Mae oui
My new guitar, Mae (short for Maple Lake), arrived yesterday. First day, I broke her in in the studio and drilled a hole in her for a strap button. Trial by fire.She told me her name, but so far she's given me 2 full names: Mae Wecht and Mae East (she was made in China). Let's see which name she ends up using most consistently. Mae Wecht definitely seems to resonate more at the moment. (UPDATE: I had a good long talk with Mae today. It's definitely Mae Wecht).
Anyway, this guitar is impeccably built. The lacewood on the back and sides of the guitar is stunning. This guitar is larger than Annabelle, but its tone is somewhat similar. It's just louder, fuller, and bassier because it's a full acoustic design, not a hybrid like the Pathmaker, as well as having a larger, more resonant body. It's a bit thinner than I thought it would be, but that's fine. It took some getting used to; the lower bout sticks up under my right armpit more, because it's a much larger guitar. But now I have a strap that hangs perfectly; I like it sitting up high. Playing this guitar is fun.
The guitar came with a near-perfect setup; I installed a set of Elixir Custom Lights on it and it was good to go as is. I won't need to make a new saddle for Mae as I did with Annabelle, though I may try anyway just as a lark. I definitely won't modify this one though; it works just about perfectly. The action on the guitar is very nice.
I recorded some guitar tracks for Too Bad For You last night, doubling along to another track I'd made with Annabelle a few days ago. Together, these two guitars sound wonderful. I'm very happy, the Freakwitch album will sound much better with these 2 guitars on it.
Though Mae is louder than Annabelle, Matt actually noticed more when I played more quietly; bottom line, this guitar has a much larger dynamic range, which will bode well for recording.
I sold my old Alvarez Yairi to get this guitar. The Alvarez served me well in its day, but the combination of Annabelle and Mae suits my needs perfectly these days. I'll probably end up favoring Mae for studio use and Annabelle for live performance, but who knows. Both are great guitars, and I'm lucky to have them.
Funny how things just keep appearing in my reality that make recording this album easier and better... I'm very grateful. :-)
posted by JWL at
5:32 PM |
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