John Leventhal's two jack Collings OM

[Rudy4]

OK, it's a bit of click bait, but I love everything about John Leventhal, so his new interview on Truetone Lounge features a ton of great information about his process of creating great sounding acoustic guitar recordings. Please at least check out the 5 minutes from 50:00 minutes in to hear his thoughts on getting his unique sound.



Good stuff for anyone interested in good ways to handle live acoustic guitar sound or his M.O for recording and/or songwriting!

[Robin, Wales]

The section beyond 55 mins is where he says that having a "nice" guitar isn't important when you plug-in - he's looking for character and often records on a Guild M20 with a soundhole p/u and 20 year old strings!!!

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by Robin, Wales

The section beyond 55 mins is where he says that having a "nice" guitar isn't important when you plug-in - he's looking for character and often records on a Guild M20 with a soundhole p/u and 20 year old strings!!!

He's not the only lover of ancient strings. Ry Cooder has stated that in some cases, the older the better where strings are concerned.

Elixir Nanos or D'Addario XS strings for my needs.

I could possibly find another string that might sound better for the first week, but I'll take a tiny bit of compromise to spend less money, save more time, and play more instead of obsessing over string tone. Plus, changing even at the extended intervals they provide gives me re-assurance that I can go gig and not have to be overly concerned that I might break a string.

John Leventhal's tone might not be everyone's preference, but I love his tone. It's not unlike Richard Thompson's philosophy when performing live with an acoustic. Thompson usually plays with an obvious amount of distortion with delay thrown in, and moderate amounts of reverb.

[strangersfaces]

Waited until this evening to watch the whole thing, and glad I did. Enjoyed the interview.

Thanks for posting, Rudy!

[kurth]

thanks Rudy ....very informative. I've got two questions....which fishman has he got installed on the Collins? ...and which pedals are on his board? He says what the meme says....that acoustic guitar pickups are the great leveler. Of course...he's still playing a collins, not a Yam ll6 so....Great player. And I want to try that tuning....thanks.

[Rudy4]

Originally Posted by kurth

thanks Rudy ....very informative. I've got two questions....which fishman has he got installed on the Collins? ...and which pedals are on his board? He says what the meme says....that acoustic guitar pickups are the great leveler. Of course...he's still playing a collins, not a Yam ll6 so....Great player. And I want to try that tuning....thanks.

According to his interview for Vintage Guitar he's using a Shertler undersaddle. I think he said he's using a Fishman "Neodymium humbucker magnetic pickup. When I purchased my new Lowden 023C I added a Neo-D humbucker wired to an end pin jack. I liked it, but didn't use the Lowden much for gigging.

Leventhal:
"I’ve been using my Collings OM1 for a long time. I play it direct with an under-saddle pickup by Shertler and through the pedals and amp with a Fishman soundhole pickup. The amp fills out the sound a bit and moves it away from the under-saddle pickup thing that I hate. These things tend to require compromise but I’ve learned how to get a decent sound out it."

Don't know what combination he's using to accompany William Bell doing "Born Under A Bad Sign", but it ain't bad! At least a portion is coming from the X-Y mics, but that Fender in back of him is obviously in the mix.



Coincidentally, I've been playing a lot in that tuning, and did a topic post "Adventures In CGDGBE Tuning" to post some of those tunes.