| Author |
Message |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1753
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, November 02, 2015 - 4:15 pm: |  |
I found one of these...
 
   
...and half of an Alembic cutting board !  |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1762
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 2:18 am: | |
(double post)
(Message edited by elwoodblue on November 19, 2015) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1763
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 2:19 am: | |
I'll pick up this stitch...
I don't have any guitars with a trapeze tailpiece, that's what that whammy contraption is meant for.
It's spring loaded so the action is more subtle than just bearing down on the strings behind the bridge.
I turned 50 a month ago (Woohoo!!),and a power outage had me sitting in the dark with a warm cat on my tummy for a while.
I was thinking about what I had in my life that brought me joy...the Alembic virtual living room (and kitchen!) is in my top ten.
Thanks for that!
I'm gonna try and ramble more as a 50th revolution resolution , I hope that's a good thing most the time 
Now where did I put rest of that cutting board?(I really want to put a neck on it) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1764
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 2:21 am: | |
^the |
ed_zeppelin
Intermediate Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 191
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 8:03 am: | |
http://t.harborfreight.com/36-piece-14-in-steel-letternumber-stamping-set-60671.html
You know what to do. |
ed_zeppelin
Intermediate Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 192
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 9:08 am: | |
Congratulations on surviving fifty circumnavigations around the sun aboard this wacky little planet. You're now officially invisible to teenagers.
Denny's, K-Mart, Dunkin' Donuts, Michael's arts & crafts, ADT Home Security, Chick-Fil-A, Papa John's, Banana Republic, UPS, Avis, Budget Rent-a-car, National Car Rental, Hertz (don't it?), Kellogg's, Goody's, Bubba Gump, Chart House, Claim Jumper, Landry's Seafood, Rainforest Cafe, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Westin, Sheraton, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge and the National Park Service all offer Senior discounts when you hit 50 (and it hits back).
For ten bucks you can get a geezer card that'll get you into any National Park in the country.
Your McDonald's (ptew) coffee just got cheaper (ask for their certified unfair-trade coffee). The pimply teens behind the counter will sneer in the direction of your voice (it's that invisibility thing. You'll get used to it), because they're jealous of our intelligence and experience.
One of the best things I've ever done was joining AARP on my 50th birthday (eight years ago ), despite their stance on premarital sex; "fine, as long as it doesn't block the aisle."
Just think, in 15 years you'll turn 65 and really hit the heavily discounted jackpot. Time to get your cranky on!
There will be periodic reminders of your exalted status as an elder. If you smile at pretty girls while you're crossing the street ...
(Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on November 19, 2015) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1765
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 9:30 am: | |
Tanks!
I guess I didn't realize what it meant for travel discounts.Travel sounds more fun everyday!
Until I'm sure there's no animal products in McD's coffee,I'll have to keep making my own.
Isn't AARP some kind of uber antenna network that messes with our planet's fine balance??
I've ordered the stamp set, now...If I only had a hammer... |
ed_zeppelin
Intermediate Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 193
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 10:26 am: | |
[double post]
I'm hereby announcing a fundraising drive to help Alembic get a new message board system. I don't need to say why.
I'll start with a pledge of fifty bucks.
(Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on November 19, 2015) |
ed_zeppelin
Intermediate Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 194
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 10:34 am: | |
quote:Until I'm sure there's no animal products in McD's coffee,I'll have to keep making my own.
We subscribe to an even higher standard: until we're sure there's no McDonald's products in McDonald's "food," we'll have to keep making our own.
Since you mention it (pardon me while I doff the "DON'T GET HIM STARTED!" sign the Foghorn forces me to wear, even to bed), how's about we indulge in a nice, steaming mug of smug this dreary morning? I'm in the Willamette Valley, in Oregon. Guess the weather. Go ahead.
Here's an oddity I would not have known, if I were not chained by marriage to a Scot: cold, damp weather makes them homesick. They thrive in this muck. Look at where they settled, all over the world. First they came to Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains, paradise. "Noo," they said; "not cold enough! Let's go north, laddies! Nova Scotia! Follow those black clouds!"
I hail from sunnier climes, Sudden California (pre-paving). Weather like this makes me feel like I'm living in one of those "Halo" video games, with slime dripping from the walls and god knows what waiting around every bend, ready to lunge at you from out of the dank fog. I know, I'll create my own game app: "Help the cranky old fart find his way back to the cave!"
Coffee. [it puts the sign back on, puts the lotion in the basket]. We get ours from Dean's Beans. https://deansbeans.com/ He's the guy who invented the whole concept of "Fair Trade." Just poke around for five minutes on that site and you'll be astounded.
I mean this as sincerely as humanly possible: do yourself a favor and get this:
https://deansbeans.com/gifts-samplers/javatrekker-survival-kit.html
The reason why is because it's a party in a box, for yourself (and whatever beings share your domicile, natch). He's one of the best writers I've ever come across, and the best part is that it's laugh out loud funny, too. Each section of the book is about a different country where he went and set up fair trade agreements with the farmers, and you get to drink their coffee while you're reading it to each other!
It's a unique experience. He even goes so far as to post the invoices on his website, so everyone can see - to the penny - who benefits from it, and what they do with it. Schools, clinics, wells, water purification, electrical infrastructures ... When you can see that with your own eyes, it adds a lot to your enjoyment of that steamy cup o' java, y'know? The best part is that you know those farmers send Dean the very best coffee on the planet (and it averages out to about eight bucks a pound).
Hey, consider that my birthday gift to you. I hope you don't mind paying such a small price for such quality smug |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1767
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 11:00 am: | |
Coool beans!!
Since my early teens I've been buying grind your own( I think millstone was the first).
To keep with a theme...I had to use a hammer to smash some beans in a paper bag to be sifted through a peanut butter jar with holes punched in the top into my filter as I stoked the fire that was slowwwwwly heating the water . Did I mention the power outage?
I ordered a hand grinder on amazon today
We have sunshine and dampness here today.
If I move it will be away from these 100 foot tall trees that wave over the house in high winds.
...maybe just move eveything 120 ft over a bit.
I recently bought some borosilcate double walled mugs to keep the java toasty ( it aint the same once it's cooled).
The Alembic mug I got at a NW gathering has been retired for pencils,it really would have benefited from some scarf joints were the body meets the handle.
Thanks for the heads up.
Now I need to go play with my new little drill press
(maybe that'd work with the stamping set??). |
ed_zeppelin
Intermediate Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 195
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Thursday, November 19, 2015 - 12:48 pm: | |
I used to keep pencils in coffee cups, until it went to the doctor for these horrible stabbing pains I got in my eyes every time I drank coffee. I didn't know you were supposed to alternate between the pencils and coffee. (I figured something was up when people kept commenting on the huge freckles showing up on my face, and I don't have any freckles.) |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 230
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Saturday, January 09, 2016 - 11:36 pm: | |
Elwood! I must have this guitar.
Not so much to play it, but to hear what it sounds like. I was just referring to Blue Man Group in another thread, and I'm reminded of how they use boxes of Capt. Crunch as percussion instruments. Like that.
Back in the 90s I dropped a set of Hondo pickups in our bands guitarist's axe. To this day he has no idea where they came from. Hell, I don't know where they came from! only that I'd snagged them off a fifty-dollar Hondo that had imploded or something, and right around that time I set a bunch of them up for store stock and the first thing I said when I plugged one into my bench amp was ... Well, let's just say that only modesty and decorum prevent me from repeating it in this august forum, but man them things roared! I couldn't believe it.
So I had umpteen sets in my junk boxes, as these Asian time-bombs self-destructed. And they cranked! it was like you bought three coils of wire and they threw the rest of the guitar in for free (stick it in the trunk, to dig yourself out of snowdrifts).
My favorite part about your guitar is its creator's intentions in the face of his delusions of adequacy. Like the way the grain of the wood is wonky as hell. Yet it works. Graft a chunk of maple on it, then stamp your name in it - badly - so everybody knows who to blame. I love that.
So since you're the only thing standing in the way of true love, what will it take for me to be united with the object of my devotion? I've got tons of nifty stuff to barter. [bats eyelashes]
PS: I stumbled across a video on YouTube that explained this monstrosity:
Its a one-off they made for trade shows, to demonstrate their line of strings. A couple of guys whipped it up in their garage or something. |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1790
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2016 - 7:00 am: | |
I've thought about sending her to you, just for kicks . If I knew how to ramble it might have come up earlier, I need to find a bucket of mercury or something.
I'll make some recordings to hold you over.
I can't ramble before coffee...so I'll give it another go in an hour.
Mornin'! |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1791
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2016 - 7:40 am: | |
The guitarist in my last band had a $79 china strat. So I asked him if I could have it for the week. I put in fender cs-69's at the neck and middle and a SD-5 at the bridge.Traded the guts for a G&L PTB setup I had from an S-500, gold anodized pickguard for the one ply soft plastic one....and spent way to much time dressing the frets and finessing the setup...and of course a light buff with Virtuoso polish.So I put in maybe $250 worth of upgrades plus my time into an 80 dollar 'f-der'. (I listed the china pickups and guts on ebay...they wouldn't sell for $10.)
I don't think I ever heard a "thanks guy"...he like the gold though.
My main objective was to get our sound to be better...and it notched out that crappy china pickup sound...so missin accomplished.
I'm close to finishing a 6 string creation myself.I'm eager to see where it falls on the Cletus scale ;) |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 231
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Sunday, January 10, 2016 - 3:31 pm: | |
I had to buy my dad a Taylor 610 acoustic, just so he'd have a decent guitar to swap with me (he's 84 now, this was about twenty years ago). He's the king of cheap guitars. I hated guys like him when I worked retail: spend hours of your time trying every guitar in the store, then settle for a $79 chunk of Asian kindling - insisting on every possible discount ("can you throw in a case, strings, strap, picks and a subscription to 'Gerontological Digest?'") and then complain about it.
They'd be convinced you ripped them off, just reached into his wallet and took the food out of his mouth (I'll have whatever metaphors you're mixing, barkeep). Then keep coming back to complain that "it don't play right, and my fingers turn black and stink to high heaven every time I play that Hank song on it."
[remember your Zig Zigler Zen training, son. Go to your happy place. Play "In Dreams" in your head, focus on Roy's sweet tenor reaching down into your soul to massage your liver or something. Remember; 'big boys don't hit.' Ommmm]
Actually, I loved retail. As you may have noticed, I never argue with anybody, yet remain obnoxious and offensive. It's a fine line. Sort of an Okie version of Gandhi.
quote:"I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers." (My favorite Gandhi quote )
My verbosity this fine Sunday morn is because the Foghorn is in Scotland visiting her mother (whom I cheerfully refer to as "the hitch from bell") Think Mrs. Doubtfire as played by Sam Kinison, drunk. The only thing we agree on is that her daughter is too good for me. All because I had the unmitigated gall to be born in California, and I don't wear skirts. I mean, kilts.
So yeah, I stayed up too late. I put my feet on the coffee table, and thought about not using a coaster. I left the bathroom light on, just for the ugly fun of it. Turned my amp up to 4! Cuz that's how I roll, baby. I'm a rebel.
Ah, coffee. My brane is beginning to work again (despite decades of beating into submission). It puts the lotion in the basket. Got it. |
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy
Post Number: 1997
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 4:08 am: | |
"Actually, I loved retail."
I am a firm believer in tolerance& understanding - but you, Sir, are a sick, twisted individual.....
Peter (Who, OK, yeah, mebbe is prejudiced because his only retail experience was at the Evil Empire). |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 232
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 9:04 am: | |
I was lucky to get a job as a schmuck (errands, cleaning, etc.) in a music store when I was a teenager, and it changed my life. The owner, Bob, was hilarious.
He was one of those great jazz guitarists who could play whole songs in what I call "Ted Greene six-finger chords," but he never played in front of customers because he didn't want to make anyone feel inadequate.
He never said a negative thing about anybody. I was this horrible long haired geek, and he treated me like I was a star. In fact, he treated everybody who walked through the door as though they were important. And they were.
He taught me that sales is about helping people, period. Bad salesmen manipulate people into spending too much for something they don't need. Good salesmen help people get what they want, period. It really is that simple. Guess which ones make the most money?
He was sorta "classically trained" in sales, too. He had a library of books by guys like Zig Ziglar and Dale Carnegie and he delighted in sharing stuff from them, because the whole idea is that if you help people get what they want, the numbers take care of themselves.
He not only made me read "How To Win Friends And Influence People," he practiced the "points" with me until they were branded on my frontal lobe.
BECOME A FRIENDLIER PERSON
1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest, sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
4. Become genuinely interested in other people.
5. Smile.
6. Remember that a person's name is to that person the most important sound in any language.
7. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
8. Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
9. Make the other person feel important - and do so sincerely.
10 The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
WINNING PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING
11. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, "You're wrong."
12. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
13. Begin in a friendly way.
14. Get the other person saying, "Yes, yes" immediately.
15. Let the other person do most of the talking.
16. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
17. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
18. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
19. Appeal to the nobler motives.
20. Dramatize your ideas.
LEADERSHIP
21. Throw down a challenge.
22. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
23. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
24. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
25. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
26. Let the other person save face.
27. Praise the slightest and every improvement. "Be lavish in your praise."
28. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
29. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
30. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.
I'm lucky if 5% of that stuck, but I shudder to think of what I'd be like without Bob's example. For instance, he had picked up a bunch of mannequin hands (!) at a junk shop. We weren't allowed to say; "can I help you?" to customers, simply because the worst way to begin an interaction with anyone is for one of you to say "no." Bob grabbed one of the mannequin hands, walked over and said; "need a hand?" And handed it to them! Start off with a smile. He was just like that. Everybody adored him. Just a massively fun guy to be around.
Imagine the best salesman you can. That was Bob. He was genuinely interested in you. He asked the right questions to find out what you wanted - and he actually listened to you - and helped you get it. |
jcdlc72
Senior Member
Username: jcdlc72
Post Number: 462
Registered: 11-2009
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 9:23 am: | |
In my city (and country) we need tons of salesmen like Bob. I remember being to music stores where nobody is allowed to touch the instruments and equipment DISPLAYED there (Those were FOR DISPLAY, not for PLAY!!!!). Where salesmen not only don't know much about (they know nothing) the equipment being sold there (You' re lucky if one out of four or five guys in the same store even plays an instrument, not to mention being skilled or pro). Long ago, a shop opened, in a small house within a residential area (you had to ring the door as if you were visiting a friend, no sign, no nothing, go figure!), and once inside it was a really nice shop (mostly keyboards based, but they were also a local representative for some big brands and also carried some guitar, bass and percussion equipment), and if you were interested in keyboards (as I certainly was), they handed you a pair of headphones and guided you to a room (probably the original house's dining/living room since it was large) filled with keyboards ( 2 and 3-tier inclined shelves on the walls set up as keyboard stands), and encouraged you to try anyone you like. I did spent long hours on that store (I ended up buying my first synth there too!) and fell in love with their vision. About four years later they had created a music tech school, and I was totally brought over by the idea and ended up being not only a teacher there, but eventually was promoted as assistant director. But what really started it was the original vision of a store where YOU were really important enough as to let YOU do things and decide. Needless to say they sold a lot!. Unfortunately, the shop (and the school) closed in the mid-90s, and even though there have been some attempts at making "decent" music stores since then, there has been nothing around here that may come even close to that. So... I guess Bob was really right... |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1792
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 5:50 pm: | |
Forest,
Do you have any experience with Dave Bunker's instruments?
ebay link |
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq
Post Number: 6322
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 6:16 pm: | |
I have a 70's Bunker Pro Star guitar. Very unique instrument. His main innovation is the tension-free neck. The tension of the strings is borne by a steel rod that runs through the guitar. No tension on the neck or fretboard.
Bill, tgo |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1793
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 6:38 pm: | |
I'm curious about the timbre;maybe a scooped tone due to the hollow, or maybe a sort of bloom since there might be more resonances due to the lack of neck compression...or is it all in the fingers like most things
Bunker has built some interesting touch instruments too.
I made a neck pretensioner to do fretwork on. I'm guessing that wouldn't be necessary on a Bunker TensionFreeNeck. |
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy
Post Number: 1998
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, January 11, 2016 - 8:13 pm: | |
"Bad salesmen manipulate people into spending too much for something they don't need. Good salesmen help people get what they want, period."
That's actually the sort of thing that got me fired.
Manager (in AM sales meeting): "We have a deal on these bottom-line Yamahas; we'll be pushing them all week at $150 - that's a 100% mark up!"
Starving guitarist (1-2 hrs later): "What's the best guitar you can sell me for $150?"
Me: "This 1959 Gibson ES-330-TD."
Peter (Who could go on & on, but won't.) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1815
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, February 03, 2016 - 11:47 pm: | |
Forest (or anyone else),
Do you see something wrong here that NEEDS some fixin'?
hint:once fixed,it's gonna sound at least twice as good
I hate to say it, but I'm gonna have to get the dremel out.
I wouldn't want to send you a guitar that didn't sound good ;) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1818
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, February 07, 2016 - 2:58 am: | |
It's the pickup string alignment for anyone who didn't notice...the pickup routes need to be just a little wider to allow the bottom bobbins to fit right.
The pickups will be rearranged...presently,the neck is South up,the middle and bridge are North up. Also the pole spacing will be better with the bridge pup going to the neck position,middle to the bridge, and neck to the middle.
I think our friend James had more than one Cleatus moment. The negatives from the pickups were grounded with this cool system
I'm guessing band-aids were an essential part of James' life...unlike electrical tape.
The Switch for the active boost has been intermittent, I put that on the hit list of things to fix...but...
I might have to cut open the epoxy to fix the switch,curious what else I might find ?!!
(baby doll heads in jello comes to mind)
The boost must be 12db or more.It's pretty dramatic,like a really hot wah pedal.
I think a blend knob would make it usable.Luckily there's a hole.
I just need to pop of that brass washer.The black button was a fine tuner screw from a floyd rose assembly.
So it's on deck to be benched.
Did I mention the electronics smell like bandaids??...eewwww :\ |
edwardofhuncote
Junior
Username: edwardofhuncote
Post Number: 820
Registered: 6-2014
| | Posted on Sunday, February 07, 2016 - 6:23 am: | |
Pheew. I know that smell... what the heck is it? Those old Gibson parts I have squirreled away smell like that too. Reminds me of an old Lionel train I had as a kid. |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 245
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Sunday, February 07, 2016 - 8:56 am: | |
Thank you for conducting the autopsy in public. It's like Cletus meets Salvador Dali. The funny thing is that I noticed that the pickup pole pieces didn't line up, but it wrote that off to the wonky positioning of the Floyd.
You can see the routing for the old bridge glaring out from the north side, and having seen the same thing umpteen times before when future rock stars yanked Strat wiggle sticks out of their Kramers and dropped Floyds in (Strat bridges have a bigger footprint), I kinda got hung up on that particular aspect of the crime scene.
It never occurred to me to move the pickups, since if I was to do anything to that beast it would be to finalize the divorce from Floyd, but I wouldn't even do that because I thought that was part of its charm.
The block of epoxy with wires and switches sticking out of it - and a butterfly band-aid, for apparently no good reason whatsoever - belongs in a museum. Perhaps a "Dangers of Meth" display or something.
I found a wasp nest in an Ibanez once (honest, the work order said "making a buzzing sound"), which had been - until now - the weirdest thing I've ever seen come out of a guitar. Yes, "the SPST switch epoxy pudding pop with an owee" tops 'em all. This is a great moment in Cletus history, if only because it memorializes the anonymous doofus who obviously didn't have much faith in his soldering skills. "I know, I'll bury it in a block of epoxy and put a band-aid on it, just in case the block of epoxy disintegrates at high volume!"
Y'know, flawed genius that James M. "Call Me 'Jimi'" Lewis was when he cobbled together that guitar, until you showed us the innards, I had blamed an unknown perp for the most egregious insults on that instrument (the Floyd was the dead giveaway, since I figgered it had a stock Strat bridge originally).
But now that I see that "Jimi" Lewis didn't even bother to blow the dust out of the control cavity before swabbing shielding paint in there (I assume that's what it is, though I secretly hope it's house paint, in keeping with Cletus tradition), I'm beginning to suspect the pickups and wiring are original.
It's hard to tell, since from a "Guitar CSI" point of view it's like trying to investigate a victim who's been murdered multiple times, with at least one of the perps displaying a shred of remorse by returning to the scene to put band aids on the corpse.
It makes me want to buy a Michael Bolton CD and start a "Howl along with Michael Bolton Nite" at a local bar. Crank my old Epiphone amp up to 11 and recreate the opening scene of "Back To The Future," then do some SERIOUS Van Halen-esque dive-bombing during the part of "When A Man Does A Woman" where it sounds like Mike sprayed contact cleaner on his vocal cords.
Careful with that axe, Eugene. |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1819
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, February 09, 2016 - 7:47 pm: | |
One of these days...
It doesn't taste like house paint : )
I figured the pickups were 70's fender miscellania, but I just don't know after seeing the underside
(I'll post pics,maybe you know what they are).
I have these old crimson seymours that would look at home here...we'll see how the new pickup configuration works first.
Gonna have to cut into the epoxicle..I'll be careful ;) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1826
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 15, 2016 - 3:28 am: | |
I dig this headstock,
It reminds me of rayon geometric disco shirts I've become nostalgic for:
youtube link |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 255
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, February 15, 2016 - 6:37 am: | |
I saw this the other day and thought of this thread. Ride 'em cowboy!
 |
peoplechipper
Senior Member
Username: peoplechipper
Post Number: 656
Registered: 2-2009
| | Posted on Monday, February 29, 2016 - 11:05 pm: | |
DO NOT EVEN TRY TO CUT INTO THE EPOXY, it won't work; trust me I've tried to do such things and it never works...there is stuff out there that will dissolve epoxy (jeweller's stuff that I can't remember the brand name) but it's SOOO TOXIC a mere whiff smells like brain damage...seriously, I've actually used the stuff and a mere whiff made me see BLACK STARS in front of my eyes; so toxic, and you have to burp the can sometimes...won't use that stuff again...Tony |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1840
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, February 29, 2016 - 11:26 pm: | |
Eww, sounds like drool of BrundleFly.
This stuff is softer than a hard cured epoxy...
more like ballistics gel. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bullet in there ;).
Unless Forest convinces me otherwise, I think I'll make a stompbox from the active filter since it's not dependable enough to gig or record with. Then I can just leave the old switch on and put a new one in line to use.
Thanks for the caveat Tony. |
peoplechipper
Senior Member
Username: peoplechipper
Post Number: 659
Registered: 2-2009
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 12:38 am: | |
It's probably worse than BrundleFly; thankfully I never got it on my skin as I have been trained in using evil compounds but even every brush I used with the stuff dissolved..."ok, so this stuff will dissolve a squirell... |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 272
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 5:59 am: | |
quote:more like ballistics gel.
That explains the band-aid.
No, it really doesn't. Nothing that I can see explains the band-aid, except possibly drugs. I had one of those "Who's On First?" arguments going on in my skull:
"Why a band-aid? To secure the wires to the carefully-molded epoxy-ish ballistics gel block!
Okay, why the carefully-molded epoxy-ish ballistics gel block? To secure the wires and the SPST switch in an epoxy pudding pop!
Why not use solder, like everybody else? Because he could carefully create a mold, stick the switch and wires in it and pour god-knows-what in it and hold it steady until "Wheel of Fortune" was over, and that would hold it much better than the solder everybody else uses!
Okay, then why the band-aid? ..."
By running this never-ending conundrum over and over through my warped brane, I think I may have arrived at a possible tentative guess. I was listening to a Richard Pryor CD and heard him say; "I'm not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells!"
It's the smell! What we assume is epoxy is actually Ellie May's gravy. (Funny you mentioned squirrel, too!) Jethro done used it to war a git-tar, then put a band-aid on it to try to contain the smell!
Shoot. That ain't it. I just don't know. Back to the "drugs theory."
Here's a guitar made with roadkill. Speaking of smells ...
 |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1841
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 7:50 am: | |
I'm glad they went with steel strings. |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 273
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 12:43 pm: | |
That picture came with no story, so we're in the same boat there. But I take it that you're suggesting they killed it with the guitar? If so, I'll bet it was an early 80's Kramer Barreta, because everybody was glued to MTV 24/7, watchin' hair-bands and getting makeup tips from morticians and stuff. (Not me, of course.)
Then Eddie Van Halen endorsed Kramer and overnight, they sold a zillion of the cursed things. Up 'til then, he had played a homemade contraption made up of Boogie Bodies (remember them?) and Chandler necks, painted with Schwinn bicycle paint and electrical tape. He was only using one pickup, but he had pickup covers on the front two cavities so nobody could cop his tone. So the Kramer endorsement was a big deal at the time.
That's where my loathing of original Floyd Rose(s?) wiggle-sticks comes from. [shudder] my point is that those guys would have done that to some poor animal. I can't think of anybody else who would, though.
Kramers were cheap spankin' planks. They started out with aluminum necks, didja know that? Either Kramer or Travis Bean (our Jerry reference, with reverence) supplied aluminum necks for the other.
I like to think of this as a pre-derailed thread anyway, which brings up a completely different topic for no apparent reason.
I consider this 1947 Stromberg Master 400 to be a true masterpiece, worthy of inclusion into this fine assemblage of all things Alembic.
Take your time. Don't forget to breathe. I'm going to go look again myself. I've been doing that for about a week now. Ask Greg.
I love the obvious Alembic thing on the back of the neck. So elegant it almost hurts, y'know what I mean? It's so perfect it makes your fingers itchy. And that strap button? That is absolutely unique. I've never seen that anywhere else.
It's unfortunate that Elmer Stromberg's own hand built instruments suffered from a batch of bogus varnish that degraded quickly. The most obvious place is the headstock, so it's rare to see one that hasn't been refinished. Odd that he used a completely different finish elsewhere, though. Like the rest of the neck, for instance. That's the only flaw I spotted, and then only because I read about it somewhere.
It's pretty apparent what kind of women Elmer liked walking behind, if you follow my drift.
Gibson, Epiphone, Stromberg and especially D'Angelico duked it out over the little-known or understood postwar "Big Butt Guitar War." Gibson came out with the outrageously widebody "Super 400" with 19-inch lower bouts. Epiphone topped 'em - and themselves - with the 20-inch "Emperor Zephyr Regent." I consider that the most badass guitar ever. Check out the three DeArmonds and 6-button Bakelite "Masterbilt Switching System."
John D'Angelico made the "New Yorker" (the one on the left was George Benson's. Note the same issue with the faceplate as Stromberg.)
Here's a superb 1947 D'Angelico New Yorker (with comparatively modest 18-inch caboose) at the National Music Museum. Click the pics to get the centerfold shots. You'll just have to imagine the staples, though.
Hey gorgeous! Nice to see yer back! Woo hoo!
Here's what a Stromberg G-7 sounds like. I think it sounds almost exactly like Gene Krupa's snare, with brushes. (And If that sprightly tune don't slap a goofy grin on your grumpy mug, well ... you're probably Scottish. Ha ha.) |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 274
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 01, 2016 - 9:35 pm: | |
I just now discovered a Stromberg banjo at the National Music Museum made by Elmer thirty years before that Master 400 in the previous post, that I want to share with you.
You can scroll down and click on the skinny pics to get hi-def details of each section. And just wait 'til you get a load of the case.
A banjo player showing off? Imagine that. |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1843
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 02, 2016 - 3:03 am: | |
Dang!
Love that colored marquetry.
I've decided to find a glass display box, wired with input/output jacks and a switch...and some soft indirect lighting...I'll use LEDs so the band-aid won't off-gas too quickly. What's the half life of a band-aid smell? The glass should preserve it for future generations...maybe they can clone James
re: the roadkill ax, GUT strings was what I was (and still am) trying to avoid.
Thanks for those museum links! |
edwardofhuncote
Senior Member
Username: edwardofhuncote
Post Number: 875
Registered: 6-2014
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 09, 2016 - 10:40 am: | |
Thought I’d share this around our little circle folks who admire fine woodworking skills, especially when applied to musical instruments…
This fiddle belongs to a friend of mine… it was made (approx. 25 years ago) by a local violin/fiddle maker by the name of Arthur Conner who’s home and shop is in nearby Copper Hill, Virginia. I forget how many instruments he’s made to date, but they’re quite revered, with several players of renown using them. I know of 4 upright basses he’s made, as well as a handful of cellos, but Mr. Conner is primarily known for his fiddles. Some of them, like this one, have fancy carved headstocks instead of scrolls. This one also happens to be a 5-string fiddle, the low-C tuning giving the player access to a viola’s range. Note also, how the f-holes and corners are cut, as this is often a characteristic maker's mark.
Here’s an article about him from a couple years ago, written after what must have been quite a humorous interview:
http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/news/2010/03/21/4683132.htm |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1853
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 16, 2016 - 1:38 pm: | |
The bass embedded in the works is brilliant!
marble music machine |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 302
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 22, 2016 - 12:23 pm: | |
Here's the first one (watch it all the way through, even if you've seen it before. It'll be worth it).
http://youtu.be/Xu-A0jqMPd8
This is why:
http://youtu.be/PCIkbr9HCcw
Cletus wants to do something similar with a paintball gun and some Fisher-Price toy xylophones (I'm going to sneak up behind him with a cattle prod, to add vocals.) Maybe we can start a Michael Bolton tribute band! |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1871
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - 7:19 pm: | |
If only it didn't have that modern pickup...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANDMADE-2-STRING-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-CUSTOM-VIOLIN-SHAPE-SELECT-EMG-VTG-/111947117277?hash=item1a109172dd:g:TaUAAOSwZ8ZW9Ktj |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 311
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - 10:11 pm: | |
Another attempt at a theft-proof instrument. Its the same "too ugly to steal" idea as Gibson basses.
Note the compensated "bridge" (it's pretty easy to guess what they were compensating for).
I'm not sure what's going on with the "tailpiece(?)" thing. Looks like somebody took some sheet metal shears to the junkyard and kept whacking chunks off old tractors and coke machines until something snagged the ball ends OG the strings.
"Now I'll just ram a machine screw through it, and break out the Dremel and really make it ugly." Cletus thinks.
That is an authentic dish washing sponge stuffed in the little box. Good for that "clean" tone. Love the vintage duct tape trim.
I'm pretty sure it's a rare "emergency bass response unit," intended to be played with the feet if the bass player don't show (it's tuned: "1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5 etc."), and for clearing the way to the exit if a bar brawl breaks out.
A definite collector's item, if only to prove to a collector that they really should be collecting something else. |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1872
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Tuesday, March 29, 2016 - 10:39 pm: | |
I missed that there was a kitchen sponge in there.
I bet that was added in the 80's. It's nice the original flathead screws are intact.
You know, working with those is a dying art. |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 312
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Wednesday, March 30, 2016 - 8:55 am: | |
I admit, I'm not hip to advancements in Scotch-Brite technology (in fact, as a married man I generally regard dish washing supplies with the same enthusiasm a vampire has for a crucifix), but it looks like it's mounted scrubby-side down, with a regular kitchen sponge [shudder] shoved in there on top of it. (Think they're meant to be wet?)
Unfortunately, I don't think that muted it entirely, but it's a step in the right direction.
Now that's how to mount a neck! (Alembic, are you paying attention?)
Coupla machine screws, a socket and ratchet and "batter up!" Note that the perp inscribed their name, as usual in these cases. It's as though they anticipate the question; "whom to blame for this abomination?"
Flathead technology at its finest (and by "flathead," I don't mean the screws). Note the many ways the perp placed obstacles to his fingers, lest he be tempted to actually play the damn thing. Mounting the whole pickup on a cheesy riser and placing the curved aluminum plate on the waist for maximum obstruction, lends credence to my theory that this ... uh, instrument(?) ... was created as a weapon. Sonic or otherwise.
Possibly the aforementioned curved aluminum plate is meant to leave a distinctive marks on victim's skulls, to keep track of who had already been previously "enlightened." (You want to keep track of how many times you hit the drummer. Trust me.)
I think that's the only context in which I'd like to hear it, bouncing off the skull of "critics."
"Let's play 'El Kabong' again!"
quote:It's nice the original flathead screws are intact. You know, working with those is a dying art.
One can only hope. |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1884
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2016 - 10:49 pm: | |
Here's a video about builder Steve Conner.
His bracing ideas might bear fruit (or nice sound orbs eminating throughout the universe, as he describes his synethesian visions).
The magnetic soundhole cover is brilliant...easy,functional,no rattling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVYuBqg6xU |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1885
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Sunday, April 24, 2016 - 11:00 pm: | |
D'ohplicate post :/
(Message edited by elwoodblue on April 24, 2016) |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 342
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 10:21 am: | |
I'm slightly conflicted by the video of Steve Connor, but once I realized it was my own rampant envy and jealousy percolating up, I'm okay with it.
He pulled up to his lakefront palace in a Ferrari, for one thing. That certainly got my attention, because I have neither. But within a few minutes he plays a Francisco Tarrega knuckle-buster with absolutely perfect technique. I forgot to breathe. He instantly went into the Hall of Fame of classical guitarists I've ever heard, with the same casual delivery of Chet Atkins or Al Di Meola. "Meh. It's nothin'." Again, grrrrr.
But it's when he started working with wood that I was just awestruck, because he does it the same way he plays the guitar. The part I enjoyed the most was that even though he was obviously on camera, you could tell by his sheer skill that it didn't matter. Every movement with his tools is so fluid and confident - especially when he shaved the back-braces so enthusiastically and precisely, which takes balls the size of church bells because they're already glued down - that I really became furious. I watched that part three times, and I'll probably watch it a bunch more. I really hate the jerk.
I think that comes from watching Ed Dopera build Dobros when I was a boy, and even I admit there wasn't that kind of woodworking going on. More of a General Motors vibe, if you follow me. So that drew me to handmaid (my insane spellchecker insists) instruments, for exactly that reason. I love that kind of singular devotion to beauty in form and especially in sound (he says, on the Alembic forum). Anybody who wields a chisel with that much skill, to make instruments that rank among the finest on Earth and plays them so incredibly well is deserving of our utmost scorn because I can't do any of those things.
Hey, somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as the heroes go by, right?
On a completely related note, I promise this is a true story: when that video popped up on my YouTube app, this luthier's video appeared next to it at the top of the "recommended list." Ever heard of him? The neck joint on the guitar he made for Henry Kaiser to serenade penguins in Antartica with is one of the best ideas I've ever seen, hands down. (I just put my hands down, to prove it.) |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 343
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 11:03 am: | |
(Edwardofhungate says on March 9th);
quote:Thought I’d share this around our little circle folks who admire fine woodworking skills, especially when applied to musical instruments…
This fiddle belongs to a friend of mine… it was made (approx. 25 years ago) by a local violin/fiddle maker by the name of Arthur Conner who’s home and shop is in nearby Copper Hill, Virginia.
I noticed that "Spelly," my dyslexic and unusually obstinate spellchecker, misspelled Steve ConnEr's surname in my last post and the Alemicgremlin wouldn't let me fix it. I was going to let it go but remembered that Spelly did the same thing to your "Conner."
Any relation? |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1886
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 11:20 am: | |
I'll own my typo,
Sorry 'bout that Steve.
I was also glued to the chisel shots...the man knows his grain. |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1887
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 12:02 pm: | |
More shop talk... Gurian Interview
(I think I can see my old neighborhood across the water) |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 344
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 1:21 pm: | |
Miscue on the link, I fear. If as I suspect it's an interview with Michael Gurian, words can't convey my gratitude because it made me look him up, and I'm so glad I did!
Back before there was a McGC in every town I made a pest of myself at a local guitar store in Claremont, California called the "Folk Music Center." They had instruments from all over the world, from every culture, and lots of ancient Martin, Gibson etc. instruments, just a wonderland of wood and wire. One day when I was a teenager I walked up to the "oldgrowth wall," as I called it and as I gazed up I saw a beautiful dreadnaught with a nifty Guild-esque headstock, glowing with a pulsating sonic aura. As ropes of drool descended my chin, it began to hover off of its hook and gently lowered itself into my welcoming embrace. It was California in the 70s. That happened a lot.
I remember that guitar as clearly as if I had photographed it. Ray, the manager, told me it was a new brand out of New York they were going to be carrying. Unfortunately, my love was not enough to consummate our union (that happened a lot, too).
Other guitars came and went. I ran across othe Gurians at Daddy's, and they were all like that: just gorgeous, meticulously-crafted guitars.Then I heard the Gurian factory had exploded, destroying all his machinery and the wood he had traveled the world for decades to get. It was a real tragedy. (I might have read about it in Frets or Crawdaddy, now that I think about it.)
It's especially ironic when you consider that Bob Taylor came along right at the perfect time to do exactly the same thing - precision automation wherever possible - as Michael Gurian did. Ain't nothing wrong with that. What was unusual was to do it with acoustic guitars to such exacting standards that they thrived in the face of the ensuing flood of Asian kindling.
So I was absolutely delighted to discover just now that Gurian Guitars is thriving. |
lbpesq
Senior Member
Username: lbpesq
Post Number: 6429
Registered: 7-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 1:25 pm: | |
Forest, you should feel a little better. Mr. Connor's car is hardly a Ferrari. Rather it is an old Porsche 924 or 944 (I can't be sure without seeing the back). And it's not even a real Porsche. It was designed by Porsche and built by Audi. The 924 had an Audi engine, the 944 changed it to a Porsche engine. These were considered entry level at the time and can be purchased today for well under $10K.
Also, I don't know if maybe you were just trying to be funny, but the "this luthier's video" you reference who built a guitar for Henry Kaiser, Rick Turner, was a co-founder of Alembic.
Bill, tgo
(Message edited by lbpesq on April 25, 2016) |
elwoodblue
Senior Member
Username: elwoodblue
Post Number: 1888
Registered: 6-2002
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 1:47 pm: | |
Hehe..oops
I got ahead of myself without looking back.
This the one that I meant to post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEoWHmPhaeA |
ed_zeppelin
Advanced Member
Username: ed_zeppelin
Post Number: 345
Registered: 2-2010
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 2:51 pm: | |
1: well, he deserves a Ferrari, the bastard.
quote:I don't know if maybe you were just trying to be funny
And failing dismally, I see. One of my many failings, I'm afraid. I try to think of it as something that goes along with being a moron, like being an idiot savant without the savant part.
I've been a huge fan of Rick Turner's since Lindsay Buckingham started using his guitars, but I didn't know about his association with Alembic for quite a while. He's one of the artists that sparked my interest in the evolution of Baroque instruments (some of his acoustic bridges are identical to 500-year-old lute bridges, after all) and is one of the most consistently "off road" thinkers since Leonardo or Stradivarius. |
hankster
Senior Member
Username: hankster
Post Number: 446
Registered: 6-2004
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 3:35 pm: | |
Don't knock playing with the feet until you have tried it on one of these: http://guitarz.blogspot.ca/2011/06/mike-miller-footbass-play-2-string-bass.html?m=1
Indeed, it appears that this might be an original Footbass! |
cozmik_cowboy
Senior Member
Username: cozmik_cowboy
Post Number: 2039
Registered: 10-2006
| | Posted on Monday, April 25, 2016 - 8:31 pm: | |
Cool!! A HS friend of mine had a Footbass; very groovy (and if you can work it while fingerpicking, give serious thought to taking up pedal steel or pipe organ).
Peter |
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