Mass Resonator

Mass Street Music News – June 2013

by admin on June 12, 2013 in news

We’re sad to say goodbye to our good friend and amp repair wizard Tom Wagner of Underground Sound who is a great buddy of the store and has been servicing customers’ amps forever. We like to call him the Sherlock Holmes of amps. He’s moving to upstate New York, and we’ll sure miss him. We are happy to announce a new partnership with Cliff Smith Audio from Overland Park. Tube and solid state amps, stompboxes, keyboards, audio gear and more are all Cliff’s specialties, plus he’s certified for Fender repair. We’ve witnessed his work and it is impeccable. Cliff will pick up your repairs from Mass Street Music once a week (likely Mondays). There is a $45 bench fee which is applicable to your repair. Those in a time crunch will be able to call Cliff directly.

Our friends down the street at Americana Music Academy are hosting their Benefest Music Festival and fundraiser this Saturday and Sunday, June 15 & 16 at Americana (1419 Mass. St. in Lawrence). There will be great bands, jamming, and raffle prizes (including this great uke!) – all in an effort to raise funds for this great organization that makes learning music accessible to all. If you have kids between ages 7 and 12, we also encourage you to check out their great Kids Summer Music Camp, a unique opportunity for kids and it’s coming right up on June 17. It will be very hands-on, for all levels, and a short tour of Mass Street Music and its Repair Shop will be a small part of this great summer experience. Larry Carter’s great Tuesday Night Concert Series, which we help sponsor, is on hiatus until the fall. Stay tuned to his site for announcements about the next series. Mark your calendars for the weekend of August 23-25. The fun in Lawrence begins on Friday, Aug. 23 with the annual 3-day Buskerfest and winds up on Sunday, August 25 with the 33rd Kansas State Fiddling & Picking Championships, held just down the street from us at South Park. The Championships begin at noon and Mass St. is proud to sponsor the Fingerstyle contest again this year. There will be also be a concert and jam session the day before, Saturday, August 24, at 6pm at Americana.

The Renovation continues! The new electric ‘loud’ room will soon be outfitted with carpeting. In fact, we’ll soon be recarpeting the whole store and we don’t mind saying we’re excited to see the old beige carpeting go away. Beige? Well, once upon a time it was beige. New paint, fresh displays and more comfortable seating are also on the way. While we don’t have a definitive date for a grand reopening, we can guarantee you’ll be the first to know!

Last but not least, we are pleased to welcome back Casey Green to Mass St.! Casey is an inveterate gearhead, a great musician, and has a degree in Journalism. He returns to us with 7 years of writing and digital marketing expertise! Welcome back Casey!

Keep up with our latest news on Facebook & Twitter, where you’ll also find special string deals, ticket giveaways, music trivia on Fridays, behind the scenes photos and much more.

The new guy! It’s great to have Casey Green back at Mass Street Music!

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Used Gear – June Sneak Peek!

by admin on June 12, 2013 in news

Clockwise from top left, Rickenbacker 620, Epi SG Fool copy, faux Vox Teardrop 12 String & Taylor 312 CE wide nut…

We often have great used gear in the store, but sometimes we have A LOT come in at one time, such as this month. We’re working hard to get the latest gear on the site, but we thought we’d give you loyal newsletter folks a sneak peek at the booty we’ve most recently acquired. If you’re interested in anything, just shoot us an email at info@massstreetmusic.com or give us a call at 800-747-9980 for pricing and more info.

Gold Tone Manjola (banjo tuning)

Saint Blues Tele Style w/P90

Rickenbacker 620/6

Super sweet used Rickenbacker 620

Squier Esprit

Taylor 414CE

Epiphone SG Fool Copy

Faux Vox Teardrop 12 String

Epiphone Casino

Godin acoustic/electric with synth pickup

Anderson Cobra S

Larrivee OM3

Gibson ES335 Dot Reissue (1990, Cherry, Super clean)

Fender MusicMaster Bass

LTD Viper

Fender B Dec Bass Amp 30

Fender G-Dec

1932 Gibson H2 Mandola

a multitude of used pedals!

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Pickup Test Drive: What is the best acoustic guitar pickup for you? Part II!

by admin on June 11, 2013 in news, Pick Up Test Drive

We’ve got a new video featuring three of our favorite acoustic guitar pickups, loaded in this Eastman E6 OM.

While the Repair Shop mad scientists are busy constructing our next electric Pickup Test Drive, we’re revisiting our acoustic Pickup Test Drive guitar and bringing you a brand new video. If you remember our first acoustic pickup video, repair shop manager, Mike H., gave us an in-depth look into the tonal differences among the K&K Pure Mini, Fishman Infinity, and the LR Baggs M-80. Based on some great feedback from you folks, and comments on our YouTube page, our new video features the same three killer pickups with Mike playing the same tune for each demo. This makes it a little easier to discern the tonal nuances offered by each of these great pickups. We’re still using the beautiful Eastman E6 OM with all three pickups installed by luthier Matt Harmon. Stop by the shop and try it out for yourself, or check out the video and let us know what you think. Below you’ll find our take on each pickup, but we think the video says it best. So have a listen and see which pickup scratches your (acoustic-electric) itch.

Three different jacks, three different pickups

The Test Drive guitar is available anytime at the store to demo these great pickups.

K&K Pure Mini: Warm sound, minimal modification

This passive pickup will deliver a strikingly true representation of your particular guitar. Plus, if offers plenty of add-ons, so you can tailor it to your needs.

Three transducer passive pickup
Great for lower stage volumes, small duos, string bands, etc.
Optional Vintage Jack for a no-drill install
Optional Volume Kit for thumb wheel volume control in the soundhole

Fishman Infinity: Be heard on stage and in large band settings

If you’re looking for a pickup to help you cut through the mix in your multi-instrument band setting, this could be the one.

Under-the-saddle transducer piezo pickup
Active built-in preamp (requires 9V battery), volume, and tone controls
Voicing switch to accommodate different body sizes & performance situations

LR Baggs M-80: Natural and broad tonal spectrum

Like the Fishman Infinity, the LR Baggs M80 is great for higher-volume stage applications, but offers a little darker tone.

Switchable between active and passive mode
Built-in preamp
Secondary coil picks up top vibrations and mixes the signal for full tonal spectrum
Great “woody” tone and plenty of headroom

See all three acoustic pickups in action:

Questions or comments, just let us know at info@massstreetmusic.com or 800-747-9980. Next month: We mod a Squier Mustang with Grosh & Fralin pickups! Can’t wait.

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Repair Shop Spot: Easy Drop Tuning Mod for Electric Guitar

by admin on June 5, 2013 in news, Repair Shop Spot

Mass Street Music luthier (and mad modder) Matt Harmon goes over his latest mod, which allows him to switch pretty easily between regular and drop tunings with his Les Paul:

I’ve recently wanted to learn a few songs in a lower tuning, specifically a few Queens of the Stone Age tunes, but I didn’t want to buy a new guitar and leave it tuned down all the time. I bought a new bridge and made a new nut for my guitar so I could swap out the parts – and with a quick truss rod adjustment have a guitar that could go back and forth between tunings.

Matt swapped the original bridge and nut on his LP (pictured above), with a new nut and bridge cut to accommodate wider strings for drop tunings. He can switch back easily any time.

My LP is usually strung with Hybrid Slinky .009 – .046 and tuned to standard. I’m currently running Not Even Slinky .012 – .056 with the guitar tuned to C standard. This required the nut slots and the bridge saddles to be widened and to re-intonate the saddles for the different tuning.

The newer bridge with wider slots. Matt also relic’ed the bridge to match the guitar better!

Just for fun, I aged the new bridge to match the aged guitar (Seuf relic’d this Les Paul!). – Matt H.

The newer nut, now in place, has wider slots to accommodate the .012-.056 strings Matt’s been using for the drop tunings.

Mass St Music repair Matt Harmon with modded Les Paul

Matt with his Les Paul, made even more versatile with a swappable bridge and nut for lower tunings.

Interested in a mod like this, or getting relic’d parts for your guitar? Just give us a call at 800-747-9980 and ask for Matt ‘the Mad Modder‘ Harmon.

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Mass Street Music Staff Gear Picks – June 2013!

by admin on June 3, 2013 in STAFF PICKS!

We’ve got a great mix of new and used gear in the store right now (including a ton of used pedals), but there are several things that really stand out. Here’s the very best of the best for June, in our humble staff’s estimation:

Jim Baggett – Taylor Custom Koa GS
Our luthier Josh did a great job picking out the beautiful Koa (matching a Master Grade top with Grade A back and sides) for this incredible guitar. It looks wonderful, and sounds great – balanced with a surprising openness to it.

Boss Jim gives the Taylor Build To Order Koa GS two thumbs up!

John Flynn – Germino Lead 55LV 2×12 Combo Amp
The Lead 55 has a stellar reputation that is so well deserved. A powerful and articulate driving vintage “Marshall” tone that can clean up nicely when you back off the volume on your guitar – or by pulling back on your pick attack…and this one has a great unique look as well … It does not get any better when it comes to this type of amp. BTW: This new smaller 2×12 sounds fantastic and is a bit more manageable as well.

Boss Flynn says “it does not get any better” than this Germino Lead 55LV Head and Cab. Looks sharp too!

Eric Mardis – Collings OM2H
This guitar is magic. I’ve always been a dreadnought guy, but I have been enjoying smaller bodies lately. The lack of a tongue brace really opens this top up to easy activation. This thing runs the gamut from sweet finger picking to powerful strumming and flatpicking… it does so much, so well, that it is truly astounding. How can this be? Collings’ skill and perfectionism… or MAGIC!

Eric’s pick is this Collings OM2H acoustic guitar – one of those guitars with the magic ‘it’ factor.

Eric Putnam – Caroline Guitar Company Wave Cannon Pedal
This is a versatile, usable overdrive that can also make very cool, crazy noises. Once you flip the havoc switch you start to get crazy feedback and oscillation that you can control with your volume and tone knobs and the knobs on the pedal. I really like that fact that this pedal can do both classic drive tones as well as new experimental sounds.

Eric P – currently obsessed with the insane ‘Havoc’ mode on the very cool Caroline Wave Cannon pedal!

Ted Kritikos – Helweg Custom Pedalboard
I greatly admire how much attention to detail this pedalboard embodies. You could stare at it for hours and not find a tiny quibble with the construction. Plus, I love anything two-tone, so this is perfect for me.

The perfect construction detail on this Helweg Custom Pedalboard is just one reason it’s Ted’s favorite this month

Josh Baldridge – Repair Shop – Taylor Custom Koa GS
It has been a couple months since my visit to the Taylor Factory where I picked out this set of Koa and it’s pretty satisfying to see the finished product. The full instrument sunburst turned out beautiful and really dresses up this Custom GS. We went with Adirondack bracing to allow for a more responsively structured top, and it does add more openness to the master grade Koa. My Taylor trip was a fortunate opportunity to select an impressive body wood combination that also lowered the end cost of the guitar. The Master Grade top is stunning and the hand picked single A back/sides have a striking grain pattern accentuated really well by the burst finish.

Luthier Josh hit a home run in hand selecting the Koa for this Taylor Custom Koa GS! He chose the beautiful finish too, to highlight the wood’s unique grain.

Matt Harmon – Repair Shop - Grosh Sunset 79
This guitar has two things I love – first, the body of a Electrajet and second, the Blown 59 pickup. This guitar just screams. It has everything you need and nothing extra.

Luthier Matt’s pick is the Grosh Sunset 79, which has “everything you need and nothing extra.”

Alek Nelson – Xotic EP Booster Pedal
With everyone showing off their cool pedalboards in our May newsletter, it has made me want to expand my own board! The Xotic EP Booster is next to join my arsenal – there is a reason why it is on so many boards here at Mass St. Music! It really fattens up your tone without altering it, and it’s so small, it fits easily in that last sliver of space on your board.

Alek is getting the tiny-yet-mighty Xotic EP Booster for his own board.

Casey Green – Gretsch G5422 Electromatic Hollowbody
I’ve always had a soft spot for white guitars, and this Gretsch Electromatic is no exception. The gold hardware (particularly the licensed Bigsby trem) just puts it over the top. Beautifully resonate and articulate, this one is as fun to play unplugged as it is amplified. Well, almost. The Black Top Filtertron pickups really give it a voice all its own. Rockin’. Twangin’. Blingin’. What else could you ask for?

It’s white. It’s gold. It’s awesome. A little bling with a whole lotta’ tone and playability to back it up.

Anne Tangeman – Gretsch Custom Junior Jet I w/Grosh G90
The Gretsch Junior Jet is a cool guitar, but the fact that our own repair shop modded it with a Grosh G90 vintage P90-style pickup is even cooler. The Jr normally comes stock with Gretsch mini hums, which are cool in their own right, but put a Grosh G90 in and this thing instantly becomes your favorite guitar. It’s way more versatile than you’d think and a LOT of fun to play. The Mahogany JJ body and classic burst finish so classic, but wait til you hear this one. I already have a Junior Jet II with two dogear P90s that our shop did for me, so I know it’s a great mod, or I’d have bought this one already! $315? Seriously? Someone take this guitar home – you will love it.