July 27, 2015

We all know, as guitarists, the problems we encounter when we play live, especially when we are trying to recreate the sounds we get in the studio. And even more difficult is trying to get the sound of our acoustic instruments to sound as close as possible in a high volume live situation. There are many options and solutions to miking our acoustic guitars, but what about those other instruments we are called upon to use? Tonight we explore two things: first some other stringed instruments that guitarists have in their arsenal. Joining me is multi-instrumentalist David Maldonado. Besides being a fantastic flamenco guitarist, he is a very versatile musician and he brings to the studio some of his other instruments he plays. We take a look at the banjo, mandolin, and bazouki. Second, we take a look at the problems on how to amplify these instruments live. Also joining us is Rob Turner. Rob is the founder of EMG pickups. Rob was one of the pioneers in using active pickups and EMG pickups have been installed many name artists guitars. EMG's were known for their great tone and for being absolutely quiet - a must for studio work! Rob is going to tell us about his pickups but also how he has designed and built pickups for banjo, mandolin, and bazouki, and more. We will discuss with both Rob and David the problems playing these instruments live and how EMG has solved them!