This is 
my Tacoma DR8C Roadking (2000) - a discontinued model made before the company was sold to Fender. Another Elderly purc
hase, it's a rosewood dreadnaught with a some unusual features: a bolt-on heel-less neck with 15 frets clear, a pinless bridge, and a paisley shaped soundhole located in the upper bout bass side. It has a unusually deep and full bass response, due to Tacoma's proprietary bracing design, the slightly forward bridge placement and the unusually large soundboard area, along with very strong presence and volume. It has a L.R. Baggs piezo bridge pickup and preamp with an endpin jack. Currently it's my "special effects" guitar, strung with GHS BB50H heavy gauge (!) Bright Bronze strings (.014, .018, .028, .038, .048, .060) I keep it tuned down a whole step to D. It's a tribute to the bracing design that even with the low tuning the heavy strings have never bowed the top up, nor has the bridge lifted or twisted. I use Kaiser partial capos with it to simulate drop D, open G and DADGAD tunings. My only problem with the guitar is that the preamp has a push button phase switch that sometimes interrupts the pickup output. Sometime I should try to open the preamp and remedy the problem; even a relatively large hand like mine can fit into that big soundhole... (11-29-09 update - just happened to look at the Tacoma web page and there is a Roadking model available, the RM6C - a mahogany dreadnaught with a Fishman pickup and preamp)
S
o - as of today on Elderly's Vintage & Used page, my (or it used to be my) Ovation 1713 classical is listed as being "on hold" - meaning someone's interested in it + may have purchased it! Even tho it's not really mine anymore, I'm still excited that it might find a new home. Also, my (and it's on consignment, so it's really still mine) Eastman MD 504 is no longer listed on the Vintage & Used page; I checked the link I posted previously, it now reads "No longer available". Perhaps it's off to a new home as well? And perhaps another check in the mail for me? Stay tuned for further updates...
So now my white Ovation 1763 is now up for sale at Elderly's website: http://elderly.com/vintage/items/28U-2270.htm
It still has the strings I put on it before shipping it, and apparently they're selling in "as-is" condition. Usually used this for rehearsals - it wasn't very suitable for gigs due to it's unusual black/white color scheme. There's one more Ovation classical I sent that hasn't been listed yet...
Changed strings on my 2 Wechter 3135 Pathmakers before playing for the DelVal RSCDS Lansdowne social Saturday night. Would have done it Friday before playing for the LCD contra with Mr Darcy, but was too tired when I got home from work and decided to have some rest instead. Too bad, because when we were playing that night I wished I had put fresh strings on at least one of the guitars - but sometimes that's how things work out. So now both Pathmakers have fresh strings (Martin M240 Bluegrass gauge: .012, .016, .025w, .035w, .045w, .056w), waiting for the next time they're needed.Sometimes people who've seen me play a variety of different instruments ask, "How many guitars do you have?" Usually I'll just shrug and say something like, "Oh, too many" or something equally evasive. I don't think of myself as collector, and I certainly don't buy rare or vintage museum pieces; it's more like if I happen to find an instrument that I know is useful for a particular type of music, I'll buy it + then see what other kinds of music it might work for. I almost always buy used rather than new and if I find something that's well made and priced substantially below the price of the same or similar new model, I figure I've found a good deal. I'm going to try and list all my various instruments in future posts, first to see exactly how many I actually have, and second to list why I bought a given instrument in the first place and see if I'm actually using it for the reason I bought it.
So here's one of the Ovations mentioned in my previous post, now for sale at Elderly. You can see it here: http://elderly.com/vintage/items/28U-2271.htm I used this one mostly for performances with GCD Demo Teams since of the 3 I owned (hey, I used to have 4!) it was the more traditional looking non-cutaway model. Also for sale at Elderly is the Eastman mandolin I used to own but never played: http://elderly.com/vintage/items/90U-5403.htm It's on consignment, so it's still technically mine, Elderly is selling it for me.
nsenada ESV-10E. Now since this guitar was advertised as needing some work and being sold on an "as-is" basis, I had an idea of setting it up as a lap-style acoustic slide guitar (what with it's 12-fret neck, wide string spacing at the bridge, slotted peghead and built in pickup) by using a nut-extender and perhaps installing a flat bridge saddle. But when I actually received the guitar and got to play it I found it's actually in fairly decent playable shape (for me, anyway - I'm not that demanding apparently), so now I'm considering using it as a performance guitar for Demo Team - so what about that acoustic lap slide idea? Guess I'll have to keep looking...
Changed strings on 2 instruments on Friday 9-4: the Trinity College mandolin (Darco D 500: .010p, .014p, .024w, .034w) and mandola (John Pearce 2250: .012p, .021w, .032w, .049w) in anticipation of playing for the LCD ECD that evening. Also, have recently said goodbye to 4 instruments: an Eastman mandolin I hardly ever played, and 3 Ovation classicals I played frequently when I was first learning to play for English Country dance. I used the Ovations for many GCD Demo team gigs + dances over the years. I'm now much more comfortable playing on steel-string guitars, also I most recently had the Ovations strung with John Pearce Thomastik Fingerstyle strings, which made them sound more like steel strings anyway. So, off they go to hopefully a new life with new owners...
This is 
my Tacoma DR8C Roadking (2000) - a discontinued model made before the company was sold to Fender. Another Elderly purc
hase, it's a rosewood dreadnaught with a some unusual features: a bolt-on heel-less neck with 15 frets clear, a pinless bridge, and a paisley shaped soundhole located in the upper bout bass side. It has a unusually deep and full bass response, due to Tacoma's proprietary bracing design, the slightly forward bridge placement and the unusually large soundboard area, along with very strong presence and volume. It has a L.R. Baggs piezo bridge pickup and preamp with an endpin jack. Currently it's my "special effects" guitar, strung with GHS BB50H heavy gauge (!) Bright Bronze strings (.014, .018, .028, .038, .048, .060) I keep it tuned down a whole step to D. It's a tribute to the bracing design that even with the low tuning the heavy strings have never bowed the top up, nor has the bridge lifted or twisted. I use Kaiser partial capos with it to simulate drop D, open G and DADGAD tunings. My only problem with the guitar is that the preamp has a push button phase switch that sometimes interrupts the pickup output. Sometime I should try to open the preamp and remedy the problem; even a relatively large hand like mine can fit into that big soundhole... (11-29-09 update - just happened to look at the Tacoma web page and there is a Roadking model available, the RM6C - a mahogany dreadnaught with a Fishman pickup and preamp)
