Congrats Rob and Carol

So I have to tell you that I thought I was done doing weddings a long time ago, but Kim and I made a massive compromise to that when Carol Marie Montgomery (Petke now!) asked us. And man, was it a blast. It was great to get to work with them to create something that felt like them. The prelude included Stephen Curtis Chapman's "Cinderella" and I have to say that I hate to make people cry (like with an out of tune guitar) but this was a good cry! I actually had to hold it together myself since the song hits home. I also got to do Rascall Flatts "Broken Road". Nice song. The service didn't have any music inside of it but we got to rock and roll a bit on their recessional - her singluar request was "How Sweet It Is to be Loved by You" and with Kim on the piano, Brandon hustling over out of the wedding party to play lead guitar (on a killer mid 60's Gibson ES 335!), Jonathan Prenosil on bass and Aaron White on drums, we had a blast playing them out of the sanctuary. So that was probably a first for Linworth Baptist Church having a James Taylor song performed and blues guitar solo! Thanks and congrats again Rob and Carol.

Rediscovering my Taylor 210

A few years ago Bob Taylor introduced a "Maranatha" limited edition model 210 guitar. Kind of a cool story, really. Bob attends church where most of the guys who started Maranatha Records sometime back in the 70's I believe, also attend. They are now the praise and worship band, and to help make a contribution to the church/band, Taylor created this little 210 auditorium model with the old "dove" logo from the Maranatha brand, and donated a portion of the proceeds.

I missed the launch of this guitar and they all vanished into the dealer network quickly, but I happened on two of them in-stock and brand new at Wildwood Music in Cochocton, Ohio (maybe the best acoustic guitar shop going). It is a fabulous place in Roscoe Historical Village, and is an old house, stacked floor to ceiling with some of the best brands in the business. I had bought my Martin Backpacker from them years earlier and always stopped in the shop when doing gigs at the village music festivals.

Anyway, on the way back from business one day I stopped in, sealed the deal and brought the guitar home. I have always been so impressed with the Taylor tone and despite the fact that this guitar's body is slightly smaller than the full Dreadnought scale of my Taylor 310, the little 210 actually sounds much bigger. But there was something missing in the feel of the guitar, so it sat in case for quite a number of months before I finally got it to J. Thomas Davis Guitars on High Street in Columbus, Ohio, and they put an absolutely killer, open-tuning set up on it.

Now I cannot find enough excuses to play this guitar! It also has the Expression pick up in it which is a bit of a shift for me, but married to my Fishman amp, it is powerful.

There are few better bargains than these guitars, and I am so glad that I actually get to own one of these limited edition Taylors.

Guitar String tests

For the guitarists in the group, recently I got to test out some experimental strings from Elixir. Since I started playing guitar I have always had a body chemistry that ate strings up at an alarming rate - caustic sweat or something nasty! It's all of that Yoo Hoo I drink I guess. But I digress...

A few years ago I stumbled on Elixir strings and am absolutely sold on them. But it gets better! Two years ago they asked me to do some string tests and I actually recorded "Faith. Family. Friends" with the experimental stings on my Taylor 310. They really held tune, remained bright throughout the entire, lengthy recording period, and actually didn't need changing after months of use. Yes, I said months.

Now I really could have changed them sooner, but I was on one of those kicks, like seeing how far the car can go towards empty and still run, and the strings probably overstayed their welcome. But that's not the point.

Point is that they really do deliver long life, exceptional tone, great feel and very stable tuning. Anyway, I have a link to them if you are interested!