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I Know What Love Isn't Review

It has been a long five years since Jens Lekman’s last full length album, “Night Falls Over Kortedala” and it has felt even longer. Thinking back, I don’t recall exactly how I got into Lekman but I believe that it was around 2009.  I was looking for something fun and I found it in Jens Lekman. In one of the first songs of his that I heard, he took the traditional advice of walking a thousand steps in someone else’s shoes before judging them and made a joke about how he was now one thousand steps away and judging the person anyhow.

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The Right-Angle Monster Cable Studio Pro 1000 Review

I have written a lot of instrument cable reviews.  I love Evidence Audio.  Mogami make high-quality cables.  Many guitars you buy include free cables.  Some people don’t think you can hear a difference between brands of cable, but I can.  An Evidence Audio cable always sounds better and deeper and brighter than a Fender cable.  I can also hear how a cable changes my guitar tone from amp to amp — so I’m a big believer in your gear making a difference in your sound.  As well, guitar picks also influence your overall vibe.

When I received my fantabulous Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno guitar, I was frustrated that, for the first time in my guitar acquisition syndrome career, I did not have the right cable in hand to effectively and comfortably play that guitar.

I was delighted when expert luthier Roger Sadowsky commented on my Boles Blues review of his guitar to suggest the following:

Thanks for the nice review, David. Glad you a happy with your guitar.

Regarding the location of the jack, may I suggest a right angle plug. Structurally, this is the best and safest location for a side jack. I have repaired too many broken ribs in my career from side jacks in their normal locations.

I promise you I will check for strings sticking in the nut slots more closely from now on!

Best,

Roger

I was on a mission to find a right-angle guitar cable and, to my grateful surprise, Monster Cable read my review and offered to send me the right cable from their Studio Pro line:

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The Swing Lo Magellan Review

A few years ago, at my last job, I asked a coworker if he could recommend any lo-fi bands that I might enjoy. (Lo-fi music is a style of music that takes its name from the instruments used to play it as well as the instruments used to record it — take Sebadoh’s album III as a prime example of good lo-fi music) He immediately suggested that I try out The Dirty Projectors. I did and loved it right away — so much so that I was quite excited earlier this year when I learned that they were putting out a new album called Swing Lo Magellan.

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The Yaakov Hoter Gypsy Jazz School Review

Gypsy Jazz is one of the niches of Jazz I have been exploring with great fascination and delight.  I love the dynamism of the Gypsy Jazz performance and the energetic specificity of the Gypsy Jazz guitars, Gypsy Jazz guitar picks and Gypsy Jazz guitar strings to make the mechanical bits become the encompassing human whole.

Gypsy Jazz is a whole ecosystem unto itself and that’s why I decided to try to find an online teacher to help me quickly navigate the rules and the peculiarities of the Gypsy Jazz performance method.

I was lucky to discover Yaakov Hoter’s outstanding Gypsy Jazz School teaching portal where you can learn with him in universal private lessons you download.  Yaakov is based in Israel, but due to the wonder of the internets, you can study with him right in your living room, in your own time, at your own will.  The beauty of web teaching is in its inherent asynchronous learning systems.

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Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Signature Polished Roundwound Strings Review

Other than the guitar, the most important factor in creating a great Jazz guitar sound are the strings you wind up tuning on your box.  I have reviewed many guitar string sets here on Boles Blues in order to find the best match for the style of music I want to play.

I have been partial to the Thomastik-Infeld strings because they last forever, but with the acquisition of my new Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Jazz guitar, I had another set of strings to try —  The Sadowsky Jimmy Bruno Signature Set 13-52 — and here’s what I initially said about setting up my Gibson L5 with the new Sadowsky Bruno Strings:

When I picked up my Sadowsky Bruno today to play it — the guitar had morphed into a deeper, richer, tone and the playability was just a bit keener. Was the guitar getting acclimated, or was I bending my ability to better match its setup? The guitar is already starting to come into tone and I’ve only had it since Friday.

Now my new 1998 L5 sits there gently weeping at me. I picked it up for the first time today — to install Sadowsky “Jimmy Bruno Set” 13s on it! I will report back in a week or so in a new strings review!

I’ve been playing the new Sadowsky Bruno strings on my Bruno Jazz guitar and on my Gibson L5 archtop for a week and the sound is just grand.  The strings stay in tune and, like the Thomastik-Infeld strings, they grow warmer and richer the longer you play them!

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