MARTIN'S FIRST TRAVEL GUITAR
SELLING YOUR SONGS
SUPERTONE BANJOS
MADE IN GERMANY
Dale Miller's recent review of travel guitars ["Road Warriors," April] was both timely and enlightening. How does the granddaddy of all travel guitars, the Martin 5-18, stack up against the current crop?
Jerry Dallal
Andover, Massachusetts
The Martin 5-18 was introduced in 1898 and was offered as a regular production model almost continuously from 1912 to 1989. Today it is available as a custom-order instrument. With its 21 3/8-inch scale length, the 5-18 falls into the category with the Baby Taylor, Applause, and other travel guitars "shrunk down" more or less equally in all dimensions. It has mahogany back and sides, a spruce top, a rosewood fingerboard and bridge, and a glossy finish (as do all Martin's 18-series instruments). I recently played a 1950s 5-18 and liked it quite a bit, but they can be expensive; the list price of a new 5-18 is $3,310.
--Dale Miller
My husband, Jim, has played guitar in his church's folk choir for about 20 years. He also writes music for the choir to perform at their services. He has written some really good music and songs. People continually tell Jim to get his songs onto a demo tape and into the hands of recording artists. How does one go about doing this?
Laura Matejcek
Pittsburg, California
Unfortunately, it's not as easy as Jim's admirers think to get a song into the hands of a recording artist. The first step is making a good, professional-sounding demo. Even if you have an in with the artist to whom you want to pitch your song, sending a cassette of yourself singing and strumming is not likely to sell the song. Most of us are far too accustomed to hearing layered, well-engineered recordings to overlook (or overlisten) low-quality tapes.
If you've got some home recording equipment, you might be able to make a sufficiently high quality demo yourself, but don't try to be too bare-bones about it. The artist who listens to your demo is more likely to imagine it as a commercial recording if you include percussion, bass, and a few other instruments (or a synthesizer) and use some reverb or digital delay.
If you're not ready to invest money in recording equipment and time in learning to use it, you can make your recording in a commercial eight-track studio. You should look for a studio that records the kind of music you play, and one with an engineer with whom you feel comfortable. Ask to listen to demos the studio has made for other clients and be sure to get the bottom-line cost of the session before making a commitment.
Once you've got a demo you're satisfied with, the real trick is getting it heard by artists who might want to record it. The usual route is to send it to a music publisher, who will try to place the song with a recording artist. There are advantages and disadvantages to acting as your own publisher. You'll almost definitely put more effort into placing your own songs, but you won't have the same contacts an established music publisher does. You can't just pop your tape in the mail and expect a recording artist listen to it. In order to avoid the possibility of plagiarism lawsuits, most artists won't even open unsolicited packages. It's better to approach the artist through his or her manager or assistant, and if you've got any personal connections at all, now is the time to use them!
The answers to your questions and many others about the ins and outs of songwriting and publishing (working with collaborators, signing with music publishers, protecting your copyrights, etc.) have been covered in two very enlightening books on the subject: Randy Poe's A Songwriter's Guide to Music Publishing and Paul Zollo's Beginning Songwriter's Answer Book (both published by Writer's Digest Books of Cincinnati, Ohio). Zollo is the editor of SongTalk, the publication of the National Academy of Songwriters, which can be reached at (213) 463-7178.
--Simone Solondz
About 20 years ago, I bought a slightly used, slightly unusual 12-string guitar made by Hans Hauser of Lindau, Germany, who is reputed to be a descendant of Hermann Hauser, the great classical guitar maker. It is a 000 size, featuring Brazilian rosewood sides and back and a spruce top. The body has a very shiny clear finish that has cracked extensively on the soundboard, and sections of the back finish have cracked and separated from the wood, peeling off in large pieces. How should I go about repairing or replacing the finish?
Phil K-C
Long Beach, New York
The oddest guitars I've ever seen all happen to be German acoustic guitars inspired by American steel-string flattops. The Germans are responsible for some of the most exquisite classic guitars ever made, but they never quite got the concept when it came to steel-string flattop folk guitars. The oddest of the odd are German 12-string flattops. Quarter-inch&endash;thick Batman pickguards, bridges the size of Pensacola, bracings that would hold up a battleship, necks bolted onto the body in the most outrageous ways. . . .
I don't know the work of Hans Hauser, but all the notable luthiers who derived and descended from the godhead of European lutherie Hermann Hauser carried his first name: Hermann Hauser II, III, IV, and so on. I have seen a modest German mass-production steel-string carrying the label of Karl Hauser, who I am told was a cousin of one of Hauser's descendants. Hans might be yet another little-known cousin. Perhaps one of our German readers might help us with this one!
I can, however, offer you some advice on your finish problem. Although standard nitrocellulose lacquer can crack pretty badly if it is laid on too thickly, it rarely peels off in large pieces. Poorly mixed or poorly applied catalyzed epoxy finishes are notorious for shrinking and peeling in the manner that you describe. They are hard as the dickens and won't dissolve in any solvent usually found in a luthier's cabinet. They can be removed, however, with the judicious application of heat from a hair dryer as you work a warmed spatula under the film. With a little patience, the entire finish can be "molted" off (that is, peeled off like saran wrap), leaving the bare wood underneath ready for a light sanding and refinishing.
--William Cumpiano
I am currently restoring a banjo for someone. It must be at least 100 years old. The label inside says "Supertone." What can you tell me about this company?
Jimmy Hart
Gastonia, North Carolina
Supertone brand instruments were distributed by Sears and Roebuck of Chicago. They were relatively inexpensive student models. Most Supertone banjos had open-back construction (with no resonator), and some of them featured attractive inlay. (For details on Sears and other mail-order instruments, see "Born in the USA," June 1996.)
--George Gruhn