One Man on Aaron Short Music YouTube Show
by T Spoon Phillips will appear on Aaron Short Music
Friday, June12, 4 PM Eastern – YouTube Live Stream
The program will remain online for future viewing
https://www.youtube.com/user/aaronshort/featured
Latest Acoustic Guitar Reviews and News
Sorry about the outage
That was a long five minutes!
My website hosting company’s upgrade took about 32 hours longer than expected.
But we’re back! Thank you for your patience.
The Steeds of Culloden
On April 16, 1764, the Field of Culloden erupted
As a hoard of delusional Scotsmen charged, raving like mad badgers across an open, boggy terrain …
A tone poem by T Spoon Phillips
Dick Boak Interview – Aaron Short Music Hangout
Wonderfully entertaining and informative talk between Aaron Short and Dick Boak
Stories about great artists, guitar making, and of course Martin Guitars.
A great way to spend a Social Distancing day or night. All of 111 minutes in length, former Martin Guitar employee Dick Boak opens up about so many interesting topics.
I have had many sit down talks with Dick and always wished others could have been there. Well now you can be.
Distant Arts for Socially Distancing Audiences
Musicians, Comics, Writers, and Readers to Perform Social Distancing Show
I am organizing a collective of performing artists to stream live to a Facebook Group
Check back here for more information soon.
If you are interested in taking part, drop me a line. oneman@onemanz.com
I am expecting the new Group (not yet public) will work like a public access TV station, with a calendar that participating artists share and the collective “friends” of all the artists can visit the group to see Facebook Live streaming performances, typically up to 20 minutes in length.
But I also want to organize shows on specific evenings where a succession of artists take their turn doing a 20 minute set. This would be similar to some of the long-running avant garde variety shows I have taken part in here in NYC since the 1980s, like Dog & Pony NYC, and Blow Hole Theater.
Audience members will not need to have a Facebook account to visit the page and watch the performances. But they will need an account to leave comments or live emote reactions.
Spoon
American Tune for COVID-19 Social Distancing
Paul Simon sings American Tune for us all
The 78 year old American musical institution posted a solo performance of American Tune on his Facebook page.
He recorded it on 3/19/2020 for the web “show” Til Further Notice, which takes place in Willie Neslson’s back yard. But this year is including Socially Distant performances.
For those who cannot access the performance, a different performance of the same song appears below. He ended the Facebook performance with “Stay save everyone. Be well!”
I used to perform this every 4th of July, until I forgot how to play it. Since I may have some time on my hands, it is nice the composer provided this handy How-To video. 🙂
I had forgotten his Martin Paul Simon Limited Edition signature models have faux tortoise shell binding, ala Style 21. They also has a special fretboard width that has a 1-11/16″ width nut, at a time when Martin OMs all had 1-3/4″ width-at-nut. But the Simon models taper wider to almost the same width as a traditional OM once the fretboard reaches the 12th fret.
This particular guitar is the PS2 model released in 2000, signified by the inlaid image of Earth on the headstock. Unlike the original 1997 version, the OM-42 PS, the PS2 guitar does not have a traditional hand-fitted dovetail neck joint, but rather the Mortise & Tenon joint, and probably lower grade tonewoods, which allowed the price to be a lot lower.
Here is the maestro performing American Tune on his OM-42 PS, from 2015.
Why Does Martin Warranty Card Show a Different Model?
A Reader Asks Why His Martin “GPC-16E Special” Warranty Card Shows A Different “Model”
Mark from Iowa writes –
I purchased a Martin guitar and when I registered it the warranty card said the style was CMGCGT0083. Is that explainable? It was sold as GPC-16E Special.
Spoon Replies:
Hi Mark and thanks for your query,
As far as I can tell, these hieroglyphs say that your guitar was made for Guitar Center/Musician’s Friend, with a long history of Martins designed exclusively for them. So, it is not technically a GPC-16E because Martin either wasn’t making them at this time for the regular catalog, or the ones they were making had some different specs.
For instance, 16 Series GPCs weren’t offered in rosewood for some time. Also, GPCs in the 16 Series are built with a 000 side depth rather than the actual, deeper GP depth, with less bass boom for anti-feedback reasons. That includes the new 2020 GPC-16E Rosewood.
Your guitar being rosewood, from a time when Martin wasn’t offering that, and possibly having true GP depth, are the probable reasons it was “special.”
Also, your guitar was likely marketed by GC/MF before Martin cracked down on dealers saying things like “Custom D-18” or “GPC-16E Special” in their marketing copy, when Martin wasn’t actually naming specific models that way. Today, Martin dealers are required to say something like “Custom GPC with 16 Series styling and onboard electronics.”
Personally, I feel it would be better for Martin if they said, “So long as it has the same neck joint and bracing as the standardized model and the same cosmetic styling, regardless of the wood species, neck shape, etc., the neck block stamp should read:
GPC-16E
CUSTOM
But they never listen to me.
Hope that helps!
Stay safe, keep well,
Spoon, out