Lake party with Adamas (2012)
This was my main guitar from November 1999 until the La Patrie came on the scene January 2008.
January 1998, TBGraphics moved back into the basement, or "The Bunker" as a certain wag calls it. No longer sharing a legitimate office now afforded me the luxury of playing guitar during lulls.
Christmas party 2007
So, I played.
The Conrad was strung 6-string at the time, but after a year and a half I started thinking 12-string again. Problem is that, for me at least, a 12-string makes a fine "second" guitar - I needed a 6-string and the Dorado just would not cut it. I started thinking new guitar.
I wanted an acoustic, but my new aspirations dictated amplification, so an electric-acoustic was the goal. To guitar stores I went: my little town had four at the time, I believe.
Store one had a fairly limited selection at the time. There was an Ovation I kinda liked, but nothing else turned my fancy. Recently they had an absolutely excellent archtop - don't remeber the name - that I returned almost daily to play. One day it wasn't there. By-the-way, this is where I got the Riviera.
Store two caters to acoustic instruments with a lot of high-end Martins and the like. I did find a Martin 12-string that I totally adored. The guy behind the counter said he never heard anyone play a 12-string like that. Ah, gee, thanks. Didn't care for any of the other instruments.
Store three also has lots of acoustics as well as electric-acoustics. Played them all. A certain Takamine caught my eye, but the sound just didn't project unamplified; It wasn't full enough. I was getting discouraged by now. This is where I got the La Patrie and Tech 21 guitar amp.
Store four. I'd completely forgotten about store four until one day I drove past it. Screech! This store is the local Ovation haven with a smattering of Martins, etc. So I dutifully sat down with the assembled acoustics, finally settling on an Ovation. It played wonderfully, yet the sound was like with the Takemine: it just didn't fill my heart with its thundering presence. I moved on to a couple 12-strings and had fun for a while. Sales guy came over, inquiring as to my preferences. I told him about the Ovation and the sound I was looking for. He looked at me and said, "Maybe you'd like to see this guitar we just took in on trade?" Seems the guy had been getting a little too broad in the belly to accommodate the Adamas' deep bowl - I guess it wouldn't fit on his lap? The timing was perfect!
There it was: Adamas 1681-5. It's a striking instrument, to be sure. First thing you notice is the weight, then the neck. I started playing and immediately lost myself. Of course, everyone in the store moved away because of the noise, but I was only aware of my fingers flying and a deep, full sound. I played for while, looked at asking price, shuddered and said, "thanks, I'll be back."
I did a bit of research on the Adamas - never seen or heard of it before. [NOTE: I am in good company. Melissa Etheridge plays one - saw it on a video. I also saw a commercial on VH1 with Bob Marley playing my exact model! Melissa's model has a cutout and maybe a 12-string.] I searched through vintage and used guitar price catalogs, called an out-of-town shop that had one, and decided to offer about half the asking price - this was not an inexpensive guitar. It was made in 1989 and carried an MSRP of $3,500!
Well, I went back, made my offer, and was summarily dismissed by the owner – no negotiations, in fact he laughed. I left it there, feeling not only dissed but insulted. I stewed over it for a while and wrote the owner a letter outlining my position, saying my offer was perhaps a little low but didn't require the rudeness I perceived. I closed, reiterating my desire for the Adamas.
A few days later I got a call from one of the sales guys: the guitar was still available for $25 more than my offer - "Was I still interested?" "Yup!"
Ovation started making guitars in the '60s, catching Glen Campbell's attention. Adamas was the top of their line. They really experimented with materials; The parent company made carbon-fiber helicopter rotor blades and decided carbon-fiber would be great for the body. That's right: no spruce, no rosewood. But that plus the deep, rounded body gave it its distinctive deep and projecting sound. But to me, its finest attribute is the neck – and most of the weight. First thing you notice, while on your lap, is the guitar does not move; the player moves. I know that sound obvious, but trust me; there is something different about this guitar. And there are all these soundholes - there's 20 of them: small, biggish and inbetween. But it works. Looks like current models are priced in the $5,000s.
The Adamas did open mic; the Adamas did "Hey, Old Guy"; the Adamas did the church praise band.
The Adamas is truly a working guitar. I may have started "Hey, Old Guy" on the Conrad, but I finished it with the Adamas: writing the songs, recording them, and getting the CD produced. When the planes were flying into the Trade Center and Pentagon, the CD was held up due to the grounding of all flights, or so I was told. I wrote "Requiem" the first few days and played it at least once open mic. The best renditions were at church on the anniversaries of 9/11: "Requiem." I gathered media photos of the destruction AND the rescue efforts. It was quite moving and I don't have a copy of it. Go figure. I think I reprised it every year. I also did a version of "Snowfall" with a slide deck of snowy scenes; don't have that either. Time to make one. And maybe "Requiem" as well.
Sometime in the early 2000s Mount Baker Theater put out a call for local performers – I think it was guitar based but not sure. I thought "why not?" and signed up for the audition. I took the Adamas and Tech 21 amp and got in line. The theater, at least that night, had three zones. I was the furthest back, so I was privy the two acts before me. I think we all got one song. First, a couple margarita bros with flowered shirts and acoustic guitars. They sounded good; I mean, I was right there. The second was an older guy with an ES-335ish – like the Riviera – and a little 10 or 15 watt amp: jazzy and sounded pretty good. Detect the pattern? They each sounded pretty good to me. I was there the whole time, sitting on a chair behind curtain number 3.
The old guy left. The curtain opened – pitch black except for spotlight in my face. Now, I've been on a stage many times, but this may have been the first BIG venue. Blinded. Okay, so I can't see. No problem; don't need to. But something was wrong right out of the gate. My song was "Half Mile from Here," which starts on a down strum Am at fifth position - fairly substantial. I hit it. Nothing. Again, nothing. I looked off to the side and shrugged, "what?" No sound. Stage guy said "just play, it's fine." Pig's eye. I heard the guys before me. So I just played the damn song, having no idea of guitar or vocal levels, just trusting the sound guys. I finished, nice applause, and the curtains all closed again for the next acts. No one came over. I have no idea what the problem was. I just grabbed my stuff and left. Got a letter after a while: "thanks but no thanks."
That was probably before I started with Fourth Corner. Now the Adamas was getting major action weekly: Mid-week practice, Sunday morning practice, Sunday service. Week in; week out for 4 plus years. It was a hoot. At first I sat on a chair in the back and noodled my way through the sets. But then I started leading the service. I had a nice stool and foot rest, the Adamas comfortable in my lap. We had some decent musicians and I think the biggest liability was me. But no one else would do it so they were stuck. I learned early on not to have a latte before the service. Time I did I started playing so fast and hyper I had to stop and start us over.
One of the problems with live sound, aside from the acoustics of the room, is that the sound guys are focusing on the sound in the room. I ran the board a lot with other gigs at church: youth group night, ballroom dancers, concerts and visitors playing sets, things with me NOT on the stage. You set the levels, walk around the room listening, coming up with the best sound. And you adjust the players and singers as they go. The sound guy or gal is really part of the band.
Recording to play on a stereo at home or in the car is another. If you just record the feed from the board going out into the room, you may or probably may not have a good sound. If you want a recording as opposed to live sound, you need to set levels separately from the house sound. Most folks running the sound board were not caring about that, even though they were making a recording. And it's a real hit or miss. For instance, one morning we started with "Will the Circle Be Unbroken" as the gathering song. The recording, while certainly not perfect, was great. Surprisingly, the rest of the songs were not. Sound person needs to be paying attention. With our 24-track Mackie board there was a specific send for recording: you'd adjust the levels from each track separately from the mains. But you have to monitor it, basically what sounds good in the headphones vs. the room.
The gig ended August 2007 when we closed down the church.
Click a Song
Christmas 2002
I ran into an old pastor friend in town one day. We used to work together when I was a printer in Lynden, WA in late '80s. The last project I worked on was promotional stuff for his effort to start a new church in Bellingham – Fourth Corner Community Church. Hadn't seen hide nor hair for years. Turns out the church had been established and was doing well and growing. I was riding high with "Hey, Old Guy" at the time, so guitar came up. He asked me to come play a song some morning. I said that I didn't have any "church" songs; he said that was fine. Just come play something.
I showed up one morning and played "Little Man," since it seemed the most "spiritual" to me. It went over well. This guy came up to me afterwards and said he was surprised that I could really play guitar since the pastor had invited lots over the years that could well, not. Not sure if I sat in with the band that morning but I was invited back, which I ultimately did. It was great fun as I just sat in the corner and played guitar – no singing ;o) I liked that. Eventually I started showing up for Wednesday rehearsals and Sunday mornings. At one point one of the band members took exception that I was playing here but went to a different church [but not Sunday mornings]. I said fine. That was that.Until, that is, I said fine. I was blissfully sidelined, not a care in the world, and not singing. Wasn't too long that I was asked to co-lead the band. It was a pretty rocky band: drums, flute, bass, cello, keyboard, electric guitar, me and the Adamas, and a bunch of singers. It was pretty cool, until the "co" decided to quit, which left me, now the leader of the band for 4 years or so.
So long FCCC
It was a wonderful time.
Ahem....the Riviera?
Oh, yeah. After a few months with the band I decided I needed an electric guitar. This was a lot easier than finding the Adamas. I knew I wanted a hollow-body and the Riviera fit the bill. But I'd only play it at church occasionally. I sat on a stool with the Adamas. I stood with the Riviera, and the group of old ladies in the front just loved my "shaking and wiggling" as I played. You learn your audience.
Then one day the pastor left. Spent a year searching for a new one. Didn't really help. We closed shop early fall 2007. While I'd been there six years, the church plant had been viable a lot longer.
Though I got the Riviera new, I did have a guitar tech do some work for me: with the neck 1 9/16" at the nut [the slotted piece at the top of the neck where the strings enter the fret board] the strings seem rather close together when compared to the Adamas – 1 11/16" at the nut or the La Patrie – 2" at the nut. The guy was touting a new material for the nut so I asked him to make me one with more space for the G, B, E strings and less for the others. It gave me a little more room. Seemed to work just fine.
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