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  #31  
Old 09-13-2018, 06:22 AM
ross748 ross748 is offline
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http://https://youtu.be/I2gdY7fITwUhttp://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I2gdY7fITwU

Last edited by ross748; 09-13-2018 at 06:36 AM.
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  #32  
Old 09-13-2018, 06:50 AM
rwmct rwmct is offline
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Originally Posted by JeffreyAK View Post
But while I'm sure there are people who do this, it looks out of place - a Flying V is for death metal, not blues.
I know little about "death metal" whatever that is, but the Flying V is a classic model that goes back to the 50s. I have seen a few people playing one live (including J. Geils and, unless my recollection is awry, Dave Davies.) I have seen pictures of many others (such as Albert King, as noted above). None of them have been metal players.

I understand that some metal players us it, but when I see one, I sure don't think "metal."
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  #33  
Old 09-13-2018, 06:53 AM
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Toby Walker Toby Walker is offline
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Most of what I see as being advertised as 'Blues Boxes' are usually 12 fret, parlor size instruments. Of course, there are exceptions with a few 14 fret instruments, but just about every 12 fret parlor comes with that tag.

For the most part, I feel this had to do with the re-emergence of the 12 fret guitar, and those ad agencies certainly knew that the modern demographic for these instruments enjoyed playing the blues on them, which certainly represented one of the genres that they were originally intended for, as well as other old-timey types of music. Most of the instruments in the 20's and 30's were small Stellas or Stella like counterparts. These guitars were easily affordable by 'blues' musicians and perhaps for that reason, the 'blues' label stuck.

The electric guitar, when first introduced, was not marketed towards blues players, but rather fell into the hands of the early jazz musicians, and later on, when Les-Paul invented that solid body electric, jazz and later on rock musicians used them. The same is in the case of Leo Fender, whose 'casters' were marketed during the rise of Rock and Roll in the mid-fifties. Of course, many blues musicians who were playing with pick-ups stuck in their acoustics saw the value in those and subsequently started using those.

At least that's my suspicion.
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  #34  
Old 09-13-2018, 08:12 AM
Muddslide Muddslide is offline
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Originally Posted by BluesKing777 View Post
My 37 L-0 had the blues long before I bought it!






BluesKing777.
Good lordy. That is one of the most beautiful things i've seen in this life.
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  #35  
Old 09-13-2018, 08:22 AM
beninma beninma is offline
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I think this is probably mostly marketing driven to get us to buy more guitars.. despite having owned a guitar marketed as a blues acoustic.

Blues is such a big tent and it seems there has been someone successful in it with just about every type of guitar and/or other instruments.

Maybe small acoustics are better than big ones or something but I went from a small Alvarez "Blues Acoustic" to a small Taylor which is supposedly bright and it doesn't really matter at all for playing blues. I don't own a Dread or big acoustic but it's hard for me to believe that big booming bass wouldn't sound good for pounding out blues rhythms. If you're doing a little palm muting that big acoustic is going to get you more powerful volume on the low bass parts of the rhythm parts.

Seems like it's more in your fingers and attitude.

One of the things I hear a lot in my lessons, I've been getting a lot of blues instruction has to do with with note selection and "playing loose", sometimes including some extra strings, not necessarily playing stuff exactly the same every time through, etc.. I think that is a bigger factor than the guitar.

On electric muting notes produces some interesting results, maybe acoustics that people think are good for blues do a better job of producing some choppy partially muted sounds.

I don't think there is anything you can really point to on the electric side either.. just about any guitar through just about any amp and with a pretty wide range of effects can work. Though I can't really believe I'd enjoy hearing/playing blues with a heavy delay type sound.
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  #36  
Old 09-13-2018, 09:44 AM
HeyMikey HeyMikey is offline
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I have an ES-347 which has a coil cutter switch so you can get the traditional 335 bucker sound or an almost Stat-like single coil sound as well. It’s a great blues machine and all around versatile guitar.

Last edited by HeyMikey; 09-13-2018 at 09:49 AM.
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  #37  
Old 09-13-2018, 09:57 AM
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Originally Posted by blindboyjimi View Post
All I know is that I’ve never played finger style, DADGAD or slack key on my ‘35 L-00, ‘37 00-17 or Waterloo WL-12 - they don’t sound pretty
Really? I LOVE my WL12 for DADGAD and fingerstyle. It's not super lush, but it sounds very pretty to my ears.
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  #38  
Old 09-13-2018, 12:54 PM
FrankHudson FrankHudson is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by rwmct View Post
I know little about "death metal" whatever that is, but the Flying V is a classic model that goes back to the 50s. I have seen a few people playing one live (including J. Geils and, unless my recollection is awry, Dave Davies.) I have seen pictures of many others (such as Albert King, as noted above). None of them have been metal players.

I understand that some metal players us it, but when I see one, I sure don't think "metal."
I'd add to that list Lonnie Mack.

As many have already said, this idea, that certain guitars suit, or do not suit, certain kinds of music is not an electric or acoustic only phenomenon: it's there in both camps. And what is suitable in one person's mind is not the same as another's.

For example: I bought my first 335 style guitar from a fellow during the SRV years. He was selling it because he felt he couldn't get a blues sound from it.

I like playing certain kinds of things on certain guitars, but that's a personal decision not a general rule for players, and there may even be an element of placebo effect to mix in with the timbral differences.

That last part, the element of costume, is irrational, sure--but have you ever heard an actor say that they finally got the gist of their role when they got their costume or found a particular piece of business that informed the rest of their performance. Why should (at least some) musicians be different?
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  #39  
Old 09-13-2018, 02:11 PM
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Of course you can play the Blues on any particular guitar. But, given a choice, do you really want to?
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  #40  
Old 09-13-2018, 02:50 PM
Nyghthawk Nyghthawk is offline
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One evening listening to blues on Youtube I followed a series of videos down a proverbial rabbit hole. The last one of the series was a 60-something looking Black man sitting on a folding metal chair in a dirt-floor, corrugated metal building playing Mississippi delta blues and tearing it up. He was playing an Epiphone Masterbilt AJ-500M. Slope-shoulder, long scale dread.

I think bluesmen played whatever they could afford/find.
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  #41  
Old 09-13-2018, 06:37 PM
Mycroft Mycroft is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Willie Voltaire View Post
In the world of electric guitars, everything from Stratocasters to Les Pauls to ES335s have been used extensively and successfully in the blues, yet they are seldom, if ever, referred to as "blues" guitars.

We do, however, seem to consistently make this delineation in acoustics, referring to Waterloos, Gibson L-00s, hogtop parlors, resonators, etc. as "blues boxes."

I've always maintained that, like their electric counterparts, "blues" acoustics are as versatile as any other, yet the "blues guitar" designation seems to be more permanently affixed to certain acoustics than to equally-deserving electrics.

Thoughts?
You may simply be dealing with folks with limited imaginations.
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  #42  
Old 09-13-2018, 07:06 PM
BluesKing777 BluesKing777 is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Muddslide View Post
Good lordy. That is one of the most beautiful things i've seen in this life.


Thanks Muddslide!


Sounds pretty good too!


Just posted a recording of some bottleneck playing on it in Show and Tell:



https://www.acousticguitarforum.com/...d.php?t=521811





BluesKing777.
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  #43  
Old 09-14-2018, 06:05 AM
zombywoof zombywoof is offline
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It is just marketing. For whatever reason builders do not feel the need to attach the "blues" moniker to electrics as much as acoustics. If they felt they needed it to help move instruments you would see it a lot more.
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  #44  
Old 09-14-2018, 10:35 AM
PHJim PHJim is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Athens View Post
You can only get one basic sound out of a particular style acoustic guitar. Yes, there is some variation based on strings, how you strike the strings, etc, etc, but the basic sound of the guitar is pretty much all you're going to get out of it.
Listen to a CD called Tone Poems by David Grisman and Tony Rice. They pay a different guitar and mandolin for each cut, ranging from pre-war Martins and Gibsons, modern Boutique instruments to cheap entry levelguitars with painted finishes (Vintage Gintage Blues) Each cut sounds like Tony and Dave, leading me to feel that the player has more to do with the sound than the instrument.
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  #45  
Old 09-14-2018, 11:44 AM
Pinetreebob Pinetreebob is offline
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Default Way back in the beginning...

...The blues players played whatever they could get their hands on and/or afford. Many were impoverished and created their music on inexpensive Stellas, Harmonys etc. Some were purchased from Sears catalogs, in the 1920s Delta there were limited resources.
Insofar as sizes, they ranged from parlor style which were popular then to big Stella jumbos that Blind Willie McTell played. The guitars were cheap, the songs recorded crudely and in the case of Paramount artists the 78s themselves were manufactured from inferior materials which is what we are used to hearing.
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