Taming some of the brightness on a Rainsong CH-OM

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by kramster

It's a B string thing on many guitars, CF and wood... just one of those things in life that is designed to mess with us. On sound hole pickups with adjustable poles you you have to screw the B string pole all the way down or even take it out on some set ups

I've never experienced it to this extent before. Since I'm stuck with the LR Baggs Stagepro (or a funky soundport, I guess), I'll need to put my faith in my tech and a custom Micarta bridge.

Originally Posted by jonfields45

Take out the saddle and put a small piece of masking tape on the saddle bottom under the B-string indentation in the saddle (split the difference to the adjacent strings). Paint the saddle bottom with three coats of thin cyanoacrylate glue (this will not work for the original black Teflon treated saddle as the glue won't stick). Then take a file, knife, or sandpaper, to clean off any glue that formed a lip over the edge of the bottom of the saddle. Reinstall, test, and repeat until the B string is tamed.

If you want to do this for the black Tusq saddle a strip of paper with the B string position cut out also works well. Try one layer at a time and it might take a few sheets depending on the paper.

The high E on my CH-PA has three layers of very thin paper under it. I wanted a relatively hot high E for covering electric guitar riffs in my duo.

Since this is above my pay grade, I'll show it to my tech and see what he says.

[Kindness]

Another suggestion. I tune my guitars down one full step because of my low singing voice.

I have found this really really sweetens the sound of CF guitars. Many moons ago I tried every string out there on my Rainsong Shorty. No question in my mind with the Elixir Nanoweb strings and dropping it down that it made a difference.

Also, having a proper set up made a HUGE difference in the sound. HUGE. Several years ago Kramster played my Shorty and could not believe how it played like butter.

Just my two cents. The 12 fret Shorty really is a joy! I see one up for sale in the classifieds and can't believe it hasn't sold yet. It's slightly brighter than my Cargo. I love my Shorty. I am so glad I talked them into the abalone around the soundhole! Ted at LA Guitars was so awesome to work with.

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by Kindness

Another suggestion. I tune my guitars down one full step because of my low singing voice.

I have found this really really sweetens the sound of CF guitars. Many moons ago I tried every string out there on my Rainsong Shorty. No question in my mind with the Elixir Nanoweb strings and dropping it down that it made a difference.

Also, having a proper set up made a HUGE difference in the sound. HUGE.

Thanks Kindness. Tuning down a full step probably wouldn't work for me because I'm a rhythm player (and, as my band mates will tell you, I can get a little "enthusiastic" at times). It would also complicate things for them as far as compensating for the key (or I would need to use a capo).

I agree that having a proper setup is critical. After making sure that I like the ergonomics, all new guitars are off to my tech it for a thorough going over, and if he doesn't find any problems, he does a full setup.

[tommyld]

Originally Posted by tommyld

You can really take the edge off a bright guitar with a micarta saddle.

I retract this suggestion. I've had some luck warming up a couple guitars with micarta saddles (one of which was a Blackbird Lucky 13, and the micarta made the highs much more natural sounding).

But I'd never tried micarta on a Rainsong. I tried it on a CH-WS last week and was found it pretty unpleasant sounding. Didn't really warm it up and imparted an ugly hollow flwang to the highs especially.

However, Monel strings settled-down the highs a bit and warmed the overall tone. Monel settles in even warmer after a few days. I don't always like them on wood, but I've enjoyed them on several past Rainsongs too.

[Long Road Home]

I'm not sure if it's just that my ears are getting used to it, or that the Retros have taken a lot longer (almost 3 weeks) than they do to mellow out on a wood guitar, but the CH-OM seems to have lost most of the brightness that I was concerned with. I'm going to let it ride for now.

[geewhiz]

Well whaddya know. I really like my Rainsong CH-OM but it can be a tad bright at times. Initially I tried my Elixir 80/20s which I've used for years. Too bright. Tried some Elixir PBs and that helped, been using them for a few months now.

On a whim and based on this thread, I grabbed a set of Monels. I put them on earlier this week and I immediately hated them . I considered taking them off immediately but I let them sit (mainly out of laziness and/or other things I had to do).

They've settled in for a few days - and maybe it's my ears too - but I'm starting to really like them. Definitely a different feel from the coated strings I've been using, but that's to be expected. There's definitely a rounder tone, a bit warmer and with some different overtones. I plugged it into my Loudbox Mini, which I use as a personal monitor and DI to our PA, and I really noticed a difference there. Warmer and more pleasing mids, less of that hyped high end. Looking forward to playing them more and breaking them in further. We have a gig next weekend and I can't wait to see how they perform.

Moral of the story - give them (or any new string) a few days to settle in and let your ears get used to them.

[kramster]

Originally Posted by geewhiz

Moral of the story -

At first I thought it said Monel of the story...silly

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by geewhiz

Well whaddya know. I really like my Rainsong CH-OM but it can be a tad bright at times. Initially I tried my Elixir 80/20s which I've used for years. Too bright. Tried some Elixir PBs and that helped, been using them for a few months now.

On a whim and based on this thread, I grabbed a set of Monels. I put them on earlier this week and I immediately hated them . I considered taking them off immediately but I let them sit (mainly out of laziness and/or other things I had to do).

They've settled in for a few days - and maybe it's my ears too - but I'm starting to really like them. Definitely a different feel from the coated strings I've been using, but that's to be expected. There's definitely a rounder tone, a bit warmer and with some different overtones. I plugged it into my Loudbox Mini, which I use as a personal monitor and DI to our PA, and I really noticed a difference there. Warmer and more pleasing mids, less of that hyped high end. Looking forward to playing them more and breaking them in further. We have a gig next weekend and I can't wait to see how they perform.

Moral of the story - give them (or any new string) a few days to settle in and let your ears get used to them.

As I mentioned above, it took more than a few days (more like a few weeks) for the Retros to settle in for me to the point where I'm really enjoying them and the CH-OM. I think you'll like them more and more as they settle in (or your ears settle in).

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by kramster

At first I thought it said Monel of the story...silly

Mr. K - you say tomayto; I say tomahto (actually, I don't but)... sillier.

[Earl49]

Carbon fiber guitars just seem to be far more sensitive to string type than their wooden counterparts. I put JP Pure Nickels on my Lucky 13 and immediately hated the guitar. Back to the Elixir PB's and all is good again.

You just have to experiment to find the right string gauge and alloy mix that works for your ear. I can't tell you what that might be.

[Long Road Home]

Originally Posted by Earl49

Carbon fiber guitars just seem to be far more sensitive to string type than their wooden counterparts. I put JP Pure Nickels on my Lucky 13 and immediately hated the guitar. Back to the Elixir PB's and all is good again.

You just have to experiment to find the right string gauge and alloy mix that works for your ear. I can't tell you what that might be.

I agree, Earl, and I'm very happy now that the Retros have well and truly settled in. I wonder what will happen the next time I swap in a new set of the Retros. If it takes 2-3 weeks for them to settle in again, it'll take some serious planning around gigs, etc.

Now that you bring up string gauge, I'm wondering if anyone has tried a set of medium Retros on a CH-OM, and can compare them to the lights.

[Earl49]

I don't have a CH-OM, but my WS-1000 and my Blackbird Lucky 13 wear medium gauge PB strings 90% of the time. I use several alternate tunings and need the heavier gauge when tuning down, and have eventually become used to mediums for normal tuning too. I also use GHS White Bronze strings on several guitars, CF and wood.

My Emerald X20 currently has a test set of Elixir 80/20 lights on it right now, going on week six They were too bright for my taste at first, but after a week settled into a nice tone.

[Long Road Home]

I want to close the circle on this thread.

When my Retro lights finally gave up the ghost, I replaced them with a set of Retro LJ's Choice (Medium/Light) with these gauges: 13/17/24/32/42/56 (vs. the lights with 12/15/25/31/41/54). There's also an increase in tension, from 162.91 to 175.45, but that doesn't seem to make as much of a difference to me as I thought it would. In fact, I can strum more aggressively with no adverse effects.

The tone has, for lack of a better term, fattened up some (treble and bass). There's finally some added depth to it. This was (hopefully) the last step in the process of taming the brightness on my CH-OM.

[PeteCady]

Originally Posted by pax238

I want to close the circle on this thread.

When my Retro lights finally gave up the ghost, I replaced them with a set of Retro LJ's Choice (Medium/Light) with these gauges: 13/17/24/32/42/56 (vs. the lights with 12/15/25/31/41/54). There's also an increase in tension, from 162.91 to 175.45, but that doesn't seem to make as much of a difference to me as I thought it would. In fact, I can strum more aggressively with no adverse effects.

The tone has, for lack of a better term, fattened up some (treble and bass). There's finally some added depth to it. This was (hopefully) the last step in the process of taming the brightness on my CH-OM.

I just put the Martin Monel Retros on my two all-carbon Rainsongs. The APLE (which my wife/singing partner/fiddler had thought was too shrill with regular old PB lights) got a set of the "custom lights," which were a definite improvement. My "old" OM1000 ('07) has just gotten a set of lights, which sound very good so far but haven't had time to break in yet. I was thinking, I wished they'd made these strings in a True Medium set. It wasn't until I saw mention of the LJs on this thread, and looked them up, that I realized that that was what they WERE. Would that makers could agree on nomenclature. Well, now I gotta send out another order...

[bdjansen]

I have this guitar. I don’t think it’s bright, but it’s the way I play it probably. I did change to phosphor bronze strings and they are warmer then the stock 80/20s (which are also great but different).

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

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.