Tacoma Chief
Chip L
in picking up up a used Tacoma Chief C1C (Cedar/Mahogany) with the E4
Fishman
preamp for $200. (He shoots / He scores!).
These are neat LITTLE guitars. Very lively and extremely light. Incredible
control over the output. After playing an archtop w/ 13's, this is really a
pleasure to play.
My question is strings. I want to use this for performing Chord Melody/jazz
and pop ,
but I don't want a bright bronze bluegrass sound. Looking for a mellow tone
but not
flatwounds. Opinions? TI Bebops?
Anybody own one of these?
Chip Long
Hojo2x
>I haven't owned a flattop in years, but I couldn't help myself this
weekend>in picking up up a used Tacoma Chief C1C (Cedar/Mahogany) with the
E4>Fishman
>preamp for $200. (He shoots / He scores!).
Oh, no KIDDING! Serious score! That's way under market price for that,
>These are neat LITTLE guitars. Very lively and extremely light.
Compared to a big jazz box or a dreadnought, they're definitely smaller, but
the way the market is going for flat top design the Chief would be considered
more of a mid-size guitar these days.
>My question is strings. I want to use this for performing Chord
Melody/jazz>and pop ,>but I don't want a bright bronze bluegrass sound.
Well, you're not going to get a bluegrass sound out of it, anyway.
>Looking for a mellow tone>but not >flatwounds. Opinions?
>Anybody own one of these?
Chip, I don't own a Chief, but I've got a Tacoma Papoose, which is the
miniature travel guitar/requinto that shares the same basic design and which
actually went into production first. A couple of my buddies own and play
Chiefs, and I happen to be very good friends with two of the guys who were on
the Tacoma design team that came up with those instruments.
For strings, regardless of what you settle on you're going to want to stay with
light gauge or lighter. The Chief and Papoose don't have conventional
X-bracing under the top, but instead use a couple of long braces like the tone
bars on a mandolin.
This is one reason they sound so good and are so responsive, but it can lead to
serious problems if you use strings that are too heavy.
So stick with .012s or lighter - that's what they were designed for.
One of my buddies who plays a Chief has what we call "toxic finger syndrome"
around here: he just instantly kills strings. So I introduced him to the
Elixir strings, which have a coating which makes them last considerably longer
under those conditions. He recently switched from the original "Polyweb"
Elixirs to their newer "Nanoweb" version, which sound better because they have
a lighter coating on them.
They do sound quite good on this instrument, so that's one brand you should
try.
The other buddy who has a Chief uses D'Addario phosphor bronze strings, and
gets a nice, versatile tone out of it.
I use John Pearse phosphor bronze on my Papoose.
So long as you stick to lights, all of these will work well, so I'd suggest you
try several brands and find out which you like best.
Something you are going to want to watch out for is a dipping between the
bridge and the end of the fingerboard and a corresponding bellying of the top.
Because of their bracing, if one of those brace ends gets loose the top can
distort like this, and if you ignore it it's at your peril: left alone too long
it'll ruin the instrument.
Because of the offset soundhole many repairmen will be baffled as how to
proceed, but it's easily remedied: you can get a deepthroat clamp from a supply
house called Stewart-McDonald that will reach all the way inside to clamp that
brace end back in place.
Caught early enough it's not a problem.
I'm not trying to alarm you with that, it's just one of the quirks of the
design, and you're better off knowing about it so you can keep an eye out for
it. It happened on my Papoose, we fixed it and it's never been a problem
again.
Hope this helps. Have fun with your new baby.
Wade Hampton Miller
Chip L
I just got a gig in a band playing variety/dance/R&B for
weddings/festivals/private parties - no bars. Between the Chief and a tele
or strat, I think I can get what I want. The Chief sounds like it will work
fine for the light jazz stuff - a heck of a lot more fun to play than my L5
CES knockoff. I can even use on into some of the dance/R&B stuff.
Found it hanging in a pawn shop. The guy thought it was just another cheap
acoustic. The shops around here just know about Martins and everything else
to them is a cheap acoustic. Last year I found a '46 Gibson SJ for $200. I
just stop by every couple of weeks. No telling what I'm missing in the mean
time.
Thanks again
Chip
Hojo2x wrote in message <20011102091804...@mb-fq.aol.com>...
MindSpring User
Congratulations on a major bargain. I paid a lot more for mine. Try
various Silk n Steel types. I used these last year but have just gone back
to Elixers. I think either Daddario or Fender Silk n Steel toned down the
brightness.
Dave M.