GUILD BUILDERS
INTONATING YOUR SELMER
RECORDING WITH PICKUPS
IN SEARCH OF FRED NEIL
I have been thinking about buying a Guild 12-string, and I heard that Guild was recently purchased by Fender. Are Guild guitars still manufactured here in the U.S.? Are they still constructed principally of solid woods rather than laminates?
Robb Patryk
New York, New York
We called Bill Acton of Guild Guitars, who said that the only changes that Guild has undergone are in its administration. The same people are making the same instruments in the same building in Westerly, Rhode Island, as before the company was purchased by Fender. As far as solid woods versus laminates, Acton said, Guild has always made some models using laminates, and the company continues to do so.
--Bronwen Morgan
I have always been interested in Selmer Maccaferris. I would expect the 12th fret to be halfway between the nut and the bridge, but this doesn't seem to be true on all Selmers. In the 1949 model pictured in your February 1996 Great Acoustics department, for example, the distance from the nut to the 12th fret is approximately 2 millimeters shorter than from the 12th fret to the bridge. Could somebody please explain?
D.J. Stahley
Ascot, Berkshire, England
First off, I wonder how you can determine precise measurements based on photos. That said, I do relish the perplexities of scale length, string gauge, and intonation and will try to shed some light on the subject.
Selmers are no different than other fretted instruments; they obey the same fundamental laws of physics. Their vibrating string length is defined by the zero fret at one end and the point of contact on the bridge at the other. Underneath, there is a simple, accurate fingerboard with frets set in all the right locations.
Because a guitar's strings have slightly different masses and tensions, and because they need to be changed from their straight, static state by being stretched down to the fingerboard, the 12th fret can't be exactly in the center of the vibrating string's length. The high E needs to be a tad longer than twice the distance from the nut to the 12th fret, while the bass E string--depending on its gauge, tension, and the height of the action--will be even longer still. Saddles or points of contact on the bridge are designed to compensate for these variables, allowing the mathematically determined, fixed frets to yield the (reasonably) exact notes we expect to hear.
Because Selmers are customarily played with very light strings and rather high action (for better vibrato), the tops of their bridges (with some early exceptions) are cut at a fairly serious and effective angle for correct low-to-high intonation. Like mandolin and archtop bridges, they are moveable. Most folks simply slide the bridge to where the 12th-fret harmonic on a string matches the actual fretted note and hope the rest of the notes work. Ideally, they do.
The little "mustaches" at either end of Selmer bridges are probably responsible for some of your confusion. They are decorative and were glued to the top at the factory. Selmer didn't always get their location right, so one often sees bridges on original Selmers that are no longer aligned with the mustaches, but have been eased back toward the tailpiece a bit to correct the intonation. Thus the mustaches are in error, not the bridges.
I confess there's more to the subject than space allows here, but I hope this helps.
--Paul Hostetter
I am setting up to do some recording in my apartment in New York City, where it's generally too noisy to record acoustic guitars with a microphone. I have a Martin J-40 and two Taylors, the 612C and the Leo Kottke 12-string. What amplification devices should I look for to get the best results (i.e., the most natural acoustic sound) if I am limited to recording these guitars direct?
David Sykes
New York, New York
The good news is that you can get decent results recording a pickup-equipped acoustic guitar direct. The most recent generation of under-saddle pickups (Fishman/Martin Gold, EMG, Baggs Ribbon, and Highlander) are noted for having much warmer sound than previous models and can be used for recording either by themselves or in conjunction with microphones. Peter Frampton chose to record direct rather than using a mic during a recent recording session using a Highlander-equipped Taylor 12-string. And that was an artistic choice, rather than one born of necessity. Another choice might be a carefully installed Lens pickup system from Trance Audio. Though the feedback threshold is lower with this type of pickup for live use, when properly installed, the Lens can come close to mimicking the sound of a very good microphone.
--Rick Turner
Back in the early '70s there was a great writer and singer from Florida named Fred Neil. He only performed at places like the Troubadour in West Hollywood and small gatherings like that. What has become of Neil? Has any of his music been reformatted for CDs?
Allen Light
Sacramento, California
Fred Neil's involvement in the music business dates back to 1956, when he cowrote "Modern Don Juan," a song recorded by Buddy Holly. In the early 1960s Neil became one of the most popular folkies in Greenwich Village as half of a duet act with Vince Martin. Later he went solo and gained national recognition with some excellent LPs of great original songs, including "Everybody's Talking," which was chosen as the theme song for Midnight Cowboy (sung by Harry Nilsson). In the early '70s he lived in southern California and was part of the scene centered at the Ash Grove, which is evidently where you knew of him. Neil is currently retired and living in Florida. He never performs now, and none of his LPs have been reissued on CD.
--Dale Miller
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