Guitars and Life

I got a Vox Lil Looper for Christmas - thank to Mrs F as ever. I've only had one session with it but great fun so far. I like that it has effects on the unit and that you can therefore get a bass sound from a guitar as it has an octaver type effect. I've built up some chords and bass with which I can then solo over the top of. Great fun. Not sure I'll incorporate it ever into live performances but will be using it at home definitely.

Sad news indeed.  A legend - such an incredible voice... What else could I pick but one of the greatest covers ever ...

It's been a bit traditional on the blog here to post a review of the year over the years I've been talking to myself you good folks on here. So 2014? Gig of the year .  Not done that many these days as I'm more cash strapped than I used to be and with my son living away from home I don't go with him to gigs like I used to.  Anyway from those I did see it would have to be Show Of Hands at Tunbridge Wells .  Super stuff, great playing and singing and the sound was excellent throughout.  Close second were Bellowhead. CD of the year.   Now here was a year with a few big names releasing... but sadly I thought Elbow, Coldplay and esp U2 all missed the mark a degree (Elbow) or several (Coldplay) or totally (U2).  But there were so many great things out.  Blair Dunlop, Bellowhead, Uriah Heep... etc. Hmm... So I'm going to award three this year. 1. Rock - Uriah Heep The Outsider .  Just a thunderously brilliant album as though losing Trevor Bolde...

Anyone who has a long memory will know that I've waxed lyrically about the great Sam Carter on this here blog from time to time in the past. Now ... he has teamed up with Jim Moray to form a new folk rock band called False Lights.   Their first release is Salvor which is just flipping brilliant.  And you can listen to it all now (plugin compatibility allowing etc.) on Soundcloud...  just click and love it!

Bernard Cornwell - The Empty Throne. The next instalment in the Lord Uhtred saga.  I've always really enjoyed Bernard's books, great historical research and then placing great fictional characters with great stories into real life historical events.  This saga now on the eight instalment.  We've followed Uhtred from his forcible exit from his family home of Bamburgh Castle as a child, through his time as a slave to his unusual alliance as a pagan with the most pious King Alfred helping Wessex to eject marauding Danes from it's borders and helping Alfred in his quest for a united England.  In this one Alfred is dead, Uhtred himself is recovering from the near fatal wound he received at the end of the last book The Pagan Lord.  He is grievously ill and with his failing strength others manoeuvre around him to try to ensure the crown of Mercia is grabbed by enemies.  Of course Uhtred whilst ill is not to be ignored and he soon is politically dealing to reinst...

Bellowwho?  Is what many people seem to say to me when I mention them - well go find them out.  They are a large multi instrumental folk group.  However before all you rock fans turn away and ignore them - they are very rock sounding to me in their arrangements even if they don't have a traditional rock rhythm session - in fact the bass instrument of choice is brass - Helicon, Tuba or Sousaphone...  Most of the band are multi-instrumentalists too adding incredible range to the bands sounds.  The venue I thought would suit them well, the Winter Gardens is an old seaside dance hall/ theatre- very ornate big rectangle with the stage on one of the long sides, which was more suitable with a dance but not maybe a modern gig.  But what made it worse was the decision by someone for it to be all seated.  I've been to gigs there before when the "dance floor" is standing only.  Sadly this lack of dancing/jumping about meant the atmosphere was a little flatte...

Inspired by my friend Judy over at So Very Slightly Mad  here are some ideas for Christmas Gifts for the guitarist in your life. NOTE - the recommendations here are made purely on my experience I'm not being paid or otherwise reimbursed by any shop or manufacturer neither does my endorsement imply an exhaustive set of tests alongside competitor products... it is just my recommendation based on my experience, unless otherwise stated. Strings Seriously any guitarist with any kind of collection goes through so many sets of strings.  Find out what they use - or what they'd like to try.  We're a conservative bunch.  I had never tried coated strings but kept reading players raving about them that I respected.  I went to a guitar show in London and got a free set as part of a goody bag.  I'm sold!  Once I get through the box of old ones I'm moving to them on all my acoustics.  Not convinced yet on electrics but on acoustics I am sold big style. ...

Uriah Heep - The Outsider.   I've passed by Uriah Heep over the years. I remember really liking Conquest back about 1980 and there last album had some good stuff on it but... The Outsider the first one they've done since long standing bass player Trevor Bolder. I gave it a listen on Spotify - I found myself repeatedly playing it so when my sister gave me an Amazon voucher for my birthday I bought the CD... I'm an old Luddite and still love to have the CD in my grubby mits!  Just brilliant - great searing vocals, stomping drums and bass, super riffing guitar work and above it all a throbbing Hammond Organ! Yes part of the "Heep sound" since Ken Hensley was in the band and still brilliantly there front and centre. You can do what you like with synth patches and what have you but in great rock a Hammond just has such a great warm sound. The Opener Speed of Sound is a punchy jump to your feet rocker and that mode continues throughout. Is Anybody Gonna Help Me...

Now if you're going to do a cover, make it your own.  I was thinking this when I remember this stunning song I first heard on Unleashed in the East and bought my leather wrist band and headbanged along with the faithful at Hammersmith. Somewhat different from the original... That's how to do a cover... :-)

Here is the first appearance of the 12 string anywhere! Really I was just trying it out after a bit of fiddling with the nut etc. So - you'll hear all 7 sounds on a little motif from one of my songs (On Christmas Day) starting from bridge, then bridge and middle, middle, middle and neck, neck, neck and Bridge and all three on together.   Then a little noodle with me just playing about - middle position I think which I really like.  Direct into my little Boss BR-600 with a Roland JC clean amp patch.

I've completed the final assembly on the 12 string. First the string ferrules at the back. Then the Tuners... so many tuners! One minor mod, like all my electric guitars I've fitted this with Schaller strap locks - I've used these on everything for so many years now it is just a default for me. Final wiring up. Waiting for stringing. Fitting the string tree and getting it strung up was one of the most challenging and stressful bits of the build! Finally all strung up.  It plays!  The wiring mods all work.  It needs a lot of set up work, the g pair in particular are way out in intonation initially.  I need to look at the intonation, action, nut depths and adjust the pickups.   I'll let is settle for a day or so then have a slow look, might take one or two stabs I think.  Also I will finally restring with some better strings - those on it now came with the kit but I've bou...

The last installment in Ken Follett's "Century Trilogy".  This whole series has been about showing the history of the 20th Century through the lives of intertwined families in the UK, USA, Germany and Russia.  The story shows the rising of the Berlin Wall and the descent of the Iron Curtain and how that broke up families in Berlin.  A Kremlin insider who manages to maintain his career from Khrushchev to Gorbachev provides great insight into the workings of the Kremlin. This is a well researched and written book that covers the later part of the 20th century history expertly.  There is less emphasis on the UK this time around but no doubt due to the bigger story being the oppressive Soviet administration continuing to maintain its grip on power and the civil rights movement in the USA, the separation of Germany etc.  However that does miss a trick in telling the building of modern Britain with the NHS, university education opened for all in short the building o...

... they come along in packs. I was asked back to play at the Coach & Horses in Strood at the last minute this weekend.  Really nice to be asked even if it was because a scheduled act pulled out a the last minute.  But I got a longer set time on this occasion.  I must have had a premonition as only a couple of days earlier I'd restrung the 12 string acoustic so was ready to use that and the Yamaha for a full set.  It was quieter this time around, no doubt due to it being the predominant "fireworks night" of the year so I expect a lot of people were at events as we would have been if I hadn't had the call Friday night asking me to play.  I've also got a gig lined up early in December in Faversham supporting Wax Collector.  Looking forward to that one too.

I've finished the body.  A quick rub down with 0000 wire wool and then a polish with my old beeswax finishing wax. I've just test fitted the neck in these photos.  I'm going to leave it a few days for the finish to harden before starting to add hardware etc. Really pleased with how it is looking. One thing this kit (for the 12 string) was only available with a basswood body.  In retrospect I should have sanded it more with 250 grade paper prior to starting finishing maybe, or it maybe basswood is less "grainy".  Personally I'd prefer Ash which has a better grain pattern for me.  Pleased with the colour though

I've completed finishing the neck.  I've done another top coat on the body - I might do another yet, will wait and see once it has cured off. Anyway here are some photos of the neck.   I used Wudtone Original Yellow which has given the colour I was hoping for.

The body and neck finishing is going really well.  I think I've just done the 3rd top coat on both.  I'm going to do at least one more on the body, possibly two and maybe one more on the neck.  I'll decide when I look at them after this latest one has cured off. In preparation for them being ready for assembly I've turned my attention to the electrics.  I commented at the start of the build a plan for some mods to the electrical circuit - nothing too major but a couple of little tweaks. Seven sound wiring .  One mod often seen on Strats is to add the two sounds you can't get on a standard 5 way switch with the three pickups.  Namely all three on together and bridge and neck on together.  The way I'm doing this is by just having a simple switch to switch on the bridge pickup no matter what position the 5 position switch is in. Many of the mods show this mod using the neck pickup.  I've favoured the bridge since I'd prefer the bridge only "lead...

I don't get to many gigs these days.  The change of work situation, i.e. working only 2 days a week now means financially I cannot justify going to that many especially with the cost of many tickets these days.  I heard an interview with Mark King (Level 42) the other day and he was commenting "I remember when albums were £15 in the shops and a gig ticket was £3.  Now people give albums away for free and charge you £50 to see them live".  Very true - the shift in where you can make a living from music I suppose. Anyhoo... Mrs F and I went with a few other friends to see Show of Hands at Tonbridge Well.  Show of Hands may not be a household name, which is a shame for them as frankly one of the best folk bands about and maybe there in lies the issue, the narrow characterisation of them into a particular genre... however they have been known to play Peter Gabriel covers so what does that say about breaking down the preconceptions? Just brilliant is my overall s...

Sadly - another RIP post.  I read today that Jack Bruce has sadly passed away. One word... Legend... Makes sense now why they did this get together... At least now he can reunite with Gary This was a terrific line up - shame they didn't do more together

RIP Alvin Stardust when I was 10 I was buying his singles but the landmark in my life was attending my first gig at the Central Hall (now Theatre) to see him with a slightly older female friend of the family who my mother trusted.

Just a quick update.  Being a bit busy at the moment with stuff - work, course, volunteer training etc.  The build is on the go-slow.   On Monday I put the last base coat on the body.  You need to give it 2 days to dry out fully anyhow but I'll be unlikely to get to do anything until the weekend now.  The neck I've finished the base coats on.  So weekend I'll start the top coats on both.  I'm expecting 3 or 4 of them we'll see as it develops so probably at least another week or two then the advice is to leave it a full week before assembly.  Patience... it's a bugger at times isn't it!

Some overdue reviews of latest CD additions to my collection. Bellowhead - Revival. Bellowhead on top form.  Frankly their best yet I think.  Sea shanties a plenty kicking off with Let Her Run and straight into Roll Alabama my favourite off the whole album.  There isn't anything new here if you know Bellowhead, excellent arrangements using the huge variety of instruments their large and versatile line up gives them.  The vocals are spot on and much of this album is up tempo foot tapping sing-a-long chorus type stuff that simply they do so well.  Off to see them live in the flesh in November and on this basis can't wait. One highlight is I Want To See The Bright Lights Tonight a stonking reworking of the old Richard Thompson song.  I heard an interview with them on BBC Radio 2 where they said they included this song as they wanted something "contemporary" in the track list.  I roared with laughter at this, for most groups who trouble the top 40 wi...

There's a confusing post title and probably the title of my forthcoming 90 min epic single track progressive rock album... ;-) No seriously folks.  I've started on the finish. I'm using the excellent Wudtone products.  I like these since they are so easy for a DIY build like mine.  You "rag" them on, I use old cut up pyjamas as they seem best to me in terms of not soaking too much of the liquid up etc.  No sprays or complicated stuff like that.  You don't get the mirror finish a pro would get with proper spray booths etc. but the finish on the Tele Build was really good just right between colour, semi gloss shine and the feel of the real wood.  They have some sort of sealant in them so help with making the wood resistant to water etc. so all good. The body is being finished in Carmine Gypsy red and the neck in Original Vintage Yellow. Here they are after the application of the first coats.

The birthday weekend was a bit of a whirlwind.  On my birthday we went out for nice meal once Mrs F finished work.  My daughters boyfriend had got away from his job early so the four of us headed out for a three course slap up at the local Harvester which is in walking distance.  Good time by all even managing to squeeze in an ice desert with toffee sauce! My son and his girlfriend then made the trek home arriving late in the evening, for my son he'd spent too long on a train after a days work having gone back from Leicester to Birmingham and then to Kent but lovely to see him and the house was suddenly over full with people again. Saturday I had a workshop I had to be at in the afternoon and then the gig in the evening.  Meaning I had to squeeze in cooking a huge curry for everyone too.  Must have been good, totally empty plates all round. We dashed off the to the gig.  Roadworks!  The route I'd plan had a road closure on it, luckily I knew a ba...

Today is my birthday so Mrs F finally let me loose on my present. Here it is as it arrived.  For some reason they actually fit the scratchplate and electrics, probably for safety in transit to stop them getting damaged but obviously if you want to finish the body you need to remove them... so first thing was to whip them out... And then to try a test fit of the neck, can't resist it! All good, all parts (body, neck and scratchplate) are marked with 35 on them somewhere showing they've been mated together before putting into the kit.  On the body and neck  this has proved valuable the neck is a very good snug fit into the pocket, so much so with friction alone holding it together you can lift the guitar by the neck and body doesn't fall off.  This is a good sign.  Incidentally the body is basswood and very light.  The neck is maple with a nicely grained rosewood fingerboard - being a 12 string the neck is quite wide measuring about 48 mm at the n...

This book is a billed as " The Untold Story or Rock N Roll Trailblazer Sister Rosetta Tharpe ". Some of you may recall my waxing lyrically about Sister Rosetta when celebrating the 50th anniversary of the Chorltonville blues gigs that ITV recorded in April 1964.  By then Sister Rosetta had over 20 years been at the head of her game.  Over the years principally known as a gospel artist she crossed into Swing in the early 40s to much controversy and then was accepted particularly on the European side of the Atlantic into the secular blues boom of the late 50s and 60s. This book charts her entire life and career and is a fascinating read.  It is more a scholarly biographic work than a story and reads as such so whilst extremely well researched and very thorough it sadly isn't a whirlwind story.  Which is a shame since her life was like that, even to signing a deal to hold a wedding in 7 months as part of a huge gospel service/gig without a husband available!...

So my birthday is fast approaching... 52 before you ask... Mrs F graciously offered to buy me a guitar kit again!  So following on from my Tele Build a while back I've ordered a Strat shaped 12 string ... yes you did just read that right.  I don't have an electric 12 string and this is a cheap and fun way to get one into the collection. So the kit has everything you need - including a set of strings and a cable, both of iffy quality frankly!  I've ordered some finishing kits from Wudtone who's product I used on the Tele.  I've decided to used their neck finishing kit too this time since because the Danish Oil on the Tele neck was ok but I was so impressed with the body finish from Wudtone I thought I'd go for the neck kit too. What I plan to do is not as complicated as the Tele build which is you remember I updated the pickups and ultimately the bridge as well, with this one I was going to build it as is... However I've spent an hour or so exploring s...

Mrs F, Daughter-of-Furtheron and I went to the theatre last night to see a touring production of To Kill a Mockingbird. Really enjoyed it.  I was half wondering how they'd stage it, the book is long with a complex set of intertwining plots written from a young girls point of view.  Through her innocence and naivety she exposes the prejudice and bigotry she sees in adults around her.  That is one of the things that makes Harper Lee's astonishing novel one of the most studied texts in the world of the English Language.  Also there is a lot of different settings, the Finch family yard, the Radley House, the street they live in and the courthouse where the trial of the negro Tom Robinson is the climax of the whole story. The actors play characters but also take it in turns to be narrators reading as though Scout directly from the book.  This was clever, reminding you it was Scout's point of view throughout.  At the beginning of the play the stage which had ...

I made what now seems to be becoming an annual pilgrimage to the Olympia Conference Centre last weekend to the LAGS. The show was similar to last year with many of the main players even on exactly the same stands.  Taylor, Yamaha, Martin, Lowden all there along with big distributors like JHS showing off the latest and greatest models. Highlights - Yamaha, the new LL/LS range is stunning.  I played a couple but the LS16 I tried was totally gorgeous, a good show offer on price made me struggle to hand it back and walk away frankly but I can't justify another guitar expense like that really.  Faith impressed me again this year if not more so than last, work with Patrick Eggle as designer they have a great range.  I tried several models and all impressed, from the naked parlour, mahogany topped auditorium sized cutaway model, all sounded and felt good.  I was most impressed with their High Gloss Parlour model though that was really nice. Auden were another co...

We interrupt the normal programming on this blog for a party political statement from our sponsor.... I've been watching with interest the Scottish Independence debate as the date for the poll gets closer.  The YES campaign slowly catching up the NO vote to the point where now in some polls the YES vote is predicted to win (btw how can a poll of approx 1,000 reflect the outcome from an electorate about 4 million?). OK - cards on the table here, whilst not a Scot and living about as far away from Scotland as it is possible to in the UK I want them to stay in the Union.  Why?  Well I just feel we are better together (as the slogan goes).  I feel that it is better to work together on the issues of inequity in society etc.  I also like that the Scots are very pro the EU and I'd like to stay in that, losing them before that referendum may be a blow to the rest of the UK. However I do feel now strongly that the Scots are getting their vote next week that the res...

First of all on Sunday there is the next Rochester Music Cafe night... this one is "rock night".  This'll make you laugh... see for me you say rock and I'm in the late 60s and 70s, Hendrix, Cream, Purple et al.  But that's cos I'm an old fogey I suppose.  I forget many of those involved in the Cafe project are younger than my Strat and therefore to them rock means the 80s, big hair, tight trousers and boys with eye liner.  Anyway a set comprising of Bryan Adams, Bon Jovi and Heart is on order and I've been busy learning them.  Incidentally (just realised that is the word to use rather than the increasingly seen btw) I took the plunge and accepted an offer to sign up to Tab Pro via Ultimate Guitar Tabs .  Whenever I look for tabs seems that Tab Pro gets good ratings anyway I was offered some one off life time (we'll see about that!!) membership for about $45 or £32 (ish) which seemed better than the monthly subscription it has offered me before.  Often...

I hope you like this piece... 24 mins of just brilliant music... http://www.channel4.com/programmes/addicts-symphony/videos/all/addicts-symphony-rhapsody-for-the-tamed Go to my other blog for more on the story of the collection of musicians that came together to write and perform it.

... or JK Rowling ... I read the first of these and was impressed with Ms Rowling's move into the crime fiction genre. The story picks up a few weeks/months after our hero, the ex soldier invalided out of the forces after losing his leg to an IED in Afghanistan, has hit notoriety by solving a murder that the police had insisted was suicide.  This high profile case has filled his books with many new clients, most of them partners trying to prove the infidelity of the other to either take them for loads of money or to prevent them from having it. Having been persuaded to allow his assistant Robin to stay on the same two pivitoal characters continue and there is a constant theme of their professional and personal relationship throughout that will continue throughout the next book no doubt. The plot of this one is the disappearance of a minor author who has been working on his magnum opus.  He disappears and the novel is inadvertently leaked by his agent to his publisher....

My Hi-Fi is quiet old.  I say Hi-Fi as that still seems an appropriate term.  The bulk of the system is actually from a system that my brother-in-law (he never was but that is another story...) bought in the early 1980s.  He'd bought it in 1981 selling me his old music centre which replaced the huge stereogram that took up what felt like half my bedroom which my Dad had given me when he'd got a smart new Sanyo music centre a year or two before.  It was a Pioneer separates system all sold together in a glass cabinet.  The cabinet still sits in my music room with my amp, cd player and mixer that I play through to play along with stuff I'm learning.  The amp, tuner (never used these days), cassette player (also can't remember when last used) and the speakers all come from his original set up which my wife/I inherited on moving into our first house a couple of years after his untimely death - he passed away suddenly at 21 in 1982.  I replaced the record de...

Inspired by Wil's recent post . I don't have the prices like he did... I'll give rough guides where I can... all prices in GBP btw. Tata Classical Guitar - my Mum and Dad bought it for me when I was about 11 after my continual whinging I wanted a guitar.  Then my Mum insisted I had "proper" lessons and soon I was off learning classical guitar Grade 1 etc. from Pam who was an old school friend of my elder sister.  Price - no idea probably about £15.   Traded in when I got my FC40 - actually saw one recently at a second hand stall in Whitstable might have been mine... you never know. Old Italian Mandolin - I inherited this from my Great Aunt.  Not in great nick, the bowl back had a crack in it the neck had been repaired and the tuners were a mismatch as a result of that repair.  I tried to learn for a few years in my teens but it ended up being thrown away - which on reflection was a travesty I should have tried to repair it better. Columbus Strat Copy ...

A couple of videos from the Rochester Music Cafe recently... Firstly an oldie of my own - I used to Know Her... almost my signature tune if I could ever he in a position to have one ... LOL Then a Lady Antebellum number that I'd neither heard of the song or the band before we started to practice this a week before the gig... nice song though... Notice - first live outing of the infamous pedal board!

I got an email from Gibson as I'm on their email list. This had a link to A Guitar Geek's Guide to Gibson ES Models - brilliant... Now the little bit that really got me was side by side two new models... The new ES Les Paul - which is another attempt to make a hollow bodied Les Paul... And the 335-S - another attempt (there was one many years back) at a solid ES-335... errrr.... Odd when you think about this... but hey people out there might want them... I like the LP one better but there is a much cheaper option via Gordon Smith...

So a couple of new CDs have arrived... this is a good year for music isn't it?  Well is in my book any way... Linkin Park - The Hunting Party. I've liked these boys since the début album but Metorea really shone out for me followed too by Minutes to Midnight - both those are flipping brilliant.  One thing for me is that I love how they have more successfully than a lot of others been able to fuse rapping, scratching, loops etc from hip/hop and rap with great modern rock.  I saw them live at Sonisphere in 2009 and that only confirmed my love of them.  Also I can relate so much to their lyrics... Numb in particular is a lyric I could have written ... if I had the talent!! I have to say whilst good the latest albums haven't engrossed me as much as the early stuff.  So to their latest The Hunting Party.  Now I've seen some (brief) comments on-line from people who've dissed this album but I really don't see that I think it is close to their best and may gr...