Thank You CraigsList

People have been after me to get a larger amplifier. I current use a Fender Pro Junior.
15 Watts, all tube, one 10 inch Eminence speaker. and a paltry 20 lbs.

You can see it on the lower right in the photo. This is the patio area at Characters, a local watering hole that I play weekly. It holds roughly 250 people and has been packed at times.
I have had to on two occasions mic the amp through the PA system, usually reserved for vocals, but I tend to think everyone plays far too loudly, anyway.

Fine. Yesterday I started scouring CraigsList, CL in 'net speak. I was not very hopeful as CL has fallen from it's heyday...my, how far it has fallen.
This morning as I begin my work day I open CL again, narrow the search to my immediate geographical locale and dive in.

And this is what I saw ...

For Sale - Fender Hot Rod DeVille 410
This is a 60 Watt tube amp with four 10 inch Eminence speakers. The obvious downside is this weighs 50 lbs.

But as a friend of mine put it,
"The 1x12 in the deville/deluxe series is only 40 watts, so you lose a little clean channel headroom. between those two, i'd choose the 4x10 every time."

David is a very good musician who has taste and chops. I trust what he says.
It retails for $900 plus 9.75% sales tax - $986.65
I paid $550 for a four year old amp in pristine condition. It was in a Church. It was used for services on Sundays. I would not have believed the tale were it not for the fact we were in a church negotiating a deal.

The Pro Junior was also a CL find...a $400 amp for which I paid $175. I have been gigging steadily with this amp and it has performed very well.
This is the second time I have found wonderful treasures in what once had been the Fertile Crescent of the Internet, but has since become a cesspool. Perhaps it's time to stop perusing the personal ads and stick to the For Sale columns?

Polytune

An incredible idea that for years proved elusive.
How can a guitarist tune all six string at once? You can't, duh.

We've been made to strike each string in turn, tuning it...tweaking a bit more, muting the string before proceeding to the next and so on. What has differentiated most pedal tuners up until this point has been speed and accuracy. Strobe tuners are the most popular and the faster the strobe can respond to changes in frequency, the faster one may tune up.

Then in January I heard some buzz about a tuner that allows you to strike all six strings at once and it will show the status of each string, flat, in tune, or sharp.
I plugged it in and strummed the open fretboard - an there it was, the low 'E' and the 'A' were flat.
Nicely done. Striking that low 'E',  Polytune switches to a more normal needle strobe mode. I almost wish there was a switch to activate one, both or the other mode as I found it disconcerting to switch to the needle.
But it does have the ability to show me at a glance which strings are out of tune and which way.
It may take some getting used to, as my current tuner is a circular strobe, and wickedly fast.
We'll see.

Less than $100.

Dunlop wedge picks. Good Gosh but I love these picks.
Dunlop Stubby Picks
$3 gets me six. And they are durable. I haven't worn one out as of yet. My gauge is light so that is a factor but my previous favorite picks (Gibson Heavy-Jazz Teardrops) wore at a much more noticeable rate.

Nickel strings. Not nickel plated or coated. Pure nickel strings. $6 or so for a set. They are much more resistent to corrosion and they have a  very bright sound that lasts for a really long time. I used to change string every two to three weeks. I find my self going for a month or more and I play a lot.
I generally will take any brand with the exception of D'Addario. The last three sets of D'Addario strings I purchased were flat out awful. A 'B' string broke, they lost brightness inside of days instead of weeks and they have resorted to some really cheap packaging that tends to make a mess in my gig bags.

Rinse and Repeat

Repetition.
Take two.
Take thirty three.

It kills creativity. Spontaneity is lost when you play the same tune over and over.
Fine, spice it up.It by take four, it's not happening, then move on and return later. A small break can be very beneficial.

It is also the way of studio time. Fifteen to three hundred an hour dictates a certain work ethic. Push it out in linear fashion.

I hate to argue with producers.
"Think of it as a smoke break."
"But you don't smoke, e."
"I know...[sigh]...that bands that do smoke; they take breaks and then return,'refreshed,'right?"
Light bulb time.

Sometimes repetition is the job at hand. When the song is new, you play it again and again until you are tired of it. A sure sign you know it.

But when you are trying to lay one track on top of another, it is one thing to be familiar with the piece and another to get stuck in a rut over it.

Take three is my limit and then it all turns to mush.

I Believe In The Good

What inspires music?
Or art, or the written word?

Love inspires, as does despair.
Pain can cause words to flow. Or the simple joy of being alive and aware of it for the miracle it is.

I tend to think that dark feelings, however powerful, do not produce the same level of work as when we are happily inspired. Darkness does produce very strong moods, consuming feelings. But they are not the emotions of productivity. To put forth your best effort requires all cylinders be in running order. To have one cylinder firing louder and harder than the rest is counterproductive.
It's like playing when you are high, you may think you are inspired, but the fog is only allowing you to see a small piece of the picture. Darkness takes a lot of effort to maintain. It is hard to remain angry without using a great force of will.

The lighter aspects of human nature such as love require much less effort to sustain, so there is a large store of energy waiting to be put to good use. When the trees are pretty, when the air tastes good, works pour forth like water that had been dammed. Not just quantity, but quality of the work is elevated by the mood of the author.

Musicians who have a smile on their faces seem to be not necessarily more prolific but the caliber of the work is higher.
Look at the band, The Police.
When Sting was a happily married man the music the band released was stirring. The bass was a focused piece, the band itself was very precise and articulate. Very little flash, rather it was a high order of music due to happiness. 'Every Little Thing She Does Is Magic.' A wonderful tune with a tale to spin and a bass line that defines a walking beat.

As life took it's toll and Sting's marriage ended, the music took a sharp turn toward  mediocrity. Sting's bass playing became stilted and angular. The band sounded disjointed. And the mood of the pieces went positively creepy - 'I'll Be Watching You,' for instance.

An artist that works on canvas is easy to trace his moods. In every pursuit there are telltales which alert us to the mood of the artist.
As an artist I have learned to find stability in my own skin. That in turn has allowed me to put some consistent music together. It's kept my energy level high as I waste no calories worrying nor fretting.
Looking through my catalog of music is much like reading a diary - my moods are very easy to follow.
And my best pieces are those that I wrote when the sky was at its bluest.

It doesn't mean to avoid composing when you are down. It means look to lift your mood and then write it down.

Bridge Of Sighs...No I have Not Been To Venice

This is an update to my bridge replacement for my new Gretsch.

Oh my God...Oh my God...Oh my God.
Can you tell I am excited?

Claims of tonal improvement struck me as snake oil. Palm muting would be more comfortable? I'd get more twang and tone (Twone in Gretsh-speak). Also the Bigsby is supposed to be smoother and easier to use with this bridge.

I can't tell what is the reason for the improvement, but improvement there has been!
There is a distinct change in the bridge pickups sound. Overall sound has much more twang to it.

It may be the much better fit the base achieves to the body of the guitar than the OEM bridge. And that may be due to the smaller foot of the new base. The OEM base seems to have a twist in it, which may be a function of having such a long foot.
The new base piece "snapped" to the body of the guitar with no tweaking necessary to make it flush with the guitar. (This would affect transmission of vibrations to the guitar body)

It may also be the nature of the bar bridge as opposed to one with many moving parts that accounts for the improvement in tone. (This would primarily affect sustain)

The thumb wheels on the bridge itself came lowered all the way to the base. I had to raise them a bit to get the guitar playable. But once done, intonation was simple and very fast. I suspect it is not spot on as there are no little adjustments that can be made. It didn't seem to make a difference. Not to my ears nor my tuner.

The base looks like ebony although I have been told they dye rosewood to make it look darker. It feels like ebony, more solid and heavier. But what do I know?

I ordered it on June 30th from Darren Riley.
 Darren Riley's Guitar and Amp Shop
And received it in todays mail.
That's fast!
(He also sent three emails, one confirming the order, one to thank me for the order and one to announce it had shipped - good work)

Tomorrow - well, actually later today I have a huge gig with an expected turnout of one hundred people or so and perhaps twenty musicians. So I will give it the shakedown it deserves.

Why We Don't Leave Almost Well Enough Alone?

At the beginning of June, I bought a Gretsch G5122 double cutaway.
It's a very well built Korean import. Never mind that Fender is the hands upon the reins. There are a few touches that reflect choice of economy.
I need to find better tuners, that is for certain.

But in a quest for all things tone related. I bought a new bridge.
The original is a very serviceable Gretsch version of the Tune-O-Matic attached to a very cheaply finished base. The fit of the base to the guitar is touchy at best.
This is critical in the transmission of vibrations. This is an acoustic guitar.

I could have just bought a new base piece, rosewood or ebony.
Interesting note: the preferred base piece has less contact with the guitar body than the OEM base. Its feet are each half the size of the factory original part.

But I was intrigued by what is called the Rocking Bar Bridge.
It has no saddles to adjust intonation. It is a bar with appropriate grooves cut into it.The vertical holes by which it is attached to the base are larger than the studs allowing the bridge to move when the Bigsby is applied.
As it is solid, that too aids in transmitting the vibrations.

I learned a new trick as well for floating bridges. Anyone with an archtop will appreciate this one.
Pinning is a process whereby a luthier or tech pierces the surface of the guitar and plants studs which meet holes places into the bottom of the bridges base.
After this is done the only way to manipulate the intonation is by adjusting the saddles.
The bridge will never again slide across the surface of the instrument.
Well rather than permanently holing my guitar, I thought of the violin in the corner of my office.

Rosin!
Undoing the tension of the strings, removing the bridge and then applying rosin to the feet of the base.
Never mind that I replaced the bridge facing the wrong direction and discovered this only after having re-done the intonation and wondering why it was harder than normal.
[Sigh]
Once I had it correctly oriented and affixed to the guitar, I tuned and checked intonation. Perfect!
Rosin has just the frictional characteristics desired and yet will leave virtually nothing but dust behind as it ages and degrades. It won't harm a new poly finish.
Check with a luthier before applying it to a nitro finish, although I suspect it'll do no harm there either. After all, most decent violins are nitro finished.