My 70 D 35 is crispy critters now

[Dr Jazz]

Hello Chazmo.

Thanks for your comments. I have played Bösendorfers, both on stage and in recordings. For one recording session I deliberately transposed the piece so that I could end it on the lowest C on the piano. That one really shakes the gut!

Re the Steinways and their piano designs, see "The Steinway Saga" by D.W. Fostle. On pages 108-114 the author address the role of hearing loss by the 19th Century Steinway men and how it may have influenced their quest for a more powerful singing tone from the instrument.

Fostle also addresses the Steinway v Bösendorfer question, one that has been going on since the 19th Century.

 

[Br1ck]

WHAT? I wish that I needed hearing aids so I could remove them a night ......maybe I'd sleep better. My wife removes hers and then she can't hear herself snore. My hearing is too sensitive I can hear a mouse fart in the next room. I do have hearing issues but it's when I'm in a crowded noisy environment all I hear is the ambient noise not voices of people talking to me.
I'm actually considering noise canceling ear buds to see if they help me sleep. Earplugs donot block enough sound. Whaaaa Whaaa whaaa!

I have just the ticket, less than good hearing coupled with sleep apnea. My C PAP machine sends a constant stream of air into my head causing a white noise that masks anything. I am blessed with being able to sleep through just about anything now. Actually, a good night sleep is a revelation. A C PAP is really something you have to get used to.

As far as the hearing aids go, It's a cakewalk getting used to them. Once I rolled most of the high end off my playing music program, my D 35 sounds pretty good. I'm going to have them make the default for my Santa Cruz and cut more trebles when I play the Guild. That should leave even more rolloff for my mandolin. But nothing will be done until my brain adjusts to the hearing aids. My guess is many folks are losing hearing in their old age. To be clear, I never had a problem with my instruments, it was more like I don't want the aids to screw it up. There is a lot that helps speech and noisy environments that messes with your guitar sound, but you can easily combat that with a specialized channel.

 

[Boomstick]

Try some DR Rare strings. They do well with mahogany guitars that are on the brighter side.

 

[Br1ck]

Even more than ever, my hearing is just my hearing. I don't think my D 35 is overly bright, just the high end boost on the music channel of my hearing aids.

 

[davismanLV]

Even more than ever, my hearing is just my hearing. I don't think my D 35 is overly bright, just the high end boost on the music channel of my hearing aids.

I'm sure you've tried a different setting, right? Try "noisy environment". I think that filters out some of the high end......

 

[Boomstick]

Even more than ever, my hearing is just my hearing. I don't think my D 35 is overly bright, just the high end boost on the music channel of my hearing aids.

Got it. My dad has a '68 that's been played a lot over the years and the top moves if you breathe on it, so it's actually gotten pretty bright over the years, brighter than most old ones in fact so I was wondering if you had something similar. The solution in that case is to not use brighter strings, although it does have a great sound fingerpicked with brighter strings.

 

[chazmo]

It's funny... I've never thought of hearing aids as electronics for your acoustic, but clearly they really are.

I have no advice here, but I'm just glad that my hearing has withstood years of low brass instruments and percussion behind me as well as shotgun fire (with foam earplugs). I'm sure it's attenuated in some areas over the years. And then there is the business of the ex-wife....

But seriously, I hope you folks can find good EQ settings for your pieces so you can get a fairly natural sound. I suppose adjusting strings to make you hear what you want to hear is no different than for folks with good hearing, although my initial reaction was a bit surprised at the idea.

 

[Christopher Cozad]

Imagine if Fishman and/or Bose {and/or whomever} were to release their version of hearing aids, where you could select pre-configured sound images (IRs). Set it for “Guild F-50R” and whatever you pickup and play would sound like a rosewood jumbo. Of course, this would include your spouse, the kids, the neighbor’s dog, etc.

 

[Dr Jazz]

Hey D-35 fans. Mine is from 1971 and has significant "bear claw" in the top. Jay Pilzer (The "Guild Guy") informed me that Guild built a run of D-35s in 1968-71 that had exceptionally light braces. Mine could be one of them. The thing is a cannon. People around here call it a banjo killer.

Side note: Many companies thought of "bear claw" spruce as defective. CF Martin was one of them. CFM had a batch of it and gave it away to one of its employees who moonlighted as a freelance guitar repairman. Some years later, bear claw came back in style. Martin returned to that employee and said "Hey (name withheld), do you still have that batch of bear claw spruce we gave you some time ago? If you do, we'd like to buy it back from you".

I got the D-35 in a local music store that was not a Guild dealer, but had some legacy of Guild. One of the customers was Carl Trollinger, pictured on p. 172 of Hans Moust's "The Guild Guitar Book" with his custom George Barnes Archtop. Carl had a guitar store at one time and he may have been a Guild dealer. One of the things I remember him saying to me about guitars: "If you have something nice, don't fool it away".

 

[Br1ck]

To be clear, my aids do have a bevy of different programs. Some are loaded into them based on the info you give the people servicing you. They can then tweak that program. One of my default programs is called playing music. I've found the high end to produce a harsh, tinny tone. But with the app, you can work a slider toward what they call warm. I had to make the slider move to the end of its range to get rid of the harsh tone. I want to make that the new center detent if you will. Like changing a parametric to center on a frequency so to speak. Of course everyone will hear the guitar as it is according to their hearing abilities. Other default settings are outdoor/ traffic, music venue, party/restaurant, etc. There are many to choose from, including directional focus. At 73 it was time. In hindsight, like most I'd suspect, I waited too long, just like getting my cataract dealt with.

As for the D 35, I'm confident it sounds fine to those with perfect hearing. My guitars always sounded very good even with my significant but not severe hearing loss. As to owning a guitar that was very much the affordable Guild, one must realize cutting corners in 1970 was very different than cutting corners today. In the context of 1970, Martin would not have touched the top wood that is on my D 35. This was an era when tight grain and perfectly clear sitka was considered best. I was actually floored that when I learned many pre war guitars had rather wide grain, as it was out of fashion in 1970. My D 35 has a lot of bear claw over the entire top, visible at only a certain angle. Certainly Guild would not have used it on a D 55. But that late 60s early 70s light build is my favorite Westerly era. Probably Hoboken too, but I have never knowingly played a Hoboken Guild.