In my constant search for ways to make gig setup faster, easier and more efficient, I have acquired a new super-compact fold up guitar stand from the geniuses at Hercules. I purchased this online through Ebay at 123Music for just over $20 and free shipping. This thing is actually much more solidly built than the pictures would lead you to believe. And it seems to be very stable as well, which is quite important to me considering how delicate my all solid wood guitar is.
Just got back yesterday from a week long cruise to Alaska with my wife celebrating our 40th wedding anniversary. We had a wonderful time and heard lots of great music in the evenings, especially by a blues and R&B group: The BB King Blues Club All Star Band, all great musicians (sax, trumpet, guitar, drums, bass, keyboard) and two terrific vocalists.
I brought my Takamine 132CS cedar top cutaway classical and played every day, sometimes in our cabin or on our balcony, but also in a quiet sitting lounge on deck 2 near the dining room. When I played there I never failed to attract an audience, and after a few days began to be recognized by other cruisers who wanted to know if I was on the music staff and when I would be playing next.
I’ve cruised before and was always curious about what it would be like to be a musician on a cruise ship. My friend Miche Lambro told me that he recently did a 2 month hitch on a cruise ship. I’ll have to ask him depth what that was like. I can imagine a lot of it depends on whether you are hired to play in the orchestra for the large shows–for which good sight-reading skills would be a must (that rules me out)–or as one of the lounge acts. Though we never went in, the piano bar in which a solo pianist and vocalist played every night, was always packed to overflowing. Judging from that, and similar circumstances I’ve seen on other cruises, I get the impression that these guys–the solo pianist/vocalist–who are exceptionally versatile in playing all kinds of music and taking almost any request–are actually at the top of the food chain when it comes to on-ship musicians. I’d be interested to find out if I’m right about this.
So all in all, had a great time. My wife told me today that when we retire–perhaps in 5 years or so (I hope)–she would like to go on a longer cruise, 10 days at least. I guess we’d better start saving up…
I recently found a great solution for a problem that had plagued me for years: how to keep my guitar strap on the end pin jack of my acoustic/electric guitars. The end pin jack of an acoustic/electric is larger than a normal strap pin because it functions as both a strap pin and a 1/4″ input jack. Consequently straps are hard to get on don’t like to stay on them. A small online company called Tapastring has come up with a great fix for this problem which they call the “StrapKeeper”. It’s very reasonable but really does the trick. I haven’t had a single problem with the strap coming off since installing this handy gadget.
I just finished a video interview (via Skype) with my online friend, the terrific singer and guitarist Miche Fambro for his YouTube video show, Miche Today. Miche interviews musicians from all over the world and puts together a video of the interview and a sample of their work which he posts on YouTube. I was very honored to be picked by him for this interview and I’m quite eager to see the results. He usually finishes up the video by including a performance video with the featured artist in which he joins in for a duet. Got to get busy with that one and send it off to him. Thanks, Miche!
In preparation for my up-coming Alaskan cruise I installed D rings on the hard case of my Takamine 132CS to allow a shoulder strap carry. This is a feature common on high-end cases–in the $400 and up range–but I installed these myself for about $10 in parts. It did require pulling the glued liner away from the inside of the case so I could put large flat washers under the bolt heads to reinforce the attachment and keep the hardware beneath the liner. I’ll have to re-glue the liner when I have time. I bought an extra set of hardware for my Cordoba case which I will install after I get back from vacation.