yamaha silent guitar as travel guitar?
paul
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/guitars/yamaha-slg100n-silent-nylon-string-acoustic-electric-guitar
I need to get a travel guitar and it would be cool to have an electric
nylon. I saw lionel loueke play one of these (I think) once and it was
pretty cool.
thoughts?
--paul
David J. Littleboy
There are a variety of different models* with different levels of bells and
whistles, but one bloke at my singers' gig used to show up with one, and it
sounded great. Having a built-in headphone amp would be real nice: I travel
with (and practice at home when the CEO is asleep with) a Steinberger Spirit
plus Tascam GT-R1, and there's a lot of cables and things.
*: There's a version (maybe not Yamaha) that has an on-board synthesizer.
--
David J. Littleboy
Tokyo, Japan
ic
news:d284b461-e076-4b7b...@x10g2000vbl.googlegroups.com...
> has anyone played one of these?
Long time ago. Didn't like the way the top 'spar' dug into my ribs. Try
before buy.
--
icarusi
TD
>
> > I need to get a travel guitar and it would be cool to have an electric
> > nylon. I saw lionel loueke play one of these (I think) once and it was
> > pretty cool.
>
> > thoughts?
>
> There are a variety of different models* with different levels of bells and
> whistles, but one bloke at my singers' gig used to show up with one, and it
> sounded great. Having a built-in headphone amp would be real nice: I travel
> with (and practice at home when the CEO is asleep with) a Steinberger Spirit
> plus Tascam GT-R1, and there's a lot of cables and things.
>
> *: There's a version (maybe not Yamaha) that has an on-board synthesizer.
>
> --
> David J. Littleboy
> Tokyo, Japan
I'm looking for one that just cooks breakfast.
-TD
Mark Guest
>
> I need to get a travel guitar and it would be cool to have an electric
> nylon. I saw lionel loueke play one of these (I think) once and it was
> pretty cool.
>
> thoughts?
>
> --paul
Good travel guitar, I didn't find it quite good enough for gigging,
but I'm not Lionel Louke, either. I couldn't get away from the piezo
"quack" tone without improving my RH technique, so the guitar has
moved on.
rpjazzguitar
The good:
The neck feels great. I like it that the bridge is near the end of the
body. That means the nut isn't far to the left and the thing is
comfortable.
It has a number of useful features that allow play - along and
headphone use.
It packs up very narrow and is light to carry. It's still as long as a
usual guitar.
Ricardo Vogt (now with Esmeralda Spaulding) played one on tour with
Elaine Elias. He always sounds great.
The not so good:
The upper bout is not comfortable on my right bicep area.
The piezo quacks if you hit it too hard.
The sound, at best, isn't as good as a Frameworks bodyless nylon
guitar.
The thing hums if you use the supplied wall wart.
It goes thru batteries. The batteries in my Godin last many times
longer.
There are two reverb settings: too much and too little.
After a couple of years of light use, the jacks have loosened up to
the point where they don't make good contact.
My suggestion: check out the Frameworks guitar. I believe this is a
German company. Chico Pinheiro plays one and sounds awesome.
rpjazzguitar
I replied to this in detail before, but my message hasn't appeared.
The gist is that there are a number of negatives to the Yamaha, and
two positives: nice neck and play along ability.
Negatives: comfort, quack, battery life, reverb sound, durability of
jacks.
Bill Godwin
check out
SoloEtte Nylon Hybrid
heard it played by both John Stowell and Gustavo Assis-Brasil
Bill Godwin
Carl
there. I used a Spirit GT-Pro for many years, but just treated myself to an
upgrade to their Synapse model, a bit more expensive. I carry a little Korg
Pandora with it and use the same headphones I use when I'm listening to
music, so that's not anything extra to take along. When I get to a hotel
room, the initial hookup of the 2 wires takes 30 seconds and then I just
leave it that way for the rest of my stay.
The older Spirit GT-Pro is still working just fine after all these years
too. Those things are durable. It doesn't matter how you toss them around-
they just stay in tune, sustain no damage, and keep playing.
It may not be what the OP is looking for, and that Yamaha looks interesting,
but I suspect that none of the so-called travel guitars will be as compact,
nor hold up like the Steinbergers.
David J. Littleboy
"Carl" <crot...@NOSPAMoptonline.net> wrote:
> David J. Littleboy wrote:
>> There are a variety of different models* with different levels of
>> bells and whistles, but one bloke at my singers' gig used to show up
>> with one, and it sounded great. Having a built-in headphone amp would
>> be real nice: I travel with (and practice at home when the CEO is
>> asleep with) a Steinberger Spirit plus Tascam GT-R1, and there's a
>> lot of cables and things.
>> *: There's a version (maybe not Yamaha) that has an on-board
>> synthesizer.
> I'm a Steinberger fan myself David. I think it's the best travel guitar
> out there. I used a Spirit GT-Pro for many years, but just treated myself
> to an upgrade to their Synapse model, a bit more expensive.
I tried the Synapse in the local store, but hated the sound of the active
pickups (as opposed to really loving the sound of the neck pup on the
Spirit: go figure). Have you found a way to tame them? (I'm considering
asking the store if they could replace the neck pup with a PAF and wire it
as a one-pup guitar.)
Other than the pups problem, the Synapse has lots of advantages: the tuners
work a lot better, it doesn't have a wang bar (on the Spirit, the wang bar
adjustment gets in the way of the tuners, making the stiff tuners even
harder to use), and it can use any old strings (so I could use the same .011
D'Addario Chromes I'm using everywhere else).
Do you have the strap extension thingy?
> The older Spirit GT-Pro is still working just fine after all these years
> too. Those things are durable. It doesn't matter how you toss them around-
> they just stay in tune, sustain no damage, and keep playing.
Well, my Spirit goes out of tune as the humidity changes. But it survived
being crammed into overhead bins in several overbooked flights, so it is
sturdy.
> It may not be what the OP is looking for, and that Yamaha looks
> interesting, but I suspect that none of the so-called travel guitars will
> be as compact, nor hold up like the Steinbergers.
I think the OP may want a classical neck and strings to practice on, so the
Steinbergers won't be the right thing for him.
> I carry a little Korg Pandora with it and use the same headphones I use
> when I'm listening to music, so that's not anything extra to take along.
> When I get to a hotel room, the initial hookup of the 2 wires takes 30
> seconds and then I just leave it that way for the rest of my stay.
I'd need to plug in an mp3 player with backing tracks: the GT-R1 does that.
Sheesh, with all those insane bells and whistles, you'd think they could put
an SD card slot and mp3 player firmware in the Pandora. The problem with the
GT-R1 is that it doesn't go in a pocket nicely, so I hang it on a strap over
my shoulder. Maybe superglue a PandoraMini to the guitar strap...
Stan Fong
>
> I need to get a travel guitar and it would be cool to have an electric
> nylon. I saw lionel loueke play one of these (I think) once and it was
> pretty cool.
>
> thoughts?
>
> --paul
I have one but the steel string version because I wanted a wanted the
narrower neck. It sounds great on the headphones. The built-in reverb
isn't bad but it'll eat batteries. I like these over the smaller
headless travel guitars. You can get a used one on Ebay from $350-
$400.
paul
>
> It may not be what the OP is looking for, and that Yamaha looks interesting,
> but I suspect that none of the so-called travel guitars will be as compact,
> nor hold up like the Steinbergers.
I'm just looking for something I can take on a long backpacking trip
that can take a lot of abuse. bonus points for anything that can fold
out so that it can sit comfortably in my lap.
I thought it would be nice to have a nylon string, because I play
classical too, but it's definitely not a requirement and the
steinberger synapse is quite a bit cheaper. so, I'm really considering
the steinberger as well.
--paul
skip
>
> I need to get a travel guitar and it would be cool to have an electric
> nylon. I saw lionel loueke play one of these (I think) once and it was
> pretty cool.
>
> thoughts?
>
> --paul
check out Lee Ritenour in the overtime dvd, he plays one there
skip
Nate Najar
I did a gig a few weeks ago and Ritenour was on right after us. He
played his silent guitar for a few tunes and sounded fabulous.
N
skip
he's a great player, but I suspect he runs his gtr thru
processing ,maybe even a dedicated amp, I've played that gtr on its
own, and was
not that impressed by the electronics, I have found that various
pedals can really help bring out the tone out of several of those type
of guitars.
I wonder if anyone here can help verify Lee's set up for the silent
gtr.
Skip
Gerry
>> I did a gig a few weeks ago and Ritenour was on right after us. He
>> played his silent guitar for a few tunes and sounded fabulous.
>
> he's a great player, but I suspect he runs his gtr thru
> processing, maybe even a dedicated amp,
Everytime I've heard/seen Lee, he seems to have a full stack of
sig-proc that his guitar goes through, regardless of what kind of
amp/speaker it comes through. It's been a good long while since I saw
him last, though. Maybe everybody has moved on from the "flight-case
full of sig-proc modules" these days. I saw Scofield and Abercrombie a
few times in the 80's/90's and they had the same. Back then I always
played with compressor and chorus too, so thought it was cool. I just
wanted to buy an exciter so I could be "whole" as a guitars. Now, not
so much.
> I've played that gtr on its own, and was not that impressed by the
> electronics, I have found that various
> pedals can really help bring out the tone out of several of those type
> of guitars.
"Bring out" the tone of a instrument that has no resonant chamber? I
always have trouble conceptually with the "tone" of a solidbody or a
body-less (in this case) instrument. And I'm a solidbody player (this
week). I figure it's all about the pickups, and particularly when it
comes to piezo, I'm unsure what the difference is between one and
another relative to "tone".
> I wonder if anyone here can help verify Lee's set up for the silent gtr.
Me too.
--
-- At this point Sharazad saw the approach of morning and discreetly
fell silent.
skip
in the case of a nylon string soloette and a godin nylon string I
have , I've found a few pedals do help the tone out.
Skip
Gerry
>> "Bring out" the tone of a instrument that has no resonant chamber? I
>> always have trouble conceptually with the "tone" of a solidbody or a
>> body-less (in this case) instrument. And I'm a solidbody player (this
>> week). I figure it's all about the pickups, and particularly when it
>> comes to piezo, I'm unsure what the difference is between one and
>> another relative to "tone".
>
> in the case of a nylon string soloette and a godin nylon string I
> have , I've found a few pedals do help the tone out.
I'm sure they do. But they would help any guitar out, wouldn't they?
John K
I've heard John Stowell's steel string Soloette many times. It has an
amazing sound. If you want a guitar that you can gig with, get this,
otherwise I have a guitar that has a normal neck but can plug in
electrically. The sound is not that great plugged in but the neck is
good.
rpjazzguitar
>
> - Show quoted text -
I tried the Magic Stomp with the nylon yamaha silent. I couldn't get
much out of it.
I also tried the vox se tonelab. It didn't help me.
I do like to use the Boss ME50 with it.