I cannot stress this enough. How many cracked guitars have I seen
or separated heels due to this type of neglect? It really saddens
me. The second way to wreck the joint is to split the heel when
placing a strap button on it. Always drill a pilot hole, make sure
that the screw used is no longer than ½" and place it just a tiny
bit above center directly on the rosewood cap of the heel. Otherwise,
you'll hit the screws or the dowels and you'll split the heel in
half or break your screw off half way and cause all sorts of messes.
Do you think I may have wrecked one or two in my day and I may be
talking from experience? ...Yah.
The next thing on my list of important features for an acoustic
is the bridge. You have noticed, I'm sure, that the saddles on an
electric guitar are compensated for the best possible intonation.
Some forward and some back a bit? Well, why wouldn't you have your
acoustic intonated as well? Sometimes no matter what you do or how
many times that you tune, sometimes you sound a little bit out of
tune when you play up the neck with a flat saddle. Again, Simon
and Patrick have thought about this with their compensated saddles
in their bridges. Keep in mind that all of this is still going into
a guitar under 400 dollars! The bridge is glued to the wood rather
than the finish on the top of the guitar so again, you have that
wood to wood direct transfer rather than a great deal paint, gloss
and goop to get in the way of your awesome tone and tie up all of
your good vibrations.
I figured one way they could have cut corners was on the finish.
I figured they used a basic stain on the satin guitars and a nice
poly finish on the high gloss pro series. No way man, I was quickly
set straight on that. Simon and Patrick use a special type of lacquer
that is painstakingly applied to make sure that each coat is as
thin as possible for the guitar to be able to breath and vibrate
freely. They sand in between each layer and use four layers for
the satin finish and eight layers for the high gloss finish. That
is a great deal of work. I wonder if you have to pass a patience
test to work there at the Simon and Patrick factory?
Some say they are a "Plain Jane" sort of a guitar. It is true their
beauty is more natural. Its not like there's a bunch of fancy little
fish or birdies or whatever inlaid into the wood, but their explanation
is simple. The more stuff that you stick into the top, the more
stuff you have that won't vibrate and give off sound and really,
sound is what the instrument is supposed to be there for.
Left-handed people should really check out these guitars as well.
Its not like they just flip the nut and saddle upside down and restring
the guitar backwards to make it left handed, they make sure that
the wood is cut appropriately for the best vibrations coming from
the left handed perspective and actually build the guitar for a
left handed person including balancing the top properly as well
as the neck. This may seem strange, but if you're a south paw, you'll
really appreciate the difference in the sound.
For our younger girl rockers or our petite women, they also offer
a smaller build to accommodate your stature. There is the profolk
line which is a wee bit smaller and easier to manage, but still
crafted with the same care and considerations as the full size.
Now you can play a real guitar instead of a kiddy guitar or have
to stumble over a guitar that is just too darn big for you.
I have saved the best thing about this company for last. Maybe its
the tree hugging hippie inside of me, but I just love the fact that
they don't clear cut trees. They wait for them to die of old age
first. They don't hurt mother nature and for one of the biggest
acoustic guitar manufacturers in the world to do that, it really
means a lot to me. The company is like that though. They have this
whole easy going nature of, well, lets just educate the world about
guitars. Which is why they have tried to make the best guitar possible
for the lowest price possible. I cannot find anything wrong with
these guitars and they will go head to head against any guitar twice
and more their price. They are my guitar manufacturer heroes.
More from Corralee Booth...
How To Be A Gear Snob: Speakers.
How To Be A Gear Snob: The Gibson
Guitar.
How To Be A Gear Snob: Pickups.
How To Be A Gear Snob: Gifts
for Rock Stars.
How To Be A Gear Snob: Fender
Stratocaster. |
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_________________________________
Want more Music Resources? Amanda Garrigues is a singer and
songwriter based in Gainesville, Florida. She runs her own label,
Average Sinner Records. She has contributed many great columns to
WOMANROCK.com including:
From the Couch to Carnegie Hall
Opening the Heart and Soul
How to Care for Your Voice
Being Sick on the Road
The Tour
Safety on the Road
The Art of the Music Conference
Distribution for Indies: How
to sell CD's without a Major Label
Mastering: What Is It Good For?
The Path of the Song: Deconstructing
the Songwriting Process
EQ That Guitar!
Choose Your Acoustic Wisely
In the Booth: Getting a Good
Vocal
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_________________________________
Corralee
Booth is a writer, musician and self proclaimed gear Goddess. She
sells and reviews gear at Guitarworks and plays bass for the Alberta
based, all girl band, Dragonfly. |
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