Taming some of the brightness on a Rainsong CH-OM

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by bdjansen

I wouldn’t use a om guitar as a strummer. I’d use a larger body.

I guess that we'll just have to agree to disagree on this.

Originally Posted by bdjansen

But I think flatpick choice is what will change the sound for you a lot. A smaller and thicker pick will have a warmer sound. If you need to use a thinner pick then try nylon picks. They are warmer too then other materials. Even how you hold the pick will have a big effect on the sound. A smaller pick with a larger percentage of the pick held by your fingers will sound warmer. If you don’t have thicker/heavier picks, try some. If you have some and they are hard to grip, try Monster Grips.

If you take a look at post #18 in this thread, you'll see the experimenting that I did with picks.

[JerryM]

About 50% of that brightness is most likely your pick choice rather than strings. A Primetone, or Blue Chip of heavier gauge will completely change the tone if your using a nylon, or plastic pick. The EML's are super warm sounding as well. Pick choice has a tremendous affect on tone, lighter brighter, heavy more mellow, and a Tortex or Ultex will calm it down to. Mid tension SCGC strings once worn in for a couple of days will also make a huge change in tone, and last months to compensate for the extra cost. I didn't notice Barry's post above when writing this, he's right on about picks as well....

[Bearman]

I have started using wooden picks on my Rainsong , and it sounds a good deal warmer.
Gerry