If I wasn’t an atheist, this might be what heaven sounds like.
- Tag Archives Gretsch
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“Books have the same enemies as people: fire, humidity, animals, weather, and their own content.” Paul Valery
I’m killing time before we head out to the “company picnic”. Great idea, although the loner in me tried to avoid committing to it for as long as possible. Avoidance for good reason, while they wisely moved the start time from 4pm to 6pm, it’s still looking to be about 98 degrees when we get there. Ouch.
So, not only do I get to be sociable while sweating, I have to lose about 6 hours of my day attending this thing.
Hence, I’m just killing time.
I got one of my guitars worked on last week and picked it up today. It’s my first/oldest and it had been playing very badly for a while now. So badly that I’ve been considering cutting it loose if I couldn’t get it to “act right”.
I’m pretty spoiled (okay, very spoiled) but my previous guitar techs would do the work for about $25 while I would wait. This was a new guy that I’m not sure I trust yet. The end result cost twice as much as I thought it would. It plays tremendously better (saved from the block!) but I’m not sure that it really required that much work.
I know the ins and outs of setups, I’m just not good with truss rod adjustment so that’s primarily what I figured the problem was. It got a nice polish and he oiled the fretboard – but I can do that myself. I just didn’t want to fight the guitar every time I played it.
There’s a new show on Discovery called “Fast and Loud” that’s based on a shop here in Dallas. They put together some cool rides, and for sure it makes me miss my old ’69 Camaro. I’ve been hunting up Craigslist and found some really nice Chevelles (cheap). I’ve come to my senses for the most part. My current money pit (house) trumps a new money pit (classic car). Since I’m a dude, I can pretty much justify sticking a classic in the garage for future restoration, but as much fun as it is planning a restoration…..it’s freaking hard work. And expensive. Hard to justify sheet metal repair, but I guess that’s the trick. Find the good bodied cars that just need the engine work – which is relatively easy.
Soo…that about wraps it up for me right now. Pretty quiet.
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“Money only pays the bills. Rockabilly saves souls” Darrel Higham
It’s a barren radio wasteland. Trying to keep my ipod charged and in the car was a pain, and it didn’t help that I read a book about sampling rates and decided that my imusic was too muddy. I should have known better.
Commuting to work without my personal music stash is just too torturous.
My annual rebellion from TV and internet is also hitting me hard and I’m eyeing my music room and garage for what I’m willing to throw away to make it more condusive to practicing.
Oddly enough I played one of my oldest guitars this morning. It wasn’t as stiff playing as I remember it, but it was close. It’s unfortunate because it’s my only single coil equipped guitar. I have more or less two standing invitations to buy if I ever wanted to sell it. I’m going to have to take it to a tech to suss it out, but right now I think the neck angle is out just enough to be lengthening the scale slightly – making it more of an effort to play. Kind of a bummer.
2011 is almost done. Raising a glass to the year that brought me some steady employment that hasn’t (yet) driven me crazy. Toasting the upcoming year, with good wishes to all.
