All Posts (1994)
Sort by
On this week Medicine Show Health & Happiness Hour its mainly a live music show, we have Local Highland songstress Emma Mitchell, Cigar Box Don Jack & The Slim Panatellas in Session. The featured album comes from Joe West The Santa Fe Revue, new music from Vanity Fare, Semi-twang, Adam Klein, and we feature the up coming Dylan Sneed tour + looking forward to next week’s guest Tom Mason.
The Medicine Show Health and Happiness Hour is broadcast from the Highlands of Scotland on ABC Radio Alness, 2 Lochs Radio Gairloch, and Lochbroom FM Radio Ullapool. Across Glasgow on Sunny Govan Radio and Celtic Music Radio and to the worlds Country Music fraternity on www.UKCountryRadio.com
What a weekend...
Nearing completion on a cat-bowl resonator concert-scale ukulele. I'm not a huge fan of non-neck-through builds. They try my patience and I'm leery of the neck joints. This one should be fine - it's a uke after all. But still! Using one of those Ashton boxes with the label that wraps almost all the way around. Put the bowl on the bottom covering the part that isn't covered by the label. Looks neat. Neck is cut and shaped, box is almost ready, neck support is glued in. Just have to join the neck and make a bridge and she's out the door.
The down is I had to have my cat, Mean Mr. Mustard (Muzz), put to sleep. He was only 2 years only but had suffered two embolisms that caused seizures and left him unable to get around. He was one of those singular pets you run across once in a while that is different than the others. He always greeted me in the morning and wouldn't let me get on with my morning routine until he got his lovins first. Gonna miss him a hell of a lot. Today was super tough to get out the door knowing he wasn't there... But I was there for him and held him as we sent him onward.
I found an amazing portrait tattoo artist in the area and I'm going to get Muzz affixed to my body as permanently as he is in my mind.
There is a reason we have children. In today's world it is called technology.
I have been building CBGs about a year now and finally feel good enough about my builds to think of selling them. Also health problems make my going back to work after being on medical leave for six months questionable. Even if I can go back the medical restrictions may be such I may need transferring to a whole new job category and need to learn a new set of job skills. So, I need a "PLAN B"!
Vola' I can build and sell CBGs now and you guys have been so much encouragement to me! The problem is how? That is where a tech and business savvy daughter comes in the picture.
Our daughter Katrina Ryon who is co-owner of Sunlight Mountian Inn in Glenwood Springs Colorado is visiting with us for a week - God is so good! If you like Ski Resorts, do Elk or Moose hunting, snowmobile or horse back tours, or just a mountain experience, or a place to relax or even get married I highly suggest you check out Sunlight Mountain INN! They have the most wonderful "Defiance Bar-B-Que"!
Kaje, as we call katrina, has spent the weekend helping me set up a FaceBook page and GoDaddy page for my business. My full name is "Hiram Franklin Tennyson III" so my wife, Kathy, suggested HFT III Strings. Thats what it will be under in FB and hft3strings.com.
Now, my medical problems center around memory and confusion issues. Including time lapses and what my neeurologist refers to as "Mental breaks". My son's daughter, my granddaughter, Linsey, who I nicknamed upon her birth "Little Bit" has a bad case of Atrtention Deficit Disorder "ADD". After seing "Up, Up, and Away" we kid her that she wwill start introducing herself and say, "Hello, my name is ---- Squirrel"!
Linsey has fallen in love with the idea of making the guitars. She does have some business sense, and is a child of the tech age. When she was a teen she lived with us and made life so easy for us "Old Folk" programming our phones, remotes, VCRs, and such. She carries on her conversations while playing "Angry Birds and checking and updating FB". Short story long, Linsey is going to start helping me with building the CBGs and keeping the sites updated, and tracking orders and such.
All this has happened literally overnight, one day I was wringing my hands wondering how to go about starting and online business, then Kaje drops in and the Colorado Kid starts doing her impression of Donald Trump. No wonder Sunlight Mountain Inn has been such a success!
Yes, I love my childern, and grandchildren, and the fact of this wonderful generation gap that exists between us. But I love that we have common loves, these crazy wooden boxes that once housed cigars which can be transformed into sweet sounding musical instruments to rival, dare I say out perform, Gibsons or Martins. They love blues and old bluesy country, just like I do and that is what these open tunings are so good at. At least today, I am a Happy Poppa and Grandpoppa!
Seasick Steve on Breakfast Time,BBC 1; 8.45
So I know I haven't been real active on the site lately. There is a good reason :)
I have been graced with an order for 10 guitars, 2 Ukes, and at least (but not limited to) 3 portable CBG amps! Pictures will be posted as soon as I have a break to take them, lol. as always, ANY advice is appreciated!
Well, after playing several open mic events and a couple of local festivals, I was asked to perform on the acoustic stage at a record companies launch night.
A few weeks later the owner of the company Robert Harrison of Long Haired Music in Spilsby, Lincolnshire saw me in Lincoln and asked if he could record my playing. This would be great, but I could only perform original material. Well I had 4 songs that I have been playing on and off for some time but I had to get down to writing another 4 songs or tunes. Actually I was surprised that this was not the difficult bit. The problem was finding enough time to rehearse and learn the songs.
Rob invited me over to the studio for a pre recording meeting and I learnt that the recordings were to be put onto i-tunes.
So, the recording day came around and I found myself 'on the road' at 7 o'clock - in the morning - to Spilsby.
What an amazing set up at the studio. A beautiful room with so much equipment in the booth that the U S S Enterprise would look under equipped. After setting up came the awkward bits. Rob said the bass drum kick pedal was squeaking and the hi hat tambourine was producing a thud as my foot hit the floor. Lots of work with oil and gaffer tape meant we were ready to record and after one tune it was time for breakfast.
At about six o'clock - in the evening - all was recorded and I was shattered. Rob will be mixing the music as although each song was recorded 'live' all the instruments went through individual microphones.
All that is left is to decide on a name for the recording. Like an album name if you like and the order of the tracks and a photo' for the 'cover'
Hi
Does anyone know a safe free alternative to Dropbox.com?
As I think I have overstayed my welcome and they now want money!!
In the interest of speeding up production I got some new tools. I've been learning from my neighbor who has been building with wood for many years. So after a few sessions of watch and learn I headed down to Harbor Freight.
First new toy is a 4" belt sander / disk sander combo. I should have bought this thing months ago. I only picked it up on Saturday but it's already changed my building life. I was able to thin out the headstock on a guitar neck made out of some very hard wood in minutes instead of hours of hand sanding. Also I used that same hardwood to knock out a banjo-style bridge and the belt sander made thinning and shaping it a breeze. This will get used to death.
Second new toy is a trim router. Many builders here recommend a 1/2" roundover bit to shape a CBG neck. Problem with a big router is you can't get close enough to the headstock if you've already glued in your scarf joint. Well this little tool does the trick. Now, out of the box this thing DOES NOT accept the 1/2" bit. The hole in the deck/platform isn't big enough. But the good news is that the deck/platform (not sure the technical term) is clear plastic and that means it can be modified. So I used my Dremel and a sanding bit to widen the hole till it was big enough to accommodate the 1/2" bit radius and it works like a dream! So for not that much money I've got a small trim router that can do the job of a big bulky one.
The current build I'm working on is for a cancer charity benefit show raffle. Putting my heart and soul into it. The fretboard is wenge and that's a problem. When I use light wood for a fretboard I can just burn in the fret markers. Not so with wenge. It's very dark brown.
So I bit the bullet and decided to do my first set of inlaid markers.
Got some bamboo skewers ($1.99 for a a crudload of em) and got to work. It was very nerve wracking because if I screwed up, the build was toast! Fretboard was already glued to the neck and the neck and box are already permanently joined. Also I don't have a drill press! But a steady hand prevailed and the holes were drilled. Now the thing about these skewers is bamboo is a stringy wood. Trying to saw them proved an exercise in futility because the strands would just break. So I got my razor utility knife and rolled the skewer under it until it was cut cleanly. Wood glued the pieces in the holes and they fit fine. Still have to level them out, but they look decent.
I like to use grapeseed oil on my fretboards and the bamboo will probably soak that up and expand and cause problems so I'm going to use a drop of super glue on the dots and that should head off any problems.
The bamboo works, but I will probably make a different choice in the future.
Last load of tools going to the new shop today. Should be up and running by the weekend. Fortunately getting backlogged with orders. At 67 years old, I never thought this would happen.....TWANG!!!!
review and video here
I am quite pleased with every aspect of this transaction! From account creation, ordering, payment, shipping notifications, and spead of delivery. No if my boxes would just get here so I can get building!
I had a ball at this years Bluesfest. The lineup was incredible!
Here is some of the action.
http://www.bluesfest.com.au/schedule/announcements.aspx?DayID=57
I took a turn with the Merle Haggard classic in honor of my 101 year old Grandmother! She's still kickin'! And Merle is her favorite. It's in my player here.
A perspective on string tension and gauges and why buying a pre-packaged set isn't the right thing. http://hcw3.com/?p=91
Hey John hope I haven't started something which is going to put pressure on you to rush out a tutorial DVD. I am glad to hear that you are going to do one though and think your approach to the subject matter will be just as professional as ever.
