installing the electronics #

After putting down the shielding the next step was routing the grounding wires. I installed the wiring, soldered the ground to the tremelo and jack pin. Everything tested correctly with the multimeter.

Next the pickups. I went with a set of hand wound, aged, Alnico 5/2, with flat poles. According to the description, the combination of Alnico 5 rods for the low strings, and Alnico 2 rods for the high strings, “creates a smooth, well balanced output… punchy attack with well defined bass response on the lower register and warm swelling vintage tones on the upper register.”

eternity is scary #

I remember sitting in church as a little boy, maybe 6 years old. Without fail, nearly every sermon would end with a mention of eternity, the threat of hell, and the call to spend it in heaven with God [1]. And without fail I would feel dread building up to the end, hoping he wouldn’t talk about eternity again.

we aren’t compatible with eternity #

I remember being very afraid of the idea of eternity. Everything in life has a beginning and an end. You push the power button on the Nintendo, the game starts. You push the power button again, it stops. The idea of something going on forever and ever is unnatural and unfounded in reality. It profoundly scared me.

can one shield too much? #

This part of the project was a lot of fun. I spent a fair amount of time researching materials and proper shielding techniques. There are many differing opinions about the effectiveness of shielding and when it actually matters. In the end, the copper tape was cheap, and it was fun applying it.

I covered each cavity with the copper tape then ran a small copper wire between the jack cavity and the main body. Using the multimeter, each cavity and wall tests conductive to every other cavity and wall.

some more work done #

After another round of relic’ing it’s starting to come along.

Next is some more relic’ing on the back, shielding the body, and installing the electronics.

the salvage guy of guitars #

The other day my friend Clay from Franklin Music messaged me asking if I wanted to take on a new project guitar. I’ve jokingly become his salvage guy. Clay had purchased the guitar just for the pickups (and apparently the tuning machines) but didn’t want to invest the time or money to build it back up. Perhaps it was too beat up for the average customer at his shop, or perhaps he wouldn’t get out of it what he would have to put into it. Lucky for him that’s what I like, that’s what I like.

a small album #

I did a thing. Here’s my first album, available on Bandcamp.

safe passage on a ship called nuance

equipment used #

guitars #

• Harley Benton TE-62CC SP
• Gretsch G2655 Streamliner

pedals #

path one #

• Way Huge Red Llama MkII
• DCW Pedals Hands of Time
• EHX Canyon
• JHS Series 3 Reverb
• (a cheap triange muff clone with a custom paint job I got from Marketplace)
• Joyo American Sound

path two #

• MXR Sugar Drive
• Sketchy Sounds Old Tapes
• FLAMMA FS22 Exoverb
• DOD Carcosa
• Joyo Oxford Sound

soundboard #

• Mackie Mix8

recording equipment #

• Sony MZ-R70 Minidisk Recorder
• Olympus PearlcorderSD Microcassette Recorder
• Behringer UMC202HD Audio Interface
• my old ass Dell minitower which still works perfectly

software #

• Audacity (for extracting from minidisk and tape)
• Ardour (for editing, arrangement, levels, and processing)

awesome people that I appreciate a lot #

Dustin at DCW Pedals. Your service in unmatched; you’ve won a customer for life.

Kerry is a babe #

This past weekend my wife and I went to a market event where I picked up a great mixtape.

The tape required fixing a previous repair job that kept the tape from rewinding or playing past the massive hunk of tape.

The quality is shit, but A for effort #

The recording is very tinny and in several places almost difficult to listen to at normal volumes. The songs lack dynamic range, but I don’t think it’s from the tape itself. This specific model and manufacturing year of Maxell is highly regarded by modern tape scholars (tapeheads, as they cleverly call themselves). Since the sound is fairly consistently thin for each of the songs, I imagine Scott recorded this tape using a handheld recorder in front of his stereo speakers.

Estate sales are sad #

A couple weeks ago my wife and I were driving to an errand and noticed several signs advertising an estate sale. Without much thought we looked at each other and both said, why not? I’d never been to one and didn’t know what to expect.

As we walked through each room in the house it was clear a couple had lived there. There was an antique doll collection, men’s and women’s coats, shoes, and boots. In the basement there were several old tools, typewriters, and several parts for small electronics repair. There were some really neat antiques like an old wash basin and washing vanity. A red “world’s best grandpa” hat hung on the wall. These people were loved.

A constant battle #

As a creative person I regularly find myself at odds with perfectionism. Sometimes it looks like researching an idea for months to ultimately park it on the shelf. Sometimes, but not often, I get the courage to just push in and try, for better or worse, regardless of the potential for failure.

Although completely rewarding, extracting and archiving long forgotten microcassette recordings was always a side tangent to a different goal, making microcassette tape loops.

The old sound is the new sound #

There’s nothing quite like the lofi sound of degraded tape. The wow and flutter caused by the mechanics of the machine, the imperfections created by a tape that’s been played for years.

Ambient and experimental music has trended toward the sound of tape for a long time. One specific trend I find very interesting is tape loops.

In a tape loop, a section of magnetic tape is cut and spliced end-to-end, creating a circle or loop which can be played continuously, usually on a reel-to-reel tape recorder, making the sound repeat endlessly.

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