Search options (Page 12 of 35)

Prayers said for Tom and Uncle Bob. God be with them.

Church this morning.
Cooking now for dinner tonight.
Guitar playing in between as much as I can. Still working on the barre chords and noodling around with a few songs.
Taking a suggestions from Zurf: Red wine later. I brought some home from Europe.

WOW! That really helps. 73% faster and a whole lot less thinking. I've not quite got it yet but a big help. thanks!

Okay, I'm tuning down a 1/2 and digging in. Tonight could be the night.
dj

There is more to this saga. I spent all day yesterday troubleshooting this thing. Finally I found someone who knew washers inside and out and he kindly walked me through the troubleshooting. A very pleasant experience because I had called to purchase a new gearbox ($129) - thinking it HAD to be the gearbox, although I had opened it and everything looked in order. The seller told me how to confirm or deny my suspicion and it turns out the gearbox is okay. The culprit WAS the direct drive coupler - a $5 part. This is the most common failure and one I had replaced before. Except last time it was obvious this part was bad as it was a pile of dust. This time it looked okay but upon much closer inspection and with the help of my new tech "friend" it became clear it had failed again.

The part is ordered and I wait. However since I opened the gearbox case I now have to refill the oil and reseal the case. All is not lost as I learned a lot about washers. Let me know if you ever have a washer failure I may be able to help.

On the guitar front, I did play much yesterday and my index finger is sore as I am working on "hammer-ons", "pull-offs", and "hammer-on pull-offs" while working on Led Zeppelin's song "Over the Hills and Far Away" I love this song, always have. In fact this is one of the songs that caused me to want to play the acoustic guitar. Due to these techniques this is not an easy song so I am comfortably out of my comfort zone, learning something new, and having a blast! If I get to where I can credibly play even part of this song I will be happy.

Thanks for reading this somewhat random post.
dj

p.s. I plan to send my new mechanical mentor a thank you note.

Home and jet-lagged, 8 hour time shift. A few cups of that (other) magic elixir: coffee and it's Time to GET BACK TO PLAYING. I am very excited!
The washing machine quit working while I was away so a DIY repair looms and will interrupt playing but maybe there's a song in the experience?

Zurf,
The beer was Heineken. Hardly my favorite and hardly French. And it was packaged in thin 9.4 oz. cans. I had to drink three and rapidly.:)
dj

MKM et. al.,
I've owned a few LXMs which are the Little Martin travel guitars. They are ALL HPL with a Stratabond neck. They sound surprisingly good for what they are.

Martin's recently re-introduced "road series" which is the DRS1 and DRS2 are both made in Mexico. The former is an all-solid sapele body with the Stratabond neck and the latter is a Spruce top variant. I've played 2-3 of the DRS1 and came dangerously close to buying one but in the end I decided IF I was going to the mahogany Martin route it would be a 15 series. However I played the D15M side-by-side and couldn't detect a sound difference.

I'm pretty sure the Mexican Martins are lovingly produced just not in the USA. But buying an imported guitar from a historic American producer can be a mind-bender.

Another case in point is a Canadian buying a 5 series (or higher) Larrivee guitar...made in California!

I am considering dispersing mine throughout the house. I'd like to have on win my "office" which unfortunately is actually a sitting area in our bedroom. The wife may not like that. I used to keep one at work but I am in a new office now with too many eyes and I don't want anyone getting the wrong impression about my priorities.

For me 3 does seem to be the magic number. Cue the Schoolhouse Rock song!

I am biased as I was transplanted to Georgia (from Ohio) when I was three. I'm somewhat older than that now. I never considered living anywhere else but about ten years ago my job put me on the road and since I've been many places both inside and outside the U.S.A. I now have a different perspective and am seriously considering alternatives when both kids are out of the house. My wife does not like Georgia.

I live in suburbia about 30 miles north of Atlanta. I am near mountains, a lake, and a few rivers. I can be at the Atlantic Ocean in 4.5 hours and the Gulf in about 6. There are many stupid people (and lousy) drivers in the Metro Atlanta area. I will move to distance myself from both. Hopefully I am not one of them or I will have escaped nothing.

Hey man, just ask. Don't burn up your brain. I'm probably the least knowledgeable person here.

I like the Masterbilt line. I even owned a DR-500M for a while. I think they are nice all-solid wood guitars. For around the same price I'd consider the Guild GAD series. (http://www.guildguitars.com/) I think they are built in the same factory.

I have no experience with electronics as I don't use them. Sorry.

Also I urge you to consider Recording King guitars. Here: http://www.recordingking.com/

Good luck.

As much as I am reluctant to admit this, there is the fear factor. For years I shyed away from golf as I do not play regularly and so I thought I would easily be the worst person on the course. What I discovered is I am NOT necessarily the worst and we all seem to have fun anyway. The last time I played golf it had been 3 years since I'd even swung a club. I went into a TOURNAMENT: COLD. The first swing was on the 1st tee and not the driving range. The way I figured it I had a finite number of decent swings in me and I couldn't afford to waste them practicing. Well, my best-ball foursome WON 1st place. For my trouble I got a bag full of golf goodies, $100, and several adult beverages (if my memory serves me) and had a great time and still have fond memories AND A TROPHY!

I guess my guitar journey couldn't be much worse.
dj

P.S. The golf tournament I mentioned was took place in June 2010. I haven't played golf since but I am scheduled to the play in the same tournament this June.