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:

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.

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.

https://reverb.com/marketplace?query=takeharu

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.

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.

https://myguitarfix.wordpress.com/2020/01/22/1970-takeharu-lawsuit-copy-of-a-martin-d-35/

so, yeah.

this is a gibson hummingbird clone...

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.

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!

(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.

starting at the timeline (which is what set me off...) [https://jessicamurrayreleasestimeline.blogspot.com], and moving up from the bottom,

- 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:

https://voxamps.com/product/vx50kb/

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.:

https://voxamps.com/product/mv50-ac

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.

i should also point out that i spent a little bit of time this morning filling the cracks in on my electro-acoustic with wood filler left over from the book shelf.

i'm not going to sand it down or paint it or anything, i'm not intending to sell it and it just can't be played outside, but i'm hoping it strengthens the problems in the neck a bit.

i've been over this before, but the item came back from storage at my dad's with a snap in the headstock, and an apparent glue job, although i don't think it actually separated. i'm going to guess it was broken on purpose by my retarded stepmother, because that's how she behaved over and over the whole time that i knew her. it's just consistent, and not even really surprising. like, i expected something to end up damaged, and i guess that was what got broken.

i had earlier changed the nut on it, too.

it plays fine and stays in tune fine as well, but it's a worthless guitar due to the damage. so, i'm just trying to save it's lifespan as a recording instrument.

it seems to have set well without expanding too much. but, i have to be extra careful with this instrument.

see, here's where we are 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. <-----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 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 + software for polyphonic synth work

what's missing?

guitars to find:

- 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.

- still waiting on an answer for the nylon electro-acoustic, but they've just about run out of time, and i'm just about to order something from china, instead. like, they have to at least respond. simply ignoring me tells me it's a bad seller.

- 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.

and, what's the total update?

this is what i've got already:

- 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

and this is what is coming:

- the bottom of the vox combo + pignose (not now though, later) + soldering iron for strat

- 2 of 3 gig bags

- hannah montana guitar

- audio to midi converter (with extra cord)

- ancestry dna test

i was hoping to get something done today, but i spent much of it on the phone with paypal. goofs.

so, i think i'm a little out of date regarding how i'm imagining guitar to midi conversion.

i tried working with an evaluation copy of midi guitar a few years ago and couldn't get it to work right, but there are now several pieces of software that purport to perform this task, and i'm really better off approaching it from that angle. the idea is you convert the note to midi in real time, and it's fine so long as your computer can keep up. reaper seems to do it natively.

that approach should work for bass, too - meaning i won't need a dedicated plugin.

but, i've always wanted to plug directly into the jx, and may consider converting the dx100 into a guitar processor. the best way to do that is not to get a midi guitar but to get a hardware audio to midi interface.

the downside is that it's monophonic, but i can deal with that if i can get the polyphonic version working in software. 

careful - most of the versions have usb outs instead of midi outs, meaning you'd need a separate converter.

i'm going to get a cheap midi to usb instead for maximum flexibility. and, now i can finally plug right into my synths....

i'm going to go looking through the local pawn shops for a paul copy that doesn't work and buy p90s for it. i don't want to pay shipping for an empty body - i can find something cheap here.

that means i'm getting a soldering iron.

i don't have a good idea for the jazzmaster style at this point, other than to keep an eye out for broken squires to swap the pickups out in.

i have a lead on a 21 fret classical.

and, i have a lead on a midi guitar, but it might have to wait.

so, i just bought one of these.

as mentioned previously, my hands are very small. the 3/4 size is not a big deal for me; i may even prefer it.

this is a washburn telecaster for $200. it wasn't at the top of my list of stuff to get, but it's the best offer on option, that i can find.

this would be a nice idea, as a base for the p90s, but they seem to have cut the guitar in a way that's just barely too small for p90s.

https://www.amazon.ca/Epiphone-ELPSLPACH-Electric-Guitar-Pacific/dp/B075BSVFR2/ref=sr_1_99

i've found a video of somebody that made the mod, and it's pretty small.

shame.

but it can be done. i'm going to look for another idea...

this little mini hohner i have appears to be a fairly rare mid 70s model.

the only information i can find is that the sticker in the soundhole looks like this:

...except the serial number is something like sk67??, it doesn't say "made in japan" and there's no number below it. the number is very, very faded - so faded i can't entirely make it out.

that picture is from a 1978 model, and that label is 70s era, roughly.

i like having weird guitars like this, on top of normal guitars like the gibson/epiphone and the fender/squier. the black epiphone is weird, i'm going to make the rx40 weird and i want my 21 fret classical to be weird, too. i want my p90 and jazzmasters to be weird. weird weird weird...

i found the guitar i want, and paypal won't let me log in to buy it.

fuck.

so, i spent yesterday sorting through kijiji listings and i spent today sleeping. i wonder if i'm reacting to the smoke in the new fridge :\.

that said, the fridge is much, much better...

tonight, i need to sort through ebay and do essentially the same thing i did with kijiji. the idea is to understand what's out there, first - and then go looking for specifics.

the p90s themselves seem relatively affordable...

so, this seems more about finding some kind of paul type affair at a reasonable price and putting them in there.

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.

so, i guess the epiphone is really a prs-style guitar, isn't it? it just clicked. i mean, i'd seen a prs before, but i never made the connection. it's the same pickup placement, even. i guess ibanez also did that kind of thing, but it's the shape prs is most known for - ibanez is more known for their weird locking systems and other odd innovations. it might be an ibanez body, but if it is then it's a fairly old one. that's probably what the person that built it was going for.....

so, i've got

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. <-----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 acoustic

if you look at the discography, you'll note there weren't any tracks recorded in the blues style over period 2, except the ones i used my old ibanez (i now think it was an hsh roadstar II, as they have the thumbscrews i couldn't find elsewhere) for before i sold it before i left. all lead parts since 2003 were recorded with humbuckers, and just eqed if i want it to be sparklier. but, there are points where i struggled, and i hope that fixes it. there will definitely be parts in period 3 that need single coils.

what's missing?

guitars to find:

- if i could find an absolutely bottom of the line telecaster copy, i'd grab it. i had one for years, and i don't think i ever used it (it wasn't wired right). <---lead/electro-classical guitar (i play with my fingers, but i don't play redneck music. this is where a tele is theoretically useful to me.)

- i'm looking for a basic paul shape, to put p90s in it. pre-installed is even better. i picked an sg over a paul because i liked the less chunky sound of the sg, and humbuckers were the right choice. but, a paul works better with p90s (and vice versa) because it cuts out some of the low end. i've never had p90s, and it's not a sound i wrote around much in the past, but i realize it's the sound i want for much of period 3. <----amplified rhythm parts

- a jazzmaster or jaguar shaped guitar with jazzmaster pickups. <---effects work

- can i find an affordable midi guitar?

- a couple of cheap electrics for weird tunings, etc.

and, i'm still trying to find a way to get a 21 fret classical guitar, preferably one with a cutoff and a pickup in it.

so, that's comprehensive. i think. that's what i need to find. and, no, i can't afford all of it - until i get a settlement from sobey's, which may be relatively soon.

today has been frustrating, as i've been unable to differentiate between the smoking coming upstairs and the smoke coming from the fridge, which has allowed them to smoke with impunity. and, i may have to actually reclean this space from top to bottom. we'll see.

but, i'm now familiar with everything up in the region on kijiji, and have put aside things i may want to pursue.

the marantz came in quick. i think the flute cleared customs, too.

as mentioned, i'm going to be mostly focused on cleaning that fridge for the next several days. but, let's see how much of that post i can finish...

so, what's the update for today?

i was up earliesh, actually, and got to finishing the meal that i barely started last night. by the time i finished it, i had to call my doctor - and i got him to do essentially everything i asked for.

- virtual scope

- standing order (we'll start for aug 1st)

- all requests for blood work

so, that's about ideal.

my landlord knocked on the door minutes before the scheduled call and asked to replace the fridge, so i had to ask him to come back, and then ended up waiting until after 17:00 - which largely blew the day. then, when he got it down here, i realized it completely reeked of second-hand smoke.

it's easy to get conspiratorial about this, but i think it's more consistent with the guy's lack of general competence. i mean, i've been bitching about this for months - it could be a real dick move. that is, if i thought he was able to really think it through. more likely is that he just bought a cheap fridge and didn't ask. now i'm stuck cleaning the fridge.

that's fine - i'll do it. but, it's going to take some time, and prevent me from setting things back up. fuck...

it's just another thing to take note of, if this ends up in a court room. in the end, it's a large amount of labour and time wasted. but, asking for compensation is difficult, until it becomes necessary - then it becomes overwhelming.

the one other thing i got done today was the purchase of some gig bags. i went looking for a 38" bag for the new mini, expecting to spend around $20. in the process, i found a deal on a fancy out-of-the-house bag ($18) and a decided to get a back-up back ($11), before finally finding a decent 38" bag (for $14). this was all through walmart marketplace, which i'm using instead of amazon because they take paypal and amazon won't.

i'm going to need to stop soon, but let me try another run on the scrubdown for the fridge. it's probably going to take at least a week...

here's where i am with the shipping and stuff:

this is what i've purchased already:

- 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

and this is what is coming:

- micro cassette recorder <---shipped

- the bottom of the vox combo + pignose + circuit for strat?

- a wood flute to replace the one my aunt bought me in 1998, and since just broke due to being old. that flute was used on several recordings, actually.  <----shipped

- sennheiser replacement headphones  <---stuck in customs

- marantz microphone

- 3 gig bags