I had a dance gig today so I restrung the 2 guitars I decided to use: first is my Larrivee L-03, a mahogany (I think) guitar with an ebony fingerboard and satin finish. It's a terrific guitar; even though it's the bottom of the Larrivee line it's beautifully built with great attention to detail, and their L model body (an exclusive Larrivee design) with symmetrical bracing works equally well for both fingerstyle and flatpicking. It has a fine, strong, well-balanced acoustic sound that also mics well. I usually use this guitar for GCD Demo team performances and some ECD dances, like today (we played acoustically in a relatively small room - no PA). Currently strung with a Martin M140 set (.012 .016 .025w .032w .042w .054w)
I also used my Epiphone EF-500R VS, mentioned in a previous post. It's acoustic volume + strong bass came in handy for many of the tunes on the program. I replaced the custom-light set with what's becoming my go-to set, the Martin M240 Bluegrass set (.012 .016 .025w .035w .045w .056w), because I needed more string tension (especially on the bass side) for the all-acoustic gig. It did OK on the day, but I'll have to check it in a day or two to see what the added string tension might have done to the setup.The dance today was a special Princeton Country Dancers Valentine's Day dance; with Adam Oleksa, violin; Jane Roberts, cello; and John Burkhalter, recorder. Our caller was Judi Rivkin, who organizes this special dance every February; all the dances were in triple time, either 3/4 or 3/2. I understand that she was particularly interested in having us (a band with guitar for rhythm) because it would save her the trouble of having to bring the PCD digital piano + some associated amplification equipment to the venue. Chalk up one for the guitar player! It was actually quite well attended, considering that many of our local dancers were away at one of the more popular dance festivals held over President's Day weekend in upstate New York.
