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<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<The Acoustic Guitar Wire<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<
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1. Welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Wire No. 6
2. News and Notes: Turn it up to 11!
3. Sponsor: Breezy Ridge
4. Free on-line guitar lesson, Mark Olson interview, more
5. More guitar myths: braces, pickguards, and necks
6. Highlights from upcoming issues of Acoustic Guitar
7. RainSong jumbo guitar giveaway
8. Vintage Guitars: An essential new book from SLP
9. Win a free CD!
10. A really HOT guitar solo
11. A.G. Wire archives

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Welcome to the Acoustic Guitar Wire No. 6.
Enjoy the latest acoustic music news, information
about happenings on-line, advance notice of special offers
and giveaways, and previews of new publications from String
Letter Publishing. You'll also get tips
and advice about guitars, gear, and playing, plus a few
jokes and the chance to win a free CD.
This newsletter is best viewed in 10-point Courier.
Our hyperlinks are formatted to be "hot" in most mail
readers. If your reader doesn't support click-through
linking from e-mail, just cut and paste the URLs into your
Web browser.

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News and Notes

Lock up your daughters, get out your earplugs, and tell all
the drummers to hide! Spinal Tap explodes back onto the
scene with a grueling five-gig world-domination tour this
summer, including a special appearance at Carnegie Hall.
Find out
how you can crank it up to 11 at:
http://www.vh1.com/fanclubs/main/508232.jhtml

The world's first Napster-proof CD hits the streets when
country legend Charley Pride's tribute to Jim Reeves is
released at the end of the month. Sunncomm claims that its
new MediaCloQ technology embeds compacts discs with a
digital code to stymie would-be music pirates without
compromising the rights or convenience of legitimate
consumers. Get the details at:
http://www.Sunncomm.com

Learn how to inlay an abalone image of Snoopy on your
vintage D-28 with an on-line lutherie class from the Musical
Instrument Makers Forum. Two levels of instruction provide
the fundamentals and fine points of instrument inlay
techniques. Course description and requirements available
from:
http://www.mimf.com/inlay.htm

We were sorry to hear about the passing of John Phillips on
March 18. Phillips was the leader and chief songwriter for
the Mamas and Papas, a seminal folk-rock act. Their
infectious blend of acoustic guitars, four-part harmony
vocals, and pop production values on songs such as
"California Dreamin'" and "Monday, Monday" brightened the
radio waves in the late '60s. Look for a memorial for
Phillips in our July issue, but in the meantime, you can
read more about him at:
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/newsarticle.asp?nid=13509&cf=2591

Beatles fans can celebrate the theatrical re-release of "A
Hard Day's Night." The classic Richard Lester film first
flashed on the big screen 30 years ago, and the celebrated
celluloid hit features oodles of songs. The flick still
looks--and sounds--great, and the Fab Four can be seen
strumming acoustic Gibson J-160E's throughout.
http://www.cnn.com/2001/SHOWBIZ/Music/04/13/beatles.movie/index.html

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~SPONSOR~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
John Pearse® Strings & Breezy Ridge® are proud to be the
first official sponsors of the Acoustic Guitar Wire! We
invite you to visit our revamped Web site at
http://www.jpstrings.com

You'll be surprised at the variety of John Pearse® string
sets we offer--or custom design your own set with our
Singles Selection. Our new Nuages® Guitare Manouche strings
are gaining recognition worldwide! The New Products Page
includes the K'Saire(tm) Humidifying System and Li'l
Nipper(tm) String Winder. The Luthiers, Dealers and
Wholesalers Page helps you find our products and our
Endorsees Page shows who is using them!
"Music Really Does Make the World a Better Place!"
Thank you!

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New at Acoustic Guitar Central

The first Guitar Talk Open Mic nights were a big success.
You can read all about the events on-line in the Guitar Talk
forums.

To read about the California Gathering, go to:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000364-2.html
To see the Left Coast photos, go to:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/openmic1/openmic1.shtml

To link to a discussion of the Hoosier Gathering, click:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubb/Forum2/HTML/000379.html
To see photos of that event, go to:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/openmic2/openmic2.shtml

We added a new, free, on-line flatpicking lesson with Larry
Sandberg today. The strum-and-bass rhythm technique is
fundamental to many acoustic styles including bluegrass,
folk, country, and rock. Learn the basics with this full
audio and tab lesson:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/lessons/strum_and_bass/1.shtml

Online exclusive! Read our Web-only interview with Mark
Olson, the influential alt-country singer-songwriter.
Includes the complete Jump Street text from the May issue,
plus a transcription of Olson's interview with A.G. editor
Simone Solondz. Read the whole thing at:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag101/olson.shtml

We spruced up www.acousticguitar.com with new content from
the May issue of Acoustic Guitar magazine. Read an in-depth
interview with blues virtuoso and songwriter Keb' Mo'.
http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag101/feature101.shtml

We also added the latest CD reviews, new artists' gear
profiles, and more. See it all at
http://www.acousticguitar.com

By the way, there's always a good discussion about guitars,
players, and acoustic music going in the Guitar Talk forums.
Register to participate and automatically get a chance to
win an electronic tuner. Sign up today at
http://www.acousticguitar.com/ubbcgi/Ultimate.cgi

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Shocking News about Braces, Pickguards, and Necks

The "Acoustic Guitar Owner's Manual" is packed with handy
information for keeping your instrument in good playing
condition. In one chapter, contributing editor Richard
Johnston of Gryphon Stringed Instruments debunks common
myths about the acoustic guitar. We've been sharing these
tips with A.G. Wire readers each month. Here are three more
shocking revelations.

Myth No. 7:
Shaving the braces under the guitar top will make the guitar
sound better.
Shaving top braces is risky business and doesn't yield
predictable results, though some production guitars from the
'60s and '70s certainly had more bracing than they needed.
Finding a lightly braced guitar that already sounds good
shouldn't be hard these days.

Myth No. 8:
Removing a guitar's pickguard improves the sound.
Some of those big double Everly Brothers pickguards that
droop down past the bridge probably do soak up their share
of a guitar top's vibration. But most pickguards around the
soundhole are lightweight and are fastened to a part of the
top that isn't all that critical to guitar tone anyway.

Myth No. 9:
Guitar necks should always be perfectly straight.
Most guitarists find they get less fret buzz with a slight
amount of "relief" (forward curve) in the neck, especially
if they play hard on the bass strings in the lower position.
Players who have a very precise and even attack, and who use
the entire guitar neck, often prefer a neck that is
perfectly straight or close to it.
For more tips and advice, be sure to check out the
"Acoustic Guitar Owner's Manual":
http://www.acousticguitar.com/books/Guidebooks.html#agom

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Highlights from upcoming issues of Acoustic Guitar magazine:

Look for the Man in Black on the cover of our June issue
(No. 102). This Johnny Cash issue will be hitting the
newsstands in a couple of weeks, and it's chock full of
great stuff, including a feature about on-line guitar
communities and a roundup of the latest guitars, pickups,
amps, and accessories from NAMM. Plus music to play from
Cash, Guy Van Duser, and P.J. Olsson.

Coming Soon:

-July is the Classical Guitar Special, with features on
new directions in nylon-string lutherie and on the next
generation of classical virtuosos

-Emmylou Harris gives us an exclusive in the August issue,
plus features on Ralph Towner, yoga for guitarists and more
-In September look for features on Al DiMeola, Big Bill
Broonzy, and live recording techniques

-Gear, gear, gear! (Did we mention gear?)

Don't miss out on any of these great features! Subscribe to
Acoustic Guitar today. Sign up on-line at
www.acousticguitar.com/service/service.html#subscribe or
call toll free (800) 827-6837.

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Giveaways

Enter our to win a great new JM1000 Jumbo guitar from
RainSong. Get the details at
http://www.acousticguitar.com/giveaway2/rainsong/index.html

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New from String Letter Publishing

Learn the fundamentals of acoustic guitar chords--your first
chords and beyond--with the newest book from the publishers
of Acoustic Guitar magazine: ACOUSTIC GUITAR CHORD AND
HARMONY BASICS.

Whether you're a beginning or an intermediate acoustic
guitarist, chords are the foundation for the songs you play.
Here's a book that teaches you the real world chord
voicings, shapes, and progressions used by today's top
acoustic players. Not a chord encyclopedia, ACOUSTIC GUITAR
CHORD AND HARMONY BASICS shows you what you really need to
know, along with valuable tips and tricks to help you
understand and master the sounds of bluegrass, blues, folk,
rock, and roots music.
http://www.acousticguitar.com/books/LessonBooks.html#chord

VINTAGE GUITARS: A MUSICAL HISTORY
Reserve your special limited edition copy at a savings of
20%

VINTAGE GUITARS: A MUSICAL HISTORY is the first pictorial
reference work to offer guitar enthusiasts, players, and
collectors an opportunity to explore the eventful, perpetual
give-and-take between musicians and instrument makers that
produced America's popular music and its quintessential
instrument.

--Generously illustrated with more than 150 photographs of
players, instruments, catalog pages, and other memorabilia.
--Features everything from the elegant American guitars of
the 19th century to the evolving dreadnought, jumbo, 12-
string, archtop, resophonic, and more--the original
instruments as well as contemporary incarnations and
reissues.
--Spotlights the guitars of Leadbelly, Jimmie Rodgers, the
Everly Brothers, Tony Rice, Emmylou Harris, Ben Harper, and
others.

**You are invited to acquire the limited edition now, in
advance of publication. If your order is received before
June 1, 2001, your price is $80.00, a savings of 20%. You
will receive your book by the beginning of July 2001.**
**Only three hundred hardbound volumes will be produced and
will not be reprinted. Each slip-cased limited edition is
individually numbered and signed.**

Vintage Guitars, Limited Edition (152 pp.) #21330781
$80.00 (if ordered before 6/1/01)
http://www.acousticguitar.com/books/Guidebooks.html

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Win a Free CD!

We're giving away a free CD of acoustic guitar music to the
contributor of the best music joke or gig story. 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. Our prizewinner this month is
John Morgan of Westerville, Ohio, who sent us this red-hot
report. I would have guessed that John was pulling our legs
on this one, but the same dang thing happened to me on St.
Patrick's Day, so I know it's all true.

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Really Hot Pickin'

When I play in public I rely on sound equipment to make my
acoustic guitar audible to the assembled masses. Some of
this gear is powered with 9-volt batteries. Before each
performance I check to make sure that each battery has an
adequate charge. Before a recent Borders gig I found one
cell nearly drained, so I changed it and went on with the
first set. No problem. After the break I sat down for the
second set. A minute or so into the first song I felt a
sharp sting--like a bee sting--on my right hip. "How could a
bee be in my pocket?" I asked myself. It was nine o'clock at
night in the dead of winter with not a beehive in sight. I
decided that the show must go on, and keep picking. The pain
intensified, and the song got a bit faster. Soon it wasn't
just a sharp pain, it was a red-hot pain--a burning pain. In
the midst of my writhing agony it finally occurred to me:
The terminals of the "worn out" 9-volt battery which I had
stashed in my pocket an hour ago were now in direct contact
with a quarter. The battery was short circuiting, the
quarter was aglow, and my pants were almost ready to catch
fire! (I'll bet Leo Kottke never had to deal with this.) The
song I was playing was four-minutes long, but I was just one
minute and 14 seconds into it, imagining the hair on my leg
going up in flames like a prairie fire before the unwitting
crowd of happy readers quietly enjoying their cappuccinos.
What to do?! It seemed to me that there was only one choice.
I jumped up, ripped off my pants, and stamped out the
flames.

OK, it wasn't quite that dramatic, but I am thinking of
making this part of my regular show.
Check out John Morgan's cool Web site at
http://www.morganguitar.com/

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Free back issues of the A.G. Wire are available on-line at:
http://www.acousticguitar.com/wire_archive/index.shtml

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Send news, comments, and requests:
mailto:agwire@stringletter.com
Copyright © 2001 String Letter Publishing. All Rights
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Letter Publishing is prohibited. Acoustic Guitar Wire and
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Publishing.