Don's String Story

Hi All,

So about seven months ago (posts starting from Jan. 05 on donschiff.com/blog) I was writing about boiling strings to give them back a little tone until "ya break down" and buy a new set. I got to really enjoy the tone of my dead strings and so kept them on. They were old when I posted then... I'm guessin' about 9 months. So old in fact I don't even now how to describe them... "What do ya call 'em after they are dead" and you still keep 'em goin'? "Beyond Dead" AND THEN ya still keep 'em going. Maybe call them like the movies title sequels "Beyond Dead II" Then "Beyond Dead 3D"...etc,.

Well finally - and as a fitting ending they became (can't say dead) 'unusable' on this last recording session. Now they don't hold consistent pitch on the same string anymore. By that I mean the tuning is off between the first 12 frets and then the frets after that.

I inquired how that happens years ago... and was told the actual string becomes damaged and 'out of round' making it uneven. I believe Emmett told me this (so ya know it's solid info.) Well, that stands to reason as I pluck, pick and bang on it with a metal slide. But I'm not complaining it held on for 9 months with deluxe tone.

It was a great session, I kept them on ... re-tuning as I changed registers. I got to play some "R and B" top side guitar licks and some country bass lines. Cool session like I said for a country artist Debbie Hennessey "debbiehennessey.com". When the CD is finished it will be nice to go back and listen. I imagine they will have clips to listen to in a month or two from that website.

Nice surprise to find out on a session that they (the strings) decided to have a tuning problem, However I just go with the flow and make it work. I'm real sensitive to that sort of stuff and catch it way before anyone else notices. Same with time and feel. The drummer was "Mat Lang" hailing from South Carolina. Nice accent and a real master with keeping time and locking in with a click.

We where called into this session together for that purpose. I had never met him before but the producer knew both of us and figured it would be a good match... and so it was. Anyway, this was a LONG way to say that I did another take on the chorus's because even though we both locked into the click... We felt time differently. Though that statement may sound contradictory it's not. If you play consistently in time you are locked, then you can dissect the time - into feel. He had a great laid back feel in both kick and snare (sometimes ya get a drummer that lays his snare back but keeps his kick forward!!!! GREAT feel once ya sort out what your gonna do!) Anyway, so we both are consistent where we 'nail' the beats... then I recorded again but 'moved' my feel back. Imagine it like 'selecting' the digital track and moving all the notes back oh so slightly... the time is still constant but the feel is different!

I asked the engineer and producer which take they liked better. Like I said, I'm very sensitive to this stuff and took the liberty to add time to the session to do this (SO YA BETTER BE RIGHT) and there response was perfect. They didn't know why they liked the second take better, it sounded actually exactly the same - however it 'felt' better. AND that's the 'sensitivity' of it... it's miniscule but incredibly effective.

Now the "NEW" strings are on and they sound 'new' deluxe and in time will also acquire that 'old' deluxe tone and as for the old set, Well that session was just a fitting 'end' for that set of strings and we'll have a nice CD to remember them by!

I'm thinkin' those eight went out happy.

Don
www.donschiff.com