Blog :: 2010
This is the nearest I've ever come to having a blog! I tend to attack it in fits and starts. Most of it is either about guitar building or guitar playing, but there are times when I go off on one about a random subject ;-)
25 July 2010 :: That's a relief...
Got the files back in place for the site, and everything seems to be working.
There will be some obvious gaps for a while longer yet. I'm making sense of some of the guitar build pages and sorting out pictures to go with them. I'll be adding them gradually for some time yet.
To make life harder, Marc popped round yesterday and left me his Roland VG88 to play with while he's working in Edinburgh. The temptation to just sit and play with that is growing stronger by the minute!
Marc also returned one of my more unusual guitars. I'd lent him a headless in lieu of a travel guitar so he could take one to Edinburgh with him. It's one I picked up in pieces and have never actually played. Now that I've got it back, I'm amazed at how good a guitar it is! I haven't got much information about it. It's a Bell and Head Cassandra Elk Extreme. All I've been able to find out is that it's a limited edition that was dreamt up by a furniture designer... More info when I get some.
20 July 2010 :: Hidden meaning...
Following on from the "great OS meltdown" of last week...
Not only got the DAW back up and running, but took the opportunity to alter the way I record and mix using my ever-reliable old copy of Cakewalk PA9. Started off by completely reworking an old idea. There were a few reasons for choosing this track. It's one that I never really "finished starting". I've been fiddling with various elements of it for around three years. It just sort of came into my head while I was testing things out to make sure I'd got everything working properly.
I've dedicated it to my younger daughter. She was a little wistful after I'd played her "Mollie's Tune" (written for my gorgeous granddaughter). I wrote a tune for her back when she was born, but sadly, the cassette it was on has been lost to the ether after 23 years! This is the tune I would have written for her all that time ago - if I'd had the technology (and been able to play guitar).
I've called it "Hidden meaning". I hope you like it...
17 July 2010 :: A storm brewing!
And no, that's not an oblique reference to my eldest nephew, Richard, and his marriage to the lovely Becky! That was yesterday, and it went brilliantly, despite the weather - and my own and my father's (unintentional) breaches of etiquette that threatened to derail proceedings when the starving mob were waiting to take their seats for the reception meal! ;-) But that's a tale for another time.
I could have headed this one, "it's an ill wind..." or "every cloud has a silver lining..." and it would probably have been appropriate. Thursday night saw me almost weeping as the first thunderstorm of the year materialised right over the roof of Castle Dragondreams. A huge bolt of lightning and instantaneous thunderclap scared the DAW's operating system into premature death.
Rather than have hysterics, I felt reasonably secure in the knowledge that all my tunes were backed up on another physical drive, and all the signs were that it was just the OS that had joined the choir invisible. I even surprised myself by finding the XP install disc. Should be a piece of cake. Half-an-hour and I'll be back up and running.
I'll never be smug again! Sure enough, the OS was reinstalled in less than half-an-hour. I'm still amazed by the fact that with the same disc and the same hardware, Windows XP ALWAYS installs in a different way each time I do it...
Boot up for the last time and hit Windows Explorer... then sit in stunned silence when it reveals gobbledygook where I expected to see the disc drives. Oh, it was showing two physical drives and various partitions and logical drives. The bit that had me considering an overdose of hayfever tablets, while cursing Bill Gates with my dying breath, was the fact that none of the drives it was showing bore any passing resemblance to what I knew should be there!
After calming down for a while, I thought about it. The install disc I have is a very early version, pre-service pack 1. I figured I'd try installing the service packs to see whether that cured the "problem" before I got too suicidal. To cut a long story short, it did. The DAW is back up and running. I've also put ALL the various driver discs in a safe, well-labelled place. Hunting for service packs on t'interwebby is much easier if one has the driver for the MOBO's network gubbins...
The silver lining? While I had the beasty in bits (I had to take the back off to find some model numbers) I finally got round to connecting up the Creative Live Drive. It's been sat in there doing nothing for years, but the recent acquisition of a Roland GR20 guitar synth gave me the urge to get the MIDI in/outs working on the DAW again...
Loving the GR20! Some new tracks are in the pipeline as I sit here typing this.
And my new strap for the heavily modified Shine WT445 arrived today. Ted has made me yet another wonderful bespoke leather strap. If you're in the market for a high-quality strap, at a very affordable price, give him a call. His website can be found here.
25 June 2010 :: This and that!
Just wanting to thank Carl for reminding me that I actually HAVE a website... New content coming soon. Including some new builds and some new tunes...
1 February 2010 :: Classical GAS!
Gear Acquisition Syndrome strikes again!
This time, it's not about fancy electronics, or even fancy chunks of wood with bits of electrical appliances bolted on. Nope. Since getting a Crafter TA050 for Christmas, I've been spending loads more time playing acoustic guitar. And loving it!
The trouble is, one is not enough (yeah, I know I have seven acoustics already). I'm GASsing for a couple of different acoustic boxes at the moment. Top of the list, but furthest away in terms of saving up, is a decent archtop. I've been watching a few "vintage" examples on Ebay. Unfortunately, even really sorry looking examples of guitars that were "entry level" when they were first built are selling for stupid prices. I thought I was in luck on a Hofner Congress last night. It had sat at £90 for a few days. I made up my mind and slapped on the amount I thought it was worth (£120). In the last few seconds it spiralled up to over £220.
There's also a few Rosettis that folk are asking silly money for, despite the fact that they're not a brilliant guitar to start with. And most of the ones I've looked at have "issues". I've decided to keep saving a while longer and start looking for a new Godin 5th Avenue...
However, the problem with looking at guitars on the 'bay is that you come across other items you didn't know you "needed". Since giving away my Tanglewood classical, I've developed a strong urge to have one in my collection again. Okay, so I already have two. But one is a 7/8 size and the other is a bowl-back electro-acoustic. My GAS is telling me that I've got to add a "traditional" shaped one to my collection. Again, seen a few, but keep missing the ones that really appeal. I want something quite old that has had time to develop its tone. At the same time, I don't want to pay stupid money, just because someone thinks it's worth a fortune due to its age!
And to top off the GAS, I've now fallen in lust with the idea of a Gypsy Jazz "Grande Bouche" style acoustic. Again, they command silly prices. Time to start selling body parts...
9 January 2010 :: S'no joke...
Thanks to Jez for giving me a nudge and reminding me that as we're now into a new year, it was high time I updated this page!
Hope you all had a great Christmas!
One "good" thing about this cold weather is that I'm spending even more free time playing and practising! This has been further encouraged by the wonderful Crafter TA050AM I was given by my lady friend. It's rekindled my interest in acoustic guitar playing, to the extent that I haven't so much as touched an electric guitar since Christmas Eve!
The Dragondreams Forum is slowly growing. We now have ten members (not bad, seeing as we don't advertise and have only been running for a couple of months. There's a good, friendly vibe about the forum, and I'm looking forward to seeing whether it grows over the coming months.
That's about it for now. This weekend is going to be a busy one, but I plan to add some fresh content to the site soon.