String 'em along!

Recently, I'd realised that there one aspect of the classical guitar that many non-professional players (including myself, of course) had totally taken for granted.
Well, almost totally. =P

And that is - the guitar strings! That "realisation" came to me and I thought it was pretty shocking but significant. Why? Let me explain.

We all know that the quality of the sound that can be produced from a guitar depends on many factors:

1) The player - here, we are obviously talking about the technical ability of the player himself. A maestro (take John Williams, or Christopher Parkening for instance) as compared to a novice playing on the same instrument obviously sound worlds apart.

Many a times, I'd realised that the level of confidence a player has on his/her ability also makes a lot of difference. A confident player tends to project a louder volume (ok, let's take the quality of tone out of the picture for the time being) than a player who's a little more hesitant and afraid of making mistakes.

2) The guitar (make and construction) - no need to emphasize more on the importance of having a quality instrument which is capable of producing what we often hear as "satin-sounding, singing trebles; deep, warm and loud basses".

Why else would players (and collectors) cough out tens of thousands of dollars to purchase that instrument from the top luthiers?

3) The strings you put on the guitar - and herein lies (I feel) an area which is generally neglected by many amateur guitarists. While I'm sure the professional players have studied and researched this aspect in great detail, finding out what brand/type/grade of strings to fit on their world-class instruments to produce the most mesmorizing sounds on stage, the fact is - many of us are oblivious to the differences.

Or simply, some of us dont care.

It is amazing to find some players playing on good, solid top (concert) guitars, yet bearing brownish, dirty-discoloured looking strings. Particularly the bass strings (4th, 5th and 6th), since it isn't always obvious how the condition of the treble (nylon) strings are just by looking at them. To some of these players, changing the strings on their guitars is a once-a-blue-moon event. Or worse, some ONLY change their strings when they're forced to (e.g. when a string snaps)....

If you think about it, it is really funny. How some players can spend thousands on a good guitar, yet refuse to spend that little sum of money (or to take that extra bit of effort!) to make their guitar sound as good as she possibly can be! That is akin to paying a million bucks for a Ferrari, but refusing to service/maintain it, or to even change the engine oil - until the engine breaks down!
* Or for that matter, it's like having the prettiest of girls as your girlfriend, but asking her to wear dirty, boyish-looking clothes and make do with a messy hairdo and insisting on no make-up! *ahem* =P

The fact that the strings are the actual point of contact when we play the guitar surely gives an indication of just how important this factor is. On many past occasions, I've tried playing on a nice (read: expensive!) guitar but fitted with "dead" strings, which I felt was a terrible shame....

On the issue of WHICH type/brand of strings to use would obviously depend on the individual instrument. For instance, when Ruck sent me my guitar, he fitted it with Savarez Corum (Cristal) strings (high tension). It sounded perfect!
Subsequently, when I changed the strings to prepare for a performance, I fitted my Ruck guitar with D'Addario EXP strings (normal tension), and though the guitar still sounded great, it just wasnt quite the same I thought. For one, the 4th string tend to produce a slight buzz when I played on the 3rd/4th frets. This clearly was an indication that I wasnt using the right string tension for my guitar.

Hence, I going to change back to the Savarez high tension string when I receive them (ordered from StringsByMail, an guitar accessory shop in the US). It's the least I should do, to "give justice" not just to my beloved guitar, but to myself as a guitar player.

Friends and fellow guitar afficionados - I urge you to do the same! =)

Ivan's new guitar - Thomas Humphrey Millenium (Assad Model)

Ivan recently acquired a new guitar - a Thomas Humphrey Millenium!

It is a beautifully crafted instrument (what you'd expect from a master luthier, who unfortunately had passed away quite recently) - its top is European spruce, and sides and back jacaranda (Brazilian Rosewood).
Very interesting, the luthier used a separate pieces of rosewood and maple in constructing the sides/back, hence you can see a somewhat "2 layered" coloring at the sides, as well as a 'church-door' configuration at the back.

From the looks of it, it hasn't really been played much (it's a 2007 model) as it looks in pristine condition.

Ivan is still trying to find the "proper" strings to use on this guitar - its current set of LaBella strings does not seem to suit the guitar very well.

I will try to upload pictures when I have them =)

P.s. Kevin joked that the quartet now boast of an "Excalibar" type weapon in its line-up of guitars. It really is a world-class instrument, I must say. But I still love my Ruck!

Guitaresque performs for International Museum Day (23 May 2010)

Guitaresque will be performing at the Singapore Art Museum as part of the International Museum day Open house event.

The performance will be in 2 sets (20 minutes each):

Set 1 (3pm - 320pm)
1.Peer Gynt Suite (Morning mood, Death of Ase, Anitra's Dance, In the Hall of the Mountain King)
2. Choro
3. O Solo Mio
4. Blue Ocean Echo/Country Gentleman

Set2 (330pm - 350pm)
1. Canon in D
2. Clair de Lune
3. Harumi Suite (Dredlock, Along the Edge)
4. Theme from Godfather
5. Cavatina

The performance is free. Venue is at the Auditorium (2nd floor) of SAM.