It Shudda Been Worked Jam

Whut, appointment cancelled? Well idle hands and all that rot...

Set List: Deathgrip and Crackpipe (with fast Kickball Rider intro), Atlantic City, Anybody Seen My Mind, Barstool Blues, Blowin In the Wind, Corduroy, Danger Bird, Daughter, Dead Flowers, Dominance and Submission, Don't Cry No Tears, Drive All Night, Helpless, Hold On, Hurricane, Just Breathe, Lookout Joe, Motion Pictures, Police and Thieves, Pursuit of Happiness, Rain Dogs, Sunday Morning Coming Down, Yoshimi (plus outro noodling).

Death Jam Set

A cheery little set with all songs having something to do with DEATH!!!

I do believe I am feeling eternal damnation with my wee practice space...

Set List: Soldier Side, Point Blank, Nebraska, Midnight Special, Meat Is Murder, Marlene, Man of Constant Sorrow, Knockin on Heaven's Door, Hurt, Death Is Not the End.

(I Need A PA)

This is what sometimes happens with noise when the house is empty...

Garage-Office Jam

Ok, I am trying to get on a schedule of constructive practice, so everybody knows the best method is to records yourself and publish on social media blogger spot. Behavioral control by guilt and shame, ha, my old Catholic residue. Seriously though, this is the best to keep track of progress (practice really does lead to improvement).

So this early going, very impromptu set (my partner missus was giving a speech) included: Meat Is Murder, Heaven, Farewell Ride, Eminence Front, Dominance and Submission, Death Grip & Crack Pipe, Desperado, Doolin-Dalton, Her Diamonds, Living Proof, Old Country Waltz, Particle Man, Powderfinger, Pumped Up Kicks, Sedan Delivery, Sweet Jane, Tender is the Night, Waiting for the Great Leap Forward, What Is Quicksand, Your Racist Friend, Girlfriend In A Coma/For the Turnstiles.

Pedalboard

I have been trying to get a pedalboard made for my effects pedals for probably a month now. I have been playing almost exclusively guitar rather than bass from just about 2 years ago and had broke out my collected assortment of oddball pedals at the beginning of 2019 following the boot to garage office and switching from acoustics (temp changes aren't good for these) to my electrics (much more durable against the environment).

Everything needed spark, so I was going through old power chords to see what matched each pedal then splicing in through the DC transistor batter connector mostly. I was able to get 3 of 4 operational again, when J.A.S. happened to visit.

My main concern was a lot of noise through this MXR "Commande Series" early 80s overdrive pedal. J.A.S. was very kind and swapped the MXR for another distortion, and suggested I get a daisy chain power supply. They are very inexpensive (I ended up paying like $12) and have a variety of different AC connectors.

Once I got everything powered I had to figure out a design. I had thoughts for a kind of box-like setup with hinges and lids and such, and was eyeballing some solid wood lying around in the garage. I also picked up a roll of Velcro tape, ha, which actually was not one sided sticky tape. This "tape" had hooks on one side and felt on the other (to make a wrap around bind).

So Friday night I used Elmer's school glue and glued the felt side of the Velcro tape on the bottom of the pedals. I already had the 9" x 12" rectangles of green felt for the hook side of the Velcro tape.

I ended up needing to ditch a dinette table at the dump (it was daughter's old one and supposed to go to good will, but during the move she lost bolts attaching all the legs).

The leaf for the table had a nice edge to it going round the out side, so when I chopped it in half the result was a long triangle shape perfect for a pedalboard. Plus is was almost exactly the correct width for the sticky felt pieces I was planning to adhese to the surface.

The only difference from my original conception is that I was planning a "landscape" pedalboard and ended up with a "portrate" layout pedalboard. Turned out to be a fair cop.

The pedals are (clockwise from 7 o'clock):

1. DOD FX65 Stereo Chorus (1985-89);
2. DigiTech DigiDelay Digital Delay (2002);
3. Aria Pro II DT-1 Distortion (1980s?); and
4. Systech Phase Shifter (mid-1970s).

+1 Luck Guitar

Whippersnapper "+1 Luck" Guitar

Whoooo-haaa, the newest addition to the Luminous guitar family... I had been helping Sick Rick in Litigation Trickster mode and he laid on me his version of a Les Paul Jr. copy!

"Whippersnapper" is Sick's own line of hand-made guitars, mostly from kits and necks that Sickness plays around with and eventually finishes. This particular model is "+1 Luck" because Sick Rock found a four-leaf clover and embedded it somewhere inside one of the guitar's cavities.

I have not plugged the beast in as yet, but soon. I am just about over my winter's cold and overdue to records another tuneish (heavy emphasis on the "ish"ness) video.

Happy New Year!

Sssh... New Carlos

Carlos Model 226

The Carlos is dead, long live the Carlos!

Carlos acoustic guitars are products of Coast Wholesale Music which is connected to Kaman Music Corporation and made in Korea from about 1976 until the late 1980s. They are rare, but not highly sought after.

So after the old Carlos steel-string was stolen from daughter's house last January 2018 she mentioned a hard time with it because the stiffness of steel strings. I related that Carlos back in the day made classical guitars and told her I would keep my eye out for one.

Carlos steel string guitars pop up now and again on eBay, but I only found one classical over the past year (seller looked sketchy with burry photographs, no sales history, and was removed within a day!). Lo and behold just before Christmas I find this Carlos classical guitar for $8o! The instrument had several pairs of cross-marks gouged into the fretboard, but other than that it looked playable.

When the guitar arrived I found the binding was missing from one side, so I took on a project to install some very beautiful decorative binding you can barely make out in the photo. That was a fun job involving Stew-Mac binding glue, 600 grit sandpaper, and lacquer. There was also a chip on the business end of the nut, but strangely enough the intonation is perfect.

Once the craft work was finished I had some voodoo to attend on the Carlos. The magic of my old Carlos steel string was that back in 1992 when middlin son was 2 years old he poured a glass of apple juice down the soundhole when I left the guitar unattended for a moment. I has doused the inside with baby powder to absorb what moisture I couldn't dump out, so the interior had this powdery white patina that always reminded me of toddler Panda.

Although he was hesitant, I prevailed upon middlin son to repeat the scene (ha, although with only a shot glass worth of apple juice this time) and I put in the baby powder. The interior now looks just like the old stolen Carlos and evocates same joyful memories.

Here it is, three days past Christmas and daughter (recently married) hasn't yet made it by for her present. She will probably think it is weird, but that's her dad.😀