Posted August 23, 2009
The Rumrunners play vintage & retro country music, some blues, bluegrass, 60’s rock tunes & surf instrumentals, an occasional polka or waltz or maybe a jazz tune. The Rumrunner sound is continuing to evolve, mixing twang with smooth, saxaphone with steel guitar, hot with cool. If you haven’t heard the Rumrunners lately….well, you haven’t heard the Rumrunners!
The Rumrunners are long-time musicians from the Columbia area…
Joe Aguirre – percussion
Denise Bowmaker - saxaphone
Kathy Schubert – bass fiddle
Dennis Schubert – steel guitar, slide guitar, b-bender, mandolin, etc.
Lots of our old friends will sit in from time to time. Not too long ago, we had a visit from Amy Toomsen and her sweet, bluesy fiddle.
Bookings? Contact dennis@dennisschubert.com
Posted July 25, 2009
The B-bender is a built-in guitar accessory that allows you to raise the 2nd string (B string, next to the G string) a whole step with no hands. That leaves all 10 fingers to do other stuff at the same time.
It’s all done with body english, by performing a special secret “bender dance” that some of us know. The mechanical mechanism is hidden inside the guitar body. I was told it uses parts from a pedal steel, a screen door spring, and a couple of bolts from a garden tractor motor. This mimics the sound of a pedal steel guitar, but it has a sound all it’s own.
Catch up with me between sets and I’ll show you how it really works. Hint: The front strap button on the guitar is not just a strap button any more.
Posted July 18, 2009
One of my favorite guitars is a Telecaster with a Lapdancer neck. This particular neck is large and square, and specially designed for lap-style playing by Loni Specter. He calls this particular model a Redneck. The guitar itself is sunburst with a small Lollar pickup in the bridge position, that’s wound like an old Gibson P-90. The neck pickup is an overwound humbucker. I use very heavy strings and Spanish (lo-bass G) tuning that is very common in Delta Blues, Hawaiian, and other musical styles. These photos were taken by Lesia Tatarskty at one of the recurring Sunday Blues Jams on the Missouri River at Huntsdale, MO.
Posted May 17, 2009
There are many possible tunings for an 8-string guitar. My favorite is G-6th with a low E. I feel at home with this one because it includes the basic strings I already know from playing a Dobro. Starting with the lowest string, the tuning is…..
E G B D E G B D
For my double-necked guitar, I have been tuning the second neck to a Texas/Oklahoma style of E-13th, like this……sometimes I will retune the D or F# in the middle to plain ol’ E.
E G# D F# G# B C# E
I have also been fooling around with a variant of C6 but it’s not ready for primetime.
F A C E G A C E
