Putting together a nice yet budget friendly vintage stereo system has been a goal of mine for many years. Being both and avid music listener AND a musician has caused a bit of a conflict of interests though. It seemed like whenever I had the extra cash to get a new piece of stereo gear, I'd also be in the market for a new instrument or piece of recording equipment. The music gear almost always won out, and I never got to put that vintage system together until recently. The first part of that system I got was a vintage turntable.
For me, the turntable was the most important piece to start with. If it wasn't going to work, I would probably reconsider the whole vintage thing. I'd had problems with old gear before (see the "Vintage Guitar" post and read about my Wurlitzer). After some Ebay scouring I found and bought the table I had read so much about and wanted to try so badly- a 1968 or '69 AR-XA. This particular turntable is considered one of the most important of all time; it was, I believe, one of the first suspended chassis turntables on the market when it first came out, and influenced the design of many turntables to follow, like the Thorens line. The suspended chassis, by the way, means that the platter, arm, and motor float on an inner metal chassis that is spring mounted to the wooden base. The reason for this design is to isolate the important stuff from small vibrations from the motor and what may come through the base.
My AR-XA, with a George Van Eps album ready to spin!
As luck would have it, right after getting the turntable, my car needed a very expensive repair. All further vintage audio gear purchases had to be pout on hold for almost a year, so I ended up using the 'table with a $10 flea market amplifier and some $100 Best Buy speakers. Despite the, well, crappy setup, the turntable proved to me without a doubt that there is some absolutely impressive vintage audio gear out there that doesn't have to cost thousands to sound good. This turntable is so basic and simple but works so well, anyone who has never used on will be surprised!
Gear that works well is only part of the equation. How a turntable sounds is really the most important thing, and this turntable sounds fantastic! Its tone is similar to the aforementioned Thorens tables of the 1970s. Words like liquid, rich, warm and sweet came to mind immediately when I first heard this table in action. To me, this type of design just plain sounds better in comparison to the British-style suspension-less planks that I had used before, and which flood the current new turntable market.
The AR-XA sounds great playing any kind of music; my record collection spans jazz to rock to classical to world to folk. They all sound great on this 'table. For the absolute best classic AR turntable experience, get a vintage Shure M97x cartridge when you get the table. I'm glad I did, as I had heard that no current cartridge has such great synergy with this 'table. I believe it! They make a great combo.
A side view showing the very basic tonearm setup. Notice the complete lack of an anti-skating mechanism!
The AR-XA certainly performs well and sounds great, but it does have its flaws. Most notable would be the tone arm. First of all, the headshell (where the cartridge and "needle" go) is made of plastic that is over 40 years old, and no replacements are available that I am aware of, short of buying an expensive old stock one. In other words, be careful when screwing in the cartridge! The other issue with the tonearm is the damping mechanism. When new, this prevented the arm from slamming down to the record surface. 40 years later it causes the arm to hang up and not sit on the record surface as it should. The fix is a little complicated but not difficult. It involves removing the pin that works the mechanism, therefore letting the arm move freely again. For any AR repair info, go to vinylnirvana.com. It is a great resource for all things AR.
Though it has a few issues, the AR-XA is truly a great turntable even today. It out performs any of the current budget tables in the $300-$500 range. This 'table is a true example of "they don't make em like they used to." The sound, the simplicity and the classic look add up to a great table that should get consideration from anyone looking to put together a nice, budget friendly vintage stereo system. Put a classic rock album on the AR, sit back, relax, and let the music transport you back to a different time.
If you've looked at this blog even one time, you'll notice a good deal of my posts and info are dedicated to my musical passion of swing jazz guitar playing. But you may be wondering what exactly "swing jazz guitar playing" is. For those who are interested, I'll show you! I'd love to take this time to let people in on one of the most enjoyable jazz guitar styles that has ever existed.
Sadly, these days, and for that matter, since Charlie Christian made the electric guitar so popular in jazz in the early 1940s, the acoustic, chordal style of guitar playing I like to call swing jazz guitar has become almost entirely an underground phenomenon. Sure, there have been swing rhythm players who continued to play in big bands, like the famous Freddie Green, but many of the other player's contributions have gone mostly unnoticed except by those intrigued enough to dig deeper. I'd like to unearth a few YouTube gems for you as well as talk more about the style I've come to love.
In swing jazz guitar, rhythm playing is really the most important thing. The main job of guitarists of the era was to provide solid rhythm accompaniment for the bands they were with, and only infrequently took solos. This type of rhythm guitar playing really requires an archtop guitar or Selmer style gypsy guitar with a heavy pick and attack to get the right sound. Feel is important too; I've heard many electric guitarists try to mimic acoustic rhythm playing, but its always just that, mimicking. For the first example, I'll give you a video of an unusual, modern small group that has Rod McDonald on rhythm guitar. Notice the percussive, driving quality the guitar brings to the group, as well as his chord solo:
A perennially popular form of swing music still exists to this day called gypsy jazz. This style was made famous in the mid 1930's by the European gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt, a fantastic single note soloist whose groups usually consisted of three guitars, a bass, and a violin. Notice how different the gypsy rhythm feel is compared with Rod McDonald's more straight-ahead, classic American swing feel. Oh, and Django's wonderful solo:
This next example, "Kay's Fantasy," from a compilation of studio recordings made in the late 1940's by George Van Eps, is, as far as I'm concerned, one of the absolute finest examples of melody arrangement and improvisation in this style of jazz guitar playing. It's a recording that really showed me that the seemingly impossible truly can be possible, with enough work of course! I am always blown away by this set of recordings; they are the apex of Van Eps' work, in my opinion. One of the best features of these recordings is that we have a rare opportunity to hear the acoustic guitar accompanied by only drums and bass, without a piano or second guitar to get in the way:
Notice in the comments section, if you do end up on YouTube, the amount of people who can't understand that this is ONE guitarist playing with only a PICK. That's right, this is the "impossible" being made possible by one of the fathers of the style. You really have to be a guitar player to truly appreciate what is going on here. Van Eps basically turns the guitar into a piano, and does it well. I'd like to see any modern bebop jazz guitarist try to attempt something like this!
The basis of this style of improvisation and melody arranging is fairly simple: take triad and 7th chord forms and put the melody and/or solo on top. The key is knowing your chords inside and out, up, down, and across the neck, and in every inversion. It takes work, but getting started is quite easy. I hope to do a post and hopefully a video series later on where I can go more in-depth about the techniques and thought processes needed for playing this way.
As you can hear from the last example, this style of playing really makes it possible to do everything on your own. This became one of the major selling points for me back when I decided to commit to playing in the chordal swing style. It is just as effective for playing solo as it is for use in group playing where you are both laying down rhythm chords and taking solos. It is also great for singing accompaniment where you also want to do a guitar solo. A great aspect of the style for those who sing and play is that you don't have to give up the rhythm and harmony while you solo. Here's an example of Steve Jordan singing and playing:
I love this style of jazz guitar playing, and do my best to keep the tradition alive while also playing my music in an individual way. I hope the examples and explanation offer you a bit of insight into what all the excitement is about! I don't think you have to limit this way of approaching the guitar to just swing style jazz, either. Knowing a thing or two about chordal soloing could certainly benefit many guitarists who may be looking for an alternative to electronic gadgets to provide background accompaniment when they perform solo. It is possible to do it all on one guitar with only a pick! All it takes is some knowledge and practice!
Here's a new batch of tunes I recorded on May 26th. As you can see, I finally found a pickguard bracket that works on the old Kalamazoo! Hope you enjoy!
'Taint No Sin (To Take Off Your Skin And Dance Around In Your Bones):
Here's an old relic from the late 1920's, but its got some great, silly lyrics and a cool melody and chord progression. I first heard the tune on Marty Grosz's record "Take Me To The Land Of Jazz," and have loved it ever since.
Blizzard Of Lies:
Another humorous tune, but in this case much more modern. I came across this one by jazz lyricist, singer, and pianist Dave Frishberg on an album called "Dave Frishberg Songbook, Vol 2." I think we can all relate to being constantly assaulted with a blizzard of lies! The harmonic structure is quite interesting too, complete with some slightly more exotic chords that I usually don't come across in my rhythm playing, including a few 13 and #4 chords. That little minor key intro that reappears between each chorus is pretty neat too.
Satin Doll:
Here's one of Ellington's later classics, frequently learned early on by jazz players including myself, where I first played it back in my piano days. I've since had a place in my heart for the tune, and here I present an arrangement/improvisation on solo plectrum guitar.
The Lady's In Love With You:
A simple but fun little tune dating from the late 1930's, I came across this one on yet another Marty Grosz record of mine, where he does it in a trio context of guitar, bass, and clarinet. The improvised choruses are fun to play on a basic tune like this; there's not much to get in your way as far as complex chords, and its easy to just let go and see what happens.
While I was back home visiting my parents last week, my dad alerted me to the presence of a new record store that had recently opened in downtown Port Huron, MI. That area has been without a record store since well before I left in 2012. I was a bit skeptical, but had to see it myself. Besides, what if they had some good albums? That Tuesday we headed down to check it out.
The store, Loud Music and Apparel, is so new that it didn't even appear on a google map search. This made finding it a bit of a challenge, but thankfully we were familiar with the area it is located in, which happens to be the main street of Port Huron's downtown area. After backtracking a little, we did find it. There didn't appear to be a sign on the building yet, but there was one out on the sidewalk near the entrance. Not knowing what to expect, we headed inside.
The store itself is basically one long room, with clothing in the front and the records along the right wall. Though it appeared they were still setting some things up, the place had a nice record store feel to it already. The guy behind the counter, I believe one of the owners, was very friendly and knowledgeable. My main concern though, was what they might have hidden away among the stacks of records.
My finds at Loud Music and Apparel
For a new store they had a pretty impressive selection, especially in the rock department. There was also a section of new releases and a smaller section of jazz and blues albums. I checked those out first, and not finding much of interest, made my way to the rock stuff. This was where I found some very good albums I hadn't yet come across in the wild at my local Grand Rapids area haunts. Most of the time the good classic rock stuff is sold as soon as it gets into the store, but that was not the case this time. The only real limit here was my budget!
I ended up finding four albums I had been keeping my eyes open for: Aerosmith's "Rocks," Little Feat's "Waiting For Columbus," Jethro Tull's "Thick as a Brick" (complete with all the newspaper inserts intact!), and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bayou Country." All of these records were in very good condition and all were very reasonably priced. I was certainly happy to have them!
My trip to Loud Music and Apparel was definitely worth it. From the looks of things, this store can only get better from here, and they appear to be doing a very good job so far. I hope Port Huron, which has a pretty poor history of keeping local businesses open, will continue to support this store. Don't let another nice record store fall by the wayside! I just hope I can get back there before too many people DO discover it and buy up all the good stuff!
Vintage archtop guitars. Heck, archtop guitars in general. Nowhere else in the world of guitars is there more misunderstanding and confusion. Most guitar players even mistakenly call hollowbody electric guitars archtops. Archtop guitars are actually acoustic guitars that were the dominant style of guitar from the 1920s to the 1950s. Being the owner of a 1935 Kalamazoo (the one shown on the sides of my blog) archtop acoustic guitar for the past several years, I hope to shed a little light on the subject of at least budget level archtops. These still plentiful vintage lower end models are many people's first experience with the world of archtops, and knowing what to be concerned about (and what not to) can be a big help!
I first came across my old Kalamazoo totally by accident while visiting Elderly Instruments in Lansing, MI. At the time I was quite happily playing a Martin 000-15m, but a few minutes with the Kalamazoo had me thinking twice about the guitar I was playing. I was also getting more and more interested in the playing styles of the early jazz guitar masters that would eventually lead me to where I am today, and that Kalamazoo, man, did it have the tone my ears were craving! It was even far better sounding than some of the more expensive archtops they had there at the time. About a week later I went back and traded in my much nicer Martin for an old beat up guitar that would change and grow with me in the most tumultuous times of my jazz journey.
Before that time I had never owned a vintage guitar, let alone one that was nearly 80 years old! The oldest instrument I had owned up to that point was a 1971 Wurlitzer 200 electric piano (for those who care to know, its the keyboard heard on Pink Floyd's "Money" as well as many other classic rock tunes). I had such a terrible time getting that piano restored that I didn't think I'd ever go vintage again! The tone and mojo of that Kalamazoo guitar had me hooked though. Over time I've learned a few things about vintage guitars, especially the fact that they are not as delicate as one might assume!
One of my major concerns was the fact that this guitar had NO truss rod whatsoever! The neck did not even sport a non adjustable one as found in many later lower end models. The lack of a truss rod was not because they hadn't been invented yet, rather, it was a cost cutting measure by Gibson to be able to sell guitars as cheaply as possible during the depression era. The lack of a truss rod is made up for by having a VERY thick neck. This guitar's neck is the definition of "baseball bat" thick! It is one of those things you get used to though, and I never really had trouble adjusting to it. I've also never had trouble with neck bow, even using medium gauge (13-56) strings. This was my real fear with not having an adjustable truss rod, but the neck has not changed in the three years I have had the guitar!
Another concern for many players is whether or not a guitar is made of solid woods. Though some argue the Kalamazoos are not made with solid woods, I am here to destroy that rumor. My KG-31 is most certainly has a solid top. How do I know? Well, the top has a repaired crack! Laminated wood cannot crack due to drying out like solid wood does, obviously. I think the confusion arises because these guitars, keeping in line with Gibson's cost cutting, have PRESSED solid tops, rather than the hand carved tops and backs found on up-market vintage Gibsons and Epiphones. Many people seem to equate pressed with laminate, but that is certainly not always the case. Many mass market solid top archtop guitars today are made with pressed solid tops. One thing to look out for on ALL archtop guitars, though, is a sunken top. This happens when string pressure causes the top to bow under the bridge. It can cause issues like decreased volume, the wrong string angle, and more.
The only other area of concern with a guitar like this for me is hardware. My Kalamazoo came equipped with newer tuners as the old ones (which were included with the guitar) were worn out and the plastic buttons were rotted from age. I would think that replacing the original tuners on any vintage budget guitar like this would be a very common and useful upgrade. Another thing to be aware of with hardware is pickguards. Many vintage archtop guitars have ruined finishes due to off-gassing of their original pickguards, and should be replaced regardless. Many have no pickguard included at all. My Kalamazoo did not have this problem, but it had one that is nearly as bad. My guitar had a pickguard included but no hardware to attach it with. Due to the non-elevated neck on these old budget Gibsons, special hardware is required to attach the pickguard as normal archtop pickguard hardware will not work. Its simply holds the pickguard too high in relation to the strings. I am currently looking for a solution to this problem, and as of this writing have ordered a Les Paul style pickguard bracket to see if that works.
Buying a vintage guitar can be both a thrilling and frightening experience. I think a good frame of mind and perspective is a prerequisite to getting one. You cannot expect perfection on a guitar older (maybe several times older!) than you are. Look the guitar over well, and buy from a seller who knows a thing or two about archtop guitars. If you can overlook some flaws, these old Kalamazoo and other vintage budget archtops can be a great way to get into the archtop game without spending a ridiculous amount of money. Remember, too, that just because they are old does not mean they are fragile. When you do the kind of heavy playing I do on an 80 year old guitar with no issues, you know its a decently built instrument!
Since my leg breaking incident in February I haven't done much musically other than put in lots of practice time while laid-up on the couch. I've slowly gotten back to feeling more normal and decided to finally record some tunes. That practicing seems to have paid off though: Here are a couple of videos of tunes I recorded on May 8th. I was really only expecting to use the video to see what my practicing and playing was sounding like currently, but I ended up pulling off a couple of good performances of two of the most recent tunes I've learned. I hope you enjoy them both! They are both very different tunes from very different periods in time and styles within jazz!
First of all, an old swing era tune with a vocal: "Love Is Just Around The Corner:"
I fell in love with this old 1930's tune just over a month ago when I stumbled across one of Marty Grosz's versions on YouTube. Its a fun, cool little tune with silly lyrics and I really like the chord progression. It is just different enough to be quite interesting, particularly during the bridge (the "Venus de Milo" section). The toughest part of the whole tune was getting the improvisation together. As many other jazz musicians will attest, it can be very hard to get variety out of fast moving two-chord-per-bar progressions like this one has. I think it has come together really well though. As with most things, the more you do it, the better you will get at it!
The other tune I did was a bossa nova tune called "So Danco Samba:"
This is one of my favorite bossa nova tunes. I learned it quite some time ago from the classic album "Getz/Gilberto," the 1965 release that also features the famous original version of "The Girl From Ipanema." But it was this summery tune, "So Danco Samba" that got stuck in my head again even after not hearing it in many months. I actually remembered enough of it to be able to re-create the whole thing from memory. Maybe it was inspired by my yearning for warmer weather, I'm not sure! The chord melody arrangement required a bit of octave transposition and some creative chord forms (OK, more like simple triads) to make it possible in this style of guitar playing, but I like the results very much. The improvised choruses are always a blast to play through on this tune as well. Now I just need to find a small group to play it with so I can play the rhythm chords too!
The banjo in jazz. These days, its almost an oxymoron. Outside of a very few examples, the banjo is nonexistent in modern jazz. Its connection with its close cousin, the guitar, has also become distant in the genre. In swing music and classic jazz, however, that connection remains very strong. Many of the most celebrated swing guitarists previously played plectrum or tenor banjo before it went out of fashion around 1930. Carmen Mastren, Carl Kress, George Van Eps, Freddie Green, and many others first played banjo before switching over to guitar.
A couple of years ago, I decided to discover this connection for myself. In the process I learned a bit of tenor banjo and an enormous amount about techniques that came from the banjo to the guitar. While I didn't play banjo for very long, the discoveries I made changed my guitar playing forever, and opened up doors I never even knew existed. There were four major things that I gained from the time spent learning banjo: Right hand picking technique, tremolo and duo style playing, chord melody improvisation, as well as vast potential for solo playing on plectrum instruments.
A large portion of the things I learned came from Buddy Wachter's old VHS video "Beginning Plectrum Banjo." Yes, I ended up playing tenor, but the material in this video is mainly right hand technique anyway, and that stays the same on both four string banjos. Buddy Wachter is one of the finest four string banjo players who ever played the instrument, and thankfully is also a superb teacher. There is an in depth section of the video where Wachter describes the correct way to hold the arm and pick for maximum play-ability. The way I had been holding the pick was very limiting, and now I saw why I had hit such a wall in right hand development. Let me just say that anchoring in any way is no good for pick playing! I knew Wachter's way had to be the way the swing guitar guys played as well.
My suspicions were confirmed several times over. I searched for videos of 30's players on YouTube and found they all played this way. Nobody played with their hand resting on the bridge like I did. What was even more eye opening was a section in George Van Eps' "Method for Guitar" where he describes the correct way to hold the pick EXACTLY like Wachter does, right down to the angle of the pick against the index finger. It took me a while to adapt, but when I did, I never looked back. There's nothing you cant do playing this way.
Not only did studying tenor banjo change the way I approached the right hand, it also changed my mind about what is possible playing with a pick. In that same Wachter video he goes into detail about the tremolo, a common technique of rapid picking used to sustain a note or notes on the four string banjo. You rarely hear it done on guitar nowadays, but it was more common in the 20s and 30s. Django Reinhardt is probably the best known guitarist for using tremolo, and he, not surprisingly, started on banjo too (albeit a 6 string). Another related and really fascinating banjo technique is called duo style. With this technique, a tremolo is played on the first or melody string and the notes of the underlying chord are played either all at once or arpeggiated to give the illusion of a melody with accompaniment. I use this technique a bit for intros and endings. Check out the Wachter video I've included below to see it in action. Its another one of those musical devices that is nearly impossible to describe in words.
Another very common four string banjo technique that was popular with guitar players during the swing era was chord melody playing and improvisation. This style of playing was probably inspired by Eddie Peabody, who was well known for it on plectrum banjo. From what I can gather, Carl Kress was one of the first to bring the style over to the guitar. George Van Eps was probably the biggest proponent of this style; he taught it to Allan Reuss who in turn taught and inspired many others during the era. This banjo style chord melody is the foundation of the style I play in as well. It allows a guitarist to perform solo pieces, harmonized melodies or improvisation in a manner that is not unlike that of a piano player providing his own harmony.
In a related way, learning and playing tenor banjo opened my eyes to what was possible for a seemingly simple instrument in regards to solo playing. Though the plectrum banjo is more well known for players who do a large solo repertoire, the tenor too has a smaller but still respectable library of composed pieces and classical adaptations. It has also been influenced heavily by plectrum banjo chord melody solo virtuosos, and chord melody is done just as often on tenor banjo nowadays. I think about it like this: If that kind of solo repertoire can be played on only four strings, the plectrum style guitar is even more capable!
Learning and playing tenor banjo was a fantastic experience for me as a guitar player. I didn't spend too much time with it, but I learned a wealth of new technical devices and playing styles that fundamentally changed my guitar playing forever. I really think all swing oriented guitarists could learn a thing or two from studying four string banjo. It can truly offer a different approach to what is possible with plectrum style playing!
