more sketches

I'm still surprised when I come up with an interesting design after all these years of sketching guitars and posting them on this blog... I don't want to seem pretentious and I know that they are mere variations on ideas I had already - and inspired by others' work - but I think that these new guitars are pretty good - with the right balance of ergonomics and coolness… I understand and feel things much better now!

I want so bad to see some of these guitars existing for good, though I know now that I won't build them myself unless I can learn how to do that properly with a pro luthier - I'm not so naive as I used to be, it takes real and solid skills. The making of the Epsilon is quite late as there's been some problems to solve in the process (that's how you learn), but in a few weeks I should be able to hold it in my hands and play it! It will be a wonderful day, though I know that mostly I'll be checking all that is wrong and cogitating about how to make the next version… 

music of the week: my song of the week is Curtain?! by Timber Timbre - very inspiring with its minimal combination of bits from Portishead, Nick Cave, Angelo Badalamenti… 

Soft Power Ensemble of Vienna live

A new video of my many guitars parametric improvisation band Soft Power Ensemble of Vienna - this time  performing in das Werk in Vienna last week. There is a great alchemy between the members of this band - something that is not easy to achieve with so many guitarists in my experience - that allows us to play demanding music while having fun, and to share it with our audience… 

On top of that we will have a recording session in September in the studio of RadioKulturhaus with the support of the SKE, an Austrian cultural institution. And a new concert in July!

more sketches

Music of the week: one of my favorite records ever is Guitars, Drums'n'Bass by Derek Bailey and DJ Ninj - some of the most uncompromising radical music I've ever heard. You need to hear that at least once in your life!

more sketches

music of the week: when I'm seeking for inspiration before a concert, I always listen to Black Rock of James Blood Ulmer - a brilliant album by a brilliant jazz/blues/funk/free guitarist who played with many of my favorite jazz musicians: Ornette Coleman, Art Blackey, Rashied Ali, John Zorn, George Adams… 

Pedal rig

This was my pedal rig for the last concert of Soft Power Ensemble of Vienna: from right to left (this is not the order in which they are plugged, it's more complicated!), an auto-wah by Z. Cat (a small company in Latvia that makes quite interesting combined effects pedals), a Sovtek Big Muff, a EHX Freeze, a Boss tremolo, a MXR Carbon Copy, a Hardwire Supernatural Ambient Reverb, my Montreal Assembly Wrong Side of Uranus bizarro-bit crusher +, with a Behringer expression pedal and a true bypass router pedal because it's a little bit noisy, a Noisemaker Effects Freakshow Fuzz that is also just noise in a can, my Inductor Guitars Mellifluous Pussy MP-1 harmonic percolator, a Pro Co Rat, a Danelectro Rocky Road faux-Leslie and a Danelectro Back Talk reverse delay.

I also got myself a Fender Champion 100 amp, as my 25-year old Peterson GS100 is currently out of order and requires a full rejuvenation - and I was afraid it would not be ready on time. Actually the Fender was not my first choice, I needed something cheap, simple and powerful - and I'm a pedal guy so solid state is good for me as I just use the clean channel - and after some research I set my choice on the Hiwatt Maxwatt G100 (it could have been Palmer but they don't have a 100 watts model) - just two channels and basic controls, I don't want more.

But no shops or online-shops in Austria, Germany and France had it in stock, until I found one on rock-gear.de and ordered it. They cashed my money and after two weeks they admitted that they don't and won't have it - and so far they didn't refund me… Not the most trustable people in the world if I may say… Then I just had 3 days left to get an amp and the Fender Champion was the only option - and the local shop where I got it only had the demo model left so I can consider myself lucky to have had it in time for the concert!

Anyway, finally I'm happy with it, even with the effects that I thought I would'nt use, because it sounds good at low level so it can be also my house practice amp, better than my Roland Cube. I think that I will get a tube preamp (from EHX) at some point to hear how it can complement it…

And of course I used it for last Friday's concert and that was a very good moment!