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My next guitar arrived today

A letter for you

 

Naviarhaiku629 – autumn storm

I was playing the drums when it occurred to me the beat might be a way to start working on a track.

The poem shared by Naviar Records came to mind, so I played in Live with adding a bass and synth part.

Car for pianists

 

Disquiet Junto 0734 Meet Cue

The Disquiet Junto assignment this week is to "Write music for a scene from a favorite film." 

A friend of my mother has a husband who taught film studies, so naturally I asked his favourite film.

It seemed like a question that he'd been asked before as without a pause he replied "Brief Encounter."

A friend of mine sends an email at the end of the year about movies and mentioned this film was on a public streaming service, so I started watching it with a view to using it in the Junto.

As I played guitar I couldn't help but use the chords that were recorded earlier in the week, so when I saw this scene I decided that it would suit a remix of that song.

Hey are we still going to hang out later?

 

Naviarhaiku628 – In the dark beyond

 

This poem shared by Naviar Records brought to mind some lyrics that I'd been writing which take inspiration from Alice Walker's Reassurances. 

I had a chord progression and an afternoon, so it's a quick recording as a muddle my way through an idea. 

The video is a recording made of my backyard that didn't get used for the Disquiet Junto project last week. 

Fretless player

Dunno but I feel like maybe I can forgive those people who badly park cars as big as semitrailers, if I think of them as fans of semitones and microtonal composition.

Tuxedo telecaster

Just finished modifying this telecaster with a stratocaster pickguard, Texas pickups and an Artist Bullbucker in the bridge. 

I haven't been able to get the split coil to work, so might make the pull pot switch into a Gilmour mod instead. 

Bill Callahan on media

If that person could see me in my life, they would not even dream of calling me a craftsman. I picture a craftsman as the guy who’s got his tools all labelled in boxes and shelves and knows where everything is. I’m more of a drunk professor; I like happenstance and coincidence and mistakes. I know nothing about synthesisers, but I’ll randomly pick one and turn it on and start recording. I press some buttons and play something and somehow try to make it work. I’m only precise about writing the lyrics and then the rest of it is more like: throw it at the wall. I don’t know anything about chord progressions. It’s more being open and receiving things from wherever they come from. I feel more like a medium.

My Fender bender

I had an idea to merge elements of Telecaster and Stratocaster designs.

The Strat pickguard looks so right with the Tele body shape and I'm happy to make a mess of a cheap guitar before I try building one.

Chender Meteora

About two months ago I saw my guitar on a Chinese website.

The price was around a third of what I paid for a secondhand model and curiousity got the better of me, so I ordered it.

After a couple of weeks the seller abruptly cancelled the sale, possibly because the discount offered by the site undercut profitability.

I weighed up whether to continue my experiment and decided to buy a different model, rather than a replica of the one I already own.

Yesterday my "Chender" Meteora arrived and there were a number of obvious differences.

The Chinese copy is lighter than my Mexican original, but that's not a bad thing for me.

There's a shiny finish to the neck that is a bit sticky when playing, as well as a yellow hue that seems unnatural in comparison.

One really obvious visual detail was the pickup covers were uneven, they have different heights but also seem to be slightly different sizes as well.

I've loosened the screws and shifted them a little, but it's not quite yet symmetrical.

Otherwise it feels good, with no sharp fret edges and very good intonation.

The electrics are a bit weird, from potentiometer knobs that stick when being turned through to pickups that sound peaky in a way that suggests ceramics.

However, I am happy to change the electrics and will try some fatter-sounding pickups than the nicely nuanced Fireballs in my Fender.

I will also install split-coil switches like the Meteoras normally feature.

As a fan of hand-drawn art and the human touch one experiences from engaging with creative practise, I find the lettering on the large headstock endearing.

It wasn't immediately obvious until I looked at the regular-size headstock on my Mexican Meteora, particularly when you see how the "A" at the end of the brand seems to drift into the background.

 

Band auditions today

 

Disquiet Junto 0732 Color Drenching

The Junto project this week is to "Record a piece of music that you think sounds like color drenching."

I've recorded shades of my Donner DTL-100 telecaster-style guitar, which has been modified with Texas pickups and a super switch.

There's a drum loop recorded on a Korg Kaossilator, as well as a snippet of that instrument added at a couple of points. 

Below is a video where I reflect on the Junto project.

My underwear watching

...and guitars
 

Modified telecaster

Yesterday I installed a "super switch" in a telecaster style guitar and it was fiddly but added a couple of extra tones

I'd already added Texas-style pickups and they sound remarkable, but the parallel option with the new switch has got me playing chugging riffs today.

The guitar was a cheap one from Donner, which is a good model for modifications aside from the gritty eco-rosewood fretboard and slightly too small bridge pickup slot.

Modified Fender Stratocaster

Made some changes to this guitar that I was given

New pickguard looks good, although I now wish that I'd changed the volume pot while it was apart. 

I was in a hurry to hear the Fat '50s pickups and also added a Gilmour mod with a pull-pot under the tone knob.