George Harrison's

Be there.
A road house filled with friends, good food and tons of fine music.

I get four songs - I'll play many more but I get to choose and front four of them.
Jesus Left Chicago
Goodbye Girl
Werewolves of London
Knocking on Heaven's Door

Sing them and play. Easy. A year ago I was learning how. Now I know how. I am not great by any means, but I have a sincere voice. I want to sing. Audiences get that and respond.
It is something to be able to look back and see progress like this.

I leaned how to let the audience hear one half of the conversation in my head. The art of "less is more."
The George Harrison (the Beatle) school of guitar.
I made a lot of progress musically in the year that is fading.
I must balance both aspects...make money and work my craft. It is not a one or the other. It has to be both.
Two huge things.

I traveled a lot. Spent time in different places and with people I had not seen for many a year and had a lot of fun. I ran into the man who had been the Vice Principal in charge of discipline when I was attending high school. I was his number one customer having spent half my time in his office. How's that for irony, karma, weird timing?

I found my voice, and myself. Once more I am happy in my own skin and proud of what I can accomplish.
I wonder how I will top this in 2012, but somehow - I know I will.
Heaven is larger on the inside than it is on the outside.

"...but you start with parallel lines that intersect and go from there." - Black Mage

Dispel The Myths, or How I Blow Away the Smoke

End of the year house cleaning.
Soul cleansing.
e ranting.

All of the following points are made with one huge caveat - I am only concerned about the realm of human hearing.

1. Capacitors of the same value sound the same whether they are made of ceramics or paper and oil.
The selling of vintage is a crime.

2. Electric guitars are not supposed to be resonant. They are not supposed to vibrate at all. If they do, it means those vibrations which had it been working as planned would have gone to feed the signal to the pickup instead of serving naught but heating the wood.

3. Nothing above the nut or below the bridge has any bearing on the sound of your guitar. The vibrations of the string take place in between those two points. And ONLY those two.  See above.

4. No one is looking at your guitar, except other guitarists. Not one person in the audience gives a tinkers dam what brand of guitar you have. Or what "look" it confers on you...because...it doesn't.
Your carriage, your demeanor, your ease in your skin is what confers your stage persona. Not what guitar (read that: tool) you play.
They are not figured furniture pieces to be admired from afar - they are meant to be used like any other instrument. Sax players drooling over the patina on a nice specimen? Not as often as guitar players. Guitarists are a singular group in this respect. Misplaced respect for the workmanship of their instrument.

5. SGs are not top heavy - the neck does not weigh MORE than the body; shift the fulcrum. Move the strap, dolt. Every metal age Lothario thinks they are top heavy.

6. Eric Clapton is not God. According to an episode of Becker, God's first name is Larry.

A great player? Absolutely.
So is Jeff Beck, John McLaughlin, Al DiMeola, Carlo Santana, Django, Jimi, Roy Clark...
Subjective assessments are music, but religious ones are not.
(Note to self - future blog on God's favorite music with which to jam)

7. Frank Zappa was the epitome of irony. He was the hippest and also the most unhip. He called us assholes and died of his. I love his music for many reasons but it always has a slightly bitter tinge to it.
Lesson? Be aware of yourself. In real time, if you are good enough.

8. Set neck or bolt on...same sustain, same tone given the same pickups and strings and player.

9. Different wood sounds the same given the same pickups, player and strings. I have two teles and I would bet no one could tell which was the ash body and which was the pine.

In 1982 or so the Japanese decided older guitars were worth a lot of money. They pumped the price artificially by paying whatever was asked for what had previously been junk.
Old guitars were not worshiped as they are today. A really expense guitar was $2,000 when normal production guitars were $300.
Today, $350,000 for a 1952 Les Paul is not unheard of. And get this - each one is different, they are not ALL good, by any stretch. It is by virtue of age alone...now. Sad, really.
These are not violins made by a master, by hand in Renaissance Italy - these are mass production guitars. No more craftsmanship than a car.

The ancillary markets picked up on this and now sell anything from the golden age of guitars at a premium...very little of it is worth the price asked.

Tubes - the snot abounds in the "vintage" tube market.

Facts:
Domestic production of tubes ceased in the 1970s, the last domestic television made by Zenith in an Arkansas plant.
Tubes were then and now even more so - rebranded. Tubes originally made by GE were repainted with the Philco logo if that is what the end customer wanted. ANY logo. So those VOS tubes you are selling on eBay for $$$ are probably not what you think they are.
Tubes are incredibly noisy switches - transistors, besides smaller and more efficient - introduce much less noise into the original signal.

10. You cannot tell the difference between two brand of tubes assuming the test data is similar...close.
If THD, plate voltages etc are similar all around, you can't tell one from the other.
Audiophiles go for tubes with the least amount of noise. Guitarists live to run the tubes near the clipping point...signal saturation, noise - they call it breakup. The reasoning was that the legends of the 1960s used these huge walls of tube amps at that saturation point, so to get that sound, guitarists today have to follow that edict.
What a load of shit.
These are the same people buying $300 oxygen free copper cables. Jimi used a $3.00 piece of junk coiled cord that no one today would be caught dead using.

Audiophiles and guitarists spend money matching tubes. When a tube burned out in Clapton's amp, they changed them with whatever was on hand.

Kinda like the Bible where people pick and choose what they agree with and will obey and what they don't like. It's all or nothing.
If a resonant guitar is something good then let's loosen parts and get to vibrating.
If finish makes one iota of difference in sound - does a blind man hear the difference?

I would guess this true in any pursuit in life.
Ten percent are outright posers. Twenty percent think they want to play guitar,; they also think they look cooler with the guitar than without. Thirty percent really want to play, feel it on some level. Twenty percent are succumbing to peer pressure. And the last twenty wanted to play something else but were handed a guitar - "Here, you play this."

I went to a dance where a band named Spyder was playing, 'I'm So Glad.' I was standing there with my jaw on the floor. Then I noticed the girls were creaming over the long haired guitar player.
Then I went to Woodstock and smoked pot. It must have been a cosmic plan, eh?

Life is about sharing a common experience, the more intimate, the better.
We are social animals.
To read a passage from a book and have it strike you the same as your reading group.
To hear a song and you know the performer is speaking to you - at the same time he is speaking to one hundred others.

Music like math is a language - unlike math music is one of emotions and feelings. I cannot think of a single song that was NOT meant to evoke a feeling. Even a photo can be a record of a moment, void of feeling.
But music goes on. It is like, ugh...baseball - we don't know when it's gonna end.

It is not a snapshot in time, but as Janis said - a piece of my heart.

Is It God Or Something Evolutionary?

Why do I enjoy music?
Why do I enjoy playing music?
Why do I get high from playing music?
Why do I get higher than a kite playing music for an audience?

I understand why sex is pleasurable from an evolutionary point of view.
Music?
Math?
Woodworking?

Each of these disciplines can produce those same pleasures one derives from sex...why?
If this is evolution trying some variables for success rate, why isn't there enough data to make a path decision?

Music and Math are symbolic languages. How important to evolution is language? At what level? Whales communicate...we have no understanding of the level of sophistication, the amount of information they pass.
I have to think the more sophisticated the language, the more information that passes, the farther a species can go.
I can see how math changes the game...but music?
That String theory is somewhat easier since I have a good grasp of vibration, harmonics, dissonance - all words assigned to String behavior. But music itself? I see no purpose...Pleasure only.
Yeah, some pieces can invoke tears, but most of music is an attempt at uplifting.

Music is universal. Other species appreciate music. Name a language that excites two or more species?
Music seems to posses qualities far beyond our understanding.
Ever notice the feeling when reading a good book? Compare that to sitting through a good album.
Very similar experiences.
Or even a bad one...book or piece; again the same reaction.

The universe has a hum to it. A left over carrier from the Big Bang.  And how many tinfoil hats laid awake at night dreaming this note into everyday life.
In the 1970s scientists discovered the hum left over from the event was a Bb - B Flat -  fifty seven (57) octaves below middle C.
It's a basso/funky world we live in.

Ever wonder why some music makes your foot move almost involuntarily? If the beats per minute are between sixty and one hundred twenty, the BPM is resonating with your heartbeat - you want to dance.

So there is a physical connection that goes beyond language.
God is speaking through music?

It is clearly something for a scientist to explore, not a musician. At least with a hope of answer.
I just have my music and my faith.

New Year's Eve - George Harrison's

A lot of musicians work New Year's Eve. I never have. Not in forty years of playing for pay.
Dunno why. It wasn't a conscious decision, it just happened that way.

I get a call today, it's George Harrison - can I make it New Year's Eve?
George is a good guy and I consider him a friend.
"Yes, I'm there."
"You can leave before midnight if you need to...," said George.
"I'm there."
"Okay man, standard setup, food and drink provided, two drummers, a couple of bass players including Frank, you, Jimbo, "Shotgun" and ..."
"I'm there."

George's is a place that easily could have been the inspiration for locations used in the movie 'Road House.'
A sawdust floor, planked wooden walls, hanging junk and memorabilia commingling.
What it has in atmosphere (or lacks, depending on your upbringing) it more than makes up for in sheer fun factor.
Guests always have a great time. George never skimps on the spread.
(Last 4th of July he had two pigs roasting, along with tons of other fare for the non pork crowd)
People have literally been hanging from the rafters at times.
(It gets packed in there)
And the music? Always heartfelt. Sometime better than others, but I appreciate the time spent there.
(The Kenny G guy trying to play along with the Blues Band)
I've met people, made friends and contacts, been paid (unheard of), well fed, and after it's all over - treated to deep discussions of the schism that formed between Christians and Jews after the time of Christ on earth.
(Kinda fitting to play there during holidays)

So I'll go and have a blast doing what I really love to do with a roomful of friends and colleagues.
Note to self - bring a camera.

Hmmm...was this a plug?

I AM Good.

We are own worst critics. We, being everyone...anyone. Few people walk around telling others how good they are. Well, some do. We, the rest of us, classify them as obnoxious pains in the ass.

It is hard for one to accept praise without a tiny voice screaming, "What do they want?"
Tell Clapton that he is God and it makes him uncomfortable. Fawning makes performers uneasy. It is classic...ulterior motives or sycophant? Wait, they are the same-ish.

Artists want to see unbridled joy, true appreciation of their art. Someone that finds a personal connection between the music I make and their life.
If words in a song strike a resonant chord, it is plainly visible in the audiences faces. In the energy they exhibit.

I have been told since I was eight, that I have a musical gift. I was picking tunes out on the piano when I was five.
Most of the time my reaction is, "Awww shucks, thanks..."
But you file it under, "They have no clue and I am not good..."

One day, it comes to you. If you make someone smile, you are good. Does it matter WHY they smile?
Does it matter that the tune evokes a feeling that is the polar opposite of theirs? Does Klimt care what I got from his art? Does Frank Zappa laugh at me or with me?
I am good.
I have a good ear and a decent sense of rhythm. I can think and play. I can zone and play. I can play with a feminist doing C&W tunes. I can play with a steel drum band.
I am not as good as other players. Of that, I am certain.
But I do know, I am good, I know what I can do...I know what people expect and can deliver.

Where to go from here?
I have learned more this year than the past twenty years combined. I have re-evaluated myself and my music. Taken new directions in my explorations.
I have discovered long hidden truths. Several of them.
I have changed the sound I make, in terms of tonality. I have changed the sound I make in terms of drive...soul, what my heart and mind want to say.

I think next year, is a year to focus on movement. Physical, mental movement. A new band.
A band. Not just gigging as they come but a working band.
A collection of my material. Complete cessation of covers in public.
Covers of up and comers?
Wait...James Maddock...Caleb Haweley...Bob Kasper...They each have tunes I could cover and no one would hear anything but a new song.
OoOoOo...I am smiling at the endless possibilities.

(Hey, I googled "Bob Kasper" and that's what I got.)

Do You Hear That Voice In Your Head?

If not, you are no musician.
Epiphany number two with regards to How to Answer that Call ...or as I referred to it, "

Quality Versus Quantity Part Deux"

This will seem to be a fundamental building block, but then...that's my trouble, I can excel at something with no clue as to what I am doing until it hits me and I comprehend the universe. Or that facet of the universe.

I skated through school on my wit and charm. I got through college on my ear alone - well that, and a healthy dose of sucking up at every opportunity. I coasted through engineering school and then a year into the curriculum I understood what the concept of 'ground' meant. I can get along well and figure it out as I go, pretty much.

So recently I had a major musical breakthrough; to answer a call in your mind, rather than expecting every note in your head to be played out loud. Hear half and play the answer.

Here I am a few weeks later and I have been able to fully incorporate this idea. I have embraced it as the glass holding the water, thank you, Mr. Lee.

I hear music everywhere - in white noise - literally everywhere. All it takes is for me to stop and listen for it.

And now, I have a way to release it. I have an outlet. I have a voice.

And sumbitch, but I really like it. I have had a voice in my playing for years, but like a photo of myself, was never satisfied. I knew what I wanted to hear but it eluded me.

Now if I don't have that fragile bird in my hand.

My smile starts within my soul and radiates outward. This is something I was meant to do; to hear and like what I heard.

(Note to self - this does not translate well into money, you know?)

Every musician wants to like his voice, wants it to sound as she or he imagines it. And for most of us, it is a life long quest. Very few are truly happy with the sound they make. Always striving for more, searching...looking to somehow 'fix' what they lack.

They literally don't know how to sing.

Al's one huge piece of advice - "If you can't sing it, you can't play it."

Bert and I are hitch-hiking to the mall in Paramus and he starts humming a bass line...he was the bass player of my youth. I start singing the guitar part. For a good five or ten minutes, we jammed. It was good. It had soul. It sounded nice. The ultimate air guitar (Invented by David West in a boys room circa 1971), and yet there was a real talent in what we did.

Well now I have a way to do just that with my guitar. Play what I hear in my head. Not imagine I can play it, but play it. I sing the call in my head, I play the answer with my fingers. 

Betcha with time, I'll progress passed having to do the call at all. (Maybe I'll also speak the last half of any thought I have?)

For now, I have to map my moves.

I think I am trying to become Rain Man?

Fake It Until You Make It

Live and play as though you are Bruce Springsteen. Attitude and aura of success begets similar attitude and the herd shifts.

This weekend I have another gig as a stand in for the regular guitarist. A gig is a gig, I love it. An opportunity to play.
To prepare I was given the set list two weeks ahead of time. Tonight we conducted a 'run through.'

We played as though we knew what we were doing.
 It sounded as though we had been playing together for years.Very tight.
The songs themselves are easy. But to get a band to mesh well is why we rehearse. To sound each note in its place...with precision and feeling is not so easy.
Getting the drummer to count a song off at the proper number of beat per minute (BPM) is not easy either. Some are rather hyper and tend to count every song as quickly as possible. No modulation in tempo at all.
Sometimes the bass player feels the emphasis on one and three and you expect it on two and four.

Each little step is the foundation for the next and the next until you have the song sounding as you intend.
Usually it involves a lot of work.

Sometimes, it just clicks.
Tonight it clicked.
It didn't hurt that of the seven songs on the list I knew five. Although the arrangements were a bit different, it was easier than learning a new piece.
The two new pieces were easy enough - I was familiar with them before I had to commit to them.
So we played as though we knew what we were doing.

My new goal is to open my eyes. I am one of those guitarists that just tends to close his eyes while playing. It began as a way to shut out the sea of faces that made for awful butterflies. But it changed with time and venues. Lights are now the main culprit. Maybe I should wear my shades?

Going Digital...The Full Monty Plunge

I was recently on an airplane from NJ to CA, seated next to a very nice mother and daughter. The child was very well behaved, offering to do homework to pass the time. She reached into her bag and retrieved a Kindle.

I've seen them before and I an proud to call myself a Luddite.
I like paper. I love bookstores.

But I dislike lugging five hundred pages across the country only to be done with it somewhere over Texas and now just carrying dead weight. And with nothing more to pass the time but to snooze.

I also find myself watching more television than I used to do. A lot more.
An interesting part of the Kindle bundle is a thirty day trial in Amazon Prime. Not only will shipping on Amazon orders become free (I use Amazon a lot), but now there are five thousand books in the AP Lending Library. AP also streams movies and television shows, such as Grey's - free.
And then I read where an agreement was reached so that many libraries will now carry eBooks.

I'm sunk. $199 for the Kindle...it won't ship before Tuesday and I am at the end of a long, long line so I choose the free, albeit slow shipping of five to eight business days.
Now I am looking into apps for my phone to "tether" to the Kindle so I can use my phone as a modem for 3g access to the WiFi only Kindle.

But hey, I can watch television or movies, borrow and buy books, and carry it aboard a plane, in a slim little package. I know I am a Geek, but this is just another example of a DOS dinosaur slipping into the Digital Age.

Quality Versus Quantity Part Deux

One of my strengths as well as my number one weakness on the guitar is...itchy fingers, digital diarrhea, how many notes can one squeeze into a measure, syndrome.

George Harrison had a mastery of "less is more." He could play four or five notes and say more than most of us say in an entire piece.
Colin James has a knack for answering an unspoken call with three or four notes that  - say-it-all.

And for the life of me, I could never figure this out. I tried to slow my thought processes. I tried thinking and not just reacting to the music played.
I have been trying to achieve this for thirty years? No success.

And then a friend turned me onto a guy named Keith Wyatt.
In this lesson, Keith explains how to answer calls during a "call and answer" segment in a song.
He is fun, fact filled and very succinct. The entire video is eleven minutes.
And he makes a lot of sense, musically.

Part of the driving force behind my rediscovery of "less is more" is my renewed interest in the television show Becker. I love the show for the writing as well as the excellent ensemble cast.
There is a guitar belonging to Jason Miller...with it, he plays small, tight ten second phrases to lead in and out of scenes of the show. I very much enjoy his talent and envied his ability to take a few notes and make a complete musical statement.

I am sitting watching the show when it struck me. The act of answering in Keith's lesson is the epitome of the "less is more" philosophy.
In other words, you need not be answering a call made in the piece - it may be implied...it could be in your head. It need not exist at all.

All of a sudden, I can play like Harrison! I was floored. Epiphany...a moment of clarity.
It is a relatively easy thing to hear a lead in and then "answer" it, whether it exists in the song or not.
How strange it is to have something so easy elude you for SO long and then be revealed in eleven minutes.

Perspective is so very integral to learning. Look at a problem one way and it is a Gordian Knot. From another point of view, it becomes easy as pie.
I'll have another piece of pie, please.

Quality, Not Quantity

Last year I had worked many gigs by this time of the year. I was everywhere, playing with anyone.
It was wild fun and very necessary for my musical ego.
Trolling for gigs like this results in many jobs that are not as satisfying, don't pay as much, et cetera.

This year, I have played far, far fewer gigs. But the times I have played have been so much more satisfying and rewarding.
Why?

In a word...sharing.
I learned a long time ago that as humans, our greatest joy comes from sharing. Be it a joint, a thought, feelings, or music. The act of two or more people seeing and digging the same thing is a minor miracle.
Music is one of those things that is personal, intimate and yet at the same time it can be shared by many people at once. Witness Woodstock.

This year, I got to do one number with a guy I admire very much and in doing this number laid a few bugaboos to rest.
Friends of mine that I have known more than thirty years got to hear me play for the very first time.
My mother...got to hear me playing in a setting other than a cacophony eminating from her basement.

I did more open mics than last year - standing on your own feet does a lot toward that feeling of sharing. That is intimacy at its most public. You are alone, they are watching no one but you.
And what a rush it is!

I found someone else to play as a duo.
Doing less of what others want to play or think is what is expected. I am out to have a blast and make a dollar or two doing so. And if I get to share my inner feelings and get applause in exchange for it...how much better can things get musically? In truth...things can get so much better that all I see is "blue sky."

And so I pursue things. I talk to people on FaceBook in an effort to expand my network - get a job.
I picked up a new instrument (mandolin) in an effort to expand my repertoire.
I meet new people all the time - and when we click, it is sharing once again.

Share with me. It is my greatest joy.

Have a Happy Halloween.

Tele Truss Rod Adjustment Alters Tone - Film at 11

The Baja Telecaster I had bought in May had a real curve to the neck.
More relief than I wanted.

However, I have to date not adjusted a Fender style truss rod. Never had to.
A shim did the trick as far as action/buzz went so turning the rod just never happened.

This guitar had a pronounced curvature in the neck.
I thought I'd have access to the truss rod screw by just removing the pickguard - and for a minute it did look as though I could get a bite on the rod...but no, it was not to be. The pickup was in the way.
Sigh.

Strings came off, and then I removed the neck. It was obvious the original owner had been down this road...he had scored the screws affixing the neck to the body. With his adjustment there was just too much relief in it for me.
 So I tightened the truss rod about a half a turn...which was at the top of the threads - as far as it'll go. The neck was very close to straight. A teeny weeny bit of relief. (Without any relief all the strings would buzz)

Restrung it, and as I was doing so I caught wind of the buzzing which must have made this guy add so much relief.
Funny thing was, with the neck close to straight the action was more than low enough...too low.
 The 'G', 'B', & 'E' strings needed a half turn to feel comfortable to play. I decided to let the low 'E' buzz.

 Holy merde!
Okay...new strings have a lot to do with the wow factor in the tone, but the slap of the strings...it is part of the quintessential tele sound. The bass strings have a thump to them that is very unique. No strat has it.


Well the effect of having the strings closer to the pickups is just not to be believed in what it can do to the sound. Such a small change having such a large impact.
 Obviously I could have raised the pickups to achieve the same result sound wise;l however that would not address the feel of the neck.
I disliked the feeling that the action was changing the higher I played.

 So...got a tele? Raise your pickups! Or peer down your neck and check your relief.

Almost Perfect Pitch

Name any song I know and I'll sing it a half step below the actual tonic.
I hear it in my head a half step flat. (A cosmic joke, methinks)

I am playing the mandolin...Grendel, even with the new strings is starting to sound dull.

Temperatures change greatly where I live. A forty degree swing from the low to the high during a day night cycle is not out of the normal course of things.
So the strings on any instrument will stretch and contract with the rise and fall in temperatures.
I check my tuning before I begin...every time. It is a must. I also mean with an expensive strobe tuner, not by ear.
Piano tuners are tuning pairs of strings much like the mandolin. They do not tune the strings to perfect pitch. i.e.A is not set at 440 hz. But the first of the two strings might be at 438 while the upper is at 442.
This intentional dissonance causes the note to ring out. The waves are alternately canceling and then reinforcing each other which makes a slight vibrato effect. Your ear hears sustain.

So that's why the new strings sounded better? They were settling in...moving. I tuned them and after a few minutes had slipped out of tune. I heard notes ringing out and thought it was the new strings!

So the trick I have is to tune the first of the pair a bit sharp and the second a bit flat. A bit is maybe two or three cents (pronounced sonts) at most. Next I should try reversing that, the top flat and the bottom one sharp.
We'll see.

Strings

Fender OEM strings are awful.
Plain awful...rotten...dead...lifeless.

I had sat with the mandolin and was starting to bond with it, finding my way with it last week.

On one of the forums dedicated to mandolins, there was an ongoing thread about a brand of flatwound strings. Flatwound strings have the wrapped covering flattened rather than just wrapped about the core - which makes for normal roundwound strings.

D'addario makes strings for most stringed instruments. I had used them for years on my guitars. Sometime in the 1990s they went to a "unisex" package in which opening the pack for one string meant opening the container for all of them. No more individual envelopes. While I understand the savings the manufacturer would see, it made the strings far less useful.

Break a high E? Open the whole pack and the remaining five strings begin to age as well. How to store the remaining strings? At a gig this meant a mess. At home I could change all the strings...D'addario's intent all along?

I had sworn off them and reverted to Ernie Ball...strings of my youth.

Back to the mandolin.
A set of regular strings; a mandolin has eight strings, run anywhere from $4 to $10. Flatwounds, on the other hand are closer to $40 a set.
I am too cheap for that. I get two sets of guitar strings for $9!?!
Plus I am new to the instrument and don't want to assume that throwing money will magically make me a better player.
Back to the forum - The Mandolin Cafe
Someone starts a thread about D'addario FW-74s.

As I investigate, I find they are about $10 a set?!
My favorite online string shop, Just Strings, has them. I order a set and wait for them to arrive.
Stringing a new instrument is an adventure.

Mandolins, unlike guitars, have the bottom of the string terminated with a loop that is meant to be put over a cut out tab on the tailpiece.

You loop the end, pull the string up and through the tuner, trying to maintain tension so the loop doesn't fall off the tab and then wind like a guitar.

It took the better part of an hour.
But what a difference? Once I had it strung and tuned, I played a few notes and they rang. The notes didn't decay, but droned on. And clear! Very little bleed between strings. Striking one didn't cause the adjacent string to vibrate as much.
The instrument sound 100% better. Easily.

The pick and the strings that you use, contribute no small part of the overall sound.
I think I have been converted - again.

Bonding With A New Instrument

I have trouble keeping more than one guitar. I don't need nor do I use two or three or more. I have one acoustic and I need one electric.
So I sell.

Flush with new money I ran to Styles.
"Lou I need a travel guitar and a mandolin."

I have seen a lot of music in the last twelve months. Not as much as last year, but what I have seen has been far and away the best music I have heard in a long, long time.
One of the truths in the "Music Business" is the need to be as versatile as possible. How many instruments can you play, and well?

And in the style of the folky rocker there are a lot of people playing...mandolins?!
These are not Bluegrass or Country and Western players. No...
These are troubadours, balladeers & bards. Traveling musicians that are wise in many arts.
I determine to expand. I already have a violin that I noodle upon. But I never pursued it with any vigor. There was no passion. I haven't been able to bond with the thing tucked underneath my chin.

I bought the lonely Fender mandolin that Lou had...dusty and neglected. I think he ordered it either out of pity for the Fender rep or a mandatory buy to be able to get a price on the Strats and Teles that earn his cash.
I know it is nothing but a student item.

The craftsmanship is non existent. If I were new to fretted instruments, I would have thrown my hands into the air. I set and reset the action. And then read...and read. There's "chop," and two fingers chords. And it's upside down when compared to a guitar.
And small?
A friend asked if it made me feel ham handed, but at the moment of the new purchase it seemed to fit...I have small hands. They kept me from pursuing the bass. But now, yeah - they were starting to feel rather thick.
Sad face.

All the "normal" thoughts raced through my head. If I went and bought something three times as expensive, I'd like it that much more, right?
I hit the brakes. Nah...Jimi could make a cigarbox guitar sound good. The excuse or victory is mine.

A really talented guitarist, Caleb Hawley does a solo arrangement of Bruce Hornsby's, 'That's Just The Way It Is.'
By himself, he makes what is a very layered and lush song sound just that. Layered and very full - by himself. He keeps time on the body of the guitar and plays both the bass line and the piano theme.
Good God, this kid is good.
Anyway...I put the song on and grab the mando (I'm hep to mandolin speak)...And rather than trying to apply a thought process, I aim for notes that fit and then intervals built from that. It comes, the rhythm, the picking...I'm sure the notes will follow, eventually.
Holy Merde...I am flying along the fretboard, playing pedestrian garbage, but I am bonding with this pig of an eight stringed beast.
She shall be Grendel.
Fuck you, Beowulf.

Epilogue:
 Growth is a good thing. With the rest of life it is usually a painful process. Even when you enjoy the endeavor - college for instance.
In music, I have moments of buyers remorse but no pain. It makes me dance.
I gotta jam with Beppe Gambetta!
<3

Beware of Geeks Bearing Gifts

My laptop has been slowly dying. The graphics card has gotten so hot in the past that it literally unsoldered itself from the motherboard. Luckily, at that time I had an extended warranty - a week or so and I had a new computer.
This past Sunday it would no longer boot. A B.S.O.D. (Blue Screen Of Death) every time.

After admitting to myself the trouble was beyond my capabilities, I went to secure a new computer.
By Tuesday I had to be up and running. I could not wait for Labor Day sales...pity.

I ran to Best Buy and started my search. They had a dozen desktop computers. I quickly narrowed it down to two. While money was being transferred electronically, I picked up the box of the last remaining example of either model and checked out.

Boy, this thing is fast...Huge too, more storage than I'll ever use - I said that about a twenty megabyte hard drive in the 1980s; yeah, that didn't last.

But then came the task of transferring all that data. Pictures, music (11,000 mp3s), et cetera. I was looking at quite a task.
I began by opening DropBox; cloud based storage - 2gb is free.
To rent 50gb of storage is $9.99 a month or $99 a year in advance..A 100 gb is $19.99/199.00.

At 2 gb a shot, it was going to take a long, long time.
By Thursday I began to think about how much bandwidth was being eaten by these 2gb swaps going on twelve hours a day (2gb up from the laptop and then 2gb down to the new computer).
Ah, but that made me think of an 8gb sd card I recently bought!

Plug it in to the old computer (which I got to boot, somewhat stable, but no graphics) grab 8gb of data at a time and then insert the card into the new computer. Inside of a few hours I had cleaned a major portion of the old computer - with no bandwidth consumed.

Each time we upgrade - a new smartphone, a new computer; we also inherit the task of setting all the attendant parts of our digital lives. The email accounts, The bank logins. Cloud storage, file hosting...on and on...
And with each day we are establishing new accounts for new purposes. FaceBook, FourSquare, Tripit...
So that with every new device, the time to be "up and running" is  growing longer and the improved technology barely keeps pace.

I'm a geek, but I have been bitten upon the ass by Technology.

Rains, Hurricanes and More Planes

This year has been somewhat dry. There has been much less playing than there was last year. Perhaps, half the number of gigs.

Before it became an issue I went to the House Concert and was given a lift, the likes of which I don't think I've ever experienced before. A week or more.

And then in rapid succession, two gigs pop up. One in San Diego, the other - a recording session.

A day goes by and I get a message from a boutique maker of pickups. Would I be interested in making a clip demonstrating the pickups et cetera?

When you are not actively seeking, it comes to you.
Zen and the Art of Music?

I hope Irene comes to naught...

Wanna Get High?

A great and intimate way to experience wonderful music by the very best up & comers is a house concert. The simple explanation is a host opens their home to these musicians, setting a very nominal cover - $10-20. A pot luck for food brought by the guests with a selection of beverages provided by your hosts is the food portion of the event.

These are the very same musicians that I and many others have been raving about for a while.
To have them in your home, with your friends, food and 'social lubrication' as the hostess for my first show put it, and you have the makings of a wonderful experience.
No tacky dives, no loud raucous crowds, unless that is the spirit of the room.
It's not a strict concert, either - think dinner party with very good live entertainment. Although most people sat raptly watching the people that played, there was a certain amount of coming and going.

As I said, this was my first. The show was produced, and I say that because every detail was considered and artistically executed, by a very good friend of mine. She lives on the East Coast as does my mother so I took her invitation as impetus to make a trek to the right side.
The trip was an adventure from the moment I arrived in NYC, where my mother burst a front tire - I changed tires in Harlem at 2 a.m.

Saturday evening at my friend's house, Caleb Hawley was the headliner.I saw Caleb perform in Los Angeles and was very much impressed with him.   

Besides being a very capable lyricist, indeed he charges his words with deep emotions, he is a masterful guitarist. A Berklee graduate, he has talent in heaps. He played a wildly eclectic list of popular tunes (Stevie Wonder, Bruce Hornsby) and some of the best originals tunes I have heard in a very long time.
In a previous entry...maybe when I began this page, I spoke  of talented people that can thrill both the emotional and the intellectual people inside me.
Caleb is indeed, one of these.
Okay, now throw in the facts that he is charming, personable, open, very friendly and warm...honest, too.
Can you tell I am really enjoying him?
I was incredibly pumped after seeing that show.

So now I am seated with friends watching Caleb at his best - looking into the eyes of the audience.
Of course, he did not disappoint.

And the setting was poetry. A tiny cabin full of love and warmth by the two that live there. I mentioned to her that it had almost a Disneyland effect; the child in me was in awe and the adult could marvel at the many little touches sprinkled all around.

At one point, I was chatting with the host when I heard someone calling my name.
As I walked into the living room my friend announced that this was my first house concert and that I came all the way from California to see Caleb and mom.

And now Caleb and I were going to play a number...breathe, two, three, four...(I don't get nervous before I play, I get very high from it)

I walked up to the fireplace and picked up the opener's guitar (a very able musician by the name of Bob Kasper - Keith knows him) and leaned in while Caleb told me the chords he wanted and that I'd get a solo.
It was Bill Withers tune, Use Me.
As he starts playing, someone asked him a question...he didn't stop...so I started noodling over it.
"Oh, you're gonna solo already?" he asked with that impish grin.

We played, I joined in to sing a chorus, I played my little solo.
It ended, and the room applauded, Caleb turned to me and was grinning like a jackal.
I leaned towards him and said, "You can make shit sound good. Thanks for making me sound good, man."
A micro second later and his grin grew even further.
We simultaneously gripped our picks in our teeth and had a high five knuckle bump thing.

What a blast.
Oh yeah, if you get a chance, go see Caleb - he was a contestant on American Idol and has three CDs available.
Better yet, go see him at a house concert.
Bring your pick.

The B Team

Being a substitute player in music can be quite gratifying. When a player can't make a date and the band thought of you...how nice!
There are also fewer expectations of you. You have not been with the group as long, don't share all the insider "stuff." At the same time that affords you the freedom to see a piece a new way.

In the last two week I have been given two instances of filling in.
In one case it was a Farmer's Market and the other a familiar tavern. Both are gigs I have done in the past.So the venues themselves are comfortable. But the lineup and the setlist are not.

In both instances the bands are of the "Classic Rock" style. Serviceable, but played to death.
But I had that bit of freedom, since I was not given a score for solos, but expected to wing it.
Oh, wing it...I did.
Midnight Rider - a tune from my early guitar days. Duane Allman's part is relatively simple...but oh so hard to sound THAT good.
Well, what I played was good enough to draw a three minute tune out to six or seven minutes.
I have not tried playing slide in public, but I can emulate it with sweeping vibrato and glides.

During the break, the bass player says to me, "I didn't know you played slide."
Neither did I.
Being the new guy afforded me a looseness that made the old tunes a bit more fresh...a bit less stale.

"Not gonna let them catch the midnight rider..."

Amazing what a change in perspective can do.

Intonation - Callaham Compensated Saddles

When the Telecaster was first "designed" and built, the saddles (the metal bar over which the strings pass on their way to the nut.- between the nut and the saddles is where a string vibrates) were two strings to a saddle. Three brass barrels.

You are able to set the overall length of the string via the three spring loaded screws.

Fretted instruments "suffer" with tempered tuning. It's mathematically impossible to lay out the frets in such a way that the strings are in tune over the entire length of the neck. With twenty one to twenty four frets on most electric guitars or scale lengths from twenty four inches to twenty five and three quarters, there is a lot of variation to be had - add into this the curvature (radius) of the fretboard, and you can see there are hurdles to be surmounted.

Back to the Telecaster. The epitome of simple...simplistic. With the three barrel design there is an inherent trade off. One of those two strings will be closer to perfect intonation than the other. Players back in the 1950s learned to bend the spring loaded screws which would angle the barrels...effectively lengthening one string and shortening or retaining the same with the other.

You can see the Tune-O-Matic Bridge design has an individual saddles for each string. The arc described by the radius and scale is also easier to visualize in the arc of the saddles.
Eventually Fender came out of the dark ages and began to install six saddle designs of their own.

But you can also see, this bridge in much harder to adjust. On the TOM there is one spring loaded screw for the string length, and two thumbwheels, one at each end to raise or lower the bridge. With the Fender design, each string is adjusted for intonation and height individually. While that may sound as though it makes for a more perfect instrument, it makes for a colossal pain.
The height adjustment screw are hex heads,  you need two tools instead of one. Each height adjustment is done with two screws - the design itself almost precludes the use of only one. I say almost because someone figured out how to stabilize an offset screw.

My two Teles have three barrel bridges. I like the look. I have no belief in mythical properties of the brass material or the three barrels, themselves, I just like the way they fit the overall old school vibe.
Intonation has always been a huge compromise. And it hurts my ears to hear a guitar that can get no closer to perfect intonation; much as reading text written by the illiterate will hurt my eyes.
(In this way, I am a snob...I guess)

In my own way, I started to do research. I found angled barrels, much the same as the bent screw trick of years gone by. I also found a very clever variation.
A Slanted Compensated Saddle.

The face of each barrel has two surfaces at angles from each other. Length overall is still adjusted with the same spring loaded screws. And dammit, they use hex head screws to adjust the height...one for each string.
After removing the strings it took fifteen minutes to remove the old saddles and replace then with the Callahams. Another ten minutes adjusting intonation and I was done.
Height takes days to dial in. I want the action (height above the fretboard) to be as low as possible. When you lower the action you are inviting fret buzz. So you lower it and play. Find a dead fret...Raise it a bit. Play some more. Determine you can lower it a touch and so on.

The intonation? Spot on. No change in any other quality.
$46 with shipping.

Cork

Referring to 'cork' in the guitar community is short hand for a "cork sniffer." A poser rather than a player.
The schizophrenia is deep among musicians.
No, I am not kidding.

To a person, if asked in pulic they will eschew cork.
"What matters is your tone!"

Then why are most NGD (new guitar day) threads nothing but pictures?
"Look at the flame!" "Dude! Awesome LOOKING guitar!"
And the irony misses them...completely.

So I post a NGD thread in which I included clips but no pictures. A couple of the thoughtful community people respond. The kids are absent.
So I asked, do you wear or play your guitar? Is it jewelry to you?
And I was met with replies such as , "You can't tell me you never stood in front of the mirror and thought,'Damn that looks good!'"
And truthfully I replied, when I was 16 maybe I did, once. But my aim has always been the music.
Close your eyes and listen.

I do understand theatrics...I am a ham. But the best shows in my mind were the ones with the great music and not the lights or smoke to add to the experience.
I watched John McLaughlin's fingers, I couldn't care less what guitar he was using. I knew his sound came from within, not from the tool he used.

Telecasters, my new, current consuming guitar love are ugly guitars. There are a few specimens that are nice to look at. Fender has tried to dress them up - there is a tuxedo...a black guitar with white binding and a white pickguard. Or the one made from redwood - although Fender tried to make it more historic than visually enticing by tying it to a railway trestle that was over one hundred years old.
It's their function that drew me.
It has that singular Fender single coil sound and with a touch of OD can out creamy any humbucker.
Wait...you are saying it can sound like either?
It could be a Ford or a GM?
French or Italian?
It is God's gift...but it is wrapped in an ugly, ugly shape.
In the 1950s the routing done for the bridge pickup was a tad too large. A very slight bit of uncovered routing is referred to as 'buttcrack' and now is held as a sign of lineage.

Look at that?! There is no flattened edge radius. There is no "belly cut." No binding. Not much chrome. When they were first made, it was from pine. They are the cheapest in the Fender line.
But what a beautiful palette.
The swiss army knife of guitars. But it's cork quotient is very low.
Posing hair bands need not apply.
But if you close you eyes to enjoy you favorite music, then tele players are for you.

Everyone Has An Agenda

Yesterday, July 4th was spent playing at George Harrison's.

Roadhouse opened.
By the time they took their first break, Tony the guitarist, came up to me and asked if I'd sit in.
We started playing a tune written by the bass player. A rambling sort of thing, very reminiscent of the Allman Brothers. It was fun.
As people began to filter in the list of tunes grew. Lefty Jeff brought his new ES 335 and had a tune or two in mind..."Can't You See," being his favorite. Ric came...dance partner in tow. She doesn't know you as, "Shotgun?!" Gee whatta surprise. He wants to play Santana. Status showed up as well. He had played a four hour gig in Long Beach and was ready to go. The kid is dedicated.

 Jeff asks me to start a tune..."Something out of the ordinary..."
Do you guys want to try something new?
Not.on.your.life.
Fine...I start playing 'Voodoo Chile.'
It is neither out of the ordinary nor is it new. George tells me to "blaze, and pay no attention to the rest..."

Musicians have comfort zones, much like anyone else. However, being the fragile egos that we are, no one is vying to try new things as it may include failure. That...disappoints me.
I had been waiting to try some Colin James tunes; the opportunity was not going to present itself this night.
Failure is a huge part of musical growth. Many times it is much less painful than failure in "real life."

Most people do not hear the screw-ups we make on stage.
They DO notice when we are out of sorts, less than communicative, not here to play.

Tony, like myself exudes passion when he plays. It doesn't matter that half of what he plays doesn't fit, or is too loud, or he blows a particular passage. He closes his eyes and plays. People appreciate that.
A genuine desire to play or perform.
Tony turns to me as they are packing their gear, "Dude, I want to play with you again!"
Musicians also appreciate honest passion and desire.

I have no real agenda other than playing.
I'd like to be playing my material - it is what I am striving to do.
In the meanwhile, I can play anything the crowd wants to hear.
Requests?

A Mil Or A Mile...It Was Still A Miss

I use Super Slinkys.
One week I needed to replenish the string bag and the local shop had only Extra Slinkys - 008s instead of 009s.

What's a mil, you say?
So did I.

Holy moly, but it is more involved than trading up to 011s or 012s.
I was faced with a completely new setup.

I got it to play, but that tinny jangle would not go away. And the percussion thump the low E and A should have made was anemic, to say the least.

They lasted all of a day before I threw them out for good old Supers.
The old saw: Tone is from the fingers is 80% truth, the rest is setup!
(Ha! You thought I was going to say strings)

I Feel Like Such A Hypocrite

Welp...I bought this Baja Tele last month.

When I realized I couldn't swap out the knobs, instead of crying all night, I decided to get some chocolate chip mint pick guard.

Dandy.
That black switch tip? Out of place, now...Hmmm.
Ordered a cream colored switched tip.
Man, that is really, er...creamy...fugly.

So what'd I do that I said I wouldn't do?
(Besides getting a Tele, smartass)

Grabbed the scotchbrite and the .000 wool and scuffed it and then jammed it into a cup filled with Earl Grey and Soy.

Ayep...I am relic'ing my first part...Gawd, I feel awful.


Relic'ing is the artificial aging of parts on the guitar to make it appear to be older than it is. I find it contrary to everything I understand.
We restore classic cars, not purposely age them.
We undergo plastic surgery not to look older, but younger.

So why is it acceptable to have a fake antique guitar? There are so many examples, when one sees an old guitar nowadays the assumptions is it is a fake, go ahead...prove otherwise.

Some do it to fool the unsuspecting and sell them a cheap guitar for a lot of cash.
Others do it to keep up with the demand...witness Fender themselves making the "Road Worn" series.
A $600 instrument that retails for $800 because they rusted the metal parts for you? And sanded off paint?
Personally I have never seen an elbow wear the paint off of a guitar.

Do horn players relic their trumpets? Gawd no, they protect them as best they can. Patina comes with age and use.

My guitars suffer the dings and bangs any well used instrument will undergo. They have their share of war wounds. If you gig, then shit will happen.
But I don't need to age my guitar to obtain mojo. That comes from my soul and my fingers.
But you see, I bought this switch tip and...

06/13/2011
Updated picture of the switch tip - no close ups or anything spectacular. Just a nice overall "look."
Whatcha think?

Accessories, Not As Much Fun, But Every Bit As Needed

My First Case For The Case

I was in Styles Music today buying some strings when I remembered I need a case for my new guitar.

A Baja Telecaster...named Yay. It's a story; think Modern Family.

Lou has gig bags...no, they won't do.
He also has the molded ABS Fender cases.
He has guitars in those cases but he'll sell one to me and order another.

"Fender® molded cases are tough and lightweight with a reinforced metal frame and hinges, black plush interior, and TSA locking latches. Great for tight storage situations. Cases are designed to fit most standard size instruments. Please see SKU description for details."

Hmmm. It's not tweed. It's black...with a black interior. My sense of style is not amused.
Lou works up a price. Close to 30% off the street price. The tweed would be almost double. I thought it over for a bit and decided to buy the ABS case.

I got home and took it from the car. It tipped nose down.Why the face? It's not balanced? Like a piece of luggage! It should be balanced...shouldn't it?
I put the guitar into the case and latched it. Hefted it. Hmmm?
Walked with it. Balanced perfectly. Strike one for modern engineering.  The case is also very thin and compact. I believe it might fit underneath airplane seating if not in the overhead bins.

The guitar by itself is close to eight pounds. The case must be another four or five. This thing is light...very light.
Traditional hardshell cases are made from laminated wood, mostly plywood and then covered in tolex or in the case of the Jag, tweed. They weigh more than the guitar. Fourteen or fifteen pounds by themselves. (More than the guitar & the plastic case combined) It was thought you needed something with some bulk to be able to absorb the abuse a road instrument gets.
They didn't have light weight polycarbonates in the 1950s and 60s. Not cheap, form fitted guitar cases, at any rate.

Function over style?
You know, as I get older yeah...it is worth more to find equipment I can easily move than it is to have equipment that is stylish.
I remember that Plush made a line of amps in the 1970s that had foam padding built into them...Tufted faux leather amps. That was the definition of style during disco's heyday.

Styles comes and go, function stays....the Tele, Karma - wow...a complete revelation. Equipment needs to be functional, my fingers will supply the style.

Live and learn?

Karma Bit Me In The Ass

In 1971 I convinced my dad to buy a real electric guitar for me. I brought home the Fender catalog from Victor's House of Music, Ridgewood N.J.
I saw Hendrix a couple of times, but Woodstock made me gas for a strat in the worst way. Dad says, "Can't you get by with this?" pointing to the tele. It would have saved him about $50. The strat was $272 with HSC.
Oh.fuck.no
Taking lessons from Al meant that I played his LP a lot. That guitar was heavy.
I also learned to dislike the strat. Once I figured out position playing, the curved fretboard screwed me up, badly.
So...I had to have a gibby. A pal offers me a 1969 345 for $200 and another $200 gets his super six reverb.
Dad?
I play gibsons for 30? years. But I relied upon Cream like, well...creaminess. All distortion and OD and a wah for articulation. This was during the height of Fusion.

I hear Colin James and decided to try a tele. I fell flat on my face. Not only did a tele have the most beautiful neck known to man, it had something none of my other guitars had. It's own voice.
I can still get all the creamy sustain I want...if I want.
However, more often than not I find myself playing with nothing? Or just OD for some punch - and the ice9 doesn't color it, just boosts it tremendously.
With distortion and OD, if I roll the volume back it sounds as if I turned the effects off.
But it has such a range. That fender timbre - bell tone, some nasty bridge twang, and then the combo of the pickups - which sounds like the blender pot on a strat...real brassy quack without too much treble.

And this is a Squier?
Fine...what will a "real" fender do for me? And by real, I mean MIM.

I found a baja tele for $500.(The finagling this took to pull off was something to behold)

The bonehead that owned it had never changed the original strings. But he had managed to ding the frets where it must have fallen face down against a table or chair.

And the fit and finish is mixed bag.
The pickguard is cut so it pulls against the neck pickup a tiny bit, snug. And then the screws went in at a few nice angles, the guard itself is cracked by the screw on the upper bout And on one by the switch. The control plate is overlapped by the pickguard a couple of mils.

On the plus side, the wiring and electronics are 100% "nicer." Less cheap stuff, although they both use the same esthetically unpleasant but efficient plastic coated wiring..
The frets on the Squier come all the way to the edge, the bit that should be buried is visible. The poly over it makes it smooth to the touch but it does catch your eye. Well, the neck on the baja is perfect, with the exception of the dings mr. bonehead made. I used some .000 wool and smoothed the two frets easily.
The Squier neck is also much thinner - closer to an LP. This thing is chunky, like a bat.

The pickups on the Squier are tonerider alnico IIIs. The ones on the baja are a twisted tele in the neck and a broadcaster in the bridge. Helluva a lot more umph than the toneriders. But you can still hear that bell.
And unlike a strat, the fretboard is flat to the feel.
Four position switch (standard positions with a series setting) with a S1 in the volume - controls phase.
Now the palette is huge.

Karma - I mighta been Bruce Springsteen had I got that tele in 1972.
Right?

Luca Sleeps Alone

Luca Sleeps Alone

I am experimenting with minimalism. Or trying to...
There are a select few how can impress by their choice of notes (the intervals) and the expression used on those notes and not by the sheer number or speed of the notes played.

George Harrison is my favorite among this school.
'Cry Baby', towards the ends has a five note sparkle that can chill, lift all the hairs on my neck, et cetera.
How hard did he work to achieve this? I suspect much was an outward expression of his religious studies.
The number of notes George played seemed to go down the older he got and yet the ability to convey a feeling never diminished. In fact, it seemed to be becoming stronger as time went on.

I heard a Dead riff in my head and found a suitable outlet. In what way could I tie it to the Dead/Phish without being blatant?
Did it work? Only you can say.

I am looking to expand my palette though the study of another minimalistic school. Colin James - a Canadian of some repute. His mastery of the guitar is also a minimalists approach. However he is playing as accompaniment of the vocals. Not as a "solo." His instrumental periods are very short and sweet...very much to the point.
I tend to riif too much. Using riffs means you are not thinking but pulling standard lines from your repertoire.
They may in fact, be original. Audiences will see them as fresh even though you will not.
A hard line to walk.

So I am trying to paint with fewer notes. To control the urge to just spew forth. I grew up wanting to play the saxophone and my guitar playing acutely reflects this.How many other schools have I neglected?
I consider this all worthwhile growth. It is not painful...boring, repetitious (building muscle memory is key to play an instrument) and very much worth the investment and mental gymnastics.

I stopped by my favorites music store, Styles, Pomona and played with a Baja Tele. It was a used one; the owner was asking $550, I'm betting it'll go for $475 ish.
I liked it very much, but I could not justify the maneuvering that would have been necessary to pull it off.
There just was not enough of a step up from the Squier I have at the moment for the debt.
To top it off, I think the Squier has nicer pickups?

To assuage that gnawing feeling I bought some boutique picks.

V-Picks - Anywhere for $4 to $20 a pop. Not an inexpensive pick to say the least. Strange shape that takes getting used to.
I used to use Dunlop Stubbies - and was spending $10 a month on picks. When I realized that I decided to look at the V-Picks again.

At $10 each, that is nothing to sneeze at. I won't be tossing these into the crowd. They are 4.10 mm thick...i.e. massive for a pick. But after months of play, there is no wear to speak of.

I tend to like thinner picks, so at 2.75 mm, these are perfection.
Called the Ruby Red Medium Rounded...these are my main picks at the moment. The Ruby going for $4.99

And they come in other flavors that no little boy can resist...

Such as - The Glow In the Dark variety...$4.99

Or the aptly named and somewhat silly Pearly Gates... yes, I had to buy one at $3.99
The last three are the same pick in different colors.
I wonder if Vinnie would make one in purple for me?

And Yet Another Shameless Plug

I posted another tune, 'Stride, Don't Hurry.'

If you hear strains of 'Walk, Don't Run,' you are to be forgiven.
More often than not I am expressing some facet of my soul, my inner workings. But now and again I post what I refer to as, "noodling." Aimless exercise.This has elements of both.

The 60s being that seminal period musically speaking...for me. Tunes such as this made up that early period just before I really became musically aware.
Call and answer...hanging notes...soulful vibrato...all of it is present. And then the noodling. It really takes an element of concentration to avoid musical diarrhea.
Sigh...
My ReverbNation Page

Celebrate Life

It is difficult to ignore the happenings of this week.
It is also difficult to speak out against killing and death with so much chest thumping prevalent.

A friend reminded me of the word - jingoism.
"...extreme patriotism in the form of aggressive foreign policy. In practice, it is a country's advocation of the use of threats or actual force against other countries in order to safeguard what it perceives as its national interests. Colloquially, it refers to excessive bias in judging one's own country as superior to others – an extreme type of nationalism."

I am glad that a perceived threat has been removed. If this act in fact, makes us any safer than we were on Saturday, wonderful. However, I do not see any change in airport security measures (which I think are outmoded and useless...ask Israel how to prevent terrorists from boarding planes), threat level, nor in the money spent combating what we see as a threat to our homeland.
To all the youth that grew up amidst the shadow of 9/11, this is not the end.

I DO hope the government can find other issues to occupy their time - such as employment, wages, standard of living et cetera.

In those wonderful words of Mr. Lennon - Give Peace A Chance

MacGyver It

Guitarists have a propensity for tinkering with their instruments. They are wood, so modifying can be relativly easy. Not that it always ends well, but cutting a deeper channel to accomodate a larger switch is not beyond most guitarists.

We need to remember that attitiude when other pieces in our chain fail or break.
Last night I took home a 51 Squier. Set up, changed the strings and then decided it was time to try 'er out.
I powered up the amp and pedal board and then reached across to power up my recorder - a Fostex 16 HD.

I depress the switch, the lights come on, the switch makes a snapping noise ...the unit powers down (it never really powered up as you need to hold the switch for a good 15 seconds). The switch fell partially inside the recorder.
Sigh...look at the ceiling...sigh again.

Get out the tools and unhook the cables to the recorder...drag it into the kitchen - better lighting, more room.
Fifteen screws later,  a few twist tabs and one cable unplugged and the top and bottom separate for me.
Sigh...look at the ceiling...wipe my brow.

The two tabs on the right side had snapped. The long leg is to depress the actual power switch imbedded inside the chassis. I understand why Fostex engineering did this, but on a $400 peice of recording equipment it should be rated for millions of clicks - heck, my mouse is and I paid much less for the mouse. ;)
Sigh...look at the ceiling again.

I put on my Einstein beenie...went deep, deep into thought. And I came up with this inspired solution!

A Q-Tip jammed into the opening does the trick.
Naturally, I forgot several screws while reassmbling, so that made it a longer journey than necessary, but I got the bugger working!
Remember - some duct tape, a rubber band and thou.
This too, shall pass.

Sigh

Wood

Look at the neck towards the left side of the picture. The neck was cut against the grain for some reason. At the top of the shot is the nut of the guitar...this is the first three frets. The swirl along the side continues down the neck...like a serpent.




Here are the first two frets, the nut (which needs to be replaced) and the truss rod hole. The pattern in the wood is almost psychedelic and will age nicely if the poly wears off...or if I sand it off.
Sometimes, instruments have souls of their own  Independent of you, the player. They have personality and style. Not always...Some have a mass produced cookie cutter look to them. And then we modify them to further make them our own...as in my case with the knob swap.

Even the plain Jane body, which is a slab of pine, just as Leo made them in the early 1950s, has a simple grace to it. (Would they be so crass as to make a veneer for this...?)

These are supposed to be tools really. Do violinists sit and admire the grain? I have not seen piano players do this. French horn players comparing who got the better shade of brass coloring?
And especially in the case of this particular guitar - a relatively cheap iteration of the Telecaster line.
It was made in China in 2009.
Beats the pants off the Indian Strat as far as fit and finish - there really isn't much of either here.
It's.a.tele.
It's wood.
It has a soul...

Needs a name.

Right click any photo and select "Open In A New Tab" to see the shot full sized and in all its glory.

It's A Sign - Baby Needs A New Pair Of Shoes

My picks are purple 2 millimeter Dunlop Stubbies.
My phone has a purple case, which I bought because it spoke to me...not having made the connection to the picks until later.
Pick and Phone

Now I have a 50s vibe Tele - which is "Vanilla" with a blackguard - to be 1950s accurate -& a button selector switch, also to be historically accurate. It came with the de rigueur chrome, knurled knobs that were Leo's choice in 1952. The knobs are tall and thick, so when the pickup selector switch is in the bridge position it becomes difficult to slide a finger in there and move the switch.

I decide to look at alternative knobs. I know Lou has a collection in a dusty box. (STYLES MUSIC POMONA) I see some pearloid topping a chrome rounded knobs. The pickguard would have to be pearl for it to work. Okay, the choices are becoming more clear. The guitar is an off white and the pickguard is black.

I need a black knob, now the pearl might work as it would more or less match the body color.
They are too white. He also has some very striking red pearloid/black metal knobs...red?
Then they wink at me.

I don't know what it is...I must be channeling Jimi Hendrix. I have been feeling flamboyant. No, don't ask.
I buy them...$16. They are also a pearloid and tend to shift a bit as the light changes.
They are purple. And I do not make the connection until I get them on the guitar. The color is deep and the tone knob - the lower knob - is more pastel, whereas the volume knob on top is crisp and very sharp.
Then I laid the guitar on it's back...I wanted to lay a pick between the knobs - a partial connection had been made...I knew something was up.

The pick and the tone knob were identical and I knew what why I had bought them. But the volume knob had taken on a completely different hue.
I'm a Gemini...this makes sense - twins that change depending on how the light strikes them?!

"Yeah, well...you know, only cowboys stay in tune..."
J. Hendrix 12/67