Skills

Direct quote from sister in Korea:

"I'm really glad you have my guitar. I think I gave it to Ryan, but man, I was worried it would be shoved under some underwear under his bed until I got home... Take good care of Eddy for me."

And then this happened. The guitar was in a stand and the whole thing fell over. The headstock snapped off, and it was pretty lame after that. I was in a hurry to get to my guitar lesson and was kinda mad that this could happen so easily.

So right now I've got 3 clamps on it, and it will hopefully set in the next day or two. I'm not sure I'll never be able to really conceal the damage without refinishing the entire neck. But it will be playable again... someday.

Bass update

I was unsure how to strip the paint from the bass body. Some guitar lacquer can be really difficult to remove. After spraying some paint remover and waiting, I soon discovered that this would be impossible. The remover did nothing (I got impatient and I didn't wait long enough). So I attacked the paint with some heavy grit sand paper to remove the thick clear coat, the black paint, and what looked like a think layer of gray primer. I wanted to get down to the grain to see what it looked like. The layers of paint were almost 1/8 of an inch thick in places!

After 10 minutes I finally got through to the wood. I was pleasantly surprised by the strong grain of what looks like a single slab of ash or alder or whatever cheap basses are made of. After about 45 minutes I stopped. I hate sanding and the dust was driving me crazy. The grain of the wood looks great so I'm going to try a transparent wood stain when everything is stripped and sanded. A dark grey stain will really make the grain pop out...

I'm going to saw off some wieght from the upper and lower horns and make it more contoured and rounded... I also need to fill in some holes made by the pickguard screws... Which means more sanding. Ugh. When I finally remove the thick paint I'll go over the body with finer grades of sand paper. There's a lot left to do... 

today

So we're making Mac and Cheese. 

Nat's watching her lame girl shows. 

I took my dog for a walk. 

Work was so slow... I was thinking of fake barfing on myself in order to leave early. I'll save that for another day. 

Oh man. 

Not much is happening. 

Bass

One day I'm going to have a wood shop where I can build custom guitars and be surrounded by tools that can maim my expendable appendages (Expendable Appendages would be a good heavy metal band name, now that I think about it). I will slowly die from sawdust inhalation.

Right now I'm going to modify this Ibanez P-bass clone to look and sound like something else. The body itself is in pretty good shape, the paint is dinged up and chipped in countless places. I've stenciled a few new outlines for the modified body, mainly to reduce the wieght and make it look more like my Ibanez 5-string. The pickups probably work just fine, though the output jack needs to be reconnected and the volume pot might need to be replaced. I'm going to get a new neck, and I'll need some new tuners... and a better bridge... knobs... blah blah blah. Some of the components aren't available so it will take some time.

I just need to sand down the paint, carve the body and refinish it. I'll probably need some sand paper... or chemical paint stripper... which sucks. I'd rather go to the dentist than sit there sanding a block of wood all day long. So the motivation is lacking in that department. My guess is that the body is made up of 4 or 5 pieces of Ash glued together, but I won't know until all the paint is removed. No idea what color this thing will be.

Don't know when I'll get around to it. I've got too much on my plate already. So this will probably be a summer thing like everything else. Last time I put together a guitar I rushed it, and I didn't do a great enough paint job. So we'll see what happens.

motorcycle

Garit's Unimotorcycle.

Power Unspeakable!

Garit will one day run his Linux computer with the power of LIGHTNING stored in Leyden Jars. This infinite source of power will supply his magnets with the strength to levitate his flying_hover_science_jector!! But this unfathomable power has a terrible side effect: the inability to hear digital surround sound. Garit must watch his Asian movies in mono. 

Thunder Trousers 2000

where's the beef?

Working on my thesis all day today. I'm going to finish it (or have something resembling a finished product by the end of the day). I hope I don't die. My wife will be checking my pulse from time to time to make sure I haven't shriveled up into a crumpled husk... and to make sure I'm not looking at bike stuff or guitar junk on the interweb. 

Last night I finished up some sound clips for the NottBlock project. While I'm glad that most of the material I submitted was originally made with NottBlock in mind, some of it was left overs from past ventures in music land. 

morning

Nothing gets me up in the morning like the sound of my dog barfing on top of me.



Followed by the ever exciting game: What did you eat???

lunch

When only one food can quench your undeniable hunger:

NO FEAR

minimal range

Many bass guitars these days boast 6, 7, or many more strings. When you have that many strings... i think it defeats the purpose of providing a rhythmic low end to the music. I play a 5 string bass for the added low end (I was probably tricked into it by the music of the late 90's). I like the added range, and not having to detune my E string every time a song calls for a low D.

I was drawn to the bass because of it's simplicity. I picked up a 6 string bass at a music store once and was confused. I liked that I didn't have to worry about chords or an entire pedal board of effects to make it sound right (that didn't stop me from buying a pedal board worth of effects however). More strings won't make you a better player or make your tone sound better.

I've found an innovative bass luthier that takes this way of thinking to the next level: The minimal range bass guitar.

A two string bass.

Who needs 7 strings? His design was obviously based off of the famous Carl Thompson 6 string "Rainbow Bass" made for Les Claypool. Many of his designs show that influence. I like the attention to detail shown in this bass. No volume knob, just on/off switches for each pickup. Simple!

Some of his other designs include a bass with an on board tube pre-amp, a bass made from plastic counter top, and some that are made from just metal tubing. Really cool.

http://www.bas-extravaganza.nl/?page=home

uuuuuhhh

I got in my cold vehicle this morning... and drove down to a friend's house. They just had a child and asked nat (who then asked me) to feed their dog and make sure everything was ok. I was a little early getting out this morning so I unlocked the door and went inside the kitchen.

I must have spooked the little daschund, because he didn't want to come out of his bed when I opened the gate. I looked over my shoulder for the leash on the table and then he made a break for it. I thought.. well, this could get interesting.

There I was. In an infinite standoff between me and the dog. He barked at me. I tried inching closer and closer... you know stuff they teach you on tv so you don't scare a frightened animal. I didn't want to just jump over and grab him.. cause he'd bite me or something.

So after a few laps around the couch, he ran upstairs and just sat there looking at me. My expert skills in stealth and animal deception didn't fail me as I soon managed to grab his collar and attach the leash.

I guess it worked out.