Alembic Guitars Club
Connecting => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: ed_zeppelin on October 06, 2015, 02:35:07 PM
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I'll break this up into two categories: acoustic and electric.
For years I followed developments in Kasha radial bracing, since reading about a guitar that Steve Klein made for Joni Mitchell. (1979?) The article - and especially the detailed photos - didn't make it to the internet, so there are only grainy shots here and there.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219068.jpg)
That's Steve's interpretation of Kasha's theories, in particular the flying scalloped brace on the treble side (one end is attached to the tailblock), which is usually any number of short braces placed in a radiating pattern around the bridge. (Here's Richard Schneider's interpretation. Dig the nifty flying brace arching OVER the bass bar):
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219069.jpg)
Steve inlaid an absolutely accurate, detailed star map on the fingerboard, made from precious metals and gems, and pasted an astronomical photo of that section of sky (and instructions for locating it) off to one side of the guitar, so you can hold it up and (with a flashlight) compare the inlays with the real thing.
The edge of the photo is faintly visible through the soundhole, in this awful photo.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219070.jpg)
The headstock plaque (of pre-ban ivory that Steve got from John D'Angelico) is in reference to Joni's album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter, her most experimental Jazz album, featuring Jaco and all the members of Weather Report, a forty piece orchestra (and a bunch of Guatamalan Insanity Pepper sessions, I imagine).
http://youtu.be/Mdfk17EKGa0 (http://youtu.be/Mdfk17EKGa0)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219071.jpg)
I wrote an article about guitar history and modern luthiers for a magazine, and in the process I interviewed Steve Klein. Joni's guitar happened to be there for service (I honestly don't know what that entailed) but I got to play it, along with twenty or so of the instruments he had laying around. (More on that later.)
Here's an interesting tidbit you won't find anywhere else: his mother was a librarian, and Steve was an only child. Every day when he got home from school, there was a note on the fridge from his mother listing chores, shopping lists etc., with the items grouped by {brackets}.
Steve really likes {brackets}. See how many you can spot.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219072.jpg)
Here is a brilliant article about Kasha bracing (and its failings) by William Cumpiano, author of Guitarmaking: Tradition and Technology, one of the best books (and schools) about wood and wire:
http://dolcecano.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html#8591961888773614586 (http://dolcecano.blogspot.com/2011_04_01_archive.html#8591961888773614586)
More recently, Cumpiano captured my sentiments (underwhelmed) about Kasha-braced guitars;
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I'm not an advocate of the Kasha system, so I'm not the best source of detailed information on it. Michael Kasha has been extolling the system's virtues for over a decade, and through a handful of zealous advocates has been trying to mainstream the system. It just hasn't caught on. ...
... He's gotten a lot of enthusiastic press and lot of earnest and proselyte followers, but it just has not caught on. The ear is the final arbiter, and it apparently just does not meet up to that final test. Let alone that it is far, far more complex than standard systems without the obvious increment in sound quality that would justify it.
Now if you're interested in a radical cutting edge system, take a look at the lattice bracing system, as introduced by the Australian luthier GREG SMALLMAN. [see below]
Now there's a noticeable and dramatic improvement in power with only a modest increment in complexity. I'm experimenting now with transferring the system to steel string tensions. Stay tuned. As for Kasha, I don't know: if you're impressed, follow it to where it will take you. But I am not.
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Please take a moment to watch this video of the legendary English classical guitarist John Williams visiting with Greg Smallman (mentioned by Cumpiano, above) at his shop in Australia.
As Williams mentions, he had been playing a Smallman guitar for about a decade at that point with no idea why it sounded so incredible. The brief shot of Smallman's lattice system in this video is the lone explanation I could find anywhere.
http://youtu.be/tCtalGJcP8A (http://youtu.be/tCtalGJcP8A)
A similar idea that's arisen lately is what are called double tops or hollow tops. Made by compositing ultra-thin wood soundboards with a honeycomb lattice made of a fireproof material called Nomex. (Firefighters wear protective outerwear made of Nomex.)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219073.jpg)
Here is the Luthier's Mercantile page about Nomex, with two excellent, brief videos about its use.
http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-wood/tops-tonewood/nomex (http://www.lmii.com/products/mostly-wood/tops-tonewood/nomex)
William Cumpiano has some definite opinions. Here's one of my favorites:
http://dolcecano.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html#8741215902571577177 (http://dolcecano.blogspot.com/2010_01_01_archive.html#8741215902571577177)
I'd like for this to be the start of a conversation about innovations in acoustic instruments, so everybody pile in. You never know where the next great idea will come from.
Next up: Larry Fishman has reinvented pickups. Wait 'till you see THIS.
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Forest:
Are you familiar with Al Beardsell's instruments?
Bill, tgo
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Forrest, since you got to hang with SK for a while, did he mention or do you know the cause of his animus with Bob Taylor regarding that acoustic bass guitar they partnered on years ago? It got to the point that Klein was advertising on his then-website to 'build one for you the RIGHT way'.
Actually, there's a 'green guitar' possibility that would sell like hotcakes: Instead of Kasha bracing, you could use several of the Kashi food products (tastes like wood, should behave like it), could partner with them on the advertising. I'm pretty sure that advertising 'No Mex' as a feature is probably politically incorrect !
Joey
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I wasn't familiar with Beardsall, but I can't thank you enough for turning me on to him. I'm blown away. He's one of the best luthiers ever.
http://tinyurl.com/od7ea8t (http://tinyurl.com/od7ea8t)
... what fits the eye fits the hand, what fits the hand, fits the ear. The musician requires the smoothest path to expression, and as a tool of that expression, the instrument should not fight that. This is what I sometime refer to as ?transparent interface??how ideas become sounds with the least possible effort or discomfort.
To that end I have incorporated a number of ergonomic elements?the armrest bevel on the lower bout ...
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219161.jpg)
the way the cutaway moves into the heel, and the neck shaft that is asymmetrical to make it more comfortable for the hand... .
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I love some of his innovations, particularly the sliding baffle on the side-mounted sound holes. I've never seen that before.
You ever had one of those moments that changes everything? I had one of those at NAMM in Nashville. I don't know if you've ever been to a NAMM show, but the cacophony is deafening. I walked in the door and through all that racket I could clearly hear an acoustic guitar. I started walking toward the sound and it just got clearer and louder. It turned out to be an exact copy of Django Reinhardt's guitar - unamplified!
I became really interested in Mario Maccaferri's extraordinary designs. In particular, the unique petite bouche (small mouth or small oval soundhole) models favored by Django. His rhythm guitarists almost always used D-hole guitar, as did Django himself on occasion.
Note the soundhole on the Beardsall (the teeth are a cool touch). I can save you a bit of time and confusion by explaining that Maccaferri made a guitar and took it to Selmer (who were like the General Motors of wind instruments at the time). Selmer agreed to make the guitars, and for about a year or two, they followed Maccaferri's designs (the dude was like the Tesla of acoustics, too)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219162.jpg)
Then they cheerfully fired him when Django Reinhardt became all the rage and Selmer started doing all kinds of things to the guitars. So in France they're known as Selmer guitars but everywhere else, they're Maccaferri guitars.
Maccaferri's ideas included an internal resonator ...
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219163.jpg)
... and a slightly bent top (rather than a carved archtop, he used a conventional soundboard gently steamed and bent over ladder bracing so that the bridge and soundhole were about a quarter inch above the rim) and an extremely thin, long bridge.
The weird thing is that the small mouth ones are MUCH louder than the ones with the big D-hole. I think the internal resonator must have been like the Virzi Tone Producer Lloyd Loar originally installed in the Gibson Master instruments.
http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/259792-virzi-tone-producer-1924-violin/ (http://www.maestronet.com/forum/index.php?/topic/259792-virzi-tone-producer-1924-violin/)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219164.jpg)
Those have become some of the most valuable instruments on earth (especially F5 mandolins), but at some point they were taken apart to remove the Virzi Tone Producer, despite the fact that by most accounts they sounded terrific.
Look, if I wind up buying a Beardsall guitar, I'm blaming you. I think that's what it comes down to.
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>>>Forrest, [its one R, like a bunch of trees] since you got to hang with SK for a while, did he mention or do you know the cause of his animus with Bob Taylor regarding that acoustic bass guitar they partnered on years ago? ...>>>>Actually, there's a 'green guitar' possibility that would sell like hotcakes: Instead of Kasha bracing, you could use several of the Kashi food products (tastes like wood, should behave like it), could partner with them on the advertising. I'm pretty sure that advertising 'No Mex' as a feature is probably politically incorrect !
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When confronted, Kellogg's issued this statement; The FDA has chosen not to regulate the term 'natural.
Well that's just GRRRRRrrrrreeeat !
Some really amazing instruments brought up, thanks Forest and Bill.
Kaz Krawczak...
I wish there was more explanation of Kaz' designs,maybe I just need to dig more-
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219249.jpg)
(from here (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Draft:Kaz_Krawczak_(by_w:en:User:PTL2014) target=_blank) )
...and this for fun-
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219250.jpg)
http://microfest.org/genesis-of-an-eroica/ (http://microfest.org/genesis-of-an-eroica/)
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A few years ago, following the Alembic Gathering, Henry Kaiser invited Jonathan Levine and I back to his house to check out his collection. He had two Beardsells, of which I had never heard of at the time. Jonathan and I played them and were both blown away. I scoured eBay for six months and one actually turned up in Florida. I jumped on it. I don't have have the sliding baffle, but I do have two side ports. It's the only acoustic I've played that sounds as good or even better with light strings. Both my 20 year old Taylor 810 and my '53 D-28 sound much better with mediums. This renders the Beardsell the easiest playing acoustic I've owned. It has replaced the '53 Martin as my number one player.
Bill, tgo
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They were amazing guitars!
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Old wood . . . . now.
http://www.yamaha.com/about_yamaha/research/are/?from=global_search (http://www.yamaha.com/about_yamaha/research/are/?from=global_search)
Joey
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For a third day, I've stared at that Kaz whatsisface guitar and tried to figure out what's what on the diagram and compare it to the picture, but that guitar looks like the ugliest baby I've ever seen.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/219767.jpg)
An ugly baby in Geiger eyewear. It kinda freaks me out a little, to be honest.
My reason for posting, though, is to point out something from my previous post because it's so important. (Let's face it, with the way I write it's more like plucking a particularly comely turd from a septic tank.)
Its worth noting because it's the wave of the future. The first major change in acoustical PROPERTIES (>>As Williams mentions, he had been playing a Smallman guitar for about a decade at that point with no idea why it sounded so incredible.
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Since we have the wonderful luxury of having not one but TWO guitar repair guys in the neighborhood now, what do you you two think about PLEK ?
Joey
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Since we have the wonderful luxury of having not one but TWO guitar repair guys in the neighborhood now, what do you you two think about PLEK ?
Joey
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Before we hear from the pros, I'll jump in as an amatuer tech, (I do most of my own repairs, and all my set ups), and from personal experience, to thoroughly endorse PLEK, at least for electric guitars. I have a few guitars that were PLEKed at Gary Brawer's shop in San Francisco. They play wonderfully.
Bill, tgo
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I knew nothing about PLEK, so I've been doing a lot of research. Overall, I'm very impressed by its precision and adaptability, but it has some issues.
There are only 16 PLEK machines in North America, a quarter of them in California. I can't find the cost of the machines (there are two, the PLEK Pro and the PLEK station) but when I checked the websites of the companies that had PLEK machines (and printed their rates), the lowest price I found was $225 for a basic setup and $500 for setup and new nut.
The other aspect that's important to know is that hundreds of shops use Dan Erlewine's Neck Jig Workstation
http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Jigs_and_Fixtures/Erlewine_Neck_Jig_Workstation.html (http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Jigs_and_Fixtures/Erlewine_Neck_Jig_Workstation.html)
Which basically does a lot of the same stuff: namely, it locks the neck and body in the same position as when it's under tension from strings. Granted, it's low-tech (the PLEK Pro uses an auto-CAD system to do the actual refinements, where the Erlewine jig just gives the repairman a stable platform to work on), but it doesn't add much to the cost of regular setups, if at all.
Plus, like I said, there are hundreds of them around. Dan even sold the plans to make your own jig, for 15 or 20 years. (Hell, he GAVE them to me at an ASIA symposium.) according to PLEK, Dan endorses them, which gives you an idea of the difference between the approaches.
Technology always follows the same path: at first it's rare and expensive, then as it becomes more ubiquitous, manufacturing costs come down and the market improves - or it dies a horrible Atari/Steinberger/Trace-Elliot death of a thousand cuts - but if it catches on, costs to the consumer comes down.
Overall, I think PLEK sounds like it'll make your guitar as close to perfection as ... um ... MACHINE-ly possible. I'm enthusiastic about it, and really hope it catches on. However, the exchange rate with Germany (and the implication; if you have to ask how much it costs, you can't afford it) leads me to suspect that PLEK machines are astronomically expensive, therefore shops have to pass the expense on to consumers.
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Maybe somebody can help me out with this, because it's implied by its glaring omission: I don't see how the PLEK handles compound radius. A HUGE part of working on other people's instruments is understanding each one's affinity for flat or compound radius (sorry, I just can't use radii, or the thumping of my Okie ancestors whirling like camshafts in their graves would sound like a drum solo by a Tourette's sufferer on orange sunshine):
Knowing the difference in a cylinder and a cone, is what it comes down to. And I don't think PLEK does. That's why I'm asking for help to ascertain that aspect.
Every player, style of music and most of all: whatever's on the body side of the neck joint, influences the degrees between the two shapes; cylinder or cone. The degree to which the repairman can influence one toward the other is also very limited.
Here's the kicker: most players aren't aware of it, and at some point just go; I don't know why, but this [insert instrument] plays weird.
Please don't take this as condescension, because I have so much to learn but I thought I'd tell you how a repairman looks at it and where the science and art meet. It's rudimentary stuff, so please bear with me if you already know it.
We look at it as a grid. I hold the instrument toward a good light source and sight down from the bridge to the headstock from the end, and as you gently dip the headstock up and down, the frets and the string plane form a grid.
I look at it like a sailboat, with the neck as the mast and the bridge as the deck. Except instead of being supported by guy wires all around, they're all on one side (the strings). The only things countering that force is the truss rod, the rigidity of the neck wood (hence the popularity of maple, especially 1950-60s Teles, because they also made dandy weapons in bar fights) and the design of the neck. Cylinder or cone, or both.
By holding the neck at just the right angle, you make all the frets line up into one mass, and as you slowly lower it the frets spread out. I don't look at the frets themselves as I do this, because flaws show up far more easily by looking at the SPACES between frets (the eye is always drawn towards light colors, something I learned from an easy 'A' art appreciation class that was actually useful).
The art and science meet when you compare the two planes: the one made by the strings and the one made by the grid. That's when I put my CSI cap on (figuratively, of course. I can't stand that silly show) - because it's somebody else's guitar, rule #1 - and figure out as much as I can about the player, and what they want.
Is there a lot of fret wear in first position? (House of the Rising Sun fret wear, I call it.) Is the fret wear even? Virtuosos tear up the tracks between about the 9th to 20th frets, 5th to 14th on acoustics, which is why there's so much bloodshed over the bolt-on vs. neck-thru arguments. Is there pick wear on the rose? (For acoustic. We tend to assume every electric player uses a pick.)
And that's where the art is: combining those factors into how you align the string plane to the grid. Figuring how much fight a player needs (or the limitations of cheap instruments), how deep to cut the slots in the nut (gawd, I love me some zero frets) and how much cone you might need on a cylinder (most easily seen by the differences between a flat-as-a-board classical fingerboard and Santana's Paul Reed Smith cone compound radius, setup to such insane tolerances that NASA scientists were brought in to measure it.
I want to be clear; I'm not saying the PLEK can't handle compound radius, just that they don't say they CAN.
Cletus says; yeah, but can a PLEK do THIS?
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/220948.jpg)
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FWIW, I was quoted $175 (and I furnish the new strings, same as currently installed) and a 2-3 week turnaround by Joe Glaser's shop (a first-class tech, and interestingly, the USA distributor for PLEK), which I thought was just crazy.
Forest I understand the basic process, but I suppose my real question is that for the life of me, I can't imagine that it replaces a first-class tech's set-up who's willing to tweak with the player to get it just right for that individual. Nor do I think that it's beyond me (bearing in mind that my two axes are in good shape with no fret issues or serious twist/relief/grooves in the fingerboard) to maintain my own axes in their current shape. And I'm always quick to point out that my own method is ENTIRELY derived from Dan.
Joey
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FWIW, I was quoted $175 (and I furnish the new strings, same as currently installed) and a 2-3 week turnaround by Joe Glaser's shop (a first-class tech, and interestingly, the USA distributor for PLEK), which I thought was just crazy.
Regarding the capacity to intake a compound radius, wouldn't it just automatically store the changing radius as part of its' initial survey?
Forest I understand the basic process, but I suppose my real question is that for the life of me, I can't imagine that it replaces a first-class tech's set-up who's willing to tweak with the player to get it just right for that individual. Nor do I think that it's beyond me (bearing in mind that my two axes are in good shape with no fret issues or serious twist/relief/grooves in the fingerboard) to maintain my own axes in their current shape. And I'm always quick to point out that my own method is ENTIRELY derived from Dan.
Joey
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Oh yeah, I forgot to include . . . .
I had a friend who was a fabulous fiddler who worked on his own five-string violins (he wanted to include the low C to mimic viola timbres in spots), and he would sand / flatten out the high end of his fingerboards after reading about that sort of things on guitars. Is that common with fiddlers?
And, delving into Tales from the Bench . . . . I learned to adjust my own axes after several really good techs just could not understand why I wanted lower strings on a bass. I just didn't understand why would you NOT want an instrument (that's already harder to fret) to play as easily as was possible with any given axe. I heard ' . . .but it's gonna buzz . . . ' once too often. Are most bass players THAT ham-fisted technique-wise, or do the techs just hide behind the 'well, that's adjusted to the factory spec' reasoning?
Joey
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As Mark Twain said; I was born humble, but it wore off. My last shred of humility is all that stands between me launching into a rant about why you can't get - and don't want - the action on your bass to be just like your Gibson 335, here, on Alembic's forum.
It would be like marching into a Learjet factory and announcing in a loud, clear voice; you're doing it all wrong! It costs too much! Take off those flat things sticking out of the sides!
Don't worry, I'm not calling anyone a moron, except me. There are forces at work here far beyond our ken. (The Foghorn is Scottish, y'know. She actually says stuff like that, and after centuries of marriage, I do too.) Alembic are the acknowledged masters of uniting the forces of wood and wire to perfection.
There are so many factors at work in matters of string, scale and sound - and Alembic's solutions address each in their own unique way, such as the adjustable nut, or that masterpiece of engineering: the Alembic bridge, and even the slotted tailpiece for those of us who change strings a lot - that I'll just admit my ignorance right up front and get it over with.
Besides, no other musical instrument maker has gone to such great lengths to make sure you can adjust every single factor of your action (nut, neck and bridge), so if the action on your Alembic bass isn't perfect - PERFECT - that just means you ain't tryin'.
Here's a little glimpse through a window into just one of the main factors that musical instrument makers confront (with nifty animated gifs, my favorite part.):
https://plus.maths.org/content/why-violin-so-hard-play (https://plus.maths.org/content/why-violin-so-hard-play)
I don't know how they could have explained that without the animated gifs, y'know?
As for fiddles, hold up your left hand and spread your fingers as wide as you can (mmbaby). On a violin, that's an octave, pretty much. No frets. It's like playing whack-a-mole with fleas. And bowing (arco) is a whole different beast, that instantly maximizes a string's oscillation and unleashes harmonics you can't imagine. Not all of them good. Taming those suckers is an art in itself.
I'm too lazy to find the link (it's somewhere in this thread, I think) to the National Musical Instrument museum in Vermillion, South Dakota, but I noticed that in their notes on a Stradivarius or Amati violin that it was the ONE violin by that maker that had the original, unaltered neck. (It was virtually untouched.) That kinda floored me. For hundreds of years, guys with varying degrees of skill and knowledge thought nothing of ripping the neck off a violin and doing this to it:
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/220989.jpg)
... and you're asking me why your pal takes sandpaper to his fiddle? No repairman in his right mind would tell him not to, either. Go ahead, knock yourself out. Wanna borrow my belt sander? Here's a hammer.
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My last shred of humility is all that stands between me launching into a rant about why you can't get - and don't want - the action on your bass to be just like your Gibson 335, here, on Alembic's forum.
I suspect the late, great, Mr. Entwistle might have disagreed. So long as the intonation works, there is no universally wrong way to set up an Alembic. Wrong, in this context, is an individual assessment. What is wrong for one person may be the epitome of perfection for another. The beauty of Alembics is that they can relatively easily be adjusted to each person's own style.
Bill, tgo
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Here, here Bill TGO. So very true!
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I'm surprised you don't understand the most fundamental difference between bass and guitar, Bill. A .105 string on a 34 scale neck is going to oscillate a lot more than a .64 on a 24.5 scale neck. For instance, Clapton likes .064 action at the 12th fret on his Strat (we measure that with these: http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Straightedges/String_Action_Gauge.html (http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Types_of_Tools/Straightedges/String_Action_Gauge.html) )
Try to set the action on an Alembic bass to .064 Bill. It'll sound like somebody set a rabid ferret loose in your cutlery drawer. Just because you can doesn't mean it'll sound good.
As for John Entwistle and Alembic, roundwounds were virtually unheard of until Entwistle and James How developed the Rotosound Swing 66 set. I'm guessing they knew how much more a bass string oscillates than a guitar string, and that a P-bass E string needs more clearance from the frets than a low E on a Gibson 335 (which was my point). How much more? I dunno. Alembic made his basses, ask them. Only an idiot would come to their forum and claim they knew exactly what he wanted.
The animated gifs were cool, though, weren't they? That fourth one, that shows the confluence of multiple waves up and down the string simultaneously, is exactly the same theory as the production of rogue waves in the ocean that can sink huge ships. Think about that next time you go out on a boat.
It blows my mind that a bowed string oscillates in a triangular pattern, or how Helmholtz could figure that out 150 years ago, using mathematics. Anybody want to venture an opinion on how those Helmholtz things apply to an Ebow?
(Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on October 19, 2015)
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It sure seems the Vo-96 belongs in this thread-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psqPViFKkjg (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=psqPViFKkjg)
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Wow! That thing is amazing! I use a Godin ACS (Buster Jones style) with a Roland GR-1 for that acoustic/synth thing.
http://www.godinguitars.com/godinacsp.htm (http://www.godinguitars.com/godinacsp.htm)
You're right, though. This is the right place for the VO-96 because he completely re-thought the whole thing. Have you seen the sliders on the control panel, with LEDs that vary in brightness according to the setting? Holy cow, what a brilliant, completely original design. And so elegant and simple.
http://voinventions.com/ (http://voinventions.com/)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221010.jpg)
It looks a little clunky, but the only visible part is the surface, and the controls are worthy of Michelangelo or Frank Lloyd Wright. Absolutely unique, from the ground up.
I bet that whole thing will be the size of an iPhone in a couple of years. It actually is an acoustic synth, too. It's digitally processing the acoustic properties of the strings and guitar (that's why it takes him ten minutes to explain it).
Did you see the other product he makes, the Wond (my award for lame name of the decade, though, especially because it was called the Vo Wand, a far more euphonious and mellifluous appellation). It's like an eBow on steroids. I was just talking about eBows, too.
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I've done the Cletus method that involves an extra amplfire with a speaker duct taped to the back of a mexican strat.
I can simulate controlled stage level feedback at headphone level(with a nice HF roll-off since it's re-amped through the body).
That moog really adds a crazy amount of control; dampening as well as driving!
I'll have a look at the Wond, I missed that.
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@ed_zeppelin - John Entwistle's preference for extremely low action is well documented, and it was unplayable for most people.
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There are a number of people here who are well versed in John Entwistle's basses, Alembics in particular, and how he liked them setup.
As far as bass setups go I guess mine is setup wrong as I set my E string to 1.7mm to 1.8 mm at the 24th fret. That would be .066 to .070 inches making it pretty close .064 inches. The neck itself is fairly straight with minimal relief and plays just fine for me. I'm not the only one here who sets up my bass in that territory. You could make an argument for an acoustic bass where the volume is directly related to how hard you pluck. However with an electric bass there is no need to pluck hard for anything other than dynamics as the amplifier handles the volume. I think Bill stated it quite succinctly when he said, there is no universally wrong way to set up an Alembic. Wrong, in this context, is an individual assessment.
Keith
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Sorry about taking so long to respond, but I was struck by the irony of setting off a controversy over whether a bass string oscillates more than a guitar string - here, on Alembic's forum - and the shock wave knocked me off my chair, out the window and into my neighbor's rosebushes.
I suspect it was this comment that sparked off the controversy:
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As for John Entwistle and Alembic, roundwounds were virtually unheard of until Entwistle and James How developed the Rotosound Swing 66 set.
-> I'm guessing they knew how much more a bass string oscillates than a guitar string, and that a P-bass E string needs more clearance from the frets than a low E on a Gibson 335 (which was my point).
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Did you notice the future mystery connector on the Vo-96 diagram?
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I didn't realize until I tried to find it that unless you go to http://voinventions.com (http://voinventions.com) and select VO-96 (under products), nobody would know which video I was talking about. Here's the YouTube address, to save you the trouble: http://youtu.be/rDaKfG3-dtA (http://youtu.be/rDaKfG3-dtA)
He demonstrates the touchpad/slider/LED thing at 2:38. Tell me that isn't one of the most elegant, simple, unique solutions you've ever seen. I can see putting one on the back of a guitar neck, to control volume with your left hand (or to switch functions, whatever. Sky's the limit.) Especially because the brightness of the LED indicates the position of the slider. All the zillions of mixing boards, amps and other stuff with sliders out there, and nobody ever thought of that (as far as I know).
Speaking of inventions, I'm still working on understanding Kaz Kwzywckxwk's inventions. His site (on tripod.com) hasn't had any activity in eons, but you have to wade through the acoustic stuff to get to his electrics, which are just stunningly innovative.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221061.jpg)
Here's the patent (pdf) for his acoustic arm design: http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5661252.pdf (http://www.freepatentsonline.com/5661252.pdf)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221062.jpg)
He was really onto something with the arm taking all the string tension everything else about the guitar could change, since the bracing doesn't have to bear any stress other than keeping a vaguely guitar-ish shape. The trick is in how the strings' vibrations are transferred to the soundboard, and that part isn't particularly clear. (Plus, you really don't know if it's bogus unless you can actually hear it, y'know?) Kind of clunky headstocks, as well.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221063.jpg)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221064.jpg)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221065.jpg)
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One of the most fascinating aspects of Kaz' ideas is that he's Polish, and entirely self-taught. Just like Tesla. My favorite part is that he came up with his ideas for native instruments, not guitar. You can trace the evolution of an absolutely brilliant mind by how he gradually meshed Polish and Western tastes. Look through those guitars again, it's amazing. I love stuff like that, the evolution of ideas.
Alembic is founded on rust, y'know. Does anyone want to crack the code? It's about the evolution of ideas.
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And, as Mr. Young has taught us, rust never sleeps.
Bill, tgo
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The first one you pictured above sold on ebay.
The listing has a vid and some good pics.I'm not impressed by the sound of it with the little marshall and that player.
Though that could just be due to a hasty choice of settings.
Interesting still...
ebay (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Kaz-Krawczak-Model-26-Hollowbody-Electric-Guitar-Handmade-Colorado-Based-Luthier-/371252856607?nma=true&si=eNiXtfWf5AeGqThMUfWOmgslSYo%253D&orig_cvip=true&rt=nc&_trksid=p2047675.l2557 target=_blank)
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...and a clunky headstock is putting it mildly once you see the back and closeups...it just seems...
unnesscesssary.
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>>> ...it just seems... unnesscesssary.
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I was hooping you'd notice hat.
I've got a homebrew electric made my James M. Lewis.It has a wacky headstock and some other interesting things going on. I'll have to post some pics and a soundclip. It has what sounds like an active boost, but I haven't found the battery??!
I'm almost done replacing the stock emg pots with new bourns low friction on my G&L Skyhawk. I'll get to pix after that.
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We suggest that students at the University do that all the time to their nice bikes. Get yourself a can of flat black spray paint and sort of cover your bike. No one will touch it.
Of course a friend of mine decided to do that to his car a few years ago. Purchased a dozen cans of lime green spray paint, did a little taping off and went at his 1973 Toyota Celica. His car ended up not looking half bad. Unfortunately, he painted it in a shared garage with two other cars (that were not lime green) and their owners were not too pleased when they discovered how much drift you get when painting with a can of spray paint in a garage on a windy day.
You would think that a guy who eventually would become the Dean of the College of Education at the Univ. of Virginia (a fine institution of higher learning) would have thought this through. We will leave it to the lack of wisdom we all have at a young age.
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>>> You would think that a guy who eventually would become the Dean of the College of Education at the Univ. of Virginia (a fine institution of higher learning) would have thought this through. We will leave it to the lack of wisdom we all have at a young age.
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A friend of mine (in fact, the one who dubbed me Cozmik Cowboy about 40 years ago) is a flat out genius; PhD in math, plays like 14 instruments, 2 albums of originals, decades as Dean of one of the most intellectual colleges in the country. I've seen him play chess.
Without a board.
While driving.
Back then, he did a drive-away (they need their car moved, you need a ride, so you drive it) from Philly to Chi. Except they didn't make it. Being good, environmentally conscious hippies, they filled the guy's Benz with unleaded (back when leaded was still standard).
That would be his diesel Benz.......
Peter
(Message edited by cozmik_cowboy on October 22, 2015)
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I'm not suggesting my friend who spray painted his car in a multi car garage was stupid. Stupid people don't lean from their mistakes. He did. The next time a paint job was needed (after several cans of bondo and some sculpting) he brought out the paint tray and a roller and rolled instead of sprayed the paint on.
Of course it took a lot longer for the thicker, rolled on paint to dry so the next day when he drove his still semi-wet car to work it acquired some very unusual streak marks when he hit 70 on the highway. Oh and by the way....the paint he used was Latex and when it started peeling 9 months later he scraped it off and did it all over again.
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I once purchased a VW transporter bus ( the ones with no side windows and transfer cases on the rear wheels)
It was a 1965 model with an upgraded 1750CC engine with a Borsch Centrifugal advance on the distributor and dual carburetors and an oil cooler and that is why I got it. The downside was that it had been brush painted oil based house paint. It had a CAT painted on one side and a few MICE on the other side trying to evade the pursuit of the CAT. On the roof there was a huge Swiss Cheese painted on with mice looking out of the holes . I was constantly being pulled over by local law enforcement where ever I drove it. IT was inevitable that I would be sanding off the art work sooner then later. I rented a 2 car garage and went to work with my power sander. An acquaintance of mine that I had met about a year before at the beach near the Chet Helm's Family Dog concert hall,helped me spray paint it with his commercial house painting airless rig and donated the paint Brown oil based metal primer that was left over from one of his jobs. I no longer was an innocent target and was relieved of that but still wondered why. The solution was just too simple , my young mind was too naive to wrap my head around the shallowness of it all ( or I just had my thumbs in my eyes !) . Well there we have it , some of my old recollections from over 40 years ago !!!
I eventually learned how to get my thumbs out of my eyes !
Wolf
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I apologize for implying your friend was stupid. Quite the contrary, I just meant that he was human. Okay, I admit the idea of kicking academicians in the pants was irresistible. All I'll say is that anybody who knows me knows why
Everybody thinks that stupid things happen all at once, and my own experience indicates that most of the time, the really monumental acts that Mark Twain called inspired idiocy happen in stages. (Hmm, I think I'll paint the roof of 'the love bus,' my unsuspecting 1965 VW troop-carrier, like a chunk of Swiss cheese! That should snag groovy chicks like crazy, daddy-o!)
Being married to a Scot, I began a study of stupidity I call the un-unified theory of irrelativity - since I had access to a full-time volunteer chronicler of my steady stream of blunders, errors and miscalculations - and I've come to the conclusion that certain factors of idiocy can be codified.
Forest's Law of Colossal *Four-ups states that PEOPLE WHO ARE GOOD AT TAKING THINGS APART ARE RARELY GOOD AT PUTTING THEM BACK TOGETHER.
That's an example of what I call an element of stupidity, distilling the science to its smallest essential components.
A very popular book way back when was Your Erroneous Zones by Wayne Dyer. I'm not recommending it (I wouldn't slog through it again at gunpoint) but I distilled one element from the book: being crazy has nothing to do with intelligence. There are plenty of doctors and lawyers who are completely nuts.
I was sixteen when I read that, and within a couple of months my neighbor - whom I respected - attempted to paint his house a weird 70s Laugh In green with his spanky-new Kirby vacuum attachment. (What is it about house paint?) I immediately applied a variant to the rule: being stupid has nothing to do with intelligence. The guy next door is trying to paint his house with a vacuum cleaner.
He was proud of it, too. Told anybody who would listen, and a lot who wouldn't. He'd take all morning to set up, then you'd hear that damn Kirby fire up and he'd make a few feet before the thing clogged up. You could tell how far he got, too, because when it clogged it did this Jackson Pollock-style squirting paint thing, like a signature. He kept saying he'd fix it later; once I get this damn thing dialed in, but for years anybody who turned onto my street was confronted by the ghastly sight of a beige stucco house covered in lime-green wisps, clots and free-form ejaculations, like a giant Martian had sneezed on it.
I'm hoping for a Nobel nod for Forest's Law of States of Matter: 'AT STANDARD AIR PRESSURE AND TEMPERATURE, THE FASTEST WAY TO TURN A SOLID TO A GAS IS TO FEED IT TO A DOG.
Jeez, I've completely wandered from the topic. That was stupid. (See what I mean?)
* the original word wasn't a number.
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The more strings, the less chances of anyone criticizing your playing.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221186.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221187.jpg)
(Can't figure out the pots? Yank 'em and cover the holes with tape. Simple.) Or add knobs (not advisable for balding guitarists, because all the audience will see all night is the top of their head).
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221188.jpg)
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OK, I have never, ever wanted an Explorer - until now!
Peter (whose guiding philosophy has always been that moderation can ruin anything)
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Here's an odd one,it's hollow like the aluminum fender/harley guitars...but it's wood.There's a center block,but the body is sort of floating around it. The headstock...what can I say...the wooden inlays on the back are really well done (reminds me of my uncles old chriscraft) ,the metal base must have been made by hand, adjusting the truss rod should be real easy, it's light and comfortable to play...oh, and I'm pretty sure I always draw blood when changing strings. I found the battery !! it was stashed in the depths of a hollow. The Vol pot has an emg "V" sticker on it...that might be a clue as to what the band-aid wrapped unit is.It turns the sound from a bic lighter to a flame thrower. I like the jack location too, it works. Gotta check the bread in the oven.cheers!
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221346.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221347.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221348.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221349.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221350.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221351.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221352.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221353.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221354.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221355.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221356.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221357.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221358.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221359.jpg)
P.S. any help figuring out what those pickups are exactly would be nice, I'm thinking ...1/4pounder,greybottom strat,other fender 70's pup ...??
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There's a little trick you can do to minimize being stabbed by string ends: just before you cut the excess string off, bent it hard in the opposite direction, then cut it. Instead of sticking straight out of the hole, the string stub will be bent and any contact will either brush against your finger (rather than stabbing it) or miss it entirely.
That style of peghead is called a pegbox and goes back at least 500 years (just imagine a scroll on top). I've never seen it on a guitar before, though.
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That is the method I usually use, I must have been lazy or distracted after the last string change.
Those tuners have the auto-cut feature,but if I used it I couldn't get the strings back on if I decided to do some fretwork etc.
I thought that bending over the string end was a foolproof way to avoid snags.I was wrong.
My guitar and I ended up being sprayed with a fine mist of pepsi light as the other guitarist somehow brushed an unopened can
against the end of the 'b' string and being hooked over it grabbed and pierced the can towards the bottom
...it took us several moments to figure out what had just happened.
I was glad I had brought a graphite neck ax that day,it made clean-up quick and easy.
Since then I've add an extra bend so the string end is tucked a bit more towards the post.
If someone asked my what kind of wood the body is, I couldn't tell them for sure...any ideas?
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There are so many things I like about that guitar, but a few that make me want to beat my head against the sidewalk.
Mainly, the beautiful piece of quilted maple as an armrest is striking, but then ruining it by using a Harbor Freight stamp kit to stamp his name and rather unwieldy serial number in it - without even bothering to line it up correctly - is an abomination. It's like one day he made the guitar body, then skipped his meds for a couple of days before giving in to the voices and breaking out the hammer and stamp kit. Why, oh why? (To be honest, at first glance I thought it had a sanitized for your protection banner on it.)
That groovy headstock ... glued on with a butt joint? Go ahead, show me a guitar anywhere that costs more than fifty bucks - new - with a headstock glued on with a butt joint. All I'm going by is what's visible (let's hope there's something hidden, like bolts, biscuits, dowels, anything other than Elmer's on a flat butt joint).
Which brings me to my next point. A Floyd Rose. My old nemesis. Words cannot describe how I loathe those things, because intonation is a nightmare. Excuse me, six nightmares. It's like herding cats, because every time you get five in tune, you have to go back and redo everything to get the sixth, etc.
Those little blocks get jammed in the slots and nothing short of explosives will knock them loose.
This thing is a godsend: http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Bridges/The_Key.html (http://www.stewmac.com/Luthier_Tools/Tools_by_Job/Bridges/The_Key.html)
Instead of nudging the saddles around, it gives you precise control with a screw. Buy two. You'll see why.
Or better yet, build a trebuchet with your friends, stick that damn Floyd in a pumpkin and see how far away from you it'll go. (That's what we call dynamic range) and drop a Wilkinson in there: http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Bridges_and_Tailpieces/Electric_Guitar/Tremolos/Wilkinson_Gotoh_VSVG_Vintage_Tremolo.html (http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Bridges_and_Tailpieces/Electric_Guitar/Tremolos/Wilkinson_Gotoh_VSVG_Vintage_Tremolo.html)
For consistent whammosity a Hipshot Tremsetter should keep it in tune way mo bedda, and prevents open strings from going flat after dive-bombing : http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Bridges_and_Tailpieces/Electric_Guitar/Hipshot_Tremsetter.html (http://www.stewmac.com/Hardware_and_Parts/Bridges_and_Tailpieces/Electric_Guitar/Hipshot_Tremsetter.html)
Besides, with a graphite nut already on there a locking nut isn't going to make enough difference to bother. Might as well make the bridge work right.
Just to be clear, I love that guitar. I really do. The little touches, like the fitted covers, hollow body, really lovely neck heel, nifty switches and layout make it a truly unique guitar, and I haven't even heard it!
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the serial # ...like he ever built a second (which would be 1288102?)
the bridge...look at the string spacing at the end of the fretboard, me thinks he was to heavy with the shaping file. I need to find something that has less than F spacing.
the butt joint...no idea what's under it's skin,maybe that's not a truss rod but a lonnnng bolt ??
It is comfy to play and offers up some really good tones.
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Elwood, being an ex-can maker I can reveal that the lower body of aluminum cans these days are somewhere around .003 thick. They found great cost savings by shaving thousandths of a gram off the weight of the can so that the already profitable business would reap even more rewards (I call it the law of Corruptionism).
The end result is what you experienced, or as others probably have - drop a can while trying to put it in the fridge and it explodes . . .
Sorry for the hi-Jack; we now return you to your regularly scheduled thread.
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I remember when all the cans had pop-tops(70's),
thick,unforgiving,and caused many foot lacerations on a sandy beach
(Message edited by elwoodblue on October 27, 2015)
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I blew out my flip-flop,
Stepped on a pop-top,
Cut my heel, had to cruise on back home,
But there's booze in the blender,
And soon it will render,
That frozen concoction I trademarked and market in the form of four-hundred-dollar blenders http://www.margaritavillecargo.com/party-machines/ (http://www.margaritavillecargo.com/party-machines/) drink mixes and snacks http://www.margaritaville.com/party (http://www.margaritaville.com/party) and tropical resorts that are like Disneyland for drunks http://www.margaritaville.com/dine (http://www.margaritaville.com/dine) ...
that help me hang on ...
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Amazing designs,check out the gallery too.
Harpguitars are a bit too many strings for me(at least for late night reading), but it's easy to stare at this guy's wood work (and paper mache' in at least one case).
http://www.beyondthetrees.com/taprootphotos.html (http://www.beyondthetrees.com/taprootphotos.html)
(Message edited by elwoodblue on October 27, 2015)
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I've been working on some interesting guitars recently. First, I started some repair and restoration on a 1960's Custom Kraft Super Zapp. Next I did a repair, fretboard/lemon oil treatment, and full set up on a Lindert Loco-Motive T. Then I installed bridge and tuners from a donor beater Daion Power Mark X onto a Power Mark XX (my all-time favorite production line guitar), followed by the oil treatment and a full set-up. Finally, I clicked on Joey's famous post and set up my bass player's Epic.
Bill, tgo
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The late, great Michael Hedges plays the prelude to Bach's Cello Suite #1 in G Major on a 1922 Dyer Harp guitar:
Great sound, lousy video: http://youtu.be/GULw2wLX8DY (http://youtu.be/GULw2wLX8DY)
Great video, lousy sound: http://youtu.be/dfnm__lNNUg (http://youtu.be/dfnm__lNNUg)
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I'll watch (and listen to) that.
I saw him once at the Moore in Seattle.What a treat that was!
Alex DeGrassi is another favorite of mine.
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The reason I listed two videos is because Michael Hedges was obsessed with sound quality. To save us all eyestrain, click here and scroll down to the harp-guitar section. You'll see what I mean:
http://www.nomadland.com/Stage_Rig.htm#8 (http://www.nomadland.com/Stage_Rig.htm#8)
Rick Turner designed that system. He put a Sunrise pickup on the 6 string, which he'd also put in Bob Weir and Jerry Garcia's guitars. (It's worth checking out their website, gentlemen. They're the Alembic of soundhole pickups.)
Something that gets buried in that list that is the Autoharp Magnetic Pickup for all 11 strings, which is actually the heart of the system. It goes off to some TC Electronics magic injectors (that's when you had to go to Denmark to get 'em, too).
Note that it splits at that point. He glued - GLUED - FRAP transducers (Flat Response Acoustic Pickups, they're like Barcus Berry sugar cubes) on the basses, and sent that off to TC Electronics magic injectors. (On his 1913 Knutsen harp-guitar, he wedged a rattlesnake's tail under the bass strings at the headstock, that you can hear in the sympathetic vibrations. It's nuts.)
The reason I'm pointing this out is to let you know it's there. Put it on your list. It's physical. That's the only way I can even attempt to describe it. Hear it for yourself, preferably with headphones, from the best quality format you can find. It's worth it.
I just realized that I can segue this thread back on topic like Fred Astaire. Here's a picture of Michael Hedges with his Steve Klein/Steinberger Trans-trem harp-thing.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221434.jpg)
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Can't say anything bad about Hedges.
Saw him at Shank Hall once, greatest show ever.
He would play a song.
The audience would give a quick polite applause and then lean forward to the front of the chairs eagerly anticipating the next song.
That man had everyone in the room in the palm of his hand.
Brilliant.
Dazzling circles slow to soon
RIP Michael
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at around 9:00 Micheal talks about one of his guitars,a bit later Mr. Manring shows up on a fretless...sounds like watching wet watercolors
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBPKmyH1f2w (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kBPKmyH1f2w)
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damn..like a rolling stone (44:00) has got me all verklempt..
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Yes!
Absolutely the greatest Heavy Mental guitarist ever!
Couple him with the Manthing and all bets are off.
Thanks for sharing that link Elwood.
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I'm gonna have to watch the two master class videos that come up as related videos.It looks like it must have been filmed in the mid 70's.
(Now I'm looking at old Takamine's on ebay.)
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Wow this thread is the wobbliest I've seen in awhile...fun!
Tony
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Elwood, I had a lightning bolt about your guitar, and I appreciate it in a different light.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221521.jpg)
I don't know how many times I've slowed down to take a close look at parts of that guitar (I've got the major hots for your guitar, and might as well admit it), before it occurred to me that the grain was weird. I can't recall ever seeing wood grain in a vaguely-kitty-corner vector like that.
Even the guy who cut the Tele body out of the kitchen table made sure to make the grain perfectly perpendicular. On your guitar, though, that explains the added armrest of quilted maple, because there wasn't any wood there! It was truly air guitar.
My favorite thing about that guitar is that it's an inspired mix of genius and ... well, I wouldn't call it idiocy as much as questionable choices (I wish people gave me the same break once in a while).
As soon as I realized that, and why James F. Lewis hit the medicine cabinet a little too hard and whipped out his Harbor Freight stamping kit to emblazon his name on his masterpiece, I was reminded of the granddaddy of all questionable choices.
In his book about Michelangelo; The Agony and the Ecstacy, Irving Stone wrote that when a promising, pure white block of marble turned up at the quarry in Carrera, the workers considered it a sacred privilege to lug it to the top of a mountain so that Michelangelo could look at it in the first rays of daybreak. That's how he evaluated every piece of marble, and also where the inspiration for the piece took place.
In this piece, he saw the whole structure as a pyramid. He saw Mary cradling Jesus, a small, older woman with a full grown man across her lap. By making the lines in the sculpture form a diamond shape (see it?) he was able to subtly enlarge her and shrink Jesus. He made her features youthful to signify purity (common at the time)..
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221522.jpg)
When Michelangelo designed St. Peter's Basilica, he made a special place for the Pieta. So he had the world's greatest masterpiece of sculpture in one of the world's greatest churches.
http://www.rome.info/michelangelo/pieta/ (http://www.rome.info/michelangelo/pieta/)
Michelangelo ... achieving a highly polished sheen that made it fairly impossible to believe the sumptuously sculpted figures began as a block of cold stone. Michelangelo's mastery of composition is evident in the unique triangular shape that conveys a stunning grandeur, and a profound knowledge of human anatomy served him well in his creation.
According to Giorgio Vasari, shortly after the installation of the Pieta, Michelangelo overheard someone remark that it was the work of another sculptor, Cristoforo Solari. Michelangelo then carved 'MICHAELA[N]GELUS BONAROTUS FLORENTIN[US] FACIEBA[T]' (Michelangelo Buonarroti, Florentine, made it) on the sash running across Mary's breast!
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/221523.jpg)
That was the only work he ever signed. He immediately regretted it and it haunted him for the rest of his life. He blamed that mistake for any problems that befell him for the rest of his 88 years.
Kinda puts James F. Lewis' poor impulse control in perspective, don't it?
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hehe...cool.
The auction pics were blurry,bidding on it was a gamble. I could see something going with the bridge assembly,but had no idea really.I thought it could be a version of an MSA bender assembly(google images (https://www.google.com/search?q=msa+guitar+pedal+attachment&num=50&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAgQ_AUoAmoVChMIrJjtvu7yyAIVBSqICh1nUgAF&biw=1207&bih=641 target=_blank)). It wasn't.
The bridge was a floyd rose that had cracked in half,with strings hanging out the back.
Luckily I saved the bridge from my 80's Kramer Stryker (wait 'till you see what I've done with the body).
When I received the guitar it had a very dark patina,I left it untouched between the knobs.
I had to think about if messing with the patina was a good idea.You couldn't see the grain at all before I
went at it.I have no regrets about that since it revealed some wood that looks like it was salvaged from a
pirate ship that sat in a bog for a century.
Your probably right about the armrest area,I've changed designs just to accommodate some crazy figuring in a board.
I'm organizing my little woodshop room, I'm curious to see some responses to some of my questionable choices.
(loosens his necktie nervously)
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I found one of these...
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221534.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221535.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221536.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221537.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221538.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221539.jpg)
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221540.jpg)
...and half of an Alembic cutting board !
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/221541.jpg)
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(double post)
(Message edited by elwoodblue on November 19, 2015)
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I'll pick up this stitch...
I don't have any guitars with a trapeze tailpiece, that's what that whammy contraption is meant for.
It's spring loaded so the action is more subtle than just bearing down on the strings behind the bridge.
I turned 50 a month ago (Woohoo!!),and a power outage had me sitting in the dark with a warm cat on my tummy for a while.
I was thinking about what I had in my life that brought me joy...the Alembic virtual living room (and kitchen!) is in my top ten.
Thanks for that!
I'm gonna try and ramble more as a 50th revolution resolution , I hope that's a good thing most the time
Now where did I put rest of that cutting board?(I really want to put a neck on it)
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^the
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http://t.harborfreight.com/36-piece-14-in-steel-letternumber-stamping-set-60671.html
You know what to do.
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Congratulations on surviving fifty circumnavigations around the sun aboard this wacky little planet. You're now officially invisible to teenagers.
Denny's, K-Mart, Dunkin' Donuts, Michael's arts & crafts, ADT Home Security, Chick-Fil-A, Papa John's, Banana Republic, UPS, Avis, Budget Rent-a-car, National Car Rental, Hertz (don't it?), Kellogg's, Goody's, Bubba Gump, Chart House, Claim Jumper, Landry's Seafood, Rainforest Cafe, Norwegian Cruise Lines, Westin, Sheraton, Days Inn, Howard Johnson, Ramada, Super 8, Travelodge and the National Park Service all offer Senior discounts when you hit 50 (and it hits back).
For ten bucks you can get a geezer card that'll get you into any National Park in the country.
Your McDonald's (ptew) coffee just got cheaper (ask for their certified unfair-trade coffee). The pimply teens behind the counter will sneer in the direction of your voice (it's that invisibility thing. You'll get used to it), because they're jealous of our intelligence and experience.
One of the best things I've ever done was joining AARP on my 50th birthday (eight years ago ), despite their stance on premarital sex; fine, as long as it doesn't block the aisle.
Just think, in 15 years you'll turn 65 and really hit the heavily discounted jackpot. Time to get your cranky on!
There will be periodic reminders of your exalted status as an elder. If you smile at pretty girls while you're crossing the street ...
(Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on November 19, 2015)
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Tanks!
I guess I didn't realize what it meant for travel discounts.Travel sounds more fun everyday!
Until I'm sure there's no animal products in McD's coffee,I'll have to keep making my own.
Isn't AARP some kind of uber antenna network that messes with our planet's fine balance??
I've ordered the stamp set, now...If I only had a hammer...
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[double post]
I'm hereby announcing a fundraising drive to help Alembic get a new message board system. I don't need to say why.
I'll start with a pledge of fifty bucks.
(Message edited by Ed_zeppelin on November 19, 2015)
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quote:Until I'm sure there's no animal products in McD's coffee,I'll have to keep making my own.
We subscribe to an even higher standard: until we're sure there's no McDonald's products in McDonald's food, we'll have to keep making our own.
Since you mention it (pardon me while I doff the DON'T GET HIM STARTED! sign the Foghorn forces me to wear, even to bed), how's about we indulge in a nice, steaming mug of smug this dreary morning? I'm in the Willamette Valley, in Oregon. Guess the weather. Go ahead.
Here's an oddity I would not have known, if I were not chained by marriage to a Scot: cold, damp weather makes them homesick. They thrive in this muck. Look at where they settled, all over the world. First they came to Virginia. Blue Ridge Mountains, paradise. Noo, they said; not cold enough! Let's go north, laddies! Nova Scotia! Follow those black clouds!
I hail from sunnier climes, Sudden California (pre-paving). Weather like this makes me feel like I'm living in one of those Halo video games, with slime dripping from the walls and god knows what waiting around every bend, ready to lunge at you from out of the dank fog. I know, I'll create my own game app: Help the cranky old fart find his way back to the cave!
Coffee. [it puts the sign back on, puts the lotion in the basket]. We get ours from Dean's Beans. https://deansbeans.com/ (https://deansbeans.com/) He's the guy who invented the whole concept of Fair Trade. Just poke around for five minutes on that site and you'll be astounded.
I mean this as sincerely as humanly possible: do yourself a favor and get this:
https://deansbeans.com/gifts-samplers/javatrekker-survival-kit.html (https://deansbeans.com/gifts-samplers/javatrekker-survival-kit.html)
The reason why is because it's a party in a box, for yourself (and whatever beings share your domicile, natch). He's one of the best writers I've ever come across, and the best part is that it's laugh out loud funny, too. Each section of the book is about a different country where he went and set up fair trade agreements with the farmers, and you get to drink their coffee while you're reading it to each other!
It's a unique experience. He even goes so far as to post the invoices on his website, so everyone can see - to the penny - who benefits from it, and what they do with it. Schools, clinics, wells, water purification, electrical infrastructures ... When you can see that with your own eyes, it adds a lot to your enjoyment of that steamy cup o' java, y'know? The best part is that you know those farmers send Dean the very best coffee on the planet (and it averages out to about eight bucks a pound).
Hey, consider that my birthday gift to you. I hope you don't mind paying such a small price for such quality smug
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Coool beans!!
Since my early teens I've been buying grind your own( I think millstone was the first).
To keep with a theme...I had to use a hammer to smash some beans in a paper bag to be sifted through a peanut butter jar with holes punched in the top into my filter as I stoked the fire that was slowwwwwly heating the water . Did I mention the power outage?
I ordered a hand grinder on amazon today
We have sunshine and dampness here today.
If I move it will be away from these 100 foot tall trees that wave over the house in high winds.
...maybe just move eveything 120 ft over a bit.
I recently bought some borosilcate double walled mugs to keep the java toasty ( it aint the same once it's cooled).
The Alembic mug I got at a NW gathering has been retired for pencils,it really would have benefited from some scarf joints were the body meets the handle.
Thanks for the heads up.
Now I need to go play with my new little drill press
(maybe that'd work with the stamping set??).
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I used to keep pencils in coffee cups, until it went to the doctor for these horrible stabbing pains I got in my eyes every time I drank coffee. I didn't know you were supposed to alternate between the pencils and coffee. (I figured something was up when people kept commenting on the huge freckles showing up on my face, and I don't have any freckles.)
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Elwood! I must have this guitar.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/223911.jpg)
Not so much to play it, but to hear what it sounds like. I was just referring to Blue Man Group in another thread, and I'm reminded of how they use boxes of Capt. Crunch as percussion instruments. Like that. Back in the 90s I dropped a set of Hondo pickups in our bands guitarist's axe. To this day he has no idea where they came from. Hell, I don't know where they came from! only that I'd snagged them off a fifty-dollar Hondo that had imploded or something, and right around that time I set a bunch of them up for store stock and the first thing I said when I plugged one into my bench amp was ... Well, let's just say that only modesty and decorum prevent me from repeating it in this august forum, but man them things roared! I couldn't believe it. So I had umpteen sets in my junk boxes, as these Asian time-bombs self-destructed. And they cranked! it was like you bought three coils of wire and they threw the rest of the guitar in for free (stick it in the trunk, to dig yourself out of snowdrifts). My favorite part about your guitar is its creator's intentions in the face of his delusions of adequacy. Like the way the grain of the wood is wonky as hell. Yet it works. Graft a chunk of maple on it, then stamp your name in it - badly - so everybody knows who to blame. I love that. So since you're the only thing standing in the way of true love, what will it take for me to be united with the object of my devotion? I've got tons of nifty stuff to barter. [bats eyelashes] PS: I stumbled across a video on YouTube that explained this monstrosity:
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/223912.jpg)
Its a one-off they made for trade shows, to demonstrate their line of strings. A couple of guys whipped it up in their garage or something.
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I've thought about sending her to you, just for kicks . If I knew how to ramble it might have come up earlier, I need to find a bucket of mercury or something.
I'll make some recordings to hold you over.
I can't ramble before coffee...so I'll give it another go in an hour.
Mornin'!
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The guitarist in my last band had a $79 china strat. So I asked him if I could have it for the week. I put in fender cs-69's at the neck and middle and a SD-5 at the bridge.Traded the guts for a G&L PTB setup I had from an S-500, gold anodized pickguard for the one ply soft plastic one....and spent way to much time dressing the frets and finessing the setup...and of course a light buff with Virtuoso polish.So I put in maybe $250 worth of upgrades plus my time into an 80 dollar 'f-der'. (I listed the china pickups and guts on ebay...they wouldn't sell for $10.)
I don't think I ever heard a thanks guy...he like the gold though.
My main objective was to get our sound to be better...and it notched out that crappy china pickup sound...so missin accomplished.
I'm close to finishing a 6 string creation myself.I'm eager to see where it falls on the Cletus scale ;)
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I had to buy my dad a Taylor 610 acoustic, just so he'd have a decent guitar to swap with me (he's 84 now, this was about twenty years ago). He's the king of cheap guitars. I hated guys like him when I worked retail: spend hours of your time trying every guitar in the store, then settle for a $79 chunk of Asian kindling - insisting on every possible discount (can you throw in a case, strings, strap, picks and a subscription to 'Gerontological Digest?') and then complain about it.
They'd be convinced you ripped them off, just reached into his wallet and took the food out of his mouth (I'll have whatever metaphors you're mixing, barkeep). Then keep coming back to complain that it don't play right, and my fingers turn black and stink to high heaven every time I play that Hank song on it.
[remember your Zig Zigler Zen training, son. Go to your happy place. Play In Dreams in your head, focus on Roy's sweet tenor reaching down into your soul to massage your liver or something. Remember; 'big boys don't hit.' Ommmm]
Actually, I loved retail. As you may have noticed, I never argue with anybody, yet remain obnoxious and offensive. It's a fine line. Sort of an Okie version of Gandhi.
quote:I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers. (My favorite Gandhi quote )
My verbosity this fine Sunday morn is because the Foghorn is in Scotland visiting her mother (whom I cheerfully refer to as the hitch from bell) Think Mrs. Doubtfire as played by Sam Kinison, drunk. The only thing we agree on is that her daughter is too good for me. All because I had the unmitigated gall to be born in California, and I don't wear skirts. I mean, kilts.
So yeah, I stayed up too late. I put my feet on the coffee table, and thought about not using a coaster. I left the bathroom light on, just for the ugly fun of it. Turned my amp up to 4! Cuz that's how I roll, baby. I'm a rebel.
Ah, coffee. My brane is beginning to work again (despite decades of beating into submission). It puts the lotion in the basket. Got it.
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Actually, I loved retail.
I am a firm believer in tolerance& understanding - but you, Sir, are a sick, twisted individual.....
Peter (Who, OK, yeah, mebbe is prejudiced because his only retail experience was at the Evil Empire).
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I was lucky to get a job as a schmuck (errands, cleaning, etc.) in a music store when I was a teenager, and it changed my life. The owner, Bob, was hilarious.
He was one of those great jazz guitarists who could play whole songs in what I call Ted Greene six-finger chords, but he never played in front of customers because he didn't want to make anyone feel inadequate.
He never said a negative thing about anybody. I was this horrible long haired geek, and he treated me like I was a star. In fact, he treated everybody who walked through the door as though they were important. And they were.
He taught me that sales is about helping people, period. Bad salesmen manipulate people into spending too much for something they don't need. Good salesmen help people get what they want, period. It really is that simple. Guess which ones make the most money?
He was sorta classically trained in sales, too. He had a library of books by guys like Zig Ziglar and Dale Carnegie and he delighted in sharing stuff from them, because the whole idea is that if you help people get what they want, the numbers take care of themselves.
He not only made me read How To Win Friends And Influence People, he practiced the points with me until they were branded on my frontal lobe.
BECOME A FRIENDLIER PERSON
1. Don't criticize, condemn or complain.
2. Give honest, sincere appreciation.
3. Arouse in the other person an eager want.
4. Become genuinely interested in other people.
5. Smile.
6. Remember that a person's name is to that person the most important sound in any language.
7. Be a good listener. Encourage others to talk about themselves.
8. Talk in terms of the other person's interest.
9. Make the other person feel important - and do so sincerely.
10 The only way to get the best of an argument is to avoid it.
WINNING PEOPLE TO YOUR WAY OF THINKING
11. Show respect for the other person's opinions. Never say, You're wrong.
12. If you are wrong, admit it quickly and emphatically.
13. Begin in a friendly way.
14. Get the other person saying, Yes, yes immediately.
15. Let the other person do most of the talking.
16. Let the other person feel that the idea is his or hers.
17. Try honestly to see things from the other person's point of view.
18. Be sympathetic with the other person's ideas and desires.
19. Appeal to the nobler motives.
20. Dramatize your ideas.
LEADERSHIP
21. Throw down a challenge.
22. Begin with praise and honest appreciation.
23. Call attention to people's mistakes indirectly.
24. Talk about your own mistakes before criticizing the other person.
25. Ask questions instead of giving direct orders.
26. Let the other person save face.
27. Praise the slightest and every improvement. Be lavish in your praise.
28. Give the other person a fine reputation to live up to.
29. Use encouragement. Make the fault seem easy to correct.
30. Make the other person happy about doing the thing you suggest.
I'm lucky if 5% of that stuck, but I shudder to think of what I'd be like without Bob's example. For instance, he had picked up a bunch of mannequin hands (!) at a junk shop. We weren't allowed to say; can I help you? to customers, simply because the worst way to begin an interaction with anyone is for one of you to say no. Bob grabbed one of the mannequin hands, walked over and said; need a hand? And handed it to them! Start off with a smile. He was just like that. Everybody adored him. Just a massively fun guy to be around.
Imagine the best salesman you can. That was Bob. He was genuinely interested in you. He asked the right questions to find out what you wanted - and he actually listened to you - and helped you get it.
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In my city (and country) we need tons of salesmen like Bob. I remember being to music stores where nobody is allowed to touch the instruments and equipment DISPLAYED there (Those were FOR DISPLAY, not for PLAY!!!!). Where salesmen not only don't know much about (they know nothing) the equipment being sold there (You' re lucky if one out of four or five guys in the same store even plays an instrument, not to mention being skilled or pro). Long ago, a shop opened, in a small house within a residential area (you had to ring the door as if you were visiting a friend, no sign, no nothing, go figure!), and once inside it was a really nice shop (mostly keyboards based, but they were also a local representative for some big brands and also carried some guitar, bass and percussion equipment), and if you were interested in keyboards (as I certainly was), they handed you a pair of headphones and guided you to a room (probably the original house's dining/living room since it was large) filled with keyboards ( 2 and 3-tier inclined shelves on the walls set up as keyboard stands), and encouraged you to try anyone you like. I did spent long hours on that store (I ended up buying my first synth there too!) and fell in love with their vision. About four years later they had created a music tech school, and I was totally brought over by the idea and ended up being not only a teacher there, but eventually was promoted as assistant director. But what really started it was the original vision of a store where YOU were really important enough as to let YOU do things and decide. Needless to say they sold a lot!. Unfortunately, the shop (and the school) closed in the mid-90s, and even though there have been some attempts at making decent music stores since then, there has been nothing around here that may come even close to that. So... I guess Bob was really right...
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Forest,
Do you have any experience with Dave Bunker's instruments?
ebay link (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Dave-Bunker-Vintage-Pro-Bass-Bass-Guitar-/161942255595?hash=item25b482b7eb:g:s-EAAOSwaA5WkaaV target=_blank)
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I have a 70's Bunker Pro Star guitar. Very unique instrument. His main innovation is the tension-free neck. The tension of the strings is borne by a steel rod that runs through the guitar. No tension on the neck or fretboard.
Bill, tgo
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I'm curious about the timbre;maybe a scooped tone due to the hollow, or maybe a sort of bloom since there might be more resonances due to the lack of neck compression...or is it all in the fingers like most things
Bunker has built some interesting touch instruments too.
I made a neck pretensioner to do fretwork on. I'm guessing that wouldn't be necessary on a Bunker TensionFreeNeck.
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Bad salesmen manipulate people into spending too much for something they don't need. Good salesmen help people get what they want, period.
That's actually the sort of thing that got me fired.
Manager (in AM sales meeting): We have a deal on these bottom-line Yamahas; we'll be pushing them all week at $150 - that's a 100% mark up!
Starving guitarist (1-2 hrs later): What's the best guitar you can sell me for $150?
Me: This 1959 Gibson ES-330-TD.
Peter (Who could go on & on, but won't.)
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Forest (or anyone else),
Do you see something wrong here that NEEDS some fixin'?
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225101.jpg)
hint:once fixed,it's gonna sound at least twice as good
I hate to say it, but I'm gonna have to get the dremel out.
I wouldn't want to send you a guitar that didn't sound good ;)
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It's the pickup string alignment for anyone who didn't notice...the pickup routes need to be just a little wider to allow the bottom bobbins to fit right.
The pickups will be rearranged...presently,the neck is South up,the middle and bridge are North up. Also the pole spacing will be better with the bridge pup going to the neck position,middle to the bridge, and neck to the middle.
I think our friend James had more than one Cleatus moment. The negatives from the pickups were grounded with this cool system
I'm guessing band-aids were an essential part of James' life...unlike electrical tape.
The Switch for the active boost has been intermittent, I put that on the hit list of things to fix...but...
I might have to cut open the epoxy to fix the switch,curious what else I might find ?!!
(baby doll heads in jello comes to mind)
The boost must be 12db or more.It's pretty dramatic,like a really hot wah pedal.
I think a blend knob would make it usable.Luckily there's a hole.
I just need to pop of that brass washer.The black button was a fine tuner screw from a floyd rose assembly.
So it's on deck to be benched.
Did I mention the electronics smell like bandaids??...eewwww :`
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Pheew. I know that smell... what the heck is it? Those old Gibson parts I have squirreled away smell like that too. Reminds me of an old Lionel train I had as a kid.
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Thank you for conducting the autopsy in public. It's like Cletus meets Salvador Dali. The funny thing is that I noticed that the pickup pole pieces didn't line up, but it wrote that off to the wonky positioning of the Floyd.
You can see the routing for the old bridge glaring out from the north side, and having seen the same thing umpteen times before when future rock stars yanked Strat wiggle sticks out of their Kramers and dropped Floyds in (Strat bridges have a bigger footprint), I kinda got hung up on that particular aspect of the crime scene.
It never occurred to me to move the pickups, since if I was to do anything to that beast it would be to finalize the divorce from Floyd, but I wouldn't even do that because I thought that was part of its charm.
The block of epoxy with wires and switches sticking out of it - and a butterfly band-aid, for apparently no good reason whatsoever - belongs in a museum. Perhaps a Dangers of Meth display or something.
I found a wasp nest in an Ibanez once (honest, the work order said making a buzzing sound), which had been - until now - the weirdest thing I've ever seen come out of a guitar. Yes, the SPST switch epoxy pudding pop with an owee tops 'em all. This is a great moment in Cletus history, if only because it memorializes the anonymous doofus who obviously didn't have much faith in his soldering skills. I know, I'll bury it in a block of epoxy and put a band-aid on it, just in case the block of epoxy disintegrates at high volume!
Y'know, flawed genius that James M. Call Me 'Jimi' Lewis was when he cobbled together that guitar, until you showed us the innards, I had blamed an unknown perp for the most egregious insults on that instrument (the Floyd was the dead giveaway, since I figgered it had a stock Strat bridge originally).
But now that I see that Jimi Lewis didn't even bother to blow the dust out of the control cavity before swabbing shielding paint in there (I assume that's what it is, though I secretly hope it's house paint, in keeping with Cletus tradition), I'm beginning to suspect the pickups and wiring are original.
It's hard to tell, since from a Guitar CSI point of view it's like trying to investigate a victim who's been murdered multiple times, with at least one of the perps displaying a shred of remorse by returning to the scene to put band aids on the corpse.
It makes me want to buy a Michael Bolton CD and start a Howl along with Michael Bolton Nite at a local bar. Crank my old Epiphone amp up to 11 and recreate the opening scene of Back To The Future, then do some SERIOUS Van Halen-esque dive-bombing during the part of When A Man Does A Woman where it sounds like Mike sprayed contact cleaner on his vocal cords.
Careful with that axe, Eugene.
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One of these days...
It doesn't taste like house paint : )
I figured the pickups were 70's fender miscellania, but I just don't know after seeing the underside
(I'll post pics,maybe you know what they are).
I have these old crimson seymours that would look at home here...we'll see how the new pickup configuration works first.
Gonna have to cut into the epoxicle..I'll be careful ;)
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I dig this headstock,
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/225566.jpg)
It reminds me of rayon geometric disco shirts I've become nostalgic for:
youtube link (https://youtu.be/5Jfi0sOawT0?t=4m9s target=_blank)
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I saw this the other day and thought of this thread. Ride 'em cowboy!
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/225571.jpg)
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DO NOT EVEN TRY TO CUT INTO THE EPOXY, it won't work; trust me I've tried to do such things and it never works...there is stuff out there that will dissolve epoxy (jeweller's stuff that I can't remember the brand name) but it's SOOO TOXIC a mere whiff smells like brain damage...seriously, I've actually used the stuff and a mere whiff made me see BLACK STARS in front of my eyes; so toxic, and you have to burp the can sometimes...won't use that stuff again...Tony
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Eww, sounds like drool of BrundleFly.
This stuff is softer than a hard cured epoxy...
more like ballistics gel. I wouldn't be surprised if there was a bullet in there ;).
Unless Forest convinces me otherwise, I think I'll make a stompbox from the active filter since it's not dependable enough to gig or record with. Then I can just leave the old switch on and put a new one in line to use.
Thanks for the caveat Tony.
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It's probably worse than BrundleFly; thankfully I never got it on my skin as I have been trained in using evil compounds but even every brush I used with the stuff dissolved...ok, so this stuff will dissolve a squirell...
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quote:more like ballistics gel.
That explains the band-aid.
No, it really doesn't. Nothing that I can see explains the band-aid, except possibly drugs. I had one of those Who's On First? arguments going on in my skull:
Why a band-aid? To secure the wires to the carefully-molded epoxy-ish ballistics gel block!
Okay, why the carefully-molded epoxy-ish ballistics gel block? To secure the wires and the SPST switch in an epoxy pudding pop!
Why not use solder, like everybody else? Because he could carefully create a mold, stick the switch and wires in it and pour god-knows-what in it and hold it steady until Wheel of Fortune was over, and that would hold it much better than the solder everybody else uses!
Okay, then why the band-aid? ...
By running this never-ending conundrum over and over through my warped brane, I think I may have arrived at a possible tentative guess. I was listening to a Richard Pryor CD and heard him say; I'm not addicted to cocaine. I just like the way it smells!
It's the smell! What we assume is epoxy is actually Ellie May's gravy. (Funny you mentioned squirrel, too!) Jethro done used it to war a git-tar, then put a band-aid on it to try to contain the smell!
Shoot. That ain't it. I just don't know. Back to the drugs theory.
Here's a guitar made with roadkill. Speaking of smells ...
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/226229.jpg)
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I'm glad they went with steel strings.
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That picture came with no story, so we're in the same boat there. But I take it that you're suggesting they killed it with the guitar? If so, I'll bet it was an early 80's Kramer Barreta, because everybody was glued to MTV 24/7, watchin' hair-bands and getting makeup tips from morticians and stuff. (Not me, of course.)
Then Eddie Van Halen endorsed Kramer and overnight, they sold a zillion of the cursed things. Up 'til then, he had played a homemade contraption made up of Boogie Bodies (remember them?) and Chandler necks, painted with Schwinn bicycle paint and electrical tape. He was only using one pickup, but he had pickup covers on the front two cavities so nobody could cop his tone. So the Kramer endorsement was a big deal at the time.
That's where my loathing of original Floyd Rose(s?) wiggle-sticks comes from. [shudder] my point is that those guys would have done that to some poor animal. I can't think of anybody else who would, though.
Kramers were cheap spankin' planks. They started out with aluminum necks, didja know that? Either Kramer or Travis Bean (our Jerry reference, with reverence) supplied aluminum necks for the other.
I like to think of this as a pre-derailed thread anyway, which brings up a completely different topic for no apparent reason.
I consider this 1947 Stromberg Master 400 (http://guitars.com/inventory/ar4467-c-1947-stromberg-master-400) to be a true masterpiece, worthy of inclusion into this fine assemblage of all things Alembic.
Take your time. Don't forget to breathe. I'm going to go look again myself. I've been doing that for about a week now. Ask Greg.
I love the obvious Alembic thing on the back of the neck. So elegant it almost hurts, y'know what I mean? It's so perfect it makes your fingers itchy. And that strap button? That is absolutely unique. I've never seen that anywhere else.
It's unfortunate that Elmer Stromberg's own hand built instruments suffered from a batch of bogus varnish that degraded quickly. The most obvious place is the headstock, so it's rare to see one that hasn't been refinished. Odd that he used a completely different finish elsewhere, though. Like the rest of the neck, for instance. That's the only flaw I spotted, and then only because I read about it somewhere.
It's pretty apparent what kind of women Elmer liked walking behind, if you follow my drift.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226244.jpg)
Gibson, Epiphone, Stromberg and especially D'Angelico duked it out over the little-known or understood postwar Big Butt Guitar War. Gibson came out with the outrageously widebody Super 400 with 19-inch lower bouts. Epiphone topped 'em - and themselves - with the 20-inch Emperor Zephyr Regent. (http://www.guitaraficionado.com/the-eclectic-collector-1953-sunburst-emperor-zephyr-regent.html) I consider that the most badass guitar ever. Check out the three DeArmonds and 6-button Bakelite Masterbilt Switching System.
John D'Angelico made the New Yorker (http://blog.metmuseum.org/guitarheroes/archtop-guitar-new-yorker-model-1958/) (the one on the left was George Benson's. Note the same issue with the faceplate as Stromberg.)
Here's a superb 1947 D'Angelico New Yorker (http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Guitars/D%27Angelico/10827/10827DAngelicoGuitar.html) (with comparatively modest 18-inch caboose) at the National Music Museum. Click the pics to get the centerfold shots. You'll just have to imagine the staples, though.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226245.jpg)
Hey gorgeous! Nice to see yer back! Woo hoo!
Here's what a Stromberg G-7 sounds like. (http://youtu.be/Dv-faHqmiVM) I think it sounds almost exactly like Gene Krupa's snare, with brushes. (And If that sprightly tune don't slap a goofy grin on your grumpy mug, well ... you're probably Scottish. Ha ha.)
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I just now discovered a Stromberg banjo at the National Music Museum (http://orgs.usd.edu/nmm/PluckedStrings/Banjos/Stromberg/10874/RainvilleBanjo.html) made by Elmer thirty years before that Master 400 in the previous post, that I want to share with you.
You can scroll down and click on the skinny pics to get hi-def details of each section. And just wait 'til you get a load of the case.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226249.jpg)
A banjo player showing off? Imagine that.
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Dang!
Love that colored marquetry.
I've decided to find a glass display box, wired with input/output jacks and a switch...and some soft indirect lighting...I'll use LEDs so the band-aid won't off-gas too quickly. What's the half life of a band-aid smell? The glass should preserve it for future generations...maybe they can clone James
re: the roadkill ax, GUT strings was what I was (and still am) trying to avoid.
Thanks for those museum links!
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Thought I?d share this around our little circle folks who admire fine woodworking skills, especially when applied to musical instruments?
This fiddle belongs to a friend of mine? it was made (approx. 25 years ago) by a local violin/fiddle maker by the name of Arthur Conner who?s home and shop is in nearby Copper Hill, Virginia. I forget how many instruments he?s made to date, but they?re quite revered, with several players of renown using them. I know of 4 upright basses he?s made, as well as a handful of cellos, but Mr. Conner is primarily known for his fiddles. Some of them, like this one, have fancy carved headstocks instead of scrolls. This one also happens to be a 5-string fiddle, the low-C tuning giving the player access to a viola?s range. Note also, how the f-holes and corners are cut, as this is often a characteristic maker's mark.
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226534.jpg)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226535.jpg)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226536.jpg)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226537.jpg)
(http://alembic.com/club/messages/449/226538.jpg)
Here?s an article about him from a couple years ago, written after what must have been quite a humorous interview:
http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/news/2010/03/21/4683132.htm (http://sip-trunking.tmcnet.com/news/2010/03/21/4683132.htm)
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The bass embedded in the works is brilliant!
marble music machine (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IvUU8joBb1Q target=_blank)
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Here's the first one (watch it all the way through, even if you've seen it before. It'll be worth it).
http://youtu.be/Xu-A0jqMPd8 (http://youtu.be/Xu-A0jqMPd8)
This is why:
http://youtu.be/PCIkbr9HCcw (http://youtu.be/PCIkbr9HCcw)
Cletus wants to do something similar with a paintball gun and some Fisher-Price toy xylophones (I'm going to sneak up behind him with a cattle prod, to add vocals.) Maybe we can start a Michael Bolton tribute band!
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If only it didn't have that modern pickup...
http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANDMADE-2-STRING-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-CUSTOM-VIOLIN-SHAPE-SELECT-EMG-VTG-/111947117277?hash=item1a109172dd:g:TaUAAOSwZ8ZW9Ktj (http://www.ebay.com/itm/HANDMADE-2-STRING-ELECTRIC-BASS-GUITAR-CUSTOM-VIOLIN-SHAPE-SELECT-EMG-VTG-/111947117277?hash=item1a109172dd:g:TaUAAOSwZ8ZW9Ktj)
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Another attempt at a theft-proof instrument. Its the same "too ugly to steal" idea as Gibson basses. Note the compensated "bridge" (it's pretty easy to guess what they were compensating for).
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/227355.jpg)
I'm not sure what's going on with the "tailpiece(?)" thing. Looks like somebody took some sheet metal shears to the junkyard and kept whacking chunks off old tractors and coke machines until something snagged the ball ends OG the strings. "Now I'll just ram a machine screw through it, and break out the Dremel and really make it ugly." Cletus thinks. That is an authentic dish washing sponge stuffed in the little box. Good for that "clean" tone. Love the vintage duct tape trim.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/227356.jpg)
I'm pretty sure it's a rare "emergency bass response unit," intended to be played with the feet if the bass player don't show (it's tuned: "1, 5, 1, 5, 1, 5 etc."), and for clearing the way to the exit if a bar brawl breaks out. A definite collector's item, if only to prove to a collector that they really should be collecting something else.
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I missed that there was a kitchen sponge in there.
I bet that was added in the 80's. It's nice the original flathead screws are intact.
You know, working with those is a dying art.
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I admit, I'm not hip to advancements in Scotch-Brite technology (in fact, as a married man I generally regard dish washing supplies with the same enthusiasm a vampire has for a crucifix), but it looks like it's mounted scrubby-side down, with a regular kitchen sponge [shudder] shoved in there on top of it. (Think they're meant to be wet?) Unfortunately, I don't think that muted it entirely, but it's a step in the right direction.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/227396.jpg)
Now that's how to mount a neck! (Alembic, are you paying attention?) Coupla machine screws, a socket and ratchet and "batter up!" Note that the perp inscribed their name, as usual in these cases. It's as though they anticipate the question; "whom to blame for this abomination?"
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/227397.jpg)
Flathead technology at its finest (and by "flathead," I don't mean the screws). Note the many ways the perp placed obstacles to his fingers, lest he be tempted to actually play the damn thing. Mounting the whole pickup on a cheesy riser and placing the curved aluminum plate on the waist for maximum obstruction, lends credence to my theory that this ... uh, instrument(?) ... was created as a weapon. Sonic or otherwise.
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/227398.jpg)
Possibly the aforementioned curved aluminum plate is meant to leave a distinctive marks on victim's skulls, to keep track of who had already been previously "enlightened." (You want to keep track of how many times you hit the drummer. Trust me.) I think that's the only context in which I'd like to hear it, bouncing off the skull of "critics." "Let's play 'El Kabong' again!"
(http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/227399.jpg)
quote:It's nice the original flathead screws are intact. You know, working with those is a dying art. One can only hope.
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Here's a video about builder Steve Conner.
His bracing ideas might bear fruit (or nice sound orbs eminating throughout the universe, as he describes his synethesian visions).
The magnetic soundhole cover is brilliant...easy,functional,no rattling.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVYuBqg6xU (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVYuBqg6xU)
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D'ohplicate post :/
(Message edited by elwoodblue on April 24, 2016)
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I'm slightly conflicted by the video of Steve Connor, but once I realized it was my own rampant envy and jealousy percolating up, I'm okay with it.
He pulled up to his lakefront palace in a Ferrari, for one thing. That certainly got my attention, because I have neither. But within a few minutes he plays a Francisco Tarrega knuckle-buster with absolutely perfect technique. I forgot to breathe. He instantly went into the Hall of Fame of classical guitarists I've ever heard, with the same casual delivery of Chet Atkins or Al Di Meola. Meh. It's nothin'. Again, grrrrr.
But it's when he started working with wood that I was just awestruck, because he does it the same way he plays the guitar. The part I enjoyed the most was that even though he was obviously on camera, you could tell by his sheer skill that it didn't matter. Every movement with his tools is so fluid and confident - especially when he shaved the back-braces so enthusiastically and precisely, which takes balls the size of church bells because they're already glued down - that I really became furious. I watched that part three times, and I'll probably watch it a bunch more. I really hate the jerk.
I think that comes from watching Ed Dopera build Dobros when I was a boy, and even I admit there wasn't that kind of woodworking going on. More of a General Motors vibe, if you follow me. So that drew me to handmaid (my insane spellchecker insists) instruments, for exactly that reason. I love that kind of singular devotion to beauty in form and especially in sound (he says, on the Alembic forum). Anybody who wields a chisel with that much skill, to make instruments that rank among the finest on Earth and plays them so incredibly well is deserving of our utmost scorn because I can't do any of those things.
Hey, somebody has to sit on the curb and clap as the heroes go by, right?
On a completely related note, I promise this is a true story: when that video popped up on my YouTube app, this luthier's video (http://youtu.be/o5D0BThSZIk) appeared next to it at the top of the recommended list. Ever heard of him? The neck joint on the guitar he made for Henry Kaiser to serenade penguins in Antartica with is one of the best ideas I've ever seen, hands down. (I just put my hands down, to prove it.)
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(Edwardofhungate says on March 9th);
quote:Thought I?d share this around our little circle folks who admire fine woodworking skills, especially when applied to musical instruments?
This fiddle belongs to a friend of mine? it was made (approx. 25 years ago) by a local violin/fiddle maker by the name of Arthur Conner who?s home and shop is in nearby Copper Hill, Virginia.
I noticed that Spelly, my dyslexic and unusually obstinate spellchecker, misspelled Steve ConnEr's surname in my last post and the Alemicgremlin wouldn't let me fix it. I was going to let it go but remembered that Spelly did the same thing to your Conner.
Any relation?
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I'll own my typo,
Sorry 'bout that Steve.
I was also glued to the chisel shots...the man knows his grain.
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More shop talk... Gurian Interview (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LvVYuBqg6xU target=_blank)
(I think I can see my old neighborhood across the water)
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Miscue on the link, I fear. If as I suspect it's an interview with Michael Gurian, words can't convey my gratitude because it made me look him up, and I'm so glad I did!
Back before there was a McGC in every town I made a pest of myself at a local guitar store in Claremont, California called the Folk Music Center. They had instruments from all over the world, from every culture, and lots of ancient Martin, Gibson etc. instruments, just a wonderland of wood and wire. One day when I was a teenager I walked up to the oldgrowth wall, as I called it and as I gazed up I saw a beautiful dreadnaught with a nifty Guild-esque headstock, glowing with a pulsating sonic aura. As ropes of drool descended my chin, it began to hover off of its hook and gently lowered itself into my welcoming embrace. It was California in the 70s. That happened a lot.
I remember that guitar as clearly as if I had photographed it. Ray, the manager, told me it was a new brand out of New York they were going to be carrying. Unfortunately, my love was not enough to consummate our union (that happened a lot, too).
Other guitars came and went. I ran across othe Gurians at Daddy's, and they were all like that: just gorgeous, meticulously-crafted guitars.Then I heard the Gurian factory had exploded, destroying all his machinery and the wood he had traveled the world for decades to get. It was a real tragedy. (I might have read about it in Frets or Crawdaddy, now that I think about it.)
It's especially ironic when you consider that Bob Taylor came along right at the perfect time to do exactly the same thing - precision automation wherever possible - as Michael Gurian did. Ain't nothing wrong with that. What was unusual was to do it with acoustic guitars to such exacting standards that they thrived in the face of the ensuing flood of Asian kindling.
So I was absolutely delighted to discover just now that Gurian Guitars (http://www.gurianinstruments.com/homepage/) is thriving.
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Forest, you should feel a little better. Mr. Connor's car is hardly a Ferrari. Rather it is an old Porsche 924 or 944 (I can't be sure without seeing the back). And it's not even a real Porsche. It was designed by Porsche and built by Audi. The 924 had an Audi engine, the 944 changed it to a Porsche engine. These were considered entry level at the time and can be purchased today for well under $10K.
Also, I don't know if maybe you were just trying to be funny, but the this luthier's video you reference who built a guitar for Henry Kaiser, Rick Turner, was a co-founder of Alembic.
Bill, tgo
(Message edited by lbpesq on April 25, 2016)
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Hehe..oops
I got ahead of myself without looking back.
This the one that I meant to post:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEoWHmPhaeA (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IEoWHmPhaeA)
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1: well, he deserves a Ferrari, the bastard.
quote:I don't know if maybe you were just trying to be funny
And failing dismally, I see. One of my many failings, I'm afraid. I try to think of it as something that goes along with being a moron, like being an idiot savant without the savant part.
I've been a huge fan of Rick Turner's since Lindsay Buckingham started using his guitars, but I didn't know about his association with Alembic for quite a while. He's one of the artists that sparked my interest in the evolution of Baroque instruments (some of his acoustic bridges are identical to 500-year-old lute bridges, after all) and is one of the most consistently off road thinkers since Leonardo or Stradivarius.
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Don't knock playing with the feet until you have tried it on one of these: http://guitarz.blogspot.ca/2011/06/mike-miller-footbass-play-2-string-bass.html?m=1 (http://guitarz.blogspot.ca/2011/06/mike-miller-footbass-play-2-string-bass.html?m=1)
Indeed, it appears that this might be an original Footbass!
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Cool!! A HS friend of mine had a Footbass; very groovy (and if you can work it while fingerpicking, give serious thought to taking up pedal steel or pipe organ).
Peter