Silk Wrap Nails

I’ve started to use silk wrap (3 layers) on my thumb, index, middle and ring finger on my right hand when I know I’m going to be playing allot of flamenco style technique on the guitar. I use 3 layers of silk wrap on 30-50% of the nail. Between each layer of silk wrap I put on a thin coat of crazy glue. The below first pic is before they are trimmed and filed. The second pic is three layers and trimmed and shaped.

RMC Pickup Install on DeVoe Blanca

This week I hope pick up my DeVoe Blanca that has been outfitted with new RMC Acoustic Gold Tall Pickups and a Poly-Drive II Preamp that is a remote polyphonic active electronics for acoustic guitar. RMC Pickup Co.The Preamp is not installed on the guitar. The pickups are being installed by Paul Schwartz of Peekamose Guitars in NYC Peekamoose

This should be able to work very well with the Fishmam Aura Spectrum DI as well as the SA220. I will also be using the Roland GI 20 to act as a interface between the RMC Poly-Drive II and the world of midi. I will be using Spectromics Omnisphere and a Korg Trition Rack.

Summer Brease with LR Baggs Anthem SL Classical Pickup

PreSonus Studio Live 16.0.2

This week I picked up the PreSonus Studio Live 16.0.2 to use live and in the studio. Set up has been fairly easy and so far sounds great.

Beringer B205D

I picked up one of these from Sweetwater to use with Dr. Compas see pic for the app running on my iPhone. I will use this mainly for a live monitor and for practice with Dr. Compas very small less that 8lbs.

DAddario EJ45TT

I just put DAddario EJ 45TT on my DeVoe Blanca, I like the way they feel, they set in very quickly and were easy to tune. As far as tone goes them seem snappy and bright. As with most strings when new they seem bright too me and take a day or two to set in and mellow just a bit. I also tried a new way of tying the treble strings see pic.

Apogee Mic with Roland Mic Stand adapter

I just revived my Apogee Mic and wanted to use a mic stand for better placement. Apogee has not started to sell the adapter so I have been looking for a solution. I remembered that I had a mic adapter for my Enderol R-09 and tried it and it works perfectly. It’s now called a Roland OP-MSA1 that you can order from Sweetwater for 20.00. See pick below

Starting the new year off with Quiting Coffee, Cigars, and a few others

I recently watched a movie on Netflix and was inspired by the story, the movie is “Fat Sick and Nearly Dead” where Joe in the movie juices for 60 days. The results were astonishing to me he lost 80 lb. and was healthy. From my reading there were a few things that were going to be hard to put down, Coffee and Cigars as well as Pizza. Its day 4 now and I’ve made it through detox and have started to lose some weight. The detox was very hard especially after 24 hours in. I normally drink about 6 shots of espresso and drink Coke 0 thoutout the day. And can smoke 2-5 cigars in a day. If your interested hear are two links to help you see what I am trying.and for as medical perspectiveLet me know what you think. So far in my journey to lose weight and get healthy I have tried Atkins with success in loosing the weight but gain it back pretty easy. So far its been about 15 lb. Ive lost and feel very good right now.

DeVoe Negra with CAD Trition 8000 Tube Mic

QSC K8 For Flamenco Guitar Amplification

I tried something new today. I hooked up a DPA 4099 G Mic to an Art Phantom II Power Supply then to the QSC K 8 Speaker Channel A with Mic Switched on and EQ Normal and Vocal Boost On. It sounded great with my DeVoe Blanca.

Lexicon LXP Native Reverb Plug in for Mac used on “Walking”

Today I decided to try the new Lexicon LXP Native Plug ins, I think they sound fantastic.

Christina

Mackie Pro FX8 New Live Rig

For live performance I will try this rig out. A DPA 4099G or Shure KSM 141mic, Mackie Pro FX 8, DBX 265XL, BBE 882 Sonic Maximizer, Carvin 1500wt Stereo Power Amp, 2 Carvin 15in Speakers.

Lester DeVoe 2010 blanca

Mackie Pro FX8 going to try it out

I needed to get a smaller mixer as I had sold my older Mackie 12VLZ and only have a larger Carvin Board. I’ve seen a few people using this mixer with great sound. I spoke with Mark Magdich at Sweetwater and he was pretty confident that would be a good small footprint mixer. I will use the mixer with the DPA 4099G and DeVoe Guitars, Shure KSM 141, and the Cordoba F7 Fishman Ellipse Blend and Aura Nylon. Looking forward to the EQ and effects as well.

Boss RC 30 Demo

I used my Lester DeVoe Blanca with a DPA 4099G mic going to the Boss RC 30 with 48v phantom power on. Then to a Digidesign 002 Sig Mod from Black Lion into Pro Tools 9.0.2

Fishman Aura Nylon

The Fishman Aura Nylon # 16 sounded great with the Cordoba F7 using the Fishman Ellipse Matrix. I used 100% UST Matrix and 50% Blend. Very happy with the sound. I used the Roland BA 330.

Mind Squeze

New Office Pictures

I have moved my office from Newtown PA to Princeton Jct. NJ and am no longer practicing in Newtown PA.

No Longer seeing clients in Newtown PA

Starting today I am no longer seeing clients in the 12 Peens Trail Newtown PA office, I will be seeing clients in my new office in NJ.

DAddario Flamenco EJ25C Review Initial Impressions

I put on the bass strings from the DAddario Pro Arte Composite Flamenco string on my DeVoe Blanca replacing DAddario EJ45C strings. From what I can see they are slightly wider than the EJ45C and for about an hour while they were settling in there was a slight buzz at the nut, however it did go away within the hour.

DAddario EJ25C 6th String 1.118mm. VS EJ45C 6th String 1.112mm
5th String 0.864mm. VS EJ45C 5th String 0.89mm
4th String 0.737mm. VS EJ45C 4th String 0.71mm
3rd String 1.041mm. VS EJ45C 4th String 1.024mm (Coffee)
2nd String 0.831mm. VS EJ45C 2nd String 0.818
1st String 0.724mm. VS EJ45C 1st String 0.711

I have not put trebles on yet but will follow up with an update later. My first impression of the strings are favorable. There is a nice brightness which I’m used to from DAddario they settled in very quickly and were easy to tune and strings seem very even and no high or low spots which might cause buzzing. The strings stay in tune and have excel ant tone.

Update on Treble Strings: I just put them on and they feel great and have a warm mellow tone yet when pushed just a bit you can get that bright flamenco tone. I think DAddario did an excellent job on these strings. The trebles are very smooth on the finger tips as well. I will let them settle in for a few hours and write an update after a day or two.

DeVoe Blanca

Capitola CA Today

Charlene and I took a trip to Capitola and had lunch at Paradise Beach Grill. The service and food were excellent.

Lester DeVoe Blanca 2010 Specs

DeVoe Flamenco Guitar
European spruce top
Spanish cypress back and sides
Spanish cedar neck, neck shaped on the flatter side
Santos rosette and purfling
Ebony fingerboard, 57 mm @ nut, 66.5 mm @ 12th fret, 20th partial fret over the sound hole
Ebony pegs for tuning
660 mm scale length,
Double hole bridge tie block
Two piece tap plate and piece behind bridge tie block

Stone IPA

Just had a nice IPA from the Stone Brewery in San Diego, what a nice refreshing IPA that is smooth with nice bite of hops. I really liked it.

Mics for Playing Live Flamenco

I have been trying a few Mics for live playing when I use the DeVoe, I’m using the DPA 4099G it does require 48v, the Shure KSM 141 requires 48v as well as the AKG C 1000s yet the AKG does have the option on an internal battery so your not dependent on 48v phantom power. The Shure SM 57 is a dynamic mic that dose not need phantom power. All of the Mics do connect using XLR cables. The DPA has it’s own mount and dose not need a mic stand all of the others do. To me when I travel the DPA is just easy, I think it sounds great as well. The Shure KSM 141 captures more of the guitar tone but can be hard to tame feedback where as the DPA has greater gain before feedback. For traveling to the local coffee house the AKG is very dependable and it is easy to use with house PA systems that don’t have phantom power. The DPA 4099G mic does have an accessory that gives phantom power, a 300.00 accessory. Mic prices, DPA 599.00, Shure KSM 359.00, Shure SM 58 90.00, and AKG 279.00

. My two fav mics are the DPA 4099g and Shure KSM 141.

Air Display for iPad and iPhone our main use Pro Tools 9

I just picked up the Avatron app for the iPad and iPhone called Air Display, it acts like a second monitor on you computer system with out cables, it’s connected via wifi. It works very well if a touch screen would be good to run your software application. I wanted to see how this would work with Pro Tools as a Controler so I set up the iPad to be the section that would have the facets and monitoring section, as well as a transport bar displayed on the iPad. It seems a little glitchy but is working. There may be a few bugs but I think the app is very promising and for my use very well worth the 9.99 price for the app.

D’Addario EJ45C Strings

I have played most of the strings out there and I keep coming back to the D’Addario EJ45C strings. I have been experimenting for awhile with the EJ45C’s on bass and Titanium T2 on treble side. However this winter when I was playing at a coffee shop the heater vent was above me and my trebles would not stay in tune. I heard that Ottmar Liebert had some similar issues and he mentioned that he was going to try switching back to the regular EJ45C set, I have a few of them lying around so I thought I would try that as well. I really like the way they sound on the DeVoe Negra. I also am using the G Brown composite string that they supply rather than the Clear G string.

New Small/Light Live Setup

I wanted to have a small system to take to small performances 20-50 folks like a cocktail lounge, cafe, winery, and coffee shop. The complete package can be carried by one person. It’s the DeVoe, AKG C1000S, and Fishman LoudBox Mini. That’s it

Apple’s new iOS 4.2.1 for iPad & iPhone

It took about 3 hours to update the iPad and iPhone and while updating the iPad after the download it jammed up and needed a restart and reconnection to iTunes. Bellow is a screen shot of the new folders. Was not able to get Air Print to work as well.