ILF Unplugged

[le lambin]

I know you all play guitar. Electric guitar. Very cool me too.

But what are you getting into when you’re not using electricity?

Lately I have been playing acoustic exclusively- because life reasons but also I am just really enjoying the sound of the acoustic guitar.

Particularly, a Larrivee OO-40. I had a gear purge last year and traded some of it towards this guitar. I had never heard of Larrivee, and don’t really know anything about acoustic guitars like I do the electric stuff. But dang it sounds real good to me.

Obviously it’s a different world from using pedals and amps. The approach is completely different. But I like it, and I like all the little nuances you can coax out of a guitar like that. It’s fun!

So, what say you? How are you getting down on this seldom trodden road? Or maybe seldom discussed? Can’t always have fuzz, right? Don’t hurt me.

[Gone Fission]

Seagull S12 Deluxe 12 string and Grand parlor guitars, Epiphone IBG J200, and Recording King JTE parlor. Really ought to get around to trying to do very layered multitracked acoustic guitar stuff with all of these. All of them are different beasts, so there’s a reason to use them all. The Grand is a fire hose of midrange and sustain, whereas the J200 has is more dynamically responsive—I have to dig in to really get it pumping, though a light touch still sounds good. The JTE does a really particular snarly resonator-ish thing if you gif it right but chokes a bit if you go too hard. Some people swap a rubber bridge in for the wood floating bridge, but it’s already kind of getting into that zone.

[Blackened Soul]

Unknown plywood double bass I’ve had since 97
Aria AC-75B classical contra bass guitar (classical bass vi)
Really old Spanish laud
Unknown 70s Chinese cello I got in trade for a Jackson Kelly and a de pedal
Ovation double neck 6/12
5 string box tambura

The rest… weird and random others
Cheap Ibanez acoustic bass - converted to a bassvi
Cheap cort acoustic bass
Applause acoustic bass tune adgc with nylon strings
Frankensteined Kay flattop with a babicz neck - set up as a Gypsy guitar
Unknown mountain dulcimer
15 or so cheap ukuleles

[qersty]

My acoustic guitar is a sigma OO18 mahogany top, I also have a cheap dreapnought at my mothers house but the bridge is lifted on it so I am not using it. I also have a loar mandolin but I do not play it as often as i would like because it is not setup too well. I also have a few whistles and recorders play from time to time.

In the last year or so when I have been playing music I ´have been practicing nyckelharpa as it has fit my living situation a lot better than lugging around electric equipment so am mainly acoustic these days. Most of my gas is acoustic instruments also. That or microphones or stuff for recording acoustic sounds

[dubkitty]

i have five acoustic guitars. the nicest is an Eastman AC512 OM-sized i bought off eBay around 2012 for just under a grand with the case. i haven’t done a thing to it other than replacing the gold tuner buttons, which were just gaudy, with tortoiseshell plastic. unusual Engelmann spruce top, mahogany back and sides, ebony fingerboard with “microdot” inlays that hilariously are actually the size of microdot LSD tabs of the 70s.

the one that’s been everywhere is the Epiphone FT-345 dreadnought i bought in 1974, which is the best-sounding guitar with a plywood top you’ll ever hear. i literally combed every large guitar store in the greater Chicagoland area for guitars under $200...this was the best one and it was the first one i tried LOL. a guy tried to trade me a new Ovation for it back around 1975-76 when they were the Big New Expensive Thing. mine sounded way better. laminated spruce top, solid mahogany back/sides, rosewood fingerboard. mahogany was that cheap comparatively back then. it’s now on its third nut, third set of tuners, and god knows how many bridge saddles.

the most recent is a repro Kalamazoo Oriole i got on eBay. i’d been looking for a parlor guitar for ages, and this one rules. spruce top, flame maple back/sides, rosewood board. it’s way nicer than its price would lead you to expect. it’s deeper than most parlor guitars and thus fuller-sounding, so deep it almost doesn’t fit in the Gator case and sounds more like a 00.

there’s also the Alvarez jumbo 12-string whose praises i’ve long sung here, spruce over maple with rosewood fingerboard. i put a Seymour Duncan Acoustic Tube pickup in after hearing Ira out of Yo La Tengo playing one, in a ploy to avoid buying a electric 12-string.

the last is more a conversation piece than a happening guitar…it’s an Egmond parlor guitar from the Netherlands i bought because the painted-on flame pattern reminded me of a tabby cat. interestingly, its neck tilt is adjustable via a screw in the neck heel. the textured fiberboard fretboard is fairly unplayable, but it does play after i swapped the plastic moveable bridge for a rosewood replacement. there’s one bad fret up around the 12th or 13th that needs filed. but like i said, it’s not a serious guitar though i’ve been tempted to have the board replaced.

i mostly play the Eastman and the Oriole. the Epi plays well, but it’s very worn and tired. it's also the largest 6-string acoustic, and as i get older i like stretching less and less. however, like my ES-335 which i got in 1975 it's incredibly familiar to my hands. i never have to look before going for a note because the muscle memory knows where everything is. i played acoustic for five years before owning an electric guitar, so in some ways i don’t really play like a rock guitarist…for example, i control my electric volume by how hard i play rather than rolling the guitar volume up/down or kicking in a boost pedal.

most of these have made appearances in my project guitars thread and/or Let’s See Your Guitar. i have some photos on the laptop which i’ll post later.

[coldbrightsunlight]

I've got an old Greco acoustic, it's stored at my parents for now but when I move house I'm planning to offload it or get another one. It's a good sounding guitar but I have a craving for a little parlour or at least smaller body guitar that's a bit easier to play. It's also got some really concerning looking bulging around the bridge so I often string it light or tune low, but then it has had that for years and doesn't seem to have got any worse...

Aside from guitars I've got a double bass, and an Ashbury open back banjo. My acoustic instrument focus so far this year has been learning clawhammer banjo and it's going alright.

[dubkitty]

here's some shots.

Eastman AC512.

eastman cropped 6-21-24.jpg (53.97 KiB) Viewed 33 times

Epiphone FT-345.

Epiphone.jpg (72.64 KiB) Viewed 33 times

Kalamazoo Oriole.

oriole front.jpg (49.53 KiB) Viewed 33 times

[dubkitty]

and the 12-string.

[Blackened Soul]

Unknown plywood double bass I’ve had since 97
Aria AC-75B classical contra bass guitar (classical bass vi)
Really old Spanish laud
Unknown 70s Chinese cello I got in trade for a Jackson Kelly and a de pedal
Ovation double neck 6/12
5 string box tambura

The rest… weird and random others
Cheap Ibanez acoustic bass - converted to a bassvi
Cheap cort acoustic bass
Applause acoustic bass tune adgc with nylon strings
Frankensteined Kay flattop with a babicz neck - set up as a Gypsy guitar
Unknown mountain dulcimer
15 or so cheap ukuleles

[dubkitty]

that Kay looks eeeenteresting.

[le lambin]

I do like the casual mention of the ovation double neck. What a monstah.

Also dubs very cool epiphone. I once played a vintage little epiphone parlor acoustic and it sounded great to my ears, like it had already been eq’d or something. Every string sounded clear and wonderfully midrangey.

[dubkitty]

i’m trying to imagine whether that would be easier or more difficult to hold upright on your lap than a regular Ovation.