JanetB Says:
Monday, September 19, 2011 @5:59:43 PM

Albert, your playing here is unspeakably tender and gentle. In Donald O'Sullivan's book Carolan, The Life, Times, and Music of an Irish Harper it states that a blind harper named Maire Dhail (Blind Mary) gave lessons to Charles O'Conor and his siblings in 1726, therefore it's logical to assume that Carolan knew her and composed this piece for her. I'm again reminded of BHO's own Jim Reed who composes tunes for his friends, too. I've done it for my grandchildren. What a great gift!

albert52 Says:
Monday, September 19, 2011 @7:37:28 PM

Thank you Janet. I have never had that kind of comment on my playing before, and have never thought of it in that way. I have, even though playing in bands for years, like to "noodle" with the minstrel style of playing like Rob MacKillop (Scottish Banjo) and Paul Roberts (especially his Cello banjo). Now that the band days are behind, I solely play fiddle and tenor banjo/guitar and teach music here in Thunder Bay. I try to get the youngsters to appreciate this type of music before they get into the Rock stuff. I have a 14 yr old student who loves the piece Blind Mary that I transcribed for him and his 5 string banjo.

Again, thank you for the kind words.
AJ

Paul Roberts Says:
Monday, September 19, 2011 @8:17:19 PM

Albert, this is a great sound. Tell me how you've set up the 6 string guitar to play in GDAE so I can try it. I'm sold.
PauL

albert52 Says:
Monday, September 19, 2011 @9:50:54 PM

Hi Paul... thanks...I am quite happy with the sound of this guitar. All I did was remove the E & B strings. Then re-spaced the strings at the nut by actually keeping the 1rst string and D string in their respective spots, eyeballed the spacing for the G string to the center in between the B & G slots, the spacing worked out to about 10mm, and did the same for the A string between the E & A slots. The A string becomes the G, the D string becomes G, the G becomes A, and the E stays the same. Now you have Irish tuning of GDae. The strings on the Arch top oversize Jazz guitar are Copper Medium bluegrass strings. the gauges are G (46W), D (30W), A (20W), E (11). On my flat top G (36w), D (24W), A (16W), E (10). Having the "A" wrapped helps to keep the "full" guitar body sound. Your scale on the guitar does not change. For the saddle do the same as with the nut. Keep the E & D stings where they are and center between the B&G slots, and then center between the E&A slots. I say slots, because for a flat top you will need to notch the saddle for the strings.

The flat top is the one in the sound file, the arch top has a more "crisper" sound to the strings for rhythm playing. I gotta tell you it really freaks people out when they see either one and I am using a different fingering than they are, so I removed the 2 middle tuners and use the bottom tuners for the G & E and top ones for the D & A. You can always fit in dowels and then paint them the color of the head stock.

The reason I did this was I find the Tenor guitars a little quieter than I would like.

Hope this helps. Just email if you have any questions

AJ

Paul Roberts Says:
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 @2:12:29 AM

Albert, thanks for the detailed instruction. With the help of a luthier friend I'm definitely going to try this. I love the sound you're getting. I'll be in touch.
Best regards,
PauL

albert52 Says:
Tuesday, September 20, 2011 @11:35:05 AM

Paul, you will end up with a little extra space on the bass side, but you will have the feel of the guitar neck but just playing the 4 strings. I did a test on the tension (per warping) and there doesn't seem to be any in either guitar (after 5 yrs). Spacing the strings at the bridge (wider than at the nut) to follow the graduation of the guitar neck from body to nut seems to take care of the pull pressure. There is no sign of side to side warping or twisting. I think it is because of the elimination of 2 strings is what lessons the tension.