Podcasts and Show Notes
Episode 064 ~ Ode
February 7, 2012
Thanks for joining me.
This week, there is 1 student in the Student Spotlight.
The Question of the Week came by email and was about
Humbucker pick ups. An excellent question indeed.
News is the reappearance of the Rancher line of
acoustic guitars from Gretsch and
Take Note is about an app you might like.
Intro
I mentioned our dear friend's critical condition
last time. Well, this will be a full featured podcast,
but not an excessively lengthly one.
We are coming off a not unexpected
never the less profound loss,
so this podcast will probably stay a little low key for a while.
Because we are spending so much time with Gerry,
who is a brand new widower, I can’t do
as much prep for the show as I had before.
I’m sure I’ll be back to the usual amount
of time allocation for the podcast in the future,
but right now, our help and support is critically important for him.
Our dear friend, Dot, died at home
on the evening 24th, as she wished.
We spent all day and all night there,
not leaving until 1:45 AM the 25th.
It was terrible and long. This podcast is in dedicated to her.
There isn’t too much guitary new, because
other than teaching my students this past week,
my guitar exploits were stifled by real life.
I do have continuations of 2 stories from a previous intro:
one is about Michael, to whom I gave
the “unnecessary” humidifier
and the other is about the student
who had the “unnecessary” humidifier. Sheer serendipity.
Before I tell you the serendipitous account,
I want to come clean and confess
that I still didn’t change the strings on the guitar
that needed new strings for the past 2 weeks.
Now 2 guitars really need new DRs
and I haven’t changed them.
Of course I am not without a totally legitimate excuse,
but that doesn’t make my ears or fingers any happier.
I’ll try to get to it as soon as I can.
The truth is, we aren’t home much these days.
I expect things will gradually return to a normal life schedule
in the not too distant future.
I told you in a previous show that our guitarist friend
Michael has a nice acoustic electric guitar
with a crack in it that he has never humidified.
I recommended he humidify it
to prevent the crack from increasing.
He told me that in all the years he’s been playing,
he never humidified any of his guitars.
I recommended he get a humidifier for the cracked guitar,
so the crack isn’t worsened by the dryness
of the indoor air during the winter.
I also told you that one of my students’ guitars
was buzzing like a cicada and
I told her she needed a humidifier.
She asked me to pick one up for her.
I did and gave it to her the following week,
only to be told by her mom that they had a humidifier
and just hadn’t used it. Hence, the “unnecessary” adjective.
Well, last week when we saw Michael,
he said the guitar into which he put the humidifier
didn’t go out of tune all week. He was really excited about that.
He asked why it was so.
I told him I didn’t think the humidifier itself was the reason
but he wanted it to be so.
Let’s just say he’s sold on humidifiers,
even if not for the real reason to use them.
Then, I went to the student who didn’t need the humidifier.
Her guitar was buzzing even more.
I noticed that the humidifier was not in her guitar.
I asked where it is. She said she didn’t know
and that the cleaning lady must have put it somewhere.
She didn’t know where it was.
Too bad the humidifier I purchased for her
has now found a home with Michael’s guitar.
Don't forget the Les Paul in Mahwah exhibit
at the Mahwah Museum in Mahwah, NJ.
It's open Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday.
It's worth the trip.
Links
DR Strings
Les Paul in Mahwah exhibit at the Mahwah Museum
Student Spotlight
In the warm glow of the student spotlight this week,
we find Julia, all by herself.
Despite that it was only a few days between her lessons,
one was uncharacteristically on Thursday
and then she had her regular lesson day, Tuesday,
she did excellently. Nice going Julia.
I cannot resist adding a slight dig, which is,
she could be meteorically rising to guitar greatness were she not so lazy.
I want to make mention here, too,
that some of the usuals in the spotlight
were missing from my schedule this week.
I had to take Wednesday off to help Gerry, Dot’s husband,
and will do so again next week.
Also, Arno resumed work
and needed some setttling in time.
Anya had a major conflict, Amber was sick
and Mike and Gary were away.
So, my schedule was reduced considerably.
Question of the Week
The Question of the Week is from an email I received from Kenji.
Sorry I don’t know Kenji’s gender,
but I’m going to refer to Kenji as a “him.”
He asks, “What is a humbucker pick up?
What’s the big deal about it?
Why are they even mentioned in guitar specs?”
A humbucking pickup is essentially
two single coil pickups,
one of which has the north poles of its pole
pieces oriented toward the strings,
and the other has the south pole of its pole pieces
oriented toward the strings.
Since the coils are connected in series and out of phase,
noise and interference are significantly reduced
via common-mode rejection.
Humbuckers get their name from the fact that
they cancel out the interference (they "buck the hum")
induced by alternating current,
which is normally experienced with single coil pickups.
The "humbucking coil" was invented in 1934 by Electro-Voice,
an American professional audio company
based in South Bend, Indiana that Al Kahn and Lou Burroughs
incorporated in 1930 for the purpose of manufacturing
portable public address equipment,
including microphones and loudspeakers.
There are stacked and rail humbucker configurations.
Notable humbucker designs
▪ Gibson "PAF" - Seth Lover's original humbucker design
▪ Fender Wide Range - Fender's first humbucker design, also by Seth Lover
▪ Epiphone (and later Gibson) mini-humbucker -
a smaller humbucker design with adjustable pole pieces.
An Epiphone design from the 1950's originally,
they were later used most famously in their Les Paul Deluxe.
▪ Gibson Firebird pickup - inspired by the Epiphone pickup,
and shares its basic dimensions,
but is different in terms of design, appearance, and tone,
utilizing single blade pole pieces.
▪ Q-tuner: neodymium magnet humbuckers
▪ EMG Pickups - Active pickups since 1976
▪ Gretsch FilterTron - from 1957 to present;
famously used on the Country Gentleman
and other hollow-body guitars.
Email Me if you'd like to submit
a Question of the Week or
suggest an additional segment topic.
If I use one you submit,
I'll send you an official
Guitar Technique Tutor Podcast pick.
Links
News
A great Gretsch name is back
with the return of Rancher acoustic guitars.
The richly resonant Rancher first appeared in the early 1950s
with its highly distinctive triangular sound hole
and sweepingly elegant pickguard,
and Gretsch is now very proud to re-introduce the model.
With a great new selection of body sizes,
styles and features that combine the best of the guitar’s acclaimed past
with the best in modern sound, strength, style and playability,
Gretsch now gives you the best of all Ranchers.
There's a Dreadnought, Jr., Orchestra, Jumbo CE and
a Folk model. All are a welcome bit of retro
imbued with 21st century appointments.
Links
Gretsch Guitars
Gretsch Rancher Collection
Take Note
My take note topic this week is the soon to be realeased
George Harrison: The Guitar Collection iPad App
In the past year, George Harrison’s life has been celebrated
in the touching four-hour documentary George Harrison:
Living in the Material World
and his wife Olivia Harrison’s companion photo book
of the same name, both of which marked
the 10-year anniversary of the late, great Beatle’s passing.
The accomplished musician, producer and philanthropist
will soon have his robust collection of guitars on display, as well.
A 360-degree photographic iPad app
is due out on Feb. 23, featuring Harrison’s guitar collection.
In addition, there will be footage of musicians such as Josh Homme
and Ben Harper playing the instruments
and commentary from Harrison himself.
Links
George Harrison iPad App
YouTube
Outro
I’m worse than some of my students --
my poor guitars are screaming for new DRs
and I just haven’t gotten to it. I can hope.
When is an unnecessary humidifier not an unnecessary humidifier?
When you lose one and the extra
has been adopted by someone else who loves it.
Talia, I hope you find your missing humidifier.
A humbucker pickup is one that has coils
wound in opposite directions and through the magic of electromagnetism,
reduces hum. A very desirable thing in a guitar pickup.
Gretsch is reintroducing the Rancher line of guitars,
which were beloved in the ’50’s. There are 5 models.
In a few weeks there will be a George Harrison The Guitar Collection App.
If you love guitars or were a fan, there’s an app for that.
As if enough hasn't happened, lately, with E-Rex
nearly perishing with septic shock in November,
us both being sick as dogs in December, and
literally, watching our dear dear friend, Dot,
die of 4 kinds of cancer, in her livingroom in January.
The reason this podcast was delayed
is because when we returned from being with
and helping Gerry, on February 8th, the day
I thought I was going to post the podcast,
we found our sweet old pet bird dead.
She was near life expectancy age and had been sick,
and even though I didn't expect her to live much longer,
I was taken by surprise.
I was strong for a long time but Bandi's death
was the final blow that broke my strong deportment.
I just couldn't get back to the computer for the podcast.
We have since welcomed a new baby bird into our home.
That's a story for next time. Let's just say,
I'm a birdy nurse in my "free time" (whatever that is.)
I'm taking this coming week off and
barring anything else unforeseen,
will resume podcasting WEEKLY beginning
February 27th. I appreciate your understanding.
Don’t forget the Les Paul in Mahwah exhibit
at the Mahwah Museum in Mahwah, NJ.
It’s open Wed, Sat & Sun. and is worth the trip.
There is more Les Paul info there
along with his amazing inventions, guitars and
other memorabilia than anywhere else.
Thanks so much for your time.
Links
You can follow me on Twitter, where I'm GuitarTechnique.
If you're seeking expert competent guitar instruction
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