Future Projects

Posted on June 7, 2008
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Teleplayer Jeff Miller is not only a talented guitarist he has also done some outstanding guitar building and modifications.  Among the ones that caught my interest were the projects transplanting Line 6 Variax inards into Telecaster bodies.  This has got me thinking about finding a donor Variax 300 and building a Strat parts guitar with the Variax electronics myself.  Warmoth offers Strat and Tele bodies routed for the Variax components.

Another project of Jeff’s is the installation of the Ghost Graphtech Hexpander system in a Tele.  This gives the guitar full synth access.  Graphtech also has an Ghost Acousti-phonic pre-amp module that can be used with or without the Hexpander system.  Both use the Graphtech piezo saddles as input.  The fact that there is very little space between the Tele fixed bridge and the pick gaurd makes for a very clean installation of the six saddle wires.  The acoustic sound samples I have heard from a fixed bridge Strat are impressive.

It is going to take some time to recover from the Hofner Verythin Classic purchase and the Acoustic Amp System needs to be completed, but either of these would be interesting projects in the future. 

Anticipating a New Arrival

Posted on June 7, 2008
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Yesterday I placed the winning bid on Ebay for a used Hofner Verythin Classic.  I certainly hope it looks something like the one pictured here.  This guitar is similar to the more familiar Gibson ES-335, but it has a character all its own.  It is lighter in weight, thinner -as might be guessed, has a laminated spruce top, and laminated flame maple back and sides.  The tone controls are setup to transition from a humbucker to single coil sound - a feature called ‘Clear Contour’.  I think German made Hofner Verythin Classics have Schaller hardware and Armstrong pickups. Read more

Where We Have Been So Far

Posted on June 7, 2008
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My strategy for improving my playing has been to return to basics in order to fill in the gaps in my understanding of music theory and to improve my ability to apply these concepts through better fretboard familiarity. 

The stops in the guitar journey so far:

So, it is time to ruminate and reflect on these earlier way-points before plotting our next destinations.

Where Was I Anyway?

Posted on June 7, 2008
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Wow, it has been awhile!  What happened?  A few trips to the Midwest and New England sort of got me off track and then for some reason I didn’t get back into the routine.  Not only have I not posted in over 2 months but I have not done any study or practice on the guitar.  Maybe my motto should be “Occasionally trying to escape guitar playing mediocrity, but mostly not.”

Well, it is time to pick myself up and dust myself off.

First, I need to review what has been covered so far and then lay out a plan for going forward.  The review will be a useful post for those that just join in and something that probably should be done peridically anyway, so I’ll make that a seperate post.

Minor Triads Part 2

Posted on March 30, 2008
Filed Under Fretboard Familiarity, Music Theory | 5 Comments

Here is the second installment on the subject of Minor Triads.  This screencast covers the actual minor triad chord forms.

  Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Acoustic Amp Progress Report

Posted on March 25, 2008
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In case you have been wondering how the Acoustic Guitar Amp project is coming here is a photo.  This is the prototype cabinet in rough form.  The woofer and horn will be mounted in a removable front baffle.  The baffle is the next and last major piece to be made for the cabinet.  Then comes silicone sealer to create fillets in the corners, installing dampening foam, routing of exterior edges, sanding, finishing, installation of hardware and wiring of the speakers.  I included a 2 rack space area for the power amp and active crossover.  Material used for the prototype is 3/4″ Baltic birch plywood.  Assuming things work out with the prototype I plan to build one or more cabinets in solid wood with box or dovetail joints, which will have a much more refined look.

Minor Triads Part 1

Posted on March 23, 2008
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Finally, moving forward again we begin our look at minor triads.  If you haven’t read the post on intervals you can find it here.  Also you may want to refresh your memory on root patterns before we dive into minor triads.

  Get the Flash Player to see this player.

Line 6 Verbzilla

Posted on March 23, 2008
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verbzilla.jpgOne of the guitar related blogs I subscribe to is the Worship Guitar Guy.  Things have been pretty quiet over there lately, but he has recently written a post about the Line 6 Verbzilla reverb modeler pedal.

Guitar Addict Software

Posted on March 22, 2008
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By following a press release from Harmony Central Guitar News I learned of these Guitar Addict by Rylee software products.  Recently I had thought that having a PDA flash card application would be a good way to memorized the spelling of chords, etc.  Well, here they are!

James Lileks’ Seafoam Strat

Posted on March 10, 2008
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 I read James Lileks frequently but I didn’t expect to find him musing about buying a Seafoam Strat re-issue at Best Buy!

His daughter apparently didn’t care for the seafoam green color:

“I don’t like the color.”

The color is a hallowed color. It is the color of finned cars and diner formica. This color speaks of a world aborning from the ashes of the old, a world of eternal cool and spaceships and atom-powered houses and the triumph of America, a joyous energy that runs through the world with tremulous excitement, promising liberation and exhilaration and hamburgers with cheese and mayo. Buddy Holly died so we could have this color.

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