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re-refinishing the Televangelist

You may remember, last year I refinished my Televangelist with a glossy varnish that was right away abused in a performance (you can see how on this video).

I thought first that I would  slightly sand this varnish by hand and put a mate one, but the layer was so thin that it lightened the black paint, so I decided to remove everything and refinish it with wood stain and oil...

Microfret neck and Sitarcaster

Just bought on eBay this MicroFrets neck - from a 1968 Calibra - at a fair price, but missing its trademark MicroNut. Before I received it, I had planed to use it for my Butcher Block Sitarcaster project, so I wouldn't have to wait until I've saved enough money to buy a baritone neck for the Doppelcaster and recycle one of its necks for the new project (is it clear?) 

But then I found out that the Calibra has a super short scale, and that it doesn't fit at all for a tele - and on top of that, Ikea has discontinued its famous massive birch butcher block of 48x38 cm in which you could cut a tele body, so the project goes back to limbos - not for too long I hope... 

Here you can see a cardboard model of the  Sitarcaster body with its double lower horn - I'm quite proud of it, a classic design with a killer detail (the MicroFrets headstock would have looked terrific with it, with its Starcaster look)... 

Now I have to figure out what to do with this neck, my best idea so far is to make quickly a total junk guitar out of a battered plank I picked up in the street and the left over gear that lays around on my desk for month... But the frets are really micro and this guitar would require super low action, something you don't improvise!

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shaping aluminium pickguard

A few days ago, I was asked about how I made my aluminium pickguard, here is a quick overview of the tools I use, it might interest unskilled beginners such as I was one year ago. So I work on 1,5 mm alu plate, and I start with cutting roughly with a jigsaw (with an alu blade), then more precisely with snips, then large flat file to finish with small files with different shapes for the details. I drill the screw holes with a small screwdriver (I like it because it's quite slow and easier to control, I'm not good with too powerful tools - for the same reasons I gave up grinders or Dremels that always do more than I expect...)

A sanding sponge is a good way to start the sanding, then thin sandpaper used with water - then I finish with polishing wheels mounted on a drill. It's quite primitive but it worked so far, and each time I'm getting better at it! I hope that I will manage to do some engraving in the coming months...

Universal Pickup

There are many things about electric guitars that are never questioned - things that stung just because they worked for pioneering models and nobody saw why one should do it another way, then it became habit, tradition, cult, whatever - but that I can never take for granted. Amongst these is the necessity to have these two pickups in neck and bridge position (plus in centre when there is a third one) with specific use and sound... Even extremely experimental guitars such as the Teufel Birdfish stick to this! I've always had in the back in my mind: 'what about a big pickup that would go from the neck to the bridge and contain multiple combinations?' - today I decided to check how it would look... 

I'm not an engineer so there is maybe a major flaw to this idea that will jump to the eye of anybody more learned about sound and electronics, but I wish I could meet someone who could put some thinking in it. Imagine 36 magnet plots plus a few blades, that could be combined in many ways (with rotary switches, I love rotary switches!) It feels more exciting that all the emulating gizmos stuffed in the last Gibson luxury models, and might create completely new tones (and not fake ones that are already commons)...

Feedback is welcome!

the

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customized Epiphone Dot Studio and First Act Westerberg

These are two guitars that I recently slightly modified: first an Epiphone Dot Studio (I have generally a very limited use for tone and volume on a guitar - I relay more on pedals to sculpt my tone - so the two knobs Dot Studio fits me better) to which I added a rosewood pickguard (bought more than one year ago), chrome pickup covers and rings, chrome bridge, stoptail and big knobs. I like the discreet bizarreness of the result! I'm considering changing the pickups later for humbucker size P90s.

The one on the left is a First Act Westerberg signature for which I made an aluminium pickguard (another one, but this time I'm getting better at polishing, not perfect yet but it's getting better each time!) It's a cheapo but sounds terrific as soon as I put some overdrive... Also I'm so used to humbuckers that I'm baffled but the brightness of its sound... I also plan to upgrade the pickup though, and ordered a Dream 90 from GFS - it's on its way.

Still have to make alu trussrod covers for both guitars, and file the frets of the First Act - its only but big flaw...

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Concert review: Lysn in HBC, Berlin - 19 Feb. 2011

Lysn is a electro-acoustic impro act created and fronted by trombonist/electronicist Hilary Jeffery,  with guitarist/vocalist/electronicist Marc Weiser, trumpetist Franz Hautzinger and drummer/pianist Steve Heather - all four familiar to European impro scene followers.

I quite enjoyed Lysn music and after having a look at their website I understand why: their project meet many of my current concerns about music - psychedelism, drones, trance -, and many of their references are also mine - a.o. Gong, Angelo Badalamenti, Can, Public Image Ltd, the Velvet Underground... The flesh of the music is provided by heavily effected trombone and trumpet building solid layers of rich and complex brass sounds, combining bright drones and shorts hypnotic loops. Jeffery completes his trombone with a gizmo box (the whole thing he calls the 'tromboscillator') that allows him to reach extremely low notes; he often settles the pieces on three slowly looped notes, simple and solid harmonies on which his colleagues can go wild.

Weiser's voice work - filtered by a Kaos Pad - ranges from Pink Floydian etheral voice to clownish hectic  speeches, and his guitar provides rhythmic patterns and noises; Heather is apparently not a regular player of the band but his contribution was highly appreciated, either with minimal piano harmonies or hit-hat/shakers tiny rhythms - seems to be an adept of limited instrumentation, I appreciate that.

Again, I didn't think of bringing a camera, reviewing concerts in a new trend on this blog that I start to enjoy - gotta do it seriously...

12:56 AM

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strat based sketches

A couple of weeks ago Kenray proposed me to design guitars to be cut out of a strat body - I took the challenge and here they are. I printed strat blueprints in light grey to be sure it would be accurate and drew from them, but didn't stick to the pickup/electronics routing - too constraining.

It was not so fun as I thought, because strats are extremely well balanced (this I have to acknowledge this, though I really don't like strats) and reshaping them is just about cosmetics, where I'm mostly busy with ergonomics, even if it's not always obvious in my drawings. 

While drawing I often reached designs typical of 60s Japanese guitars like Teiscos, and it felt like it's exactly how they proceeded at the time... And I also easily obtained Paul Stanley style guitars, that is embarrassing but not new - I wish he would have chosen between KISS and guitar design, because his guitars are spoiled by bad taste finishes and who wants a guitar conceived by a clown? 

concert review: KTL in Festsaal Kreutzberg, Berlin

Yesterday I saw  KTL, the project of Stephen O'Malley from Sunn O))) - on guitar - and Peter Rehberg from Mego - on electronics (I didn't think of taking my camera so I have no picture, anyway the stage was very dark and full of smoke so there wasn't much to shoot). 

KTL plays the expected but enjoyable drone/doom characteristic of Sunn O))) and to be honest the electronics in it doesn't add much to the genre. Thought its sharpness, amplitude and aggressiveness, Rehberg's sound lacks the richness of O'Malley's guitar and after a while it falls on the wrong side of minimalism, becoming almost tedious (and I don't have a pro-guitar bias, I enjoy and play electronic music as much as guitar one; I actually witnessed something similar with a guitar duo gathering Keiji Haino and JF Pauvros, where Pauvros was completely overwhelmed by his partner - after a while you couldn't even hear him at all but it was better like this).

KTL played two long pieces, the first one a two notes drone song, beautiful and intense. O'Malley played with an e-bow and most variations came from imprecisions and accidents - e-bow playing is very difficult to master - and I always enjoyed this approach to experimental music. As I noticed in my Altar review, it sounded quite like heavily distorted 4AD, let's say it felt like the crossing of Dead Can Dance and Popol Vuh played in a sawmill, the soundtrack of a 2099 Werner Herzog/Klaus Kinsky movie we'll never see. Quite tripping indeed.

The second piece was less interesting, based on a super slow and heavy doom riff by O'Malley, sometimes evolving in seemingly improvised bridges, with Rehberg making some noise on top. It feels that the complete sonic chaos I enjoy so much in Japanese ultra-noise doesn't work for drone/doom sound and prevents the expansion of complex frequencies that makes it so special. The lack of inspiration was quickly blatant; with such intense music it is counterproductive to play a one hour set as expected in a rock concert - even if you pay the same price... 

And now a little bit of guitkism, O'Malley played his trademark Travis Bean TB1000S down-tuned probably in A (though it's not a baritone scale), plugged I assume in Sunn model-Ts but the amps on stage didn't bare a logo, but one big Fender. Most of the pedals on his pedal board are unidentifiable - customs or DIY in alu boxes covered with tape - but a ProCo Rat and I think a Blue Beard. There was also a lot of reverb and echo, and the sound is so low that I thought he used an octaver - though it's never mentioned in his rings descriptions.

And in echo to my previous concert review, I must add that unfortunately this year again I won't see PJ Harvey on stage, the next concert is not sold-out this time, just unaffordable. For 60€, I'd rather go to the opera - it seems that now live pop music is an upper-class recreational activity.

Gretsch inspired headstock

A couple of days ago co-blogger David from Barcelona posted on Guitarz about a beautiful 1947 Gretsch Electromatic and its peculiar headstock (that you can see on the right).

I've never seen anything like this before, and it's quite inspiring, so I've drawn here my own version of it - a little bit more ergonomic in my opinion... I like the idea of combining a paddle headstock with tuners aligned with the strings!

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I've been working more on the last baritone model, curving the straight lines and now I'm getting really happy with it - the H drawing being the best one... I'm also quite sure with the pickup being in middle position - it's a Kent Armstrong double HB Motherbucker that I first thought I would put in neck position, though it's made for bridge... I've been also playing with the idea of having a piezo bridge - a tune-o-matic then because the other ones are only with trem - but a quick search shows that to have a serious one plus a pre-amp is roughly the price of the new Epiphone Nighthawk that I'd be happy to have too... Still I will check if the alu front can be used with a piezo for acoustic instruments - 10 times cheaper!