not much. some rem. some u2. that gowan record. tears for fears. actually, i loved that klf record...
beatles, yes; genesis, floyd, crimson...not yet.
that also seems to be a somewhat sanitized version of the list. the next oldest version i have is from 2001, and it has a lot more stuff that i didn't include....things like bryan adams cassettes.
we'll do this next week.
this week is just going to be an introduction.
music cat was a cataloguing program written by bill van rooy, later briefly of download.
so, i found this from 1999 at the tripod site, which finally let me in...
the crosswinds site is still dead.
i think this is the earliest file i have.
Music Collection
1000 Homo DJ's
Supernaut
CD
54-40
Dear Dear
CS
Smilin' Buddha Cabaret
CS
Alice In Chains
Facelift
CD
Dirt
CS
Jar Of Flies
CD
Alice In Chains
CD
Nothing Safe
CD
Autechre
Bass Cadet
CD
Barenaked Ladies
Gordon
CD
Born On A Pirate Ship
CD
Borland
C++
CD
Brian Eno
Ambient 1/ Music For Airports
CD
Bush
Sixteen Stone
CS
Razorblade Suitcase
CD
Deconstructed
CD
Candlebox
Candlebox
CS
Lucy
CS
Canon
Canon Creative
CD
cEvin Key
Music For Cats
CD
Chris Connelly
Phenobarb Bambalam
CD
Coil
Horse Rotorvator
CD
Love's Secret Domain
CD
The Snow
CD
Bee Stings
CD
Musick To Play In The Dark Volume 1
CD
Songs Of The Week
2-CD
Collective Soul
Hints, allegations, and things left unsaid
CS
Collective Soul
CS
Disciplined Breakdown
CD
Coma Lodge
What Kind of mind do you have?
CD
Cop Shoot Cop
White Noise
CD
Cyberaktif
Temper
CD
David Bowie
Aladdin Sane
CD
1. Outside
CD
The Hearts Filthy Lesson
CD
Earthling In The Ciity
CD
I'm Afraid Of Americans
CD
Earthling
CD
Dead Voices On Air
Hafted Maul
CD
New Words Machine
CD
Piss Frond
2-CD
Die Warzau
Big Electric Metal Bass Face
CD
Engine
CD
DMSO: DRUGMURDERSEXORGY
Marezine Halloween
CD
Phantom Freakshow
CD
Doubting Thomas
Father Don't Cry
CD
Download
Furnace
CD
Microscopic
CD
Sidewinder
CD
III
CD
The Eyes Of Stanley Pain
CD
Eco-Hed
S/t
CD
Econoline Crush
Purge
CD
Affliction
CD
The Devil You Know
CD
Einsturzende Neubauten
Tabula Rasa
CD
Eleven
S/T
CD
Filter
Erkenntnis Theorie
CD
Short Bus
CS
Short Bus
CD
Title Of Record
CD
Firewater
The Ponzi Scheme 3 track promo
CD
Foetus
Thaw
CD
Butterfly Potion
CD
Boil
CD
Null / Void
2-CD
Foofighters
Foofighters
CS
Foofighters
CD
Big Me
CD
The Color And The Shape
CD
Frank Zappa
Apostrophe'/Overnight Sensation
CD
Joe's Garage Acts 1-3
2-CD
Garbage
Garbage
CS
20-May-98
2-CD
Version 2.0
CD
Version 1.0 Rarities
CD
Genesis
Trespass
CD
Selling England By The Pound
CD
The Lamb Lies Down On Broadway
2-CD
Wind & Wuthering
CD
A Trick Of The Tail
CD
Invisible Touch
CD
God Lives Underwater
EP
CD
Life In The So Called Space Age
CD
Rearrange
CD
God Speed You Black Emperor!
F#A#oo
CD
Slow Riot For New Zero Kanada
CD
Gowan
(You're A) Strange Animal
CS
Gravity Kills
Gravity Kills
CD
Manipulated
CD
Perversion
CD
Hater
Hater
CD
Hewlitt-Packard
Cd Writer Plus Software Package
3-CD
Hilt
Call The Ambulance Before I Hurt Myself
CD
Get Stuck
CD
Journey To The Centre Of The Bowl
CD
Hole
Live Through This
CS
I Mother Earth
Dig
CS
Scenery And Fish
CD
Blue Green Orange
CD
IBM
World Book Encyclopedia
2-CD
id Software
Doom II
CD
Quake 1 + 2 + addons
CD
inri
inri
CD
inrimake
CD
inriched
CD
warning
CD
Jane's Addiction
Nothing's Shocking
CD
Jesus H. Christ
H
CS
John Lennon
Shaved Fish
CD
Joy Division
Still
CD
Killing Joke
Changes - Spiral Tribe Mixes
CD
King Crimson
The Concise King Crimson
CD
AAA Sampler
CD
KMFDM
UAIOE
CD
Angst
CD
Naive (Hell To Go)
CD
Light
CD
Brute
CD
Nihil
CD
Xtort
CD
Adios
CD
KMFDM Vs. Pig
Sin Sex & Salvation
CD
Korn
Korn
CD
Life is peachy
CS
Follow The Leader
CD
Limblifter
Limblifter
CS
Live
Mental Jewelry
CS
Throwing Copper
CS
Secret Samadhi
CS
Ludwig Van Beethoven
Piano Concerto #2 ; Symphony #7
CD
Machine Gun Kelly
Boy In A Mansuit
CD
Machines Of Loving Grace
S/T
CD
Mad Season
Above
CS
Mark Lanegan
Whiskey For The Holy Ghost
CD
meathead
Dick Smoker Plus (w/ Cop Shoot Cop)
CD
Micronaut
S/t
CD
MicroProse
Civilization II
CD
Microsoft
VB4
CD
VB5
CD
VB5, Learning Edition
2-CD
Mastering VB5
CD
Learn VB5!
CD
Encarta 97 Encyclopedia
2-CD
Developer Network Library - Visual Studio 97
CD
Windows 98
CD
Ministry
Twitch
CD
12 Inch Singles
CD
The Land Of Rape And Honey
CD
The Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Taste
CD
In Case You didn't Feel Like Showing Up
CD
KEIANHNH (Psalm 69)
CD
Filth Pig
CD
The Dark Side Of The Spoon
CD
Moby
Animal Rights
CD
Honey
CD
Play
CD
Mother Love Bone
Mother Love Bone
2-CD
Muslimgauze
Maroon
CD
Neil Young
Live Rust
CD
Mirrorball
CD
Nine Inch Nails
Purest Feeling
CD
Pretty Hate Machine
CD
Down In It
CD
Head Like A Hole (Opal)
CD
By Bizarre Hands
CD
Head Like A Hole
CD
Sin
CD
Fixed (American)
CD
Demos And Remixes
CD
Fixed
CS
Broken
CD
Broken Rarities
CD
Crossed Nails
CD
The Downward Spiral
CD
Disturbed
CD
Closer
2-CD
March Of The Pigs
CD
Further Down The Spiral
CD
Further Down The Spiral V2.0
CD
Children Of The Night
CD
Blue Lies
CD
Quake Soundtrack
CD
The Perfect Drug
CD
Closure
VHS
The Perfect Drug (complete)
CD
Videos (89-98)
CD
Related Side Projects Vol. 1
CD
The Fragile
2-CD
Multimedia Disc
CD
The Day The World Went Away
CD
Nirvana
Bleach
CD
10/08/89
CD
Bleach
CS
Nevermind
CS
Smells Like Teen Spirit
CD
Lithium
CD
Live In Minneapolis 10/14/91
CD
082591 w/misc. covers
CD
Nevermind
CD
Incesticide
CD
Incesticide
CS
Heart Shaped Box
CD
In Utero
CS
Roma
CD
Unplugged In New York
CS
Rarities
CS
Live From The Muddy Banks Of The Wishkah
CS
Nitzer Ebb
Showtime
CD
Godhead
CD
Ebbhead
CD
Option 30
Option 30
CD
Our Lady Peace
Naveed
CD
Naveed
CS
Clumsy
CS
Happiness Is Not A Fish That You Can Catch
CD
Pearl Jam
011090
CD
Ten
CS
Vs.
CD
Vitalogy
CD
Merkinball
CD
No Code
CS
Yield
CD
Peter Gabriel
Self-Titled
CD
Security
CD
So
CD
Passion
CD
Us
CD
Phil Western
The Escapist
CD
Philip Glass
Koyaanisqatsi Soundtrack
CD
Pigface
Truth Will Out
CD
Pink Floyd
Animals
CD
The Final Cut
CD
A Momentary Lapse Of Reason
CD
Prick
Prick
CD
PTP
S/T
CD
Puff Daddy
Victory Remixes
CD
Radiohead
Pablo Honey
CS
The Bends
CD
OK Computer
CS
Karma Police
CD
Live From The 10 Spot
CD
Red Hot Chili Peppers
The Best Of The Red Hot Chili Peppers
CD
One Hot Minute
CS
Californication
CD
REM
Murmer
CS
Green
CD
Out Of Time
CS
Automatic For The People
CD
Automatic For The People
CS
New Adventures in Hi-Fi
CS
E-Bow The Letter (Colectors Edition)
CD
Up
CD
Daysleeper
CD
Revolting Cocks
Beers, Steers + Queers
CD
Beers, Steers And Queers (Remixes)
CD
Ric Ocasek
Troublizing
CD
Rx
Beside Toxicology
CD
Scott Weiland
12 Bar Blues
CD
Shudder To Think
First Love, Last Rites
CD
Silverchair
Frogstomp
CS
Sister Machine Gun
Sins Of The Flesh
CD
Burn
CD
Metropolis
CD
[R]evolution
CD
Skinny Puppy
Remission
CD
Bites
CD
Live In Horst 86
CD
Fractal Zoom
CD
Cleanse Fold And Manipulate
CD
Addiction
CD
VIVIsectVI
CD
Testure
CD
12 Inch Anthology
CD
Rabies
CD
Too Dark Park
CD
Worlock
CD
Tormentor
CD
Ain't It Dead Yet?
CD
Last Rights
CD
Inquisition
CD
Brap : Back And Forth Vol 3 + 4
2-CD
The Process
CD
Remix Dys Temper
CD
Process Demos/Outtakes
CD
Skold
S/T
CD
Sonic Youth
Confusion Is Sex/Kill Your Idols
CD
Sister
CD
Goo
CD
Dirty
CD
Washing Machine
CD
Muzikale Vergezichten
CD
Perspectives Musicales syr #1
CD
Silver Sessions (Jason Knuth)
CD
Soundgarden
Flower
CD
Louder Than Love
CD
Big Dumb Sex
CD
Badmotorfinger / SOMMS
2-CD
Badmotorfinger
CS
Superunknown
CS
Songs From The Superunknown
CD
Down On The Upside
CS
Live In Austin Texas
CD
Sponge
Rottong Pinata
CS
Wax Ecstatic
CS
New Pop Sunday
CD
Squarepusher
Music is Rotted One Note
CD
Stabbing Westward
Early Demoes
CD
Ungod
CD
Wither Blister Burn And Peel
CD
Mailing List Compilation Video
VHS
Darkest Days
CD
Stevie Ray Vaughn
Texas Flood
CD
Couldn't Stand The Weather
CD
Soul To Soul
CD
In Step
CD
The Sky Is Crying
CD
Stone Temple Pilots
Core
CS
Purple
CS
Sunny Day Real Estate
Sunny Day Real Estate
CD
Radio Sampler
CD
Swans
Omniscience
CD
Omniscience
CS
Sweet 75
S/T
CD
Talkshow
Talkshow
CD
Tears For Fears
Songs From The Big Chair
CS
Temple Of The Dog
S/T
CD
The Beatles
The Beatles (AKA The White Album)
2-CD
The Innocent
Livin' In The Street
CD
The KLF
Doctorin' The Tardis
CD
The White Room
CD
The Meat Puppets
Too High to Die
CS
No Joke
CS
The Offspring
Ignition
CS
The Year That Punk Broke
CD
Smash
CS
Ixnay On The Hombre
CS
The Offspring
CS
The Presidents Of The United States Of America
The Presidents Of The United States Of America
CS
The Prodigy
The Fat Of The Land
CD
The Smashing Pumpkins
100588
CD
89 Demo Tapes
CD
160690
CD
Lull
CD
02/12/91
CD
Gish
CD
Tribute To Blue Oyster Cult
CD
Peel Sessions
CD
I Am One
CD
Siamese Dream
CS
Disarm
CD
Cherub Rock
CD
Mashed Potatoes ?
CD
Today
CD
Siamese Dream
CD
Pisces Iscariot
CS
Pisces Iscariot
CD
Earphoria
CD
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
CS
Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness
2-CD
Double Door
2-CD
1995 Demo Tape
CD
666
CD
The World Is A Vampire
CD
Sequence 4
CD
Tonight, Tonight
CD
Zero
CD
1979 remixes (Holland import)
CD
The Aeroplane Flies High (Condensed)
CD
Mellow, Jolly And The Infinite Madness
CD
1979
CD
33
CD
Bullet With Butterfly Wings
CD
The End Is The Beginning Is The End (all mixes)
CD
The End Is The Beginning Is The End Fluke Mixes (UK Promo)
CD
Children Of Gotham
CD
Perfect
CD
Adore
CD
05.19.98 Aula Magna; Lisbon, PT + misc
2-CD
103198
CD
Intimate And Interactive
CD
Viper Room
CD
Perfect EP
CD
Ava Adore
CD
041099
2-CD
042399
CD
Vinyl + 042399
CD
live 2
CS
live 3
CS
live 1
CS
The Tea Party
S/T
CD
Splendor Solis
CS
The Edges Of Twilight
CD
Alahambra
ECD
Transmission
CD
TRIPtych
CD
The Tear Garden
Tired Eyes Slowly Burning
CD
To Be An Angel Blind, The Crippled Soul Divide
CD
The Who
Meaty, Beaty, Big And Bouncy
CD
Who's Next
CD
Quadrophenia
CD
Tool
Undertow
CD
Aenima
CD
U2
War
CD
Under A Blood Red Sky
CD
The Joshua Tree
CS
The Joshua Tree
CD
Achtung Baby
CD
Mysterious Ways
CD
Zooropa
CS
Zooropa
CD
Pop
CD
Please
CD
The Best Of 1980-1990 & B-Sides
2-CD
US Robotics
56k Installation Disc
CD
Various
The Tyranny Of The Beat
CD
In Defense Of Animals
CD
Sweet Relief II: Gravity Of The Situation
CD
Lost Highway Soundtrack
CD
Escape From LA Soundtrack
CD
Ransom
CD
Spawn Soundtrack
CD
Paradigm Shift
CD
J
CD
Regular Set-Up Files
CD
Skinny Puppy Related Side Projects And Rarities
CD
Foxtrot
CD
Songs Of The Witchblade
CD
Transistorized Spectra Sonic Sound
CS
Hyms Of The Warlock : A Tribute To Skinny Puppy
CD
Nothing Changes
CD
Skinny Puppy Related Rarities And Side Projects Vol. 3
CD
Videos1
CD
Music Set Up Files
CD
Cd Covers
CD
Skinny Puppy Related Side Projects And Rarities Vol. 2
CD
The Souls That Create
CD
Stigmata
CD
Music I'm Embarrassed To Listen To Vol 1
CD
Voivoid
The Lost Machine/Jack Luminous
CD
Westwood Studios
Command & Conquer
CD
White Zombie
Astro-Creep : 2000
CS
Supersexy Swingin Sounds
CD
Supersexy Swinging Sounds
CS
William S. Burroughs/Kurt Cobain
The 'Priest' They Called Him
CD
Wiseblood
PTTM
CD
Automatically generated by MusicCat Last updated on 9/27/99 by inri
ok, where was i?
it's saturday night (31st).
- i slept in until the afternoon today and haven't done anything
- yesterday was a short day that never got started. the one thing i did do was clean the fridge, a little more. or, try to, anyways.
- thursday, i got out to get some bloodwork, bought some books, got some clamps
- tuesday & wednesday were spent looking at the takeharu guitar
- monday, i went to get the mic stand, and got some books
- sunday was a kind of a down day
- saturday (24th) was a running around day, and i got the takeharu, the bottom of the vox (video coming...) and the mini xylophone
- most of last week (18th-23rd)) was spent sorting through kijiji, etc ads and also in researching gear
- 17th, these were uploaded, and i started working on a big post about the old gear i had and how to replace it.
- on the 16th, i uploaded a rough mix of the lost symphony to the trivial group lp as a placeholder, uploaded some rough xenophanes mixes, bought a microcasette, did some orange testing...
- on the 15th, i was looking at dna sequencing and spent a lot of time filing the recording machine
- on the 14th, i decided to get a pignose when i went in to get the mini vox (and didn't, yet)
- i got a mini vox and a mini orange to go with the mini ms-2
- on sunday morning / monday night (11/12th), i started adding gear to the alter-reality page, which included a ms-2 mini marshall amp and i started researching mini-amps for period 3 recording...
- friday the 9th was back to alter-reality,
- the rest of the week was spent looking at blood tests, genetics, shopping online & cleaning./
- i got some more bloodwork on the 5th
- i stopped filling in the blog on monday morning (the 4th)
- the bookcase (required to access cds for reviews) came in on the 2nd
- on the 1st, i decided july would be extremely productive and continued transferring the facebook page to the new blog, which was my friday project
so.
let's update this first:
already purchased:
- one person coffee maker
- backup fan
- big bookcase
- new broom
- new computer keyboard
- 4 gb backup ram for 32-bit pc, 1 gb backup ram for 16-bit pc, 2 gb of ram for 90s laptop
- micro orange crush 3w amp
- vox ac30 headphone plug
- all four tanktops (one blue, two pink, one purple)
- behringer umx61midi controller
- fender squire mini strat
- micro cassette recorder
- wood flute
- sennheiser replacement headphones
- marantz microphone
- 2 of 3 gig bags
- bottom of the vox combo
- soldering iron, solder & a pink pool thing for a sponge
- mini xylophone
- mic stand
- takeharu guitar (w/ case)
- no-name mini classical guitar (w/ case for epiphone electro-acoustic)
- a stack of old books
- ancestry dna test
- another stack of old books
- 3 c-clamps, wood glue & a sanding block
these items are in a weird limbo due to alipay not working correctly with paypal:
- xylophone sticks
- melodica
and this is what is coming:
- pignose (not now though, later) *
- midi guitar*
- 21 fret classical*
- 1 of 3 gig bags
- hannah montana guitar
- audio to midi converter (with extra cord)
i don't want to buy anything else until i can get some tickets to toronto for the orchiectomy.
and, because i think we're going back into lockdown, i need to take advantage of this time window as best i can. so, i need to call on tuesday and get this booked.
right this minute, i need to start my first post in the alter-reality and take it from there. then, i'm going to want to finish that gear replacement post. it's the end of the month, so i need to clean - although this is being bottlenecked by the fridge. and, i can get back to the blog clean-up, maybe, early in the week.
again, this is the intent:
- friday: alter-reality
- sat--->mon: period 3 recording
- tues--->thurs: liner note rebuild (and general writing workthrough)
the last diet update was on may 19th.
so, let's do this one thing at a time and hope i don't get any other major disruptions in what i'm doing.
but, i may have to ask him to take the fridge out of here - i've given it until tuesday to decide.
i'm not able to get out anywhere fun right now, so here's one of my new shirts:
Friday, July 30, 2021
so, i also picked up some c-clamps and a sanding block at home depot yesterday, and have some glue coming in the mail.
i grabbed a few more books as well, including some bradbury, which is relevant for the alter-reality.
is this going to work? i think it should.
i want to actually start writing this weekend. and, how am i going to do this? i wanted to started in 2019 and do it in real-time...
the real-time portion of the blog doesn't really get interesting until about 1993 or 1994, but i still wanted to be clicked into it by now.
if i do monthly entries every week, i can catch up by early 2022. i guess i got my first electric guitar around early 1992, so that's a reasonable catch up point.
and, these little asimov and bradbury tests can be read by an adult in an afternoon.
i needed to do the filing on the main computer before i got back to recording, and i'm actually pretty close.
and, if i can get back to the blogging process on monday, i guess i'm getting back to the diet, first.
i need to look over the last few weeks and refocus, but i think i stopped in mid-june.
Thursday, July 29, 2021
but, should i do two c-clamps or one c-clamp with one of those guitar bridge things?
ok, so i've decided the neck on this guitar is very healthy. it's pointing at about a 30 degree angle downwards, which is surprising given the issues with the bridge. but, it might mean the truss was pulled all the way down. i suspect i'll have to adjust it, but that's ok - i just didn't want to have to reset it.
i'll need to get strings on, first.
regarding the bridge and how the guitar was/is made, somebody on one of the forums suggested i shine on a flashlight through the holes to determine what's in there, and the results are kind of inconclusive - the action holes look like solid top (although the wood grain is still moving in the wrong direction), whereas the string holes have clear layers (two for a reinforced bridge plate and two for the top, itself). on top of that, the age of the wood is visibly different.
so, it seems like somebody tried to reinforce the plate from the bottom and may have done some surgery to the top, although it's hard to tell. that means i want to avoid shaving it further, and rather want to continue with the reinforcement as best as possible.
i want this to be an acoustic guitar for recording, but i need to convince myself it can handle the tension, first. so, i'm going to start by stringing it with ball wound classical strings and see what happens. can i even hit that 21st fret? if it holds tune and plays well, i'll have to decide whether i want to keep it as a classical or move to the next higher tension, which is probably some heritage-designed steel string guitars that run a little less than 100 lb. and, if that's not good enough, i can look at silk & bronze, if i think it's workable.
so, i'm going to need the following:
- two c-clamps
- a small sanding block
- some title bond wood glue
- some ball end classical strings
unfortunately, i need a nap.
this is a landscape shot of the ottawa river, standing from the confederation alexandra bridge - gatineau is on the right and ottawa is on the left. it took me a minute to be sure about that, but i was able to cross reference it fairly well on google maps:
as she would have taken this picture in early 2004 (i have a set of doubles she gave me), it is probably a more appropriate front cover for the art show demo.
she used to climb that old rickety bridge like it was monkey bars, to try to get up to catch the view. it drove me nuts. that picture was probably taken climbed up the middle of the bridge a good ways...
this was taken in the lower mainland of bc, somewhere up the strip between osoyoos and penticton. i want to say penticton...
we were fighting over something (i don't remember what), and it started just pouring, so we had to stop and immediately seek shelter. we met working as employees in a coffee shop, so we had this kind of weird instinct to cooperate in strangely effective ways, and that just completely overpowered. when the downpour had subsided, this just absolutely vivid and surreal double rainbow popped into the atmosphere in front of us - and it was so close that it felt like you could reach out and touch it (although, of course, you could not). she's kind of a primitive, pagan irish girl at heart; that meant something to her that i can only analyze metaphorically, in terms of rebirths and new beginnings.
the picture only captures the moment vaguely. if this was done right, it would be dripping with paint, like something out of what dreams may come, or perhaps pleasantville. but, it's a nice shot, nonetheless.
i wish i had something better and am going to ask her a second time...
i couldn't sleep this morning because it was so dry and dusty (and smoky) in here that my body just wouldn't let me go. i can't sleep in dry, dirty air like that - i need clean and most.
tonight, i need to determine what i'm doing with that neck...
but, i took the opportunity to sort through some period 3 era pictures when i woke up. that cover art with the statue of liberty is sort of neat, but it's not permanent. i sent sarah a text asking her to contribute, but she hasn't responded. she responds sometimes...and, it's always clear that she sees me as an ex-boyfriend, rather than as a friend. that wasn't always true, but you can only bring a horse to water.
anyways, i found a few shots for use with cover art.
i've tried to avoid posting pictures of sarah, but at this point it doesn't matter anymore, and i don't really know how to post this and manage to remove her from it - it seems impossible.
you probably wouldn't be able to recognize her today from 20 year old photos, and that's really been my main concern in not posting them.
so, this is a picture taken right before we left for bc. this was a total ambush - i had no idea it was coming. her intent (as explained by her), was to catch me hunched over and kiss me on the lips. so, the photo was intended to be of me leaned over the guitar, and her leaned over me; as she was kissing me, i was kissing my guitar. a love triangle, of sorts. it was a reflection of her insecurity around where my affections truly lay, as she frequently accused me of expressing and investing more passion and emotion into the guitar. why can't i play her like i play that guitar? well...she wouldn't stay in tune, to begin with....
but, i sat up when she embraced me (i had no idea what she was doing...) and sort of ruined the shot.
i think this is a good back cover for the acoustic project and am going to file it away for that purpose:
Wednesday, July 28, 2021
there would appear to be two pieces under the body in this place - one is the backplate, and the second seems to be a brace for it. they're both relatively thick pieces of wood.
besides the repeated bad bridge repairs, the guitar is in good shape, and i don't have reason to think it's weak under there:
those grooves are where the wood came off, and what i'm trying to figure out is if i want to scrape that layer off (to keep the action low) or try to keep it as close to how it is as possible.
the wood fibers are still on the bridge, and i've been careful not to remove then.
you can see the extra hole for the action.
ok, so i posted the pictures in a few places, and the consensus is that the top is plywood, which runs counter to the information on the internet about the model. i guess you've got three options, then:
1) the information is wrong
2) the top was replaced
3) it's some kind of weird hybrid
the usual markers for a solid body guitar hold, but...if you rip the top off and it's plywood, then it's plywood, whatever the documentation says.
so, is this worth fixing? well, i couldn't get it in tune, and when i tried the action was very high.
so, let me check the neck as best i can. if the neck looks good, i'll bother. if not, i'll just keep the case. maybe i'll put it up on ebay or something...
i don't know what it's going to sound like, but i know it's not worth bothering with if i can't play it.
so, i'm looking at the part of the guitar i sanded down closely and there's something rather amiss about it.
this is a solid spruce top with the wood grain running parallel to the strings. but, the wood underneath the bridge appears to be running in the other direction. further, if you look closely at the region that ripped off, it seems like there is wood underneath it - and it seems like it's running in the right direction.
i strongly suspect that somebody placed some kind of particle board underneath the bridge.
but, it opens up the question - why?
the most obvious reason is that it needed some support, because there was a crack under it. the less obvious reason would be to raise the action, or otherwise "protect" the finish.
so, this is a difficult choice. if i want to do this right, i want to rip the particle board out. but, i risk exposing whatever the particle board was intended to support.
i want to see if i can find an example. but, the wood looks weird...
the flip side is that if there is a particle board underneath, and it was there to protect the original finish, i guess it did it's job, right? it would mean the wood i pulled up was meant to be damaged.
but, that's only important if the glue job is shoddy, and we're not making that mistake again. if i can get to the actual wood, and it doesn't need the support, i'd rather do that.
i just don't know how to prove it's an addition - and i fear the consequences of my intuition being wrong.
i should also make sure the neck is straight before i do anything else to it.
i need to eat first.
ok, so i wanted to make sure i could get the bridge back on flush before i went and bought some c-clamps.
i actually carved out a slightly larger than necessary space with an exacto knife, at the expense of the finish, because the finish doesn't matter if i can't get it in tune. hey, it's worthless as it is, and if this works, i'm never selling it. it's just a little evidence i spent some time on it - i'll wear the break on the finish as a badge of honour. it's minor...and, there's no use in being dishonest about it.
the bridge has been a little more stubborn, but i was able to get enough glue off of it with a nail filer that i'm confident i should be able to get it flush.
i'll work at it a little more after i eat.
the c-clamps are going to cost me about $30 but i should be able to get them tomorrow at home depot. we'll have to see if they have the right kind of glue.
this is this guitar's last chance - it's been reglued repeatedly, so i'm going to do it right and if it fails i'll just keep the case for something else. i can use clamps and glue for something else, too - those aren't throwaway items.
Tuesday, July 27, 2021
let's do a total update first before i buy anything else.
already purchased:
- one person coffee maker
- backup fan
- big bookcase
- new broom
- new computer keyboard
- 4 gb backup ram for 32-bit pc, 1 gb backup ram for 16-bit pc, 2 gb of ram for 90s laptop
- micro orange crush 3w amp
- vox ac30 headphone plug
- all four tanktops (one blue, two pink, one purple)
- behringer umx61midi controller
- fender squire mini strat
- micro cassette recorder
- wood flute
- sennheiser replacement headphones
- marantz microphone
- 1 of 3 gig bags
- bottom of the vox combo
- soldering iron
- mini xylophone
- mic stand
- takeharu guitar (w/ case)
- no-name mini classical guitar (w/ case for epiphone electro-acoustic)
- a stack of old books
and this is what is coming:
- pignose (not now though, later) *
- midi guitar*
- 21 fret classical*
- 2 of 3 gig bags
- hannah montana guitar
- audio to midi converter (with extra cord)
- ancestry dna test
*not yet purchased
and, here's where i'm at with this, now:
main guitars:
- custom built prs style guitar with coronet batwing neck, epiphone branding and two open coil independent humbuckers <----lead/jazz guitar with heavy strings
- slightly small epiphone sg with two humbuckers <---rhythm/punk guitar with slightly less heavy strings
side guitars:
- ibanez rx40 fat strat copy. ibanez has been around a long time, and they've built lots of guitars, but i've always seen them as primarily a manufacturer of strat copies - almost all of their guitars are built like strats (and the ones that aren't are built like prses). i have yet to fix the wiring, but i just bought a soldering iron. <-----was intended to be a lead/blues guitar with skinny strings. now, it will probably be used more for rhythm/blues parts.
- mini squier sss strat. <----- this will become the lead/blues guitar
- mini hohner classical <--- i've recorded classically stuff on this
- full size epiphone electro-acoustic <------this is my one electro-acoustic
- hannah montana washburn mini telecaster copy <---lead/electro-classical guitar. i will largely use this for finger picking, although you heard the classic blues tone that guy got out of it.
- audio to midi converter to plug into hardware synths <-----for live tracking into midi. i will use this quite a lot, trust me - both for period 3 & period 4.
- fixable takeharu acoustic guitar? <---if i can fix this, it will no doubt be my go-to acoustic
- second mini classical of unknown quality <---can i get $20 for this?
what's missing?
guitars to find:
- i'm still looking at a midi guitar for polyphony, but it's a weird controller that you can't bend on, so you sort of need both
- i'm looking for a basic paul shape, to put p90s in it. must be a super cheap pawn shop purchase. <----amplified rhythm parts
- a jazzmaster or jaguar shaped guitar with jazzmaster pickups. idea probably put aside for now. <---effects work
- a couple of cheap electrics for weird tunings, etc.
- i've officially given up on the electro-acoustic on ebay, but if i'm going to spend $200 on a chinese electro-acoustic to convert into a classical, does it make more sense to get the ibanez for $350? or to wait?
- if i can find a cheap 12-strong acoustic, i'll grab it, too.
- i was looking at an electric mandolin, but it's probably dropped for now.
i'm still looking at replacement items, starting back up in 1997...
those are the best guitars - the worthless ones that sound awesome.
so, the guitar is actually probably worthless because it's essentially been ruined.
but, i bet it'll sound great.
give me your weird guitars!
so, i opened up about an 1/8th inch at the top of the bridge space on the body so that i can glue the bridge on flush to the straight wood.
i wonder if he actually got it refinished, in the process, because is it not weird for me to find this on a 50 year old guitar? unless, i guess, it's been like that for decades. but, it's possible that the guy that refinished it went over an 1/8th an inch, and then couldn't glue the bridge back on. oops.
but, i'm going to need to get some acetone or something as well, because there's gumps of what actually looks like three types of glue - crazy glue, yellow wood glue and white glue - on both pieces, and i'm never going to succeed in scraping it off.
my best guess is that the white glue failed, so they moved to crazy glue. lol.
hey.
this is the place for weird guitars.
if i can fix this, it will live out it's years with some other weird guitars, and we can all be weird together.
if you have a weird guitar for cheap that needs to find it's clan, send me an email: death.to.koalas@gmail.com.
what are these guitars worth?
we live in a market economy, which means information exchanged within it is imperfect, because markets are highly inefficient as a way to set prices - they're really the worst conceivable way to set prices. these were essentially custom-built guitars made by a famous composer/guitarist in japan in the 70s to emulate famous american guitars from the 60s. they were expertly crafted guitars made of good wood and custom-built to meet high-end specs - much like the lawsuit guitars of the era. so, in a real sense, these are the japanese equivalents of a jimmy page signature les paul, or an srv signature stratocaster - and japanese guitarists will recognize this name very quickly, even if north americans have never heard of him. you could not have a reversed scenario, because america is the hegemon, and there would be no famous american guitarists that the japanese are unaware of.
so, if americans had the information that the japanese have, they would price these guitars very high, as they would be seen as high end replicas of the american models they're emulating. they are copies, but they're good copies. unfortunately, because very few were made, americans do not have that information, and are left to rely on stereotypes about "japanese guitars", instead.
to put it tersely, these guitars are frequently absurdly underpriced, because americans harbour a peculiar sort of racism about japanese instruments.
you'll see that here - they come in at very high numbers, by people that understand what they have. it seems like they seem to come down, though, as the market doesn't recognize the quality.
so, they're frequently underpriced....but you can see what people think they ought to be worth.
yeah, so the bridge was initially lifting because the finish wasn't cut perfectly, which seems to be a common problem. so, the glue couldn't adhere to the bridge.
whomever tried to fix didn't seem to realize that, and just tried to lock it into place with crazy glue. i don't think they clamped it, and they seem to have been conservative with the glue; in hindsight, that's a good thing, as it would have been impossible to get off had they dabbed enough glue in. like, they just put two or three blobs...
the result is somewhat of a mess, but i think i should be able to clean it where i need it.
so, i need to buy glue and clamps.....let's see if i can do it for less than $30....
so, i didn't want to buy some clamps before i could get it off first...
i used a butcher's knife and the stove, but i was able to get it off with minimal wood loss. there is some damage, but i think it was 98% already there. and, i'm going to try to salvage the bridge, but i might have to replace it.
i think it's as clean as it could have been given the type of glue used to keep it together.
so, i have to sand it down, level it out, but some clamps and some glue to keep it back in place.
the guitar seems to otherwise be in great shape. really. it was just a bad job on the bridge replacement. so, let me save this...
i need to be clear: i'm not a luthier. it's not going to be sellable, in the end - it will have some chips on it. but, i'm more concerned about what it sounds like, and if i can salvage a solid top guitar for recording, i surely must.
a little bit of character from my own hands is really a benefit, in the end.
and, yes - this is a solid top guitar. it's solid spruce. it seems to be a solid back, s well; i'm pretty sure it's mahogany.
so, i was going to do some things today, but i woke up late, so let's skip a day and get back to it tomorrow, instead.
the fridge is better, and i'm going to hope it's good enough. one more major scrub, and then i'll start trying to put it back together.
i took a closer look at the guitar and i don't want to rip it off. i actually tried to chisel some of the glue out, but what i need to do is try to melt it off - which i'm trying to avoid. this is a solid top guitar, i don't want to use a hairdryer on it, but i need to heat the glue up to loosen it...
so, this old thing was so detuned...
i tuned it by ear last night and took it way up, only to realize this morning that:
- it was still in tune. sort of. the five fret (except that weird g/b) test worked, but you played a chord and it was nowhere close
- i had tuned it an octave down
- the glue job on the bridge was awful and it's going to go if it stays tense, which is no doubt why it was tuned down
so, it was in tune. but an octave down...and you can't do that on a guitar and expect it to stay in tune. it's all relative - chords don't just transpose down like that. you can maybe take it up or down two or three steps before the intonation gets fucked.
i took it up another octave, and it wouldn't hold tune, but i wouldn't expect it to given the bridge. and, the more i tuned it up, the more obvious it was that the bridge was going to snap off...
the person seems to have used crazy glue rather than wood glue, and probably did not clamp the guitar. it's not going to hold tune unless i'm able to take the bridge off and put it back on properly myself.
so, i've actually overtuned it with the hopes that it will ease, but i'm concerned that it's going to take part of the wood off with it.
do not put crazy glue on a guitar - that is dumb.
....but, if i can get it off clean and sand it down, i can probably salvage it - with the original bridge.
see, i've read up on this a little now, and these action screws don't exist anymore because they create tuning problems. but, i don't care - i want the original hardware on here, and i'll make it stay in tune by playing it.
a fifty year old guitar with a battered bridge like this isn't going to stay in tune unless you play it every day for a month.
so, that's step one - let's get the bridge off. then, let's check the neck properly. and let's get the bridge back on with a new set of strings.
on second thought, if i'm redoing the bridge anyways, i should keep it as an acoustic guitar and plan to do the acoustic project with it. i mean, it's a solid top guitar - that's potentially a ridiculous upgrade.
so, i eyed the neck on it and it really looks fine...
i took the plunge and tightened the strings and...
...it doesn't hold tune, but it's a 50 year old guitar that i suspect has barely been played at all, and appears to have been restringed with old strings.
i'm going to get some nylon strings for it tomorrow,
i actually think it's fine - it's just old and has barely been played. it should stay in tune when i play it more....
...but i'm concerned about the bridge being weak, so we're going to turn it into a classical guitar, first.
Monday, July 26, 2021
now, as for this takeharu...
it helps a lot to know that the adjustments are stock, and it's not that weird forold guitars.
but, i think the next step is to understand if the neck is straight and if there's any bows or warps. it seems straight, but let's be rigorous....
so, i got a mic stand for $15 today, which will help with recording guitars for period three.
when i got back, i put some oil in my bike chain - something long overdue - and went for a nice ride to let it sink in, rather than just track it around the basement. i decided to take a run around town, looking through pawn shops for old guitars.
i didn't find the gibson-style hh body i was hoping for, and think i've probably exhausted my options, but i'm going to repeat the exercise on friday morning to check some stores that happened to be closed on mondays, which seemed to be quite a few.
i did, however, get another hardcover case for $30. it came with a piece of shit mini classical that has a slightly wider neck than the hohner. i'll probably clean it up and put it up on kijiji for a few bucks. so, that's the new case for the electric/acoustic. and, i'll keep looking for similar style deals to fill out the cases.
i also got a stack of books, for $2-$3 each (the stephenson was a bit more), mostly for the alter-reality, and mostly books i used to own:
- 6/7 of the chronicles of narnia series (in a box set) (i read a few of these, not all of them, as a kid.)
- wuthering heights (i read this in late high school)
- three titles by f. scott fitzgerald (i read some but not all of these in late high school)
- hardcopy covers of the tommyknockers & misery, as well as the first dark tower entry <---i was a huge stephen king fan as a kid and read all of these before 1993
- utopia by thomas more <---this is a text from i think the 8th grade that i remember well, although we did a man for all seasons, rather than utopia
- jonathan swift - gulliver's travels <--- middle school
- arthur c. clarke - 2010: odyseey two - this was read in elementary school
- two texts by neil stephenson - i read snow crash in early university, but have not read quicksilver
i will probably delve further into specific authors in the alter-reality than i did in real life.
- the following are not for the alter-reality
- a biography of glenn gould by mark kingwell
- a compendium of three plays by sophocles - antigone, king oedipus & oedipus at colonus
- timequake by vonnegut (i always grab everything by vonnegut when i see it, but have not read this one)
listen, i'm learning about this...i've never even heard of this...
no. no.
i actually think it's a copy of a martin d-35.
yeah. the pictures are much closer...
i'm an electric guitarist, i've never been picky about acoustics. i don't know the different types or models well.
the d-35 is a spitting image, so that must be what it was.
if you look at the new models, they still have plastic pegs where the action adjustment used to be, years ago.
my sister stole some old vintage guitars from me years ago...nothing like this one....
the takeharu guitars also appear to have been gibson clones.
solid top gibson acoustic guitars from this period nowadays run around $10,000. so, you'll excuse me for having never seen one.
but, the acoustic gibsons from that era have the same action adjustments as this takeharu does, and t hat seems to be the idea.
ok.
well, i'm glad i figure it out first, but my intuition seems to have been correct.
the serial number on this guitar is 01032.
i thought it was 1973, due to the model name, but i may have jumped to conclusions - the numbers appar to be chronological across the entire brand, so this is the 1032nd takeharu guitar ever made, and it may be closer to 1971 or 1970, given that they seem to have made around 1000 per year.
there only appear to have been 9000 or so of these guitars ever made - total, all models.
this guy's takeharu has the adjustments, too.
ok.
they're stock, and must be for tension.
great.
most of the pictures don't have the screws.
but, it seems like enough do to think they're probably stock.
wow.
this is a '74 model where they seem to have unscrewed them, answering my question.
Sunday, July 25, 2021
ok, this is a 1976 model with the same screws.
could they be stock, after all?
wtf?
i'm going to send them an email with pictures.
the laptop seems to be ok, after all.
when i tried to turn it on last night, it told me it couldn't read the hard drive - indicating it might not be installed, or had perhaps had the bootloader destroyed. when i tried today, it's fine.
so, i dunno.
i didn't get a chance to really look at it before i went to get the takeharu so i don't really know what happened.
the seller is being evasive about the screws :\. he claims "his friend" gave it to him.
should i bring this into a store before i even touch it just to run it by somebody? it's a $1000 solid body acoustic guitar manufactured in 1973, with some kind of botched mod to the bridge...this isn't the cheap piece of shit i hoped to save...
so, i spent the night trying to sort through cheap instrument listings on a couple of sites and spent the day sleeping.
the laptop with my phone appears to have been sabotaged by the cops, and i might have to r einstall.
for the night, i need to finish eating, clean a bit and get back to sorting through those listings, before i put them aside for tomorrow.
i'm going to have to blow very, very hard to get the same tone.
that's ok...
so, an air reed organ is, physically speaking, essentially the same thing as a melodica.
i can probably get very similar tones using the $5 melodica i just ordered from china.
yeah. $5.
which is about what i paid for that organ, back in the day.
i'll keep an eye out for a real bontempi replacement, but one shitty part about the internet is that you don't get the same kind of deals on old gear that you used to at garage sales. it's going to cost upward of $100, and my $5 melodica might just be good enough.
this is the model i had.
and, if i'm going to replace it, i want the same one again.
that fan required noise reduction.
i loved the keys.
i was honestly planning on putting the epiphone in the case to try to extend it's lifespan, and leaving the "beginner japanese acoustic" on the stand, as a doodle guitar.
but, if i can fix this, it can keep the case!
the bridge oddly has two screws in it that look like action adjustments. you can see one of them here; it's the same on the other side:
what exactly are these screws?
are they action adjustments? if so, i wonder if the guitar just needs a setup - however bizarre it is.
or, are they there to keep the bridge in place?
i can smell the glue under the bridge, so it seems like the bridge snapped off and got glued on. that is, unless somebody tried to mod it to make adjustable action, in which case we might be dealing with a mod gone wrong that could in theory be undone.
i can tell by holding it that this guitar is an upgrade over the epiphone, but it doesn't hold tension in the strings and instantly falls out of tune...
...so, after adjusting the action, i'm going to probably put nylon strings on it, regardless. and, while it has 20 frets, the 21st is playable. :).
i love finding weird guitars and making them awesome.
let's see if i can save this.
so, i got the bottom of my vox this morning, finally.
i also took a look around for hh bodies and didn't find what i want.
when i got back, though, i responded to an ad i had responded to previously for a "beginner japanese guitar" with a "rehoused bridge", really just expecting to buy the case. after fighting with the rain, i got it back home and realized it was this:
this is a vintage 1973 takeharu guitar. and, yes, the guitar is unplayable due to a warped bridge, but i suspect i can fix it...
i paid $40 for this guitar, including the case.
i also got this for $5:
so, expect some mini xylophone madness coming up!
Friday, July 23, 2021
(post started on july 17, 2021)
so, what am i doing about this classical guitar?
let me take a step back - i'm deciding to replace gear that was sold before i went to bc or stolen (mostly after i got evicted in 2011), as best i can. that's what i'm doing right now - trying to figure out how to best do this in a way that actually makes sense and gives me what i need. this is the right time to do it, as well, as i'm picking up in mid-2003, right after i sold most of the gear. i don't want to have to say to myself "i used to have a x but..." when i'm sitting down to finish these.
so, it's a functional step to get back to period 3.
then,what is missing, what can i realistically replace and what can be upgraded or sidegraded to something better? keep in mind that most of this was sold due to defect, and i didn't get a whole lot for the bulk of it, either.
- i still have the 15 watt solid state cheri tube amp, which has three separate ins and separate eq knobs. it's not that this is a bad amp - i keep saying that - it's that it's rarely the tone i want. i mean, it was 1992. despite the popular lore, this was still very much the era of 80s metal. if i cared about shredding or metal guitar, i'd probably use it all of the time. but, i just don't, and it just doesn't tend to help. i refuse to part with it, though - and i expect i'll eventually use it for something. so, i don't need to replace this, and i don't want to trade it in, but i'm hoping to sidegrade it with a comparable 10-15 watt basic tube amp. i'm not having a lot of luck with that at this time, but maybe there might be more used tube amps out in pawn shops in detroit.
i'm also looking at something called "nutube" technology, and liking the idea of jumping to the frequency range of a keyboard amp, while keeping the warmth of a guitar tube amp:
those are still a little higher than i want to pay, but something i'll keep an eye out for. also, 50 watts is really overkill. like, can i have it in 20 instead? i want it loud enough to record, without being loud enough to get evicted....
i got a cryptic response from korg (which seems to basically own vox nowadays), and they did confirm that the headphone amp is not the same thing as the mini amp modeler, at least. but, it seems like the amplug2 has the same "flavours" as the mv50, and i wonder if it's the same circuit, without the power.:
so, i'm going to keep my little ac30, regardless. but, that kb-50 kind of sounds ideal, to get the most out of a tube amp in 2021.
so, should i look at the collection of mini amps as side grades to this cheri, and kind of fixing the hole left by never upgrading it? or should i just leave it as it is? i dunno. i know i still have it and don't intend to discard it.
- the next thing in the list is the vaguely strat-like starter 80s ibanez that i sold, which had an unworkable knot in the neck. like, it was a factory defect - the neck had a clumpy knot in it. at the time, the arrogant ass faux guitarist (jon) couldn't believe i sold my ibanez (he was into korn, not vai), but it was an entirely justifiable choice given the knot. i mean, i was 12 when it was gifted to me, and it probably would have been outside my dad's price range had it not had that knot in it, so i absolutely got a better guitar than i should have - i lucked out on it. but, you can't fix a neck that's defective on arrival, like that. you can't sand it down - it's in the neck. you'd have to cut the knot out and fill it in with wood filler, and that's insane. or, you'd have to replace the neck, at the cost of a new guitar. so, it was just not played after i got the three epiphones for that reason, and really the only reason i didn't sell it sooner is that i hate selling gear - and if i miss it, it's emotional, not logical. i don't completely remember the pickup breakdown on it, but i think it was an hsh - that's what's in the picture. i'm sure it had a single coil, because that's the last single coil i had access to - after it was sold in 2003. i had some extremely cheap no-name guitars that i got essentially for free from garage sales that i kept for weird tunings, and some of them had single coils (one was a tele copy), but i don't remember doing any specific recordings with them (but meant to). they disappeared in 2011...i again presume that my hyper-capitalist sister assumed that because they were old, they must be valuable, and i doubt she got anything at all for them, but no doubt didn't really care. i should check kijiji and some local pawn shops for $30 guitars...and just kind of get back in the habit of grabbing them when i see them cheap.
so, the only thing i really want to replace with this guitar is the single coils and, as it would be, i bought a fat strat rx40 for $40 (including the case) a few years ago that worked until i got it home, when i realized it looked like somebody ripped something out of it when i went to buy a vacuum elsewhere. fuckers...
to me, that is a sufficient replacement for the lost ibanez, as it fills the hole of a lost fat strat. but, i need to fix it before i can play it.
(post from july 21st inserted here:
i can't find an exact model of the ibanez, which is annoying to me because i'm trying to determine if the rx40 is really a replacement for it or not.
in terms of guitar hierarchy (that is, marketing bullshit), it isn't - the model i had was entry, but it wasn't bottom of the line.
it looked very similar to this:
...but, the annoying locking bridge was more like this one:
you'll note that the allan keys in the second picture are triangular, and the ibanez' was triangular. the thumbscrews in the second picture are very close to the ones i had.
but, it had a three way selector like the first one, and, yes, it had a whammy that i used twice. it was also hsh, like the first one, i think - not just a fat strat. but, see, the first guitar is basically a strat copy; the second is more like a prs (and more like my weird black epiphone, which thankfully doesn't have the awful locking mechanism). i had a strat copy, with the hardware more like the prs copy. maybe it was an upgrade, even - which is ironic, given that it was defective.
i mentioned that the ibanez had a warp in the neck - a nasty knot. it was a factory defect, and wasn't playable at places. you couldn't bend around the 8th fret. i would have never ended up with it, otherwise. and, i probably wouldn't have sold it otherwise, either. but, i got to the point where i understood it was a bad guitar and traded it in...
so, is the rx40 a replacement for this?
again - i know the roadstar is a more expensive guitar, but the one i had was defective, so keep that in mind. i'm trying to replace what i actually had, not what i might have had, in theory.
the big differences are:
1) the roadstar had far more expensive hardware, but i'd rather not have the locking mechanism, so i'd prefer the rx40 because it doesn't have that feature. i actually just left it perpetually unlocked! i don't use whammy bars, which is the reason you have these locking mechanisms, and not to stay in tune for normal use. and, i needed weird tunings for, like, soundgarden songs...
2) the roadstar was hsh and had a three way selector switch. the rx40 is hss and has a five way selector switch, which is standard for strats. so, the last two selector switches are a little different - the roadstar had a humbucker in the neck position (which gave it a beefier, gibsonier sound for solos), whereas the rx40 will have a thinner, stratier sound for solos. but, what makes more sense, if you think about it?
i remember my guitar teacher (his name was terry, and he worked at an actual music school. he was mostly a progressive rock and jazz fusion guitarist, running the gamut from hackett to santana to di meola) looking at the guitar and not understanding it. he was a japanese fellow, but a jew ought to ask this question:
"why would you put a single coil in between two humbuckers on a three way selector? if you want to play chords, you do one humbucker; if you want to do leads, you do the other. what do you do with the middle coil?"
if you think about it, what you get with the three way roadstar is:
- the second position combined as a bridge humbucker. sort of.
- the middle position, which nobody uses.
- the fourth position, combined as a neck humbucker. sort of.
so, you're cutting off the first and last positions, really....which means you're eliminating a lot of the point of owning a strat.
what that means is that the roadstar was really just another prs style guitar, just another sg copy, and the middle pickup is just for show - and just to suck your tone by creating noise on the circuit.
in a useable sense, you can create a humbucker in the fourth position on the rx, without losing the fifth position. and, you still get the humbucker at the bridge, which is where you want it on a strat-style guitar. if you want to play a gibson-style guitar, then get one.
so, the roadstar is maybe an example of a design trying too hard to be comprehensive, and instead just coming off as half-assed. they seem to be expensive nowadays, though - although mostly as hhes or as hsses.
i'd rather have the five-way fat strat than the three way selector.
regarding the neck, the rx is plenty fast - which was part of the logic in getting it. and, the neck on the roadstar was broken...
so, yes - i'd consider this a replacement, and a sidegrade, if not an upgrade due to the fact that the roadstar was a defect. i'd rather do away with the locking mechanism, and i'd rather have a five way hss than a three-way hsh. out of all of the combinations, hsh seems to make the least sense to me. as it is, both of my epis have independent humbuckers (and the sg has independent controls), so i don't have any reason to want a strat-like guitar with a humbucker at the neck. that said, i'll take one with a humbucker at the bridge, and one with out it - and that's enough.
that is the next entry in the mega post, and i need to finally figure that out tonight. )
i'm also considering a mini S-S-S squier, but that would be to finish the thought regarding pickup access, and extra to the lost ibanez, from all those years ago. i've never had an sss...but think it's long overdue, and something i may really need to really get through period 3.
(post from july 19th inserted here:
- i also got a fender mini squire for $200 cdn total (including tax):
(mine is red and doesn't say hello kitty)
now, why would i buy myself a guitar for a child? because i needed some single coils, and i know that a guitar with single coils is never going to become my main guitar. i have two epiphones with humbuckers, and that's my usual sound and i'm actually totally happy with it. but, i'm looking for variation, here - that's what i'm doing this month, filling in tonal options in preparation for a recording stage.
i don't have hundreds or thousands of dollars for something more pro, so the question becomes why you'd spend 2-3x as much on a full range squire, or some other fake strat, and then play it twice a year.
i also have exceedingly small hands, so the things this guy is complaining about aren't relevant to me....
i'm also not intending to play much like he is. as i bought it for the thinner pickups, and i'm more of a blues guitarist than a metal guitarist, it's intended use is more for a jimi hendrix, mark knopfler, srv or early corgan type sound. i'm looking for that "sweet strat tone" - or, at least, for the physical characteristics underlying it, to warp mbv-style.
remember: jazzmasters had single coils, too.
i bought the guitar used, but the frets make it clear it's never really been played. minus the cosmetic scratch on the backplate, it's really a brand new guitar, for about $80 (cdn) less than retail. so, i didn't just get a cheap guitar, i got a good deal on a cheap guitar.
i've plugged it in and it works...
this item does not replace a previous one, because i've actually never had an s-s-s strat. the ibanez rx40, once fixed, will replace the defective ibanez hss (or hsh? i don't remember|) that i sold in 2003.
now, let me eat...)
so, i have the ibanez fully replaced in theory, as soon as i solder the rx40 back together. and, i have a new guitar on top of it, as well. great. moving on...
- the next thing in the list is an electronic piano that belonged to my sister, which i can get relevant sounds from various midi patches. if there was something replaceable about this item, it would be the feel of a full-sized digital piano, but that's of little concern to me, and had nothing to do with what i used the device for, which was mostly organ tones through a zoom 1010. that said, i have recently purchased a behringer control surface to replace the keys taken out of the jx and that, together with modern vst technology, is enough to recreate the wavetable synthesis in the item, entirely, without a second thought.
- next is a "green bass". this is opposed to a blue bass, of course. one dare not speak of a purple bass. listen - i don't know what it was, i just know it was green.
i play a lot of bass, but i'm not a bassist in any technical sense. the reason i got stuck playing bass is actually that i was the better musician. no, really. nobody else could do it, so i could have been a whiny snob and demand to play guitar or i could have been pragmatic and played bass. i didn't give a fuck about the image.
so, i need a bass around. just one. and, i need an amp. just one...
the green bass became a black bass, until i bought myself a red washburn with a warped neck, and had to trade it in. then, i borrowed various basses until 2007 when i bought a coffeburst ibanez roadstar II, which has been my bass ever since.
i could not find picture of this on the internet, so here we are. this is a real bass, kids. i think it's a 1986 or 1987 model. active pickups - which are good for bass, if bad for guitar.
this is not a small bass, but the neck is quite skinny, which is good for my itty bitty hands - a problem when i was being altruistic in playing bass for the team, kind of thing. you can get a variety of different tones from the pickups, but i compress it so much that i really just want the drive from the pups.
the sticker was there when i bought it, and was no doubt intended to glow in the dark. i like saturn. sure.
it's pretty much the best bass for me, as a person, so i'm glad i found it.
take that "green" bass. pfft.
- i still have the zoom 1010 & the 440-IIs.
- i do not have a small bass amp to replace the peavey 40 or 50 any more, although i still have a far-too-big-to-play 160 watt fender m-80, which i may use as a cab for the mini amps when there's nobody home. this amp was used for keyboards and guitar effects during the very early recording period, and i still had it for years after, although it mostly got put aside as i was lining everything in instead. you gotta remember that my dad bought most of this stuff, and he was still in the 70s aor mindset where everything needed an amp - keyboards need an amp, drum machine needs an amp, gotta mic the flute through an amp, etc. i just put headphones on and preferred it. that said, it's a definite hole, but one i've left open because i want a combo amp - like a jazz chorus. i like the idea of those mini voxes. if i can find one....but, for now, i'll put the idea aside and rely on the big fender. and, there's good chance i could use it, yeah.
- the initial replacement for the drum kit was the ry30, but the kit was the one thing that was also understood as belonging to him, and that i actually had to ask to use, on occasion - even if it ended up banished to my room, on several occasions. his third wife just couldn't deal with it, and he couldn't get the space from her, until he stopped caring. so, there were various kits of various quality around, bought and sold. sarah had a kit, which is what i used for the recording phase in 2004. i ended up getting a dm5 and still have it, although i've always only used played drums sporadically and for specific sounds.
- how did i replace the tape deck? i used it as an instrument for years. i think the answer is that i moved to digital sampling and digital pitch shifting, did i lose anything from that? some people will talk about certain characteristics of tape, but it's not enough to convince me to go out and emulate it. if i wanted that sound nowadays, i could use the portastudio, but i'd probably just use a time stretch effect in cool edit or cubase.
- i still have one of the two dixon mics i had back then. the other was replaced with the altec 683b. i've added a marantz condenser mic, which is an option i never had. i'm still considering adding a sennheiser 609, but i'm going to old off on it for now.
- the acoustic guitar left down there was replaced with the epiphone electric/acoustic, which was a sidegrade. i think the guitar left there had better specs, but it didn't have a pickup in it.
- i still have larry's mxr phase 90 (original script).
- larry's more advanced tascam portastudio was replaced with a portastudio 414 and eventually an alesis multimix 16:
- i don't have a specific replacement for the boss oc-2 that i bought in early 1997 and sold in 2003, and am not particularly keen on replacing it. i bought it during a period where the bass disappeared, naively thinking i could use it to record bass parts with my guitar, and i found the box to be underwhelming, to say the least. i used it as a novelty item - a kind of cheeseball effect, almost as a joke. there's an octave/2-octave down multiplier called "double bass" in the pod that works better, and i'll stick with that. it also has an octavia and a pitch shifter...but it's "double bass" that emulates the oc-2. if you insist...
i'm going to stop there for now, with the sum being that i still need to replace the smaller bass amp as a combo guitar/bass/keyboard amp (which is what i used the peavey for, and sort of can't use the fender for) and i'm still looking at the sennheiser 609 as a mic upgrade.
