it's not the most exciting update, but it's a start. 

https://thejournalofj.blogspot.com/

....and, we've got the font updated, too:

so, here's the theme, if you want just the notepad without the goofy shit:

https://drive.google.com/file/d/10tPlsE_lBPc9t_Bq8-m5J0K-35m5usws/view?usp=sharing

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:

https://thejournalofj.blogspot.com/

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.

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:

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.

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.