One Year with a Martin

With the recent passing of my birthday, I could help but think that it's been one year since my Darling Wife gave me a very sweet day and a very sweet gift.

This will probably sound like bragging, but I swear I don't intend it to - it's just looking back over a year. I've made some fairly significant progress as a guitar player. I wasn't touched by god, I simply practiced and played a lot.

Part of it was having a good guitar - having a Martin on the guitar stand made me more driven to play. Part of it was having good examples - playing in a band with two good guitar players helped me pick up some things by osmosis. And part of it was just getting into a good positive feedback loop - seeing progress made me want to play more, which generated more improvement.

The last year also saw the addition of a PA setup in the basement. It's hard to overestimate what a big thing this is. It's a simple setup, and it didn't (relatively) cost much - but it's *huge*. We use it for a few things, but the most fun is DW and I using it for acoustic duo practice. And now, my Martin is fully pluggable.

I mentioned two weeks ago that baby was in the shop getting a K&K Pure Mini pickup installed. Well, I picked her up, and it works as well as advertised. The unplugged sound is unaffected, and plugging it into the PA sends the sweet sound of the Martin to the speakers. I brought her home Saturday (on the way home from fiddle camp - about which there will be much more), and I played with her plugged in all evening. DW joined me, and we played every song we know, and then some.

More open mics are sure to come. And here's hoping that year two with my Martin will continue the journey.

Maine Fiddle Camp

Yes, I'm going. To fiddle camp. In Maine.

I know, it's crazy. But it's happening next week, Sunday through Friday.

When the possibility of a family vacation to London became impossible, that gave me back a block of personal time that I'd considered spent. I looked at music events and festivals that Darling Wife and I could do together - and we have a number of these penciled in, including the Folk Fest.

I was intrigued by the idea of a fiddle camp - a full immersion into playing, learning, jamming. There was nothing local, but I found Maine Fiddle Camp, and brought up the idea to Darling Wife, who was fully supportive. I asked about it on a fiddle board, and had it recommended by some people who seem to know. So I'm signed up for June week.

I'm nervous and excited at the same time. I've been playing just about every day, and feel like I'm making good progress. It seems like a week-long musical immersion can only be helpful, and sounds like great fun. I'll rent a car (my two are already *way* oversubscribed), tent camp, and I'll take my travel guitar for fun. But the idea will be to do as much fiddling as I can.

I'll do my best to post trip reports after I return.

K&K Pure Mini Acoustic Guitar Pickup

...or "Baby's in the Shop"

With Darling Wife and I now having a couple of public performances behind us, I've been thinking about better options for plugging in an acoustic guitar. I've been using a soundhole pickup, which easily pops in and out of my Martin, and works well enough. But I know there are better options.

One would be to get an acoustic/electric guitar for our "playing out" opportunities. There are decent-quality Epiphones and Seagulls (and doubtless other brands) with built-in electronics, and you can plug them in right out of the box. But it seems a terrible shame to have such a nice Martin, just to leave it at home when it's time to go out and play. And no, I won't take the Martin camping or to the beach, but it's also not a museum piece - I have it to play it.

From my scanning of the acoustic guitar message boards, one product that I hear recommended time and time again is the K&K Pure Mini. They drill out the endpin, glue three small transducers to the underside of the bridge, and attach them to a jack that goes in the endpin. So you then have an acoustic guitar that can also be plugged in.

It was an intriguing thought, but my fear was that doing this modification would affect the unplugged sound of the guitar. That would be a deal breaker - I'm playing open mics once in a while, not gigging three times a week. It would *have* to be the same sweet-sounding baby unplugged that it is now. So I posted this question on my favorite board, and got all the reassurance I need that it won't affect the unplugged sound.

So I dropped my baby off at the shop this afternoon, and she's now awaiting surgery. I know she's in good hands, but I'm nervous anyway. They said it would probably be ready toward the end of next week, but I told them to take their time, as I'll be away all the following week. (Where, you ask? Details in my next post.)

Mike at Meadowood assures me that he's done this countless times. Fingers crossed. Of course I'll post again when I get her back.