There’s something quite satisfying about doing regular maintenance to your guitar. What I mean by that is that I get a really good feeling whenever I take the polish and lemon oil to my Godin xtSA and my Fender Precision bass. I’m not sure why it feels satisfying, but I imagine it is a similar feeling that one might get if they were polishing their prized motor vehicle or giving their house a lick of paint. Last night, I went through the process with my aforementioned Godin and did this while The Missus watched some TV. I impressed her with the lemon oil, which I apply to the ebony fretboard. Before it was grimy and held the detritus of many man-hours of sweating and straining over the neck – the dirt seemed ingrained in parallel lines. But a generous application of lemon oil and the ebony fretboard shone with a deep, dark lustre similar to wet black gloss paint. I wiped off the excess material, left it for a while and then applied a second coat. The neck gleamed and seemed to suck up and be nourished by the oil. A liberal spray of polish to the body and a quick wipe restored the instrument to a “just out of the guitar shop” freshness.
Now I’ve been playing the Godin xtSA for about a year now and I vowed that I would keep the suggested guage of strings on the instrument and work with them. Now these guitars are meant to be strung with 10s and I’ve done my best with those strings but they are just a little too thick for my liddle baby hands. So I broke my resolve and strung her up with my favourite Ernie Ball Super Slinky strings – these are 9s. I’ve been using this particular brand and guage of strings since I first started playing guitar and they suite me to the ground. I tried with the other guage, but it didn’t work out. After 12 months of the experiment, I am back to my old ways and immediately the xtSA is beginning to feel like my instrument. The guitar sings and the guitar synth seems to track better with these strings.
I know it is a bit of a muso/techie posting, but I really enjoyed taking care of my guitar last night. It made me feel good and realise how my I love that instrument. Also, for anyone googling this, the problem with the xtSA nut can be cured by a healty application of carbon from a HB pencil. This cured my woes and I applied another black dusting in the grooves of the nut last night. Now I can use the tremelo arm without the top three strings going woefully out of tune.
Category: Diary
Here’s another improvisation – it gets a bit flabby in the middle, but worth a listen.
Meanwhile, the copies of “God Pays” have been flying off the shelves. The last copy of current stock sits on a shelf in Ohio, USA, all alone…someone go give it a good home, please.
Chris Leibrecht recently got in touch as a response to the mailshot I sent out the other to promote “God Pays Debts Without Money”:
I just finished listening to “sow” for the second time. I’d like to congratulate you on your stunning efforts. Your music has the hypnotic feel of NEU and the playfulness of ENO. You’ve created tracks that gently envelop the listener in sound sculptures that are both active and meditative. A truly magnificent accomplishment!
Meanwhile, via YouTube Pete Harris had this to say:
You’re doing some great stuff there and kudos to you for putting your music out on YouTube. It has loads of ambience and in my opinion some of it would be great for film or vid soundtrack. Keep the vids coming and enjoy yourself.
And Eino Keskitalo said of the 24-10-06 Improvisation, via the comment button on this site :
I really enjoyed this one! Thought it was good. It’s fascinating to see you do all that stuff.
It’s feedback like that which makes it all worthwhile. (Mind you, on Google Video some guy said that I couldn’t play bass and my song was out of tune, so you have to take the rough with the smooth).
Yesterday, smack bang in the middle of the path, just by the front gate, I came across the following unfortunate creature:
Maybe I should have saved this for Halloween?
Yesterday was pretty busy as it was my mother’s birthday and we took her out to do some shopping. The mission was simple: to locate and purchase a new sofa. Luckily, things turned out better than I expected and the retail park provided an unlikely source of a sofa. The ILVA store at the Thurrock Retail Park was very expensive the first time myself and The Missus perused the labyrinthine structure filled with trendy Danish furniture and useless knick-knacks. I didn’t think we’d find a sofa for my mother, but lo and behold there was a three-seater that was the right size/depth/comfort for her. And it was half-price too! So a result…
The remains of the day was spent in the pub where we drank and generally chewed the fat. It was a good day and we all had a rollicking time. I returned home later and checked my email to find that I didn’t get the Assistant Editor job on Tunnelling News…despite them sending me a couple of copies of the magazine in the post and getting my hopes up. No problems, it would have been a boring job anyway. (That was a joke, geddit?)
With regards to “God Pays Debts WIthout Money…”, I have managed to flog a couple of copies already. If I manage to sell the remains of the stock, I would have covered the production/registration charges. I am feeling very pleased with myself. If you haven’t purchased a copy get, follow the likes of Yorkie (link to the right) and get one now. You’ll be doing me a big favour and swelling my ego at the same time!
This video is a piss-take of those films on YouTube where the guy or the girl takes a picture of themselves each day over a period of time. Usually, nothing much happens and you sit there scratching your nuts wondering why you wasted three minutes of your life watching someone not get particularly older. Anyhoo, this is a really great work of comedy and it makes me chuckle. Pass it on.
A Picture Every Day
On Tuesday, we had one of those magical sunsets and The Missus prompted me to take a photo of it:
Yesterday, I managed to photograph the most evil looking mushroom I’ve ever seen:
And late last night/early this morning, I sat down and recorded a really raggedy-assed improvisation. I shouldn’t have done it because I was really tired, but heck, you even get to see my guitar soloing face. Not a pretty sight!