Where we got our name: "The Six", also written as "The 6" or "The 6ix" are nicknames for Toronto, and the six boroughs that came together to form what we know as Toronto today. These boroughs are Old Toronto, Scarborough, North York, Etobicoke, York, and East York. Thanks Drake!
6ix String is located in Calgary, Alberta because Calgary is the second best city in Canada. After Winnipeg Manitoba. Winnipeg is the best city in Canada, because a very nice guy from Winnipeg, who was passing through Calgary and happened to come across our soft launch sales booth at a guitar show, became our first customer and bought 2 sets of strings from us – on good faith alone that we were telling the truth about our quality. Thanks! People from Winnipeg are awesome!
Vancouver BC has the best music scene in Canada. Unless you’re from the east coast, in which case you can decide for yourself, because it’s a tie between Halifax and St Johns. Many people believe that an east coast kitchen party with a couple guitars beats a west coast beach party with a couple guitars. We believe it’s the guitars that make the party, regardless of which Ocean. With a good bit of singing of course.
Speaking of Montreal… the very nice people at Panier D'Achat who host our eCommerce store are from Longueuil, Quebec which is just across the river from Montreal. They speak French, I hope to visit one day and learn some new slang. I think panier dà chat means “Cat Basket”, but I could be really far off. I’m sure they will tell me. I hope it’s something dirty. They're bilingual, but we love that French sometimes slips their code. Try to spot it on our website (you can find one example on the blog post date). Nous vous aimons, Panier D'Achats! Or in Michif... Kisakihitin Panier D'Achats!
Fort Longueil, Quebec was built by New France around 1685 to guard against Iroquois, who had every right to be pissed off at all these foreigners building forts on land that they stole. It was occupied by Americans during the American civil war, … probably stolen, the dates and facts I would have to Google because I wasn't paying much attention the one day we took American history in grade 8. The Americans mustn’t have liked it because they left and the British stole it. The Brits didn’t like it either because they knocked it down in 1810. I suspect it’s because no-one cleaned the toilets. Now it’s remains are buried under a Canadian bank, which is a modern and fancy building and I’m sure has nice clean toilets. And probably won't get stolen because banks are hard to steal.
There are more musicians per capita in Nunavut that anywhere else in Canada. There is also more uninhabited land per person in Nunavut that anywhere else in Canada. So if you really need to crank your double 4X12 stack.... Go Nunavut!
The best steel in the world comes from Quebec. Sorry Ontario, it’s true. Quebec steel is the stuff.
The Ottawa Senators are Canada’s best hockey team, because Ottawa is the capital of Canada. Founded in 1883, they took an astonishing 53 year break between two losing games (from 1934 to 1992). When Ottawa doesn’t make the playoffs… the best team is Calgary… followed by Winnipeg… followed by whatever Canadian team is still in the playoffs.
Heart’s Desire, Newfoundland is Canada’s least famous vacation spot. You should go. I did, it’s a truly under-appreciated jem on this round ball of crusted lava we occupy, that very few people visit as we do another lap of the sun. It even makes you somewhat poetic talking about it!
Saskatachewan is the center of Canada. Both geographically and politically. Don’t pull out your Google maps and start whining that it’s Tache, Manitoba or Baker Lake, Nunavut. I say it’s the town closest to the center of Saskatchewan which is is Preeceville. We like Preeceville. If you’re from Preeceville Saskatchewan (and can prove it), email us, you get a free set of strings.
Quebec is a distinct society. Not because of language, or the steel they make that we like, but because of music. French Canadian music is awesome, and French Canadian musicians are very under appreciated. Bands I love such as Grimskunk, and Me, Mom and Morgentaller, or Les Cowboys Fringants. Celine is universally loved, but a lot of that appreciation comes from her time in Las Vegas and by people from away. Let's not forget the spiritual godfather of Canadian guitar rock, Frank Marino. Well, Frank is still universally under appreciated just about everywhere. Google him, you will be glad you did.
There are over 40 million people and 12 million guitars in Canada. There are 16 million people in Ontario, but only 4 million guitars in Ontario. If everyone of legal drinking age in Ontario borrowed a guitar from a neighbouring province we could have one hell of a huge kitchen party. I’m pretty sure there are a lot of old attic guitars in Halifax that could be borrowed, Nova Scotians are pretty generous folks that way.
Yukon has better sunsets than NWT, but NWT has better Aurora Borealis. We have no idea who has colder winters or better snow tires.
NWT has bigger mosquitoes than Ontario. They’re slower too, but the bite is worse.
No-one likes sweet sauce on Poutine. So just stop it. Ok?
Canadian French spoken in Moncton, NB is probably the most interesting Canadian accent, because Moncton French has a hint of New Brunswick in it, it’s delicious to listen to. Canadian English spoken in Brandon Manitoba is pretty cool too, it's kinda like Minnesota nice only nicer. Another interesting Canadian language accent is Métis Michif - spoken in may Canadian places, and specifically we like it around St Laurent, Manitoba. Michif is a blend of Cree, Scotish English, French and a bit of Ojibwe. It is an endangered language with regional dialects and fewer than 1,000 speakers, (not just St Laurent). If you’re Métis from around St Laurent, Manitoba, and speak Michif email us, you get a free set of strings. Or even better call us so we can learn some more Michif. Marrsî!
And speaking of Métis stuff, Métis fiddle is not just a violin played differently. If you play Métis fiddle email us, we’re working on a recipe for fiddle strings and we could use some help to test them out with the right musician. They’re kinda hard to make.
Stompin Tom Connors was born in Moncton, New Brunswick. He once wrote and recorded a radio jingle in exchange for a set of winter tires. Did you know that music wire, also called piano wire, and the family of steel wire used to make guitar strings is the same stuff used to make steel belted radial tires? The difference is that guitar wire drawing needs to be perfect, very, very precise and very fine. A single 0.010” wire for a high E guitar string tuned to pitch and abused by a whammy bar needs fine tolerance engineering or it will break. Steel belts in tires are wrapped and braided and twisted using multiple wires (like rope) and then encased in synthetic rubber so individual wire strands can be more varied in drawing tolerance and still be very strong. The steel wire bit is true, but I’d have to get someone from the tire manufacturing plants in Napanee, Ontario or Medicine Hat, Alberta to weigh in because we don’t make winter tires. But I do need a set if you want to trade for a radio jingle?
O Canada is a French song first performed by a band with a singer in 1880 to celebrate Saint-Jean-Baptiste Day. We should get a Canadian guitar player to stand on the house of commons in Ottawa and do an electric guitar riff version of O Canada, like Brian May did for God Save the Queen on the roof of Buckingham palace. Maybe Phil X, or how about Geddy Lee riffing one out on Bass? Now that would be cool.