So, when I was eleven, it occurred to me that if I wrote my own books, I could then reread them at my leisure. I never really wrote a complete book, of course. I would start one and keep rambling on with it till I outgrew it and then I would start another. All these early writings are forever gone, though I remember some of the details quite clearly.
i'm not sure how many people realized it at the time, but the man was a damned troll.
so, i'm going to start with this on pdf, if i can't find it at the goodwill shop.
actually - and i had decided this once before - i should read it in this order, then fill in the gaps:
this is based on the ordering suggested by asimov, except i'm strategically adding in short stories collections to fill it out.
i am ignoring asimov's later forays outside of science fiction, altogether.
(i did not read any of the lucky starr series as a kid, and i'm skipping them in this reconstruction. but, they would plug in first)
the complete stories, volume 1 (short stories) <----added
buy jupiter and other stories (short stories) >----added
the martian way and other stories (short stories) <----added
the bicentennial man and other stories (short stories) <----added
caves of steel (1954)
the naked sun (1957)
the robots of dawn (1983)
robots and empire (1985)
the currents of space (1952)
the stars, like dust (1951)
pebble in the sky (1950)
prelude to foundation (1988)
forward the foundation (1993)
foundation (1951)
foundation and empire (1952)
second foundation (1953)
foundation's edge (1982)
foundation and earth (1986)
==========
asimov's mysteries (short stories) <----added
the winds of change and other stories (short stories) <---added
the end of eternity <-----added
the gods themselves <--------added
honey, i shrunk the fantastic voyage II: destination brain <-----added
nemesis <----added
there are some asimov texts published after 1990, but not many. i'll have to skip them, altogether.
or maybe not.
1992 silverberg additions:
- positronic man
- ugly little boy
- nightfall
should i start by talking about asimov's role in the perpetual, cosmic war between religion and science? asimov is known for aggressively promoting rationalism, liberalism, secularism and atheism in and outside of his literature. should kids really be reading this stuff, or was he just out there corrupting the youth?
the reality, for me, is that my parents were not just both atheists but that they conscientiously raised me as an atheist, so asimov didn't undo anything because there wasn't anything to undo. i want to get the point across on that: they didn't raise me to dislike this or that religion, or to have a disdain for the faithful (that came naturally...), but rather purposefully raised me without an active belief in any sort of god, and, when it came up, simply expressed skepticism as a matter-of-fact in any situation that my subconscious considers important enough to still remember. basically, my parents were of the view that a child shouldn't be pushed into a belief system; that's not a deduction, i specifically recall hearing both of them say, independently of one another, that it ought to be up to me to figure out, and not up to them to direct, although i'll admit that it may have been driven by laziness, on both of their respective behalves. belief in god isn't embedded in our genome and doesn't come instinctively, without instruction; if you don't foster it, it doesn't develop, and that's really the actual truth with me: nobody ever told me i ought to believe in god with any conviction or persistence and, as a result of that lack of persuasion, i just never did. the result is that, unlike most adult atheists, there really never was a time in my youth when i was naive enough to believe in any sort of god. there was no break with faith, no rejection of the church - i've just always been an atheist, by default. so, i was an atheist child reading books by an atheist author; in that sense, asimov was appropriate, for me, in the same way that a christian child reading christian authors is appropriate, for them. asimov shares my extended family's belief system; he's a representative and a member of my tribe. conversely, it would have been weird for my atheist parents and grandmother to give me religious books, given that they were not religious, themselves.
so, i mean, maybe asimov wouldn't be right for some kids, but that concern wasn't an issue, for me.
but, what that means is that i just didn't have a perspective on this conflict because science was really the only thing that i actually knew. i actually had to learn about religion from the other kids, and that conflict had to develop in my mind over time, as i aged and became more cognizant of it. at the age that i'm starting this with, there just wouldn't be much of a conflict to resolve - all i knew was science, and all i knew was atheism (in the sense of it being the absence of religion). i didn't really know the traditional christian stories or narratives, so i wasn't aware that they contradicted the science, and i didn't know there was any reason to push back on them. it's hard to imagine an alternate history of yourself at such a formative age, but i'd like to think i'd have pushed back against the religion, if only i knew that there was a reason to. instead, i naively allowed both ideas to exist side by side, oblivious of the intellectual inconsistency in doing so, although the only thing i ever spent any actual time actually thinking about was the science.
so, i'm not going to be pushing this point much in this journal, because i wasn't really aware of it at the time. rather, i'm going to try to present my own perspective, as best as i can remember it, which means that religion wasn't much of a factor, because i didn't really know very much about it. i liked science, as best as i could understand it; i wasn't even cognizant of what religion was or was about, in any meaningful sense.
that said, my stepfather was religious, and that's something i'll need to talk about.
my mother was uncomfortable with his religiosity, and it ultimately ended the marriage. he "found god" shortly after they got married, and she went along with it thinking it was a phase, but ultimately rejected him over it, although there was a point where he got violent with me over nothing, and that was the actual cause of the break-up. she wouldn't have identified as one, but her religious views were roughly comparable to that of a laveyan satanist. i think she would have identified as some kind of vague deist, but her concept of god was...it's an old testament god. it's a mean, vengeful, retributive god. but, it doesn't follow the rules in the old testament. it's really a pagan concept of god.
my father's religion was hockey. he didn't take it seriously. i don't think he'd have identified as anything, and if you brought it up, he'd have changed the topic. i guess that qualifies as agnostic, but it was a kind of a "i don't have time for this" agnosticism. if there was some vague notion of deism, he never really articulated it. and, he was a libertarian in his concept of religion; so long as they didn't bother him, he didn't have a problem with them. years later, when my stepmother started going to church, he would drop her off and go for breakfast with me, instead - and then make it home in time to watch the nfl game. but, it was just disinterest more than anything else. he was a big zappa fan...
so, it was strictly because of my stepfather that i spent some time in a methodist church around the time that the journal starts, before being banned from sunday school for asking too many awkward questions. if you think catholics are fucked up on specious guilt, you should spend some time with methodists - they make catholics seem moderate, in comparison. it was around that time that i picked the bible up and read it all the way through, so that should probably be one of the book reviews. but, i've pointed out before that all it took for me to do away with christianity was to read the bible. it was just obviously just a bunch of nonsense. and, i remember being baffled at the premise that there were adults in the world that were dumb enough to take it seriously.
also, i did attend a catholic school until the end of grade 13, but my mom only enrolled me in the catholic school system because it started at four-year old kindergarten, and the public system started at five-year old kindergarten. so, i was going to have to skip a year, otherwise (i had been in pre-school starting at age 2); it was really just a pragmatic decision to avoid having me skip a year. i was subsequently baptized at the age of four strictly to facilitate it. i distinctly recall my mother being mortified that the priest would molest me, and ordered me not to go anywhere near the church to prevent it. the cynicism underlying the process is truthfully actually another demonstration of the strictly non-religious environment i was raised in.
these minimal and temporary influences aside, the reality is that religion was really not a part of my upbringing, that i was always strictly interested in science, and i'll consequently be approaching the issue from the perspective of a strictly atheist childhood. but, i want to double down on what that means: if it's not pointed out by adults, it's just not obvious to a child that there's any sort of a contradiction between science and religion, and so a child wouldn't reflexively choose a side in the debate. when they send you to sunday school, they don't bring up theological discourses surrounding the big bang, or at least they don't do it on day one. it takes time for the inconsistencies to unfold and for the need to pick a side to become apparent. eventually, after so many trips, the contradictions start to pile up, and there was never any question in my little mind as to which set of ideas had primacy. the moment i became cognizant of the conflict was the moment i picked a side and the moment i intellectually turned against religion.
so, i won't admit naivete, but i'll admit some ignorance. i think some ignorance at the age of eight or nine is forgivable. for me, the ignorance was of the conflict between science and religion - i was not aware of one, at first, or of the necessity in choosing one over the other. and, i realize that many religious people will argue that there isn't a contradiction, but i reject that, as an adult - and did, eventually, as a ten year-old, as well.
so, i'm going to actually approach the asimov as a blank slate, regarding the conflict between science and religion. i was simply not old enough to be aware of the struggle, and simply had little awareness of religion. however, my biases throughout are going to be towards science, and that position will be dominant when conflicts arise and will win outright, in the end.
just a note on the asimov reviews, before i start on them...
i'm going to be more or less comprehensive. of course, i hadn't read every asimov text by the time i was ten, but i'd read a good deal of them. that's not important. this is a mechanism - it reflects reality. you want to take the idea seriously, and allow for tremendous artistic license in the details, although i am going to try to be as specific as my memory can allow for. the details are admittedly a little blurry, more than thirty years later.
so, no - i didn't read every asimov text in order.
but, i am going to review them that way.
as i want to speed this up, i'm going to try to get four of these texts done over next weekend, but i don't know if that's feasible. these are 200 page books in large fonts that are written for teenagers; i don't know if i can do two or three per day, but i should be able to do more than one.
but, i have to finish cleaning, first.
i updated the theme link and put it at the bottom of the template:
that is probably final. updates are related to the colour of the text, which is now a pencil grey.
again - the theme works exceedingly well in terms of actually lining the paper up, but some care is going to be required in ensuring that the size of the posts is not too large. it looks like a floating point error issue to me that's baked into the html rendering, and you're never going to fix that. but, i've forced it to recalculate frequently, and that's the best answer that i think is available.
so, we've got post #2 up at the alter-reality.
i'm going to try very hard to actually stick to this. and, i should start some reviews for next week, time permitting.
so, i got my mini tele in today and it plays very well. all the electronics work, as well.
unfortunately, the eye holes ("ferrules") on the back need a regluing (somebody tried to tape them back on...), one of the springs on the bridge needs to be replaced and somebody put some stupidly tense strings on it and otherwise set it up rather poorly, as well. this is either coming from an adult that tried to turn it into a grown up guitar in a silly way, or a dad that didn't know what he was doing.
that's fine - these are minor repairs, and i can fix that fairly easily.
it's otherwise a pretty nice little tele.
Thursday, August 5, 2021
so, i thought my melodica was $4.00, but it was just the mouthpiece and i had to cancel it.
xylophone sticks are still coming.
i spent the last few days building the gear part of the releases blog for the basement on hilliard, and will have a "replacement" post coming soon.
i had to catch up on sleep today. it happens, when you don't sleep.
but, bleach run #3 on the fridge seems to have worked, so i should be able to get things back in order, starting tonight.
i was able to confirm the orchiectomy for this month, but i don't have an answer regarding who can pick me up. they can't legally release me alone until i'm no longer on drugs (like i'm not used to stumbling around on drugs, right?), and they can't keep me in the hospital due to covid. i don't know anybody in toronto at all. so, i'm kind of fucked.
they suggested hiring a nurse...to drive me to the bus station. it's absurd, but it's the rules, and i get it.
so, i'm going to look at the bus schedule. if the unavoidable fact is that i'm out of the surgery in the afternoon, and the train doesn't leave until 19:00, i really have a choice between sitting at the hospital and sitting at the train station. i mean, that's reality - i could hire a nurse to drive me to a train station or i could sit in the hospital for a few hours. there's no other option. let's pick.
so, that's what i'm doing tonight.
first, i want to try to open up some space on the floor to vacuum some of the dust off.
Wednesday, August 4, 2021
you know, i even think he may have recorded me playing.
i completely forgot about that...
i found a number; i have no idea how useful it might be.
it sort of just clicked. why didn't i think of that before?
i'm guessing he'd be around 70 or so. it's a long shot, but there's a chance...
actually, you know what?
i think he photocopied some of my crazy scrawled over pieces.
can i contact this guy?
i had a hard time finding information about the guy that briefly taught me classical guitar, so i'm going to post this here.
it's from a glebe newspaper article from 1993. and, that is indeed his wife, cathy. i took lessons from early 2000 to about mid 2001.
a different rollins band than you were expecting, perhaps.
Tuesday, August 3, 2021
i spent forever trying to figure out how to clear the demos to reuse the memory, and you have to take it apart...
this is a good demo.
i used the pitch banks quite a bit, because i wanted a good harpsichord sound.
what he doesn't point out is that the layering on the drum triggers, while polyphonic, is limited by a number of things, including available memory. so, the demo songs sound great, but two or three tracks like that, and you've run out of memory.
i need to keep going with the gear replacement before i move on to the next thing. we'll split these into by-basement posts.
the thing i'm still missing from basement #1 is a medium sized bass amp that i can use for bass, keyboard or amp simulation. although, i do still have a 120 watt fender combo amp/cab that can be used for that purpose, so it's not much of a missing item. the problem is it's too loud, so i'm not going to get an "amped" sound from it unless i piss off the neighbours. it has an exaggerated bottom end, as well - it's a bass amp. a smaller keyboard amp would be far more useful to me, for recording - which is why i bought all these little amps. i'm pretty sure it was a kb60, but i'd actually rather take it down to 30ish. i'm very seriously looking at that little vox amp for this, although i wish they made it in lower wattage options than 50. 50 watts is pretty loud, and the point is to crank it most of the way.
i was also looking at a sennheiser e609 as a potential mic upgrade, but stopped short because the altec is probably pretty similar.
so, this is basement #2...
- the ry30 is an irreplacable item, in any reasonable sense, except with itself. there's really no hardware drum machine that does quite what it does, at much of any price point. but, when i had sold it, the truth is that i'd grown out of it because i started writing longer, more complicated sequences in an actual score writer...or found it easier to do repetitive, simple loops in basic software.
so, this is my ry30 record, which is an example (not comprehensive) of what i was able to do with the ry30:
in order to write in that kind of detail, i had to slow the tempo down to the lowest possible speed and fill everything in in quadruple or higher time. this had the effect of limiting the complexity of the compositions that could be built on the device, as well. this is a deficit of the device's lack of memory, as an early 90s computer. you could buy expansion slots, but they weren't cheap, and it didn't really solve the problem. so, you could only do so much with the device, as a sequencer, due to the limitations of the technology.
that said, it was also one of the most advanced machines of the period, and the entire concept of a standalone drum machine disappeared with the move to computers for recording. so, while i may have outgrown it's limitations, it was also just about top of the line for a device of it's sort - there isn't really an upgrade path, besides moving to cubase.
the technical thing i used to replace the ry30 was a program called noteworthy composer which is a scorewriter, like sibelius or finale. i like the interface a lot better, as it's keyboard driven rather than mouse driven:
while the ry30 had a primitive synthesizer built in, i no longer found it useful once i had access to a jx along with cool edit, and while no tool is ever truly obsolete, it wouldn't be my go to for sound generation, if i had one, today. there's a million other ways to generate noise and hook it up to a sequencer, and there was nothing particularly unique about the device for that purpose - even if it was exceedingly useful to have the thing in house, so long as you had enough memory.
on the other hand, what you could do with noteworthy composer is anything you can do with written music. there are no limitations regarding bar lengths, time signatures, numbers of patterns, "polyphony" in drum types, song complexity or anything else - you're just writing into a score editor. in theory, you should be able to interface those midi parts with any kind of sampler, but in practice you end up limited to general midi, meaning you'll need another approach to integrate sound effects and sampling. to me, that's fine, as i found myself more drawn to wave editors (like audacity, although i still use an old version of cool edit) for that kind of sound generation.
this is an example of something i created in noteworthy composer (and using a soundcard emulator for playback) that i could have never created using the ry30 due to the intricacies in time signatures and the sheer number of "patterns":
of course, i also have an electronic kit, and that's actually going to be what i'm focusing on using for most of what's left of period 3, at least, as these tracks were actually intended to be recorded with sarah on the drums. sarah used to play drums for her dad, and found it upsetting to have me dictating instructions to her, which is the only way i knew how to work, musically. i may be a little less controlling nowadays. but, she couldn't deal with me yelling at her to stay in fucking time...and i had to play my drum parts, myself.
but, a good way to look at the ry30 is as a device of medium complexity; it's not detailed enough for very carefully written parts (because it is ultimately a drum machine, meaning you have to build up patterns in blocks, however much detail it allows for), but it's far too developed a device for simple, repetitive loops. as such, i really did grow out of it, as i couldn't do with it what i needed from a device of it's sort, and it was just a lot easier to use a 909 emulator if i just wanted some simple beats.
so, the replacement for the ry30 is as follows:
- hammerhead + leaf + whatever other simple 808-style emulator is around for loops and simple beats and weird sounds, in a strictly sequenced manner
- fully written-out sections in noteworthy composer for actual drum parts <---this is the real replacement/upgrade, namely moving to scored parts in midi rather than drum machine sequences in beats/bars/patterns
- i can use a scorewriter for midi sequencing (some of the earlier sequencer parts that sound like synths were actually created on a ry30)
- cool edit + various synthesizers for sampling and whatever other noise generation
while it's not exactly the same - and i'd jump at an emulator if i found one - i'm not really missing anything in no longer having the device, except the idiosyncrasies of the device itself, which can only be replaced by the device. i know of no other drum machine that can really replace the ry30, in the sense that i used it - which was in quite a lot more depth than your average user. but, i still outgrew it. that's ok - it was my first programming device, and we all outgrow our first devices, right?
that said, the one thing i don't have that the ry30 had is those velocity-sensitive pads, and i'm looking at a way to remedy that, even if i'm less convinced about the importance of it. i have velocity sensitive keyboards and velocity sensitive electronic drum heads, is there really any use in having velocity sensitive drum pads, especially for period 3? i can't say it's worth much to me, no. but, if i can get one of those mini akais for $20 or something, i'll do it.
as it is, the scorewriter is an upgrade to the sequencer in the ry30 by a long shot, and i've got a million software synths to generate sound with, and a million other ways to sequence it. i miss my ry30, for sure. but, i realize i have more important things to expend scare resources on.
you see those akai pads come up on kijiji relatively often and they don't sell, so i'll get one when i can get somebody to cut the price enough, just give me time.
so, here's the ry30:
and here's the upgrade to it, in any meaningful sense (although i am using a program called noteworthy composer, not finale):
you can then take the sequences once they're written, export them to midi and line them up in a daw (i use cubase) to make it easy to layer in sequenced sound effects, samples, etc.
- i also started using noteworthy composer as a sequencer around this time, and i still use it to write midi parts (and then export them to use with different playback engines)
- i don't use the windows 95 sound recorder anymore, but i still use cool edit as a wave editor
- i still have the portastudio 414 and do still use it from time to time as a buffer for things like bass parts. but, the replacement mixer is the alesis:
- i still have the jx-8p, but the keys haven't worked in a long time. i picked up a 61 key controller the other day, which will put it back in normal working order, in any functional sense. i've been using a 49 key dx100 for years, when i need to.
(post from july 19th inserted here:
so, i spent the day running around (technically, walking and biking around) and now have the following in my possession:
- the two purple and pink tanktops came in the mail
- i picked up the behringer umx61 this morning. mine is grey, with some mild yellow staining, presumably from being near to an ashtray for an extended period. i had to play through some pops (indicating it hadn't been used in a while), but the keys all work, and, if anything, they're a little hyper-sensitive. that's fine.
it cost me $95 cdn, used.
this device has two major purposes for me:
- it replaces the keys on the jx-8p, which were stuck. it's a common problem with 80s rolands, and i just never fixed it. but, my 49 key dx100 is just a little lacking. i guess i never counted it - i though the jx had 88 keys. it turns out it has 61, too. so, if anything, i'm getting two extra octaves with the behringer...
- it will finally give me access to a control surface, if a minor one. i'm probably not going to go all knob-twiddly, but it is useful for tactical use to be able to physically turn a sweep, and i've really never been able to do that. the jx has a control surface, but i didn't get it in the package, second hand. it's just something i've never had in front of me...and something i've long intended to rectify...)
- i still install goldwave regularly, although i haven't used it in years. it was more useful as a noise generator than cool edit, and it had a different selection of effects that i found were more pronounced. it's still there if i want it.
- i could never get sound raider to work in nt (xp on), but it's one of the things i'll want to try to install on the 90s pc. it's a unique program that has no direct parallel. but, i'm probably past it, as well.
- i recently replaced the wood flute my aunt gave me in 1998. i actually still have the old one, but it's splintered at the top. i may also get a plastic recorder. this is less about the sound and more about the breathing, which you can't really get out of midi, unless you have a breath controller, which is a lot more than a plastic recorder. if i ever find a million dollars on the ground, i'll definitely get a breath controller. for now, i'm happy with my line to midi interface, which is coming.
- hammerhead is a basic 909 emulator that still works in nt. it's one of the types of programs i found myself going to for simpler drum patterns when i needed something quick.
- i still have the three epiphones & the ms-2, too.
- coagula did still work the last time i tried it. i still install it, but i haven't used it for years. i always wanted to do more direct sampling with it, but it never really happened.
Monday, August 2, 2021
i'm dating this to around the point where i'll start the alter-reality:
i think this was from the first part of 1989. my dad didn't understand my existential ennui about the meaninglessness of winterlude and insisted i play in the snow, to little response from myself besides boredom. this is feigned reaction to a request for a smile. i remember that, and wish it wasn't from outside the bounds of the story. maybe i'll do a flashback.
this is a picture of me on a bicycle from the summer of 1989.
i had a number of stuffed animals and other doll-type toys that i personified for quite a few years. judging from my hair, i believe it's the same period as the other shots.
i'm surprised i don't have more shots like this, actually:
i'm dating this to the later months of 1989, before it got too cold.
so, i'm looking at some old pictures...
i knew that old black ibanez was the second electric guitar, but i couldn't remember what the first one was, other than that it was a hondo. it turns out it was a hondo telecaster copy - clearly, from the pictures. i was very young, but i think i always assumed it was some kind of strat. nope - most obvious telecaster, ever.
so, when the hannah montana washburn mini telecaster arrives, it can be the replacement for the first tele, which was traded in for the ibanez.
there was also an unbranded acoustic guitar, which would have been traded for the tele, and would have ultimately been replaced by the epiphone, which i still have. it looks like it was probably 3/4 size, but i couldn't tell you that at the time.
so, that's two more guitars that needed replacements, and it's all already dealt with.
i can't think of anything else to take note of that young, except that i learned to play recorder at school in the 5th grade
i'm working on the next batch of replacements.
Sunday, August 1, 2021
this is the best document for me to use to try to triangulate the things i was influenced by at that age, as the radio & television set were by far the biggest influences on me:
this should line up well, just keep in mind the following:
- you need to title every post. if you post something without a title, it will misalign.
- it will eventually go out of alignment if your post is too long - well over 100 lines.
- new posts will realign, so long as those posts have titles.
- you want to use normal breaklines and not the weird ones it defaults to nowadays. i use the following as a template:
<div style="text-align: left;"></div>
that simple line will default everything to normal line breaks, and let the formatting work correctly.
it's entirely functional, but it has some limitations that are probably hardcoded into the html, and may even reduce to floating point errors within the processor. computers aren't as good at math as people think...
so, i'm ready to get going, now.
ok, so that took far longer than intended, but i've got my template down:
the mechanism is that i'm writing in a little book, and i find it somewhere and scan it. hence, the lines - and the trouble i'm taking to line the writing up.
here's the trick - i used a 12 line image because that's when it starts to overlap, but even that will only take me so far before i need to reset. it's like a calendar - you need a leap year every four years to make up for the measurement error. but, i posted many test posts to make sure that the cycle resets on a new post, so long as i post it with a title.
i'll have to keep an eye on it and make adjustment if necessary but i think this is sufficient.
i just want to finish the template, and then i'll upload it for anybody, as i think this is useful and am happy to share it.
this will run from 1989-1996, and is intended as a preface - these are childhood year notes, from before i did any recording. the alter-reality will run from 1996-2013 and occupies the actual writing phase. and, current reality runs from 2013-death and is the cleanup and finish phase.
Saturday, July 31, 2021
i'm starting in 1989, though.
what of that was relevant to me?
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.
