When less is more

In light of me getting some new ebony bridge pins with abalone dots, I thought I would take the opportunity to photograph my Taylor BTO 12-Fret, like I have done my other guitars in the past that I have shown on the blog. However, as I look at these photos, I am realizing that there are no photos of the bridge pins on here. Trust me, they’re cool. They add just a tiny bit of bling to this guitar and set it off nicely. It’s one of those situations in which less is more. In fact, that is almost a theme in itself for this guitar.

It is a 12-fret model, so the body meets the fretboard 2 frets sooner than normal, causing me to have less fretboard to work with, but as my friend and Taylor Guitars product demo (amazing player) Corey Witt says, “nobody makes any money above the 8th fret anyway.” Another way that less is more here is with the sound of this smallest of guitar bodies. Though it is the smallest shape that Taylor makes, it is one of the loudest guitars they make due to how the sound hole is pushed back into the center of the lower bout after the fretboard moves into the body more to accommodate the 12-fret aesthetic.

Less is more as well regarding the joy of playing this small wonder of an instrument, like opportunities to record with it recently and having world class players demo the guitar at multiple Taylor Road Shows in the past year. It has been quite the blessing since I picked it up after placing my BTO order with World Music Nashville. You can go back to older posts here on the blog and read about all that.

Oh yeah, and back to those bridge pins. If that bit of baby bling is something you need to see, let me know and I will be happy to show you just how much less is more.

TAYLOR ROAD SHOW SPRING 2012

Yet again did the Taylor Road Show crew roll into Music City a few months back, and of course I was there. We just had a Road Show here back in November, as you may recall by the posts about that.  This road show was a blast as they all are and was filled with fun times and great memories. I got to see my friends Barney Hill and Sam Eakins who work for Taylor in addition to my peeps that work at World Music Nashville where the event was held.

I also got to meet the amazing Wayne Johnson who was the product demo specialist that night. I have read about him for years and in all of the road shows I have attended, never got to see him. Until now. He was fabulous, both as a player and as someone to hang out with which I had the honor of doing after the road show when all of us went to dinner. Wayne is so nice and personable and just a joy to spend time with. He did a great job of educating the audience on the guitars he demo’d while blowing us away with his mad skills.

Before the event kicked off, I got there early to hang out with my friends and since Barney and Wayne got there late, I was called into action to help tune guitars, which I was happy to do. I was awarded a free headstock tuner at the end of the night for doing so which was a nice surprise! I also took my 12 string and BTO guitars in for new strings and while there, got to hang out with Sam a bit before he got really slammed with that kind of work as the show started.

My friends Mark Garrison,  David Ray and his dad came along too and enjoyed the sweet guitars that were a bounty to enjoy during the “petting zoo” portion of the show. Mark actually won some strings at the end of the night and I won some picks.

We had a blast and I became a big fan of Wayne’s that night. Bought a CD of his and had him sign it which he was happy to do. Many thanks to those guys for continuing to allow me to hang with them on the road shows and afterwards, and for the wonderful staff at World Music Nashville for being the best music store in Nashville and a great host to great events like these.

Stay tuned . . .

TAYLOR ROAD SHOW BTO DEMO

Guitarist extraordinaire Wayne Johnson plays my custom Taylor BTO 12 Fret guitar, at a Taylor Road Show held at World Music Nashville recently. The voice you hear in the beginning of the video is Taylor sales rep Barney Hill who is talking about the BTO process that we went through for this guitar.  It was cool to get to have it featured at another road show event and just like the previous road show, a lot of people came up to me afterwards and told me it was one of if not their favorite guitar of the night.

Enjoy a brief but beautiful bit of playing by the amazing Wayne Johnson.

The latest TAYLOR MADE Road Show

Recently I attended another Taylor Guitars Road Show here at World Music Nashville, my favorite music store in town. Those of you (still out there?) that have been reading this blog for a while know that I usually attend a few of these events every year. Last year in 2011 was no exception, as I got to go to one in Lubbock, TX in October, followed by this one in mid- November. In fact, to save you some time if interested, I have 4 links to my posts on some of the previous Road Shows I have attended below.

August 2008; April 2009; April 2010; December 2010

What was so special about this Road Show was a similar scenario to the first link above form the first one I attended in 2008. I was getting a new guitar. Only this one was custom made for me. As you can see in the photo above, I’m holding the guitar, which is a Custom BTO (Build to Order) 12-Fret. Taylor’s BTO program basically allows you to take a standard model and completely build it to your own specs from scratch, thus giving you the customer a completely custom, one off guitar that is uniquely yours. I’ll write another post just about the guitar, but for now, will just concentrate on the Road Show.

After seeing my BTO 12-fret for the first time, playing it and paying for it, I greeted my friends above in the photo. From L to R is Barney Hill, sales rep for Taylor Guitars; Brandon Heinzelmann, sales manager for World Music Nashville, and Marc Seal who is an artist and product specialist for Taylor Guitars. After catching up and chatting about the guitar for a bit, I settled into my seat with my friend David Ray, and we enjoyed the show. The Road Show went off without a hitch and Barney was extremely entertaining as usual, and Marc’s playing was fantastic. What made this show such a TAYLOR MADE event for me was not only receiving my guitar, but getting to hear Marc play it during the show after Barney talked about it during the BTO segment. He explained to the crowd how BTO orders worked and asked me to bring up my guitar. He talked about the build process as well as how the dealer works with the customers to achieve their dream guitar and then Marc played for a bit as seen here in the video.

When that was done, we had the “petting zoo”, where all audience members get to come up on stage or wherever, and play the guitars for about 20 minutes during the break. Barney and Marc had brought some fabulous Limited Edition and BTO guitars with them, so I tried to play as many of those as possible. This is what I did for 2 years at Road Shows to keep listening to tone woods to figure out what I wanted to do for my 12-fret. And after every “petting zoo”, I would make mental notes to myself about what I liked and didn’t like.

During the electric segment, Marc played a few songs which was fabulous as always and then we all got to go out to dinner after the show, which was also a treat. It was a really special night for me and one I will never forget. I’m already looking forward to this year’s Road Shows that I will attend once they are announced in the next several weeks. I have been to 8 or 9 now, and could seriously do them myself since I know Taylor’s guitars so well. It never gets old to me though, and I never tire of the repeated info I hear because these events are so fun to go to. So, until the next post about the next show, go here to see some picts of this one. If you want to see some videos of Marc performing a few of his songs on Taylor electrics, go here and here.

Thanks for reading. Stay tuned . . .

Another amazing Experience (PRS)

Once again a while back in September, I got to attend the annual Experience PRS event in Stevensville, MD, where PRS guitars and amps are made. This was the 5th annual event for PRS, and the 4th in a row for me to attend. Timing wise, this trip was not good as I was just 3 wks removed from my 3rd of three outpatient surgeries I had “experienced” since May 20, so I was still quite sore. That however, would not deter me from having some fun, even though I knew it would be hard on me. Sometimes, you just have to push through pain, and rise above the circumstances to replace months of yuck with some super fun, good memories. Balance people . . . it’s all about balance.

Just like last year, Kristi and I drove to VA to spend time with family, and then few days after being there, I split off from them and drove to Annapolis where after a traumatizing driving experience in D.C., where I was misguided by the MapQuest monkeys, I would stay for the PRS event. This year I stayed in a Holiday Inn express, just off of West St., where PRS guitars started back in the mid 80’s. The threat of rain was present all through the day, and though I have experienced lots of different weather conditions at this mainly outdoor event, rain has yet to be one of them. Thankfully on this day, we were spared.

Thursday night was the membership only Signature Club event, which was a concert featuring a multitude of artists, either by themselves or backed by the PRS Band. Then, as the headliner, there was long time PRS endorser Al Di Meola to close out the concert and evening. I am not a big fan of his, but I sure respect and admire his talent and his band was stellar.

Friday brought with it RAIN. A LOT OF RAIN, and a myriad of seminars and demos for me, from the new product lineup, bass clinic, “why but not how” event, and acoustic demo as well as the closing concert of the day which was loaded with artists backed as well by the PRS band if not on their own. It was a long day but a great day and a WET day. Did I mention this was an OUTDOOR event for the most part? Thankfully, most of my events kept me safely tucked under the main stage tent, and when I did go inside the factory, it was not too bad outside.

There was an amp overview/demo with Paul Reed Smith, Doug Sewell and David Grissom and a stellar bass clinic put on by Gary Grainger who was joined by 4 other bassists who performed an incredible set of music with 5 basses, and it was the most musical thing I had ever heard with more than one bass. That was one of the many highlights of the whole event for me. Just incredible talent up there. David Grissom did a “4 amps in 1” event which was great and he also signed copies of his new CD, which I bought while I got to meet and chat with him about. I hope to be able to design the packaging on his new album which is part of what I was chatting with him about. I also saw my buddy Rick Owens there and caught up with him, whom I have not seen since last years event. Rick owns one of the rarest and oldest PRS guitars still in existence, and it is on display in the PRS archives each year because it is so significant in the history of PRS Guitars. Super nice guy. I also met lots of new people throughout Thursday night and Friday and enjoyed talking to them about all things PRS as well as what we do for a living etc. Another highlight for Friday was an acoustic demo put on by Ricky Skaggs, Cody Kilby and Tony McManus. It was DUMPING RAIN for a few hours outside so I went indoors and did a few things and this was one of them. They played and talked with the crowd way longer than their scheduled time slot and it was just a joy to sit there on the front row and experience that. It was as if they were in my living room, talking acoustics and playing amazing music.

Saturday came and was another great day, though cut short for me, by choice, so I could get back to my family. The only thing I missed was the closing concert, by Opeth, who I am not a fan of anyway, so to me I didn’t miss anything. Before that though I got to see overviews of PRS amps, both production and custom by various clinics I attended and a blistering concert by David Grissom and Davy Knowles which ended the event for me. What a way to go out. Those guys were incredible. I also hung out with some guys I had met earlier and played some guitars on the sales floor all the while trying to be a good boy and not walk away from the event with a large case in my hand. Just so you know, there were no instrument or amp purchases. This time.

I left Saturday afternoon and drove back to VA to spend the rest of our time with family and friends, had a wonderful time. We also got to see our dear friend Cherilyn who has been in DC a year now. She is a gem, and added yet another layer of joy to this trip. Love, love her. We also got to see our friends Sharon and Bernie who came in the day before we left, to visit Chuck and Kerri. We spent the remainder of that day and evening just chilling out at the house, taking in much needed R&R for a long drive home the next day, which for me wound up being much less painful than the drive up just 5 days prior. That was encouraging!

All in all, it was a great “experience”—both at PRS and with friends and family. I hope to go again to the PRS event in September of this year if they do a 6th one, because it has become a highlight of my year the past 4 years and is such a fun, guitar geek fest. Even though I am always alone at these, I still enjoy everything about them (except the weather some years) whether I am sick (2009) or recovering from surgery (2011). It’s sometimes turning lemons into lemonade.

If you would like to see the photos from the event, go here. Thanks for reading. Stay tuned for some more fun guitar posts soon!

CryBaby Documentary Part Three