Goodall Rosewood Standard

This morning, the much anticipated Goodall arrived. Frankly, I was bracing myself up for major disappointment because of the problem encountered with the klutz who messed up the shipping besides being non-communicative throughout. I was dreading the need to call credit card company and Paypal to get my money back.

So as I was opening up the box, then the hard-case, I was almost going to say, “I knew it!”  Well, I am glad to say that the Goodall was beautiful and much cheaper than Guitar Gallery would sell it!  Emailed James Goodall to ascertain the year built but I’m glad that it was in excellent condition as promised.  I think it’s an elixir new strings, so will wait a week or so before bringing to Malcolm to do setup.  I know what he’ll say to me.  Don’t think he’ll complain about me giving him business!

Interesting that the inside of the body states not only the serial number but also the material: rosewood; sitka (spruce). My guess is that this particular piece was made in 2004.  It did have 3 flea sized dings on the arm rest section of the lower bout but nothing damaging to the overall aesthetics from I can see.  Tone-wise it is loud when lightly picked or strummed.  Sparkly tone I might add.

I suppose my GAS would stop now, and now time to up my finger-picking skill up another notch. Found a wonderful site that provides nice ditty tune pieces and tab to learn and play.  Need to learn new stuff to keep the brain cells alive and kickin’

What do you know?

Saturday morning, I got an email from a man called Abel Chun who wrote to enquire about our church. So I replied and ask a few general questions.  His reply made me curious enough to ask if he is from the same Army unit where I did my BMT.  Long story short, he turned out to my BMT buddy!  A buddy is a guy assigned to you to help take care of you, vice versa, so that you don’t get into trouble and neither will he!  It’s been so many years — 26 years? 

Well, I hope he would turn up to visit our church and that we could connect once again.  It’s fascinating to me cos I don’t usually have such contacts with local friends here. Life is simply too busy for us to connect. Sigh…

Pics of L-10

Larrivee L-10

Picked up my Larrivee L-10 from Jarvis this evening.  He told me one of the inlays was etched away when he cleaned the fretboard.  Not sure how long he “tonerite” the guitar, but he did mentioned that he felt it hadn’t opened up yet.

Another angle shot of L-10

It’s not as booming as my D-03R for sure, but then again it’s a different type of guitar. Sounded nice though.  Can’t remember what Jarvis said about Martin SP strings but it sounded alright with me. Maybe next time I’ll try D’Addario EXP PB to see how it is.

When I first opened up the box, I was rather apprehensive about it.  After changing from bone saddle to FMI, it sounds pretty good (not that it sounded bad earlier on).

Yes, it does sound like its bass is not as powerful as D-03R but I think overall it’s rather balanced tonewise.

Maybe, I will tonerite it several more hours and hopefully it will open up even more.

It arrived….

But I brought it down to Jarvis where he’ll be setting up as well as dehumidifying the L-10, tonerite it and change a new set of strings since the 3rd string snapped. Never used Martin SP light before so this is a good time to try it out.  Jarvis says it should be ready by Monday.

Larrivee-L10 in its OHSC

Jarvis, whom I met at Guitar Gallery, is a nice guy to chat with though rather unorthodox in conducting business.   We did the discussion whole time outside his flat!  Probably his wife doesn’t like strangers coming into the house, I suppose.

Interestingly a guy sms me about the Ovation guitar which I had sold a couple of months ago. Tried to interest him into buying the L-16 guitars.  From experience, I just got to let it be rather than jump every time somebody enquires about it.:D

Just Arrived. . . . Larrivee L-10

The DHL guy came this morning and delivered my Larrivee L-10 this morning.  Didn’t know what to expect when opening the box. Reason? I bought it from EBay so didn’t have to raise my expectations too high lest I get disappointed and unable to appreciate the guitar for its worth.  Thankfully, it was as the seller described. Nice finishing; nice arch top OHSC which I personally prefer flat ones.  Anyway it was nice conditioned.

Tried to tune it and perhaps in my eagerness I overtuned the G string and it snapped. Anyway, I had planned to drop the guitar at Jarvis to upgrade saddle to FMI so might as well have him do it. One reason is to see his quality of workmanship for myself.  Since G4C speaks so highly of him. 

Bought this in spur of moment; maybe due to missed opportunity to get the L-09 instead. I’m glad the bling isn’t as bad as I had imagined. Looks like a good keep. Now perhaps to offload L guitars.

GAS

Gear Acquiring Syndrome (GAS) is a term commonly used in guitar forum (and I suspect in other musical instrument forum as well), to describe how folks itched to go out and buy another guitar that they have seen or been thinking about.  I’ve been having that for a year and has bought and sold several of them in the same period.

Now I’m seriously thinking about buying a Goodall. One guy selling off his Grand Concert Cedar/Rosewood while Guitar Gallery is the dealer and there are several that’s hanging around screaming to be bought but the prices are hefty.  I’m not willing to pay that much for brand new ones.  Might have to take out a loan to feed this craving yet some hesitation only because I’m not used to cedar top.

Asked a couple of fellas if they’re keen to buy my LL-16/LJ-16 but thus far negative. So will wait in the mean time.

Harmonica

I finally did it. Went down to Swee Lee today and bought a simple C key harmonica. I’ve been wanting to learn to play the harmonica and hoping to one day be able to play it while accompanied by guitar as well.  Haven’t tried it yet. Too tired from the running around today.  Will return to see it pans out these couple of days.  

Depleted of Ovation

Today, I sold two of my Ovation guitars to an Australian working in kindergarten here.  I think he is an administrator vocationally speaking.

Concert Classic 1116

The Ovation sold are Concert Classic 1116 and ‘97 Collectors Edition (parlor). The latter was earlier sold to a friend but she decided to return it after few months as she didn’t really use it and kind of ‘iffy’ about keeping it despite my encouragement to her about keeping it. Anyway, didn’t want to impose on her.

Due to different things that cropped up last weekend and the day before, I was only able to pick up the Parlor from her this afternoon. Boy, it was moldy on the OHSC. I was apprehensive about selling it off since i noticed the body top is slightly bloated (sign of too much moisture).  Thankfully I use some window glass cleaning solution to clean off the mold on the OHSC, and bought some lighter fluid to clean the guitar top as well as the tuners.  Did as much as i could to make it much nicer.  Frankly I was kind of skeptical about offloading this Parlor though nice piece it is.

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'97 Collectors Edition [Parlor

As for the 1116, never an issue as it was still in pristine condition.

Well, as things turned out, the guy played both guitars and like them and decided to buy both. I think the total time taken to transact this deal was less than 15 minutes.  Not bad for a sale of two guitars!  Enough recouped for next foray to another headstock

Seriously speaking, I think I’ll acquire another Ovation but this time, it’s the Custom Legend, the very model that I played with when living in IA with the Mulders. Who knows Jon might consider selling it to me if I’d ask him.

I did it!

Been contemplating since I got my Larrivee D-03R about removing the pickguard which I don’t quite like.  The main reason for wanting to remove the pickguard is that i find satin finished guitars looks better without it.

Closer look... no pickguard but tan lines

Anyway, after deliberating for a while I decided to go ahead and do it.  It wasn’t that difficult but need to be cautious so as not to affect other part of the guitar. I began with lighter fluid to soften the pickguard’s adhesiveness. Then slowly begin to lift one side of the pickguard without prying to hard.

When the whole piece is lifted out, the patch was rather unsightly due to left over glue. I use “Goo Gone” and rub the glue patches off. It wasn’t difficult. At the end of it, it was all done.

Seeing it from a distance

Patted myself on my back, “well done!” 

Northland to NI. . . .

Well, here are my thoughts regarding expansion of NBBC from college to Univ settings.  My reservation lies in the area of identity. When a college calls itself a Baptist college, it immediately specify what it stands for (logically speaking). I’m not saying Northland is ditching its distinctive (I think one of the men in the Northland video interviews mention something in passing though not in direct reference to my point of concern that identity will not be lost).  Personally I’d like to see it retain its Baptist identity despite changes.  Undoubtedly, these men have spent much time musing and discussing the pros and cons of certain decisions and these aren’t easy decisions to make.  Dr Ol’ has often said that the choices also determines the consequences or destination.

Another area of interest rather than concern is that of accreditation. As a college it has received accreditation status but this new aspect?

Anyway, I’ll be writing to Kevin Priest or Sam Horn about these and see what they will say. It’s still early days yet and I’m sure their email inboxes  have been stuffed with queries (not to mention accusations etc)!  It’d wouldn’t be prudent to jump to conclusion but be open-minded and process information as they trickle in….

Will enter my thoughts later. . .