Tag Archives: apogee one

GEAR 509 • Taylor Grand Concert Guitars (feat. 912ce)

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Today, we explore the essentials and benefits of Taylor’s smallest full size guitar, the Grand Concert (GC for short). Grand Concert guitars have a model number that ends in “2” such as the 912ce featured here, and are offered in a variety of styles.

The advantages of Grand Concert guitars is that they are super comfortable, super playable, and super easy to EQ alone or in a mix. These are short scale guitars, which means easier reaches because the frets are slightly closer together and an easier playing feel because of slightly lower string tension. Soundwise, the Grand Concert has a wonderfully balanced EQ and controlled overtones that make it perfect for fingerstyle and recording applications. Grand Concerts sound great on their own and also sit well in a mix with other instruments. Also note, this is Taylor’s featured size for 12 fret models, where the neck joins the body at the 12th rather than the 14th fret. The 12 fret models have a punchier sound that is perfect for roots music.

Overall, Grand Concerts are perfect for fingerstyle and light strumming. They are comfortable to play, and their focused and articulate sound make them great guitars for recording and stage use. Of course they’re also very nice to play at home.

LIVE 044 • Makalawena – Slack Key Guitar

Acoustic, Live, Slack Key, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

I named this seemingly easygoing yet still restive song after a charmingly beautiful and relatively isolated beach on the Kona Coast. Makalawena is part of that long stretch of white sandy beaches you see right before landing at Kona International Airport at nearby Keahole Point. The beach is generally accessible via a short hike from the neighboring Mahaiʻula Bay section of Kekaha Kai State Park. I remember camping out at Makalawena as a kid, exploring the rare anchialine ponds with their delicate red shrimp, and swimming in the waters of the bay. Today still, the neighboring marsh is a protected nesting ground, home to rare birds such as the Hawaiian coot. The song’s bridge seems to capture the strange sense of converging energies that I feel in special places such as these. Hope you enjoy.

Recorded with a Taylor 414ce-NR (Rosewood/Spruce grand auditorium nylon string) and an Ear Trumpet Labs “Edwina” microphone.

CORE 301 • Focusing on Dynamics for Guitar

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One sure fire way to improve your playing or bring new life to your repertoire is to focus more on dynamics. Most often, we think about volume when speaking of dynamics – softer passages within a song versus a louder climax or even softer songs versus louder ones. I also like to think about other aspects such as:

– How you play a chord or phrase – with flowing tones or sharp staccato?
– Where on the fretboard you want to play a phrase – low on the neck, high on the neck, do you want to use open strings or harmonics?
– The balance in EQ between bass and treble, particularly with fingerstyle guitar

Of course there are many more concepts that fall under or are tangential to dynamics. Jimmy Page often talked about dynamics in terms of “light and shade,” which is a great metaphor to apply to your sonic palette on the guitar. And really, for such a compact instrument, the guitar has a very wide range of sounds. Thinking about all of the sounds you can pull from your guitar will give your performances more impact and make you a better player.

GEAR 508 • Elixir HD Light Strings Review

Acoustic, Fingerstyle, Gear, Open Tunings, , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Elixir HD Light strings are made the same as other elixirs, but the gauge of the set is unique. Basically they married medium gauge treble strings with light gauge bass strings to find the optimal string gauge for small bodied Taylor guitars (GA/xx4 and GC/xx2).
The idea behind HD Lights is that both string tension and EQ would be more balanced across the strings, resulting in better playability and better tone.
On the high end, the thicker gauge treble strings give you more body, better definition, and improved action. The lighter bass strings keep the bass clear – it’s not muddy even when you tune down. Along with the balanced EQ and improved playability, you also get a more even volume resulting in easier to control dynamics.
Andy Powers at Taylor came up with the idea for these after redeveloping the 800 series, and these strings are indeed great with the revoiced 600, 800, and 900 series GC and GA guitars. The revoiced models have a stronger, more focused bass in particular, so using lighter bass strings helps keep the low end form being overpowering or becoming muddy. The revoiced models also have a livelier top – so the lighter bass strings still have enough presence without being boomy, and the thicker trebles still have snap, but without being too thin.
Overall, their more balanced EQ coupled with more balanced string tension make HD Lights especially conducive to alternate tunings and ideal for fingerstyle guitar.

Other notes:

Phosphor Bronze vs 80/20 Bronze:
⁃ 80/20 Bronze will be brighter with more zing.
⁃ Phosphor Bronze will be a little warmer with more heft or body. I prefer them for fingerstyle because of their combination of warmth, clarity, and detail.

Nanoweb vs Polyweb: HD Lights are only available in Nanoweb (as of now), which works fine for me, but prior to using this gauge I used Elixir’s Polyweb strings. Though they have slightly different characteristics, I have found both Nanoweb and Polyweb coatings to produce good sounding strings.