Tag Archives: Carvin

Guitars, Music, Photoblog, Photography

Well, It Ain’t Fireworks…

For a variety of reasons, I didn’t get to any fireworks this weekend. However, with the success of the raindrops under my belt this weekend, I turned my flash to another subject I’d been thinking about.

I set my Carvin Cobalt C350 on a flat surface, and mounted my flash and Canon 7D on a couple of tripods. By using my new DIY cable extension, I had a ton of latitude in placing the flash. I set the flash to strobe at 20hz, and plucked the low E-string, capturing 1/2 second of vibration. I need to try it again, though, as this image didn’t exactly turn out the way I had envisioned, although I do like it.

So my fireworks tonight is a little stroboscopic action, with the aid of some new strings. Enjoy!

Plucking the E-String

Music

Guitar Strings

I have a bad tendency with my vehicles.

(Wait… vehicles? I thought you said “Guitar Strings.” Yeah, I did. Just wait.)

I drive my vehicles long — big road trips — and trade ’em quickly, usually before the tires need to be changed. In fact, I can only think of two sets of tires I’ve bought in the last ten years or so. One of those is a set on my Jeep, which I’m beginning to think will be buried with me. I just have no itch to trade that one off.

What’s that gotta do with guitar strings? Great question!

Since I started learning the guitar about ten months ago, I’ve left a swath of guitars in my wake. Currently, I have two guitars — my Carvin Cobalt C350 and my Takamine EF740SGN… and that one’s for sale right now. 🙂 I’ve tended to trade my guitars like I’ve traded my vehicles … before they needed maintenance.

Yesterday was the first time I’d changed the strings on a guitar, and my victim was my Cobalt, which I play so very frequently. You see, I’d come into a set of Elixir Nanoweb mediums via an R. Taylor event at Fazio’s a week or so ago, and I’d been reading that the mediums would really bring out the boom in the mahogany-based Cobalt. And given that I’d been beating the stuffings out of the strings it shipped with (D’Addario EXP16’s, I think), it seemed the timing was right.

Frankly, it went pretty well. The only complaint I had was the bridge pins. Getting them out wasn’t a big deal, but getting them back in … and evenly inserted … was pretty dang impossible. It probably means that something’s wrong, but I didn’t dare shove them in farther, for fear of wrecking the top. I’ll live with high pins on the low E and A strings until the next string change.

And yes, there’ll be a “next time”. The Cobalt has really become my go-to guitar, and I expect to wear out this set of strings too. Now, I do believe there’s another guitar or two yet to arrive in the “permanent collection” at the Deauxmayne, but the Cobalt is special, and is definitely a guitar I don’t mind traveling with.

Hmm…. maybe the there’ll be room in the Jeep for the Cobalt when they put me in the ground. Probably a good thing I bought a four door!

Guitars, Music

New Guitar : Carvin Model 50 Lap Steel

For Christmas, I picked up a little eBay present — a 1954 Carvin Model 50 Lap Steel guitar.

Now, this is definitely a project guitar for me. This thing was a little dirty, could stand new strings, and needs a little TLC to get back up to snuff… all of which will be fun. Kevin’s indicated that I should keep it stock, but I have some desire to pretty it up — new hardware, etc. — and maybe even replace the pots for volume and tone, along with the 1/4″ socket.

However, I still have to learn to play the thing. I’ve laid some questions out on some guitar fora to see if I can get some help figuring out what tuning scheme to use on it, where to get strings, and what kind of learning materials I can find to teach me to play the steel guitar.

And if I like playing it, I could see me picking up another of these down the road. Will it be a Carvin/Kiesel? Who knows… Part of me likes the idea of keeping to vintage instruments like this, but part of me would like to put a “new classic” instrument in the corral.

Of course, that assumes I figure out how to play the steel guitar, and find an opportunity to use that knowledge from time to time!