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The Acoustic Guitar Wire

From Acoustic Guitar Magazine
www.acousticguitar.com

April 2004 Issue 27

This issue is sponsored by Acoustic Pro Musician
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1. Welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Wire
2. Acoustic Pro Musician
3. Larrivée Guitar Giveaway
4. Acoustic Guitar Cruise II
5. New at Acoustic Guitar Central
6. Win "The Clam" by CaseXtreme
7. News and Notes
8. Snapping G Strings
9. On the Web: Frets.com
10. Highlights from Upcoming Issues of Acoustic Guitar
11. Try a FREE Issue of Acoustic Guitar Magazine
12. Back Issues of Acoustic Guitar
13. Win a Free CD!
14. Is it Hendrix or is it . . . ?
15. AG Wire Archives
16. Contact and Unsubscribe Info

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WELCOME TO THE ACOUSTIC GUITAR WIRE NO. 27

No fooling, it's already time for the April edition of AG
Wire, your electronically delivered compendium of the latest
acoustic music news, special offers, giveaways, helpful
tips, and information about new releases from String Letter
Publishing, brought to you by the editors of Acoustic Guitar
magazine.

This newsletter is best viewed in 10-point Courier. Our
hyperlinks are formatted to be "hot" in most email programs.
If your software doesn't support click-through linking from
email, just cut and paste the URLs into your Web browser.
Please note: some email programs have problems reading URLs
that wrap onto a second line. You may have to cut and paste
the wrapped portion of the URL into your Web browser in
order for the URL to work properly.

If you have received a forwarded copy of this newsletter and
would like to subscribe, fill out our online form:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/agwire/entry.html

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ACOUSTIC PRO MUSICIAN

Dear Fellow Guitar Player,
At Acoustic Pro Musician, you will find guitars by such
well-known luthiers as Goodall, Collings, Ryan, Petros,
Tobias, and others. Danny will also work with you on your
own custom guitar. Owning a handmade custom guitar is the
ultimate in satisfaction. Handmade is not out of your reach.
New instruments are coming in at all times so check our
website or call Danny often. All guitars come with custom
cases, $200 of guitar accessories, and free shipping.
Playing for an audience of One, Danny Brevard
Acoustic Pro Musician
Corporate Office:(800)658-1167
dbrevard@lcc.net
http://www.acousticpromusician.com

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ENTER TO WIN A LARRIVÉE SLOPE-SHOULDER DREADNOUGHT GUITAR

Acoustic Guitar and Larrivée have teamed up to give you a
chance to win the brand-new 12-fret slope-shoulder
dreadnought from Larrivée, featuring a beveled tortoise-
style pickguard, mahogany neck, flame maple binding with
herringbone purfling, and master-grade Sitka spruce top with
abalone rosette, with a retail value of $3,400.

Second prize is a mahogany and spruce LV-03 cutaway with a
B-Band A5 pickup system, valued at $1,549, and third prize a
Larrivée mahogany parlor guitar worth $729 retail.

To enter the contest and see the grand prize package, go to
http://www.acousticguitar.com and click on the giveaway
icon.

To meet some of our previous giveaway winners, go to
http://acousticguitar.com/giveaway2/winners/index.html

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ACOUSTIC GUITAR SAILS AGAIN!

Guitar-picking voyagers are already signing up for the
second annual Acoustic Guitar Cruise, scheduled to sail the
eastern Caribbean Oct. 23-30. Join publisher David A.
Lusterman, AG editor Scott Nygaard, fingerstyle ace Peppino
D'Agostino, Taylor Guitars founder Bob Taylor, guitar wizard
Happy Traum, singer-songwriter Wendy Waldman, and scores of
your peers on the Holland America Line's luxurious
Zuiderdam. Find out more at
http://www.acousticguitarcruise.com

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NEW AT ACOUSTIC GUITAR CENTRAL
http://www.acousticguitar.com

Check out all the authentic Acoustic Guitar apparel
(including sweatshirts, caps, and T-shirts in several
styles) and accessories (travel tumblers, duffle bags, and
more) at the Acoustic Guitar Online Store. With any $30
purchase we'll send you a free designer key chain/bottle
opener. Fingertip shopping at
http://www.acousticguitaronlinestore.com

Fine tune your chops this summer at a music camp or
workshop. More than 150 programs, including guitar-building
schools, are listed and described in the new online version
of Acoustic Guitar's Summer Study Guide posted at:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/search/summer/index.asp

The May issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine arrived on
newsstands April 6. Read these excerpts online now:

-- American Dreamers: Bob Taylor, Kurt Listug, and the rise
of Taylor Guitars.

-- Reviews of new CDs by Kate Rusby, Lucy Kaplansky, Mary
Flower, the Flatlanders, Josh Ritter, David Leisner, and
others.

-- News about guitar-playing Grammy winners, a second best-
of John Fahey anthology, and a newly discovered early-19th-
century guitar sonata.

The May issue also includes feature interviews with bluesman
Corey Harris and indie singer-songwriter Jonatha Brooke,
profiles of pop chanteuse Sarah McLachlan and Gypsy jazz
phenom Joscho Stephan, reviews of new small-body guitars by
Dean and Epiphone, and lessons by Martin Simpson and Patrick
Landeza.
http://www.acousticguitar.com

Acoustic Guitar magazine subscribers, now you can take care
of all your subscription needs online. Our website has been
upgraded to include easy access to your personal account.
You can pay your bill, renew, give a gift, and change your
address all online. And of course, new subscribers can sign
up online, too. Save yourself time and hassle by coming on
over to
http://www.acousticguitar.com/Subs/index.html

Get more every month when you subscribe to Acoustic Guitar
magazine. Get a FREE preview issue today.
http://www.acousticguitar.com
or call toll-free (800) 827-6837.

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TALK IT UP AND WIN "THE CLAM" TRAVEL CASE BY CASEXTREME

You can always find lively, opinionated, and informative
discussion about guitars, players, and acoustic music at
Guitar Talk, home of the online discussion forums at
Acoustic Guitar Central. Chat about Gear, Players, Playing
Guitar, and more, and check up on events and post your own
in the Gigs, Workshops, and Gatherings forum.

And when you register to participate, you automatically get
a chance to win "The Clam," a fly it safe guitar transporter
made of incredibly strong corrugated polypro plastic. Each
case comes with detachable wheels, a shoulder strap, and six
special dense foam C-pads.

Get the details when you sign up today at
http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi

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NEWS AND NOTES

Roll over Bob Villa and tell C.F. Martin the news. The DIY
(Do It Yourself) cable TV network has added new specialty
shows seemingly aimed directly at those AG readers who
harbor notions of fabricating their own Clarence White-style
ax. The four "Handmade Guitar" episodes in DIY’s Handmade
Music series premiered in early April, putting the spotlight
on vintage instrument experts Ted Davis and John Arnold and
their quest for the red spruce essential for replication of
a classic Martin D-28; builder Lynn Dudenbostel, who
narrates his construction of a new D-28 using Davis and
Arnold’s tonewoods; and Nashville guitar guru (and frequent
AG contributor) George Gruhn, who evaluates the finished
product. Kentucky Thunder provides bluegrass accompaniment
and commentary.
http://www.diynetwork.com

Daemon Records (founded by Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls) and
AK Press have launched a series of political folk music CDs,
starting with new releases by veteran rabble-rouser U. Utah
Phillips (I've Got to Know) and contemporary activist/
troubadour David Rovics (Behind the Barricades: The Best of
David Rovics).
http://www.daemonrecords.com
http://www.akpress.org

Making mix CDs, once a private matter between you and your
home computer, has entered the public realm of caffé
lattes. Starbucks and Hewlett-Packard have joined forces in
a chain of coffeehouses where you can preview music at
listening stations and use Wi-Fi-enabled PCs to purchase
tracks and burn them to your own compilation CDs. The first
Hear Music Coffeehouse opened March 16 in Santa Monica,
California, with more openings planned during the summer.
http://www.hearmusic.com

For more news and events, check out our online listings:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag135/happs135.html

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SNAPPING G STRINGS

Terry Kilkenny of Morristown, New Jersey, was finding that
almost every time he tunes his guitar back to standard
tuning from open E, his G string breaks.

AG gear editor Teja Gerken offers this explanation and
advice:
Open E (E B E G# B E) is quite hard on strings, since it
involves tuning the third, fourth, and fifth strings up,
rather than down. The third string is particularly
vulnerable, as it has the thinnest core. This problem is
exacerbated if the guitar has a poorly cut nut. An
alternative is to play in open D (D A D F# A D); it uses the
same intervals and the same fingerings work, but since it’s
a whole-step lower, it’s a lot easier on your strings. If
the key poses a problem for singing, tune to open D and put
your capo at the second fret.

Get more tips, advice, and answers to questions about
guitars, gear, and history by visiting the Q&A section at
http://www.acousticguitar.com

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ON THE WEB

It may not have absolutely everything you ever wanted to
know about guitars, but Frank Ford's serendipitously named
website, Frets.com, is one of the best places to start your
Internet search for helpful information about maintenance
and repair. For the past six years, frequent AG contributor
Ford (who can be found most days at Gryphon Stringed
Instruments in Palo Alto, California) has been posting his
articles and photographs, now amounting to more than 1,200
pages and nearly 15,000 jpegs. Features include a vintage
instrument photo archive; online manuals for mandolin, five-
string banjo, classical guitar, archtop jazz guitar, and
(biggest of all) steel-string guitar; plus "a (very) long
list of stuff for luthiers."
http://www.frets.com

Get more every month when you subscribe to Acoustic Guitar.
Get a FREE preview issue today!
http://www.acousticguitar.com
or call toll-free (800) 827-6837.

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HIGHLIGHTS FROM UPCOMING ISSUES OF ACOUSTIC GUITAR MAGAZINE

Our June issue, which hits newsstands May 4, will
include:

-- A cover story on Malian guitar master Habib Koité.

-- Feature-length surveys of new guitars, gear, and
accessories.

-- The story behind Martin's elaborate millionth guitar.

-- Profiles of avant-garde guitarist (and new member of
Wilco) Nels Cline, country-folk singer-songwriter Mindy
Smith, and luthier Michael Greenfield.

-- Lessons in songwriting, blues chord substitutions, and
fingerstyle blues, and music to play by Beppe Gambetta.

In July, Craig Havighurst investigates the way independent
musicians are taking advantage of digital downloading
technology; John Jorgenson reveals what it's like to play
Django in a new feature film; Teja Gerken profiles Peter
Finger; and we review the latest pickups for acoustic
guitars.

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SUBSCRIBE TO ACOUSTIC GUITAR

Would you like to preview a complimentary issue of Acoustic
Guitar? To send for your FREE TRIAL ISSUE, just click the
link below. If you like it and decide to continue, pay just
$29.95 for 12 issues and save 50% off the cover price. If
for any reason you decide not to continue, simply write
"Cancel" on the invoice and owe nothing. The FREE TRIAL
ISSUE is yours to keep, no matter what.

Get a FREE preview issue today!
http://www.acousticguitar.com

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NOW AVAILABLE FROM STRING LETTER PUBLISHING

Looking to fill out your collection of the award-winning
magazine for acoustic musicians? We have issues going back
to the year 1990 when Acoustic Guitar first hit the stands.
Get them while they last!
http://www.stringletter.com/index.asp

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WIN A FREE CD!

Humor us--and win! We're giving away a free CD of acoustic
guitar music to the contributor of the best music joke or
gig story each month. To enter, simply send your favorite
music joke or anecdote about a gig from hell to
mailto:jokes@stringletter.com. Be sure to include a mailing
address in case you win. We'll award a new prize with each
edition.

This month's winning joke, yet another variation on the
musician-goes-to-heaven theme, comes from Bob Becker of
Lincoln, Nebraska.

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IS IT HENDRIX OR IS IT . . . ?

A guitarist dies and goes to heaven and is escorted by Saint
Peter to his final resting place. Gazing around in awe, he
starts to recognize the musical icons with whom he'll spend
eternity. "Look, there's Django jamming with Freddie Green
and Joe Pass! Wow, Freddie and Albert King! That's Michael
Hedges over there with Robbie Basho and John Fahey, isn't
it? And Carl Perkins playing "Blue Suede Shoes." Gabor
Szabo! Baden Powell! And Hendrix, is that really Jimi
Hendrix?!" "No," says Saint Peter, "that's God. He just
thinks he's Jimi Hendrix."

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AG WIRE ARCHIVES

Back issues of the AG Wire are available online at:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/wire_archive/index.shtml

To subscribe to the AG Wire, go to
http://www.acousticguitar.com/wire_archive/index.shtml

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Send news, comments, and requests:
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Copyright (c) 2003 String Letter Publishing. All Rights
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Publishing.

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