It Took Me 5 Years But I Made It!

I have left my 5 year old phone behind! I'm now a new Droid owner. I have the Motorola Droid phone and love it!

Playing More...

In the past I've had almost 30 guitars (acoustic and electric) at one time. That really is a ridiculous number of guitars to have. I don't think anyone could play 30 guitars on a regular basis. I bought guitars for many reasons. They looked good, they sounded good, needed to buy something to make myself feel better, it was a good deal, etc. I found myself not playing my guitars and running out of room to store them. When I had the desire to play guitar I found myself with too much choice and not entirely inspired by any of them. I have found the following:

When you have a guitar you must play it and build a relationship with it. You learn how it reacts to different styles of playing and different strings. You learn how to play the guitar because the body shape, string spacing at the nut, gauge of the string, size of the neck all make a difference. It is a love affair. If you don't spend time with the guitar you'll never know what it can do, what you can do and what you can do together. If you have too many guitars you have acquaintances and not love affairs.

I started selling the guitars I knew I would never play and ones that overlapped in purpose with the ones I had planned to keep. By many standards I still have a lot of guitars (10 acoustic, 5 electric) but I think I have weaned down to just the right amount. After selling the last 5 I noticed a change right way. I was playing more and getting more intimate with the guitars that were left.

It has been a wonderful experience buying and selling guitars because it allowed me to know what I wanted in a guitar, but ultimately the experience I love the most is playing and singing.

Foxy With New Owners

Foxy is absolutely adorable, so adorable that she was scooped up by this family. Life has not made it easy to take care of puppy right now. So in order that she would have a fun life I found her a new home with a couple that has two older children and stay at home mom. She is doing great with her new family. I was sad to see her go of course and it is hard to look at photos of her without getting sentimental. I had to do what was best for her. The last I heard she was being treated like a queen and I'm sure Foxy likes it that way.

Oh The Irony!!

How ironic is it that I live in the mountains away from the city and while all of the city folk are coming to the mountains with their RVs for the holiday I am on my way to the city with my RV.

Breedlove Custom Shop Coup

While visiting a music store the sales man gave me a Breedlove Roots OM to play and it was alright. The finish was great and it felt OK, but didn't speak to me. I had authorization from the misses to get a new guitar so I could afford it, but it just wasn't the right guitar. Later that evening I went to research the Breedlove Roots series and found the Revival series instead. The Root series bodies are made in Korea and then the neck and final assembly is done in the USA. The Revival series is made in the Breedlove Custom Shop in Bend Oregon. There is a general consensus that guitars made in the US have better workmanship. The sales guy at the store was willing to sell the Root OM for $1499 out the door. The price everywhere else is $1649. So not a bad deal. The problem is I found a Revival series OOO-R Deluxe that I could get for practically the same price. The Revival OOO-R Deluxe I got for $1560 and everywhere else it was $3199. I bought the guitar from Amazon.com of all places. It was 63% off list. For those who have no idea why this is incredible, guitars, especially those of this quality, are NEVER discounted this much, NEVER!! I found out later this was a pricing mistake by Amazon.

I was actually very nervous about it all because I thought this can't be real! I called Amazon to have them confirm the specifications of the guitar and everything seemed OK so I pulled the trigger with overnight shipping. The OOO-R Deluxe is my first Adirondack (red spruce) top which according to the world is the holy grail of top woods. I went to sleep that night and when I woke up in the morning I saw another Breedlove on sale, the Master Class Northwest Classic, which I wasn't authorized to buy and would be using some savings to buy. I spent many minutes :-) deciding whether to get this second guitar. I reasoned that this opportunity wouldn't come again. The Northwest Classic is also a custom shop guitar with Myrtlewood on the back and sides and tribal totem inlays on the neck.

The Northwest Classic is a dedication to the Pacific Northwest wood and culture. I'm from Oregon so I had some sentimental feelings about the guitar too. But mostly the price was what got me. I figured if I had to return one I of the guitars I could. Normally the Northwest Classic is $3999, but Amazon had it for $1950. I have been going crazy at the deal I got on both guitars. I immediately put seven of my other guitars up for sale to try to recoup the cost of the second guitar. I play them everyday and am not interested in buying anymore acoustic guitars because these latest two Breedloves are incredible!!

Can You Hear Me Now

I woke up this morning to let the dogs outside and I was watching Foxy and noticed that her ears had popped up. I figured they would, but wasn't sure since we thought she was mixed with Daushund.

Rogue Guitars... Not too bad

I don't even know how Rogue can make a decent guitar for $80 but they do. I happened along a deal for a guitar, a hard shell case, a strap, and a capo for $30. I didn't know what type of guitar it was, but the ad said it was in excellent condition. This was a perfect time to get a "beater" guitar that would be ok playing around the camp fire or letting someone else play. I figured even if the guitar was bad the hard shell case alone was worth more than $30. When I finally saw the guitar and saw Rogue on the headstock I have to say I was disappointed, because Rogue is synonymous with very cheap. I just checked it for cracks, didn't even play it, put it back in the case and took it home.

On the way home, I stopped at Burger King to get a #9 (Chicken sandwich meal) but before going in I took the guitar out in the parking lot and played it. I was absolutely blown away at the sound coming out of this cheap, all-laminate guitar. The build quality was good too, all of the edges and seams looked good. Not as clean on the inside with some noticeable glue, but not too bad. The edges of the frets weren't smooth and the action a little high, both fixable though. So now I'm feeling a little better. I would have NEVER considered buying an $80 guitar, but Rogue has really changed my mind.

So after getting it home I cleaned and polished it and removed the plastic saddle. I put in a tusq saddle and it sounded even better. The only thing is the plastic saddle was very very tall and the tusq saddle was about 3/8" shorter so the strings are now hitting the fretboard when I strum. So now I have to shim the saddle and clean up the fret edges and the guitar will be perfect.

My usual suggestion for buying an acoustic guitar is to always get one with a solid wood top, which usually starts above $200. But if you know someone who is wanting to learn guitar, but doesn't have a big budget or a parent who doesn't want to invest in an expensive instrument because they are not sure if their child will stick with it, the $80 Rogues are worth looking at.

Foxy and Jack Playing

I had Jack (shih tzu / cockapoo mix) first and found he was a bit much for me and the rest of the other dogs in the house. While finding a home for Jack I got Foxy (chihuahua mix). They overlapped about four days and played with each other all of the time. The play mostly consisted of Jack pummeling Foxy. Jack is with a new family that has grade school age children and they are loving him. I only had him two weeks, but he was just the cutest, smartest dog I'd ever had.

New Baby Blows Up!!

My new puppy reacted to her first shots. I was hysterical when I saw her cause I thought she might die. I called the Vet and they were out to lunch. They were 20 minutes away from my house so I drove there hoping someone was actually eating lunch inside. The Vet heard me crying outside and got my puppy and gave her a shot which worked well for 2 hours. I was home and the puppy blow up again!!! So I was giving her 1.5 ml of baby benydrl every two hours until about 4am. She was fine the next day.

My new baby is a Chihuahua mix and I think she is mixed with a Dachshund, but I'm not sure. At the rate she is growing she will likely be between 6-7lbs full-grown. She is quite fiesty! I love her. I've always had little boys and she is my second girl. My first girl, Layla, was stolen.

Traveling Rig

I have been learning songs lately and I travel a lot as a passenger in a car or truck. I wanted to find a way to practice while traveling without bring all of my gear and without having to buy any new gear. Here is what I came up with.

My first thought: Ultra-Light, Pocket Pod, iPod Touch, Amazing Slow Downer, Head Phones

My second thought: Ultra-Light, DR-1, Pocket Pod (optional), Head Phones

My third thought: Ultra-Light, BR-600, Head Phones

Traveler Ultra-Light: My main concern here was finding a guitar that would not interfere with the driver. This guitar has no headstock so I won't be banging the driver in the head while I play in the passenger seat. The two other pluses for me are the 24.75 scale neck which plays like a real guitar and the very compact size when packed in its case. I've had three other travel guitars, a Yamaha APXT1 (had a nice neck), the Dean Avalanche J 3/4 (which was small but had to tune up otherwise the strings would be too loose), and the Martin LXMe (which was actually great but scale was too short). When practicing it is really important to practice on a regular scale neck because it just doesn't translate when you learn on a really short scale guitar

Line 6 Pocket Pod: I use the Pocket Pod for some really nice effects. Plus it has an input for your mp3 player if you want to play along with it. The Pocket Pod is very easy to use. For quick and dirty you just choose your sound by band or style of music. It does come with pc/mac software that will allow you to create your own sounds and upload them to the Pocket Pod or you can tweak the presets and make your own sound right on the Pocket Pod itself and save it in the user area. I only wish it had some basic drum tracks. Now that would be perfect. But then I would want it to also be able to record. Now THAT would be perfect.

Apple iPod Touch & Amazing Slow Downer: Since I carry the Touch around with me all of the time anyway and that is where my music is I looked for an app that could slow down a song without losing the original pitch and change the key of a song without changing the original speed. I saw a few applications and settled on the $14.99 Amazing Slow Downer. This is the one thing I did buy and it was expensive for an Touch app. The awkward part is that Apple doesn't allow any other application to play music so you have to import that songs you want to use into the Amazing Slow Downer app as opposed to using the library that is already on the Touch. It is easy to import songs, but a hassle none the less. So I plug my iPod Touch into the line-in of the Pocket Pod I have an awesome travel rig.

Tascam DR-1: I remembered that I had the DR-1 and thought I could make my travel rig a little better/lighter by using it instead of the iPod Touch and software. I got the DR-1 a while back to handle recording my inspirations. I was previously using a smaller digital recorder and before that a recorder with the microtapes. The DR-1 sound quality tops them all. The convenient features on the DR-1 makes this a no brainer for me. It has the ability to import an mp3 or wav file which I can use as a backing track. It has the ability to change the speed, change the key, and loop a section of a song. This is helpful when learning solos or trying to figure out a piece. The only thing missing that a guitarist might want is drum tracks and guitar effects. You CAN have this if you buy the Tascam GT-R1 which is almost the same as the DR-1 but with drum tracks and guitar effect. The GT-R1 came out after I purchased the DR-1 and I was very disappointed, but not disappointed enough to shell out $399 for the new recorder. To make up the difference I have to load backing tracks onto the DR-1 to be my drum tracks, and I have to use my Pocket Pod for effects. If effects aren't that important then I can forgo the Pocket Pod when using the DR-1 and have an even lighter travel rig.

Boss BR-600: This recorder is phenomenal for the price and what it can do. It is slim and easy to drop in a back pack or even a decent sized purse (hobo bag). It has a tuner, a trainer, backing drum tracks, guitar effects, and 8 tracks to record on. This is my most comprehensive mobile solution. Though this solution is likely the largest in size it is perfect because everything I need is in one device instead of two or three devices. I would say the DR-1 is the least complicated to use and most portable solution, but it lacks guitar effects and recording multiple tracks might not produce the best finished product. I have to remember I'm just trying to practice on the go. The BR-600 is about 2.5 times the size of the DR-1, but it has guitar effects, multiple tracks, and editing capabilities for a fully functioning practice and studio space. The question is I am really going to be using all of the recording feature when practicing on the go. I still think the DR-1 is going to be the best portable solution. If I were going on a trip the BR-600 would likely be my choice.

Head Phones: Well I gotta have head phones to listen to my music either through the Pocket Pod or through my DR-1. I use the over the ear kind that can fold up, though I could use my ear bud head phones and get even more compact.

Searching for Sound - Saddles

So many thing affect how a guitar sounds. For the most part the shape of the guitar and the woods used on the guitar affect the sound the most. The saddle, strings, picks, playing style, bridge pins and the nut all play a part in the sound of the guitar. Most of my guitars sound good to me already, which is why I bought them, but none of them sound perfect. So in an effort to make the most dramatic sound change I'm starting with saddle changes.

There are a lot of saddle materials out there and most guitars use plastic, Tusq, and bone. Most of the time you'll see some sort of plastic or Tusq being used. Only the really high-end guitars come with bone saddles.

As densities go plastic is the least dense then comes Tusq, soft ivory, bone, and then hard ivory. You want dense material because it transfers more vibration of the strings to the top of the guitar (the sound board).

I bought a guitar once that was beautiful and had a plastic saddle. I heard that a Tusq saddle would be better and once installed I had a brand new guitar. That is how drastic the sound change was from plastic to Tusq. This should be the first thing you do if you have a plastic saddle or bridge pins is to change them to a more dense material. IMMEDIATELY!!!

Here is the list of my acoustic guitars that are getting saddle changes. The only acoustic guitar that is not on this list is my Seagull S6+ Performer. It is my brightest guitar and has a cedar top with wild cherry back and sides. The saddle is Tusq. I really like the way it sounds. Actually right now it is my favorite sounding guitar and I have at least 4 guitars that cost more.

What you get when you go to a denser material is better string separation, better overtones because of the better transfer of vibration to the sound board, and longer sustain.

Larrivee D03e (sitka/sapele, dread) - Sounds kinda dull/muddy/dark though more even than my spruce/rosewood guitars. I'm replacing the Tusq saddle with a bone saddle in hopes that I'll get more string clarity.

Taylor 712ce (engalmann/indian rosewood, concert) - Very bright, but not too bright and not a lot of low end. I'm replacing a Tusq saddle with an elephant ivory saddle in hopes that it will tame the high-end and boost the low-end.

Breedlove AC250-SM12 (sitka/mahogany, concert) - Sounds good, but would like to even out the jangle of the higher strings. I'm replacing the saddle (not sure of material) with an elephant ivory saddle to even out the sound of the strings.

Martin 00-15 (all mahogany, concert) - Has great sound already, but it is a small guitar and doesn't project as well as I think it should. I'm replacing the saddle (not sure of material, though it looks like Tusq) with a bone saddle to give it a little more punch.

Fender GDO-500SE (cedar/ovangkol, concert) - Sounds like someone put a pillow over it. I'm replacing a urea (plastic) saddle with a bone saddle to give it more punch and string clarity.

Dean Exotica RSE SP GN (spruce/rosewood, grand auditorium) - Sounds a little abrasive right now. I'm replacing the plastic saddle with a bone saddle to take away the abrasive sound and give it more balance between the strings.

Yamaha CGX171CCA (cedar/rosewood, concert) - I do like the sound of this guitar though it has a plastic saddle and I'm sure it can sound better. I'm replacing the plastic saddle with a bone saddle just to hear the difference.

I will do sound tests with the guitars before and after so both you and I can hear the difference.

Pinched Nerve

Wow, who knew a pinched nerve could be so bad. I was scratching my right side one day and found it felt numb. Not all the way but noticeable. X-Rays showed the pinched nerve was causing the problem AND that I have arthritis in my back from an injury that perhaps happened abut 5 years ago. I have no idea what happened to me 5 years ago, but whatever it was it was bad. You find out later in life, when everything is falling a part that your health is all you got. Who wants to be a live at 80 if you can't walk or have chronic pain. Stay health kids you only get this life once. The chiropractor is moving my spine back into the place and some of the numbness has gone away. It will take some time to get back to normal, but I'll get there.

Netbook Wishes and Mobility Dreams

I kept looking for a netbook that I could change into Mac netbook. It was difficult finding one that would just work. Well Dell made one, Dell Mini 9. I couldn't find it in the stores and I didn't want to purchase a computer from Dell over the internet. To get the one I wanted I would have had to customize it and that would have put it beyond the $500 mark and I certainly didn't want to spend that much for a netbook. So I thought the Acer Aspire One might be good, but NO as some of the hardware isn't compatible with the Mac installation. I even looked at others that were close, but for the most part the Dell Mini 9 was the one if you wanted a Mac netbook with no hassle. So I let the dream go because the Dell Mini 9 was just too much and then I didn't really need a Mac netbook.

However, what I did need was a way to have a windows machine that was portable. My work windows machine is a 17" which requires too much power to be powered in a car. Plus it is heavy. I like having my personal machine (Macbook Pro) with me when I travel and adding a 17" monster to that just isn't fun. If I had a smaller portable Windows machine I would be in heaven. I use VMWare Fusion to run Windows on my Macbook Pro, but sometimes you just need a physical windows machine.

Having given up on wanting a Mac netbook I moved to just needing a Windows netbook which made the choice of netbook very easy. The Eee PC 1000HE is the only one that gives you bluetooth, wireless N, 160GB harddrive, and the best battery life in the world. The most recent MSI Wind comes close, but Eee PC has better battery life. So I ordered the Eee PC from Amazon and got it in a couple of days. I immediately put Windows 7 Beta on it. It is slower than I'd hoped. Probably because of Windows 7 and maybe debug info being captured.

After using the Eee for a while I do like it, but I wouldn't want to work on it all day. If it was my only laptop. I would have to use an external monitor, keyboard, and mouse. It is convienent to have the small laptop, but you get fatigued by the small screen, small keyboard, and small trackpad. My biggest problem seems to be the small shift key on the right side. I end up hitting the up arrow that is next to it a lot. The tracking of the cursor with the track pad is not quite right though I suspect adjusting the track pas settings would help with that. I can do most of my work on my Macbook Pro, but the rest I do on the Eee.

I also put a skin on the Eee after seeing all of the designs available. I did notice the top getting lots of finger prints and would guess it would get lots of scratches too after a while. The skin protects the top and the even comes with a matching wrist rest skin.

Guitar Deals

I have been selling off my gear to make room in my house and to give my gear a chance to be used. In the midst of this I've been looking at Taylor acoustics and just hadn't found one I was willing to buy. But then on Craig's list I found a 712ce, small body guitar with a short scale -- right up my alley! Lest you think I was spending more money on yet another guitar I have been saving my proceeds from my other gear sales to finance this purchase, plus I got my bonus from my job. The guy wanted $1850. I found out I could get a brand new one for $2169 so I figured I'd just save up the money and get a new one. So the guy dropped his price down to $1500. That I thought was a good deal, but just couldn't pay that much. I agreed to see the guitar because I figure I can get the $1500 if I really liked the guitar. So when I finally see the guitar in person I found a finish crack on the bottom bout binding. It looked really bad. I have dropped my acoustic guitars and even had one fall off stage and I have never seen a crack in the finish that looked so bad. I didn't feel good about it so I passed on the guitar because I was concerned about the integrity of the guitar. The seller assured me that it hadn't affected the wood under the finish or the integrity of the guitar. I figured as much, but was afraid to take the risk. He then offers the guitar for $1200. I stand there and think about it with a scrunched up face and finally decide to take the guitar. $1200 is what I offered in the first place. I was assured by others on the Acoustic Guitar Forum and Acoustic Guitar Community the cracks in the finish are nothing to worry about. So that was a GREAT deal. I already have equity in the guitar even with the flaw in the finish.

My next coup was a Squier Classic 50s Vibe Duo-Sonic for $184. Something about this little guy was calling me. I've wanted one since they came out, but I have several electrics and really didn't need another one as I'm sure I had all of my sound needs covered. I have read glowing reviews about this guitar and haven't seen one bad one. The worst I read was that the frets needed to be filed down. So I go to the local music store and they have two, one used and one new. I figured I'd go for the used one, but most used prices in music stores are very close to the new price, so I wasn't getting my hopes up on saving that much money. The new one actually had paint chips (more like divots) and a thumb-sized dent in the body (WTF). So I looked at the used one and was happy to see the price, $200, $129 below new. The used one had no flaws whatsoever accept that it wasn't as clean as the new one. I asked if something was wrong with the guitar and the sales guy said no. Someone just bought and returned it. So I asked if he could do better than $200 and he offered to make it $200 out the door so the guitar cost $184 + tax. Awesome deal! The guitar is great. It has a 24" scale and a very nice neck, which is easy to play. It looks and sounds good too. Though the middle position and the neck position don't sound that different to me. The simplicity and style of the guitar makes it stand out.

Logan aka Dumb Jock

This is my latest rescue, Logan. He is a Shar pei mix, likely with a gold retriever. He is not the smartest dog, actually we call him the dumb jock. He does like it in the mountains because of the space to run, but I think he would be happy to stay inside like the little dogs. He doesn't like to guard the house like our other Shar pei mix, Chuune. He does like to play, but apparently not work.