Southpa

Here is my father's website with lots of info. Click on "Resources" tab and then "Electronic Technical References". http://members.shaw.ca/roma/

Here are some good pics of how a set neck is put together. http://www.dbeweb.com/guitar/ You'd best have everything square and true before gluing and clamping.

Wow, I sure hope I don't get busted for possession!

I do that a lot on my acoustic. Try playing some real fast blues riffs in A and then work in that tap here and there on the 5th and 6th string - 12th fret.

It never got that far, just cycled through startup mode a couple times then wound up with ntfs.sys error. Oh well, the machine seems to be working ok now. I don't know what happened, I ran a program called System Mechanic and cleared out lots of crap.

I use 3M brand same design as the grizzly. One point to mention, check the label on the paint you plan to use. I was involved in the boat building industry for a short while and learned some interesting facts. The finishing paint used on the fibreglass yacht I worked on contained isocyanates. They are a proven carcinogenic and my boss told me that there is NO form of protection from inhaling isocyanates aside from a self contained breathing unit. And if you buy a Grizzly or 3M style mask read the instructions. The standard cartridge is charcoal based filter. I was told that after use the cartridges should be removed from the mask and stored in a separate plastic bag to prevent contamination. When fitting the mask make sure you have an airtight seal around your face. Hold the heel of your hand over the center air outlet and blow. If air escapes out the sides of the mask then cinch the straps tighter.

What constitutes "good" lyrics anyway? Saying the most with the least amount of words? It mostly depends on the listener's perspective and how they interpret a songwriters lyrics. You can say, "Yeah, my wife left me and my dog got hit by a diesel" or "Woke up this morning, my dog was dead." If that really happened to you then I guess you can identify with what the writer was trying to get across = good lyrics. But to someone else it could be meaningless. From my perspective "good" lyrics came from bands that were considered, to me, ahead of their time. They said things that didn't have much meaning at the time but seem to hit the proverbial nail on the head now. Early Black Sabbath comes to mind in songs like Children of the Grave and Into the Void. A lot of what they were saying 30 years ago seems to have more meaning to me now and coincides more closely with current events. I don't know if thats just coincidence or if those words were thought up by some seer in a drug induced haze, . I like hearing truth in lyrics, people just saying it like it is, regardless of who might be offended. The late, great Frank Zappa was very good at that. He ridiculed everything and everyone from Catholic Girls to politicians (Nixon) to corporate giants. How true. And then there is the writer who can make very profound remarks that can reach your soul. One good line by Bob Dylan comes to mind in Hard Rains Gonna Fall where he says "I seen a clown crying in an alley". I also like lyrics that are loaded with symbolism and have to be interpreted. This makes the song worth listening to more than once and it takes a while for the realism of the words to actually sink in. One of my favorites is the ballad, American Pie, by Don McLean.

Maybe someone could help me out with this "issue". I'm talking about "weird scenes inside the gold mine" where this computer is concerned. Don't you just HATE it when something screws up and then fixes itself for no apparent reason? And you just don't know why or even if it will occur again? It goes with anything, guitars, cars and..computers. Anyway, my system shutdown for no reason last night. When trying to reboot I got "file ntfs.sys missing or corrupt" message. I set my CD-ROM as first boot and booted up the system with the Win XP disc. Part way in the machine tells me that "setupdd.sys file is unavailable". System shutdown again. Tried booting up with the secondary BIOS and get "hal.dll missing or corrupt" message. Tried starting in SAFE mode, "previous known working setup mode", etc. etc. and system just cycles thru startup again with final result going back to "ntfs.sys missing or corrupt." Started up again and the damn machine is running fine now! What gives? One thing I don't abide in my world is UNRELIABILITY.

I overbend my frets slightly so the ends seat nice and tight. I set each one and tap it in firmly with a hammer making sure the neck is securely supported. The hammer might dent the tops slightly but I usually do an overall levelling with a stone anyway. I never use glue unless I'm dealing with widened fret slots but otherwise not necessary as the fret tangs should do their work.

LOL, just finished formatting and reinstalled everything on my boot drive. The 'puter my father gave me had some "issues". Just logging in. so...how is everyone??

There could be more than one reason for buzzing, need more info. Any particular area on the neck where this is occurring? any particular frets? Are the frets worn in or near the buzz areas? You might be able to correct by raising the bridge saddle or raising the nut. A truss rod adjustment might fix. Replace/redress bad frets and look for loose ones. Usually a combination of everything I mentioned fixes buzzing. You have to identify exactly whats causing it, ie. neck related or fret related or both. Heres a start: http://www.frets.com/FRETSPages/Luthier/Te.../buzzintro.html

Check your TV guides, can't miss this show. Hes got a helluva bass player with him too, just thumpin' out that big fat fender 5-string, . Harper plays some neat looking lap slide guitars too. Its hard to believe he can sing while playing some of that.

Oh, I just remembered, worst I ever seen, and I really hate to say it, was Johnny Winter at Legends here in Victoria, Tuesday, April 17/2001. It was a really sad sight to see. However, in Johnny's defense, his father died earlier that year and he was recovering from a broken hip from a month before. He had to be helped out on stage, was wearing sweat pants and could very well have had some "depens" on underneath, I dunno. I'm assuming he was boosted up on pain killers and he didn't stray from the usual song lineup. Every time his cue came for a solo he fumbled around and kept it simple, none of the finger blistering solos he was known for in his heyday. His main axe was the headless Erlewine lazer and when playing some slide he would switch to his trusty Gibson Explorer. He had some problems when he switched guitars, his hair was caught under the strap and he couldn't get it straight, someone had to come help him out. I got nothing against Johnny W., hes my ALLTIME favorite blues guitar player. He is a real trooper and still touring. If you get a chance to see him, then take advantage of it, you might catch him on a good night and have your mind blown. Either way, you can still say that you saw Johnny Winter in person, the man is still a legend IMO. If you've never heard him play check out Johnny Winter - Captured Live, one of my favorites. I can remember an interviewer asked him what was the most popular question he was ever asked by fans... "Wheres your brother?"

I saw Jethro Tull in 1976, I think it was the Bursting Out double live album tour. They always put on a good show. A few years later I saw Uriah Heep, they were horrible. The best elements of the band, singer David Byron and bass player Gary Thain, were not in the picture. Thain was already dead and Byron was out, he later died in 1985.

Well, somebody has picked up where Dan Armstrong left off and is still making Danelectros. I've seen lots of brand spanking new danos being sold at my local music store, lots of them are reissues. And you are right Armstrong et. al. made the same guitars under the Silvertone label for marketing through Sears dept. store chain. But if someone told me that Jimmy Page played THIS or THAT particular guitar back in 1969, I would sure be interested in learning how he is going to prove it to me, . I've got a big stack of guitar mags from the 70's and 80's with lots of interviews with Page and others. Maybe there is some mention in there somewhere about other guitars and gear he tried out. Give me a few days to do some research. Lots of good info on Danos here: http://www.danoguitars.com/59-DC.html

Yeah, I think thats the only reason why Danelectro is still around and selling like they do. Before Page was known to play one they were just another oddball made of masonite countertop material. Hmmm, so thats what sells guitars, eh?

A couple of good books in my inventory are: Complete Banjo Repair by Larry Sandberg (not kidding here, the principles are the same as guitars in many areas) Complete Guitar Repair by Hideo Kamimoto Both books are loaded with pictures and very informative on tools and methodology.

Hey all you young metal maniacs, . Give a listen to Frank Zappa, on Roxy and Elsewhere playing Son of Orange County. Aside from that I like Cliffs of Dover by Eric Johnson and Always With You Always With Me by Satch. But you're right, too many more to name.

lol, No mention of a Silvertone at this site. LZ I album he used a 58 Tele. Go tell the kid at the jewellry store that I'll give him 50 bucks Cdn for the Silvertone, oh and, does that include the case with the built-in amp? http://www.guitarworld.com/gearreviews/axo.../0703.page.html Honestly, if Page ever recorded with a Silvertone they would be selling as much as Danelectros now!

I'm not sure neck joint style will show a discernable difference in sound to the average guitar picker, especially when concerning solid body electrics. The basic physics rule states that sound travels fastest thru denser, more homogenous material. When speaking of applications to electric guitar construction it very well could be a moot point as most of the sound an electric produces is from the action of the vibrating string on electromagnetic pickups. However, the length of time a string vibrates without interruption (sustain) could be significant in neck construction. If the two anchor points of the string (bridge and nut) were on the same piece of wood, which has a fairly straight grain, you might get better sustain than a setup involving dissimilar pieces of wood bolted or glued together. I'm not saying there would be astronomical differences here and you would likely need some sensitive scientific equipment to verify this. Also, it is neither a good or a bad thing, as much of the tone a guitar produces is subject to preference. But when considering overall strength and stability, neck construction is very important. The early SG's had strength problems at the neck joint area because of the excessive amount of wood that had to be removed for the neck pickup. Lots of guitars were cracking in that area as the neck joint began at the 22nd fret. Since then they have made some changes by moving the neck joint to the 19th fret. The last guitar I built was a double cutaway style with a 4 degree neck angle. The neck angle started 3" into the body and continued from there. The 22nd fret was actually OUTSIDE of the guitar body. So I had even less wood available for stability after pickup routing. Thats why I opted to go with the neck through design and found it to be much stabler than had I gone with a set neck or bolt on design. Just make sure you leave lots of wood thickness at the heel in the back.

I use copper tape in all my guitars. I was told that if you are installing humbuckers then its not really necessary so long as all components are grounded properly, but nonetheless, I still use copper tape. It looks nicer. You can order it at StewMac. I heard that stained glass artisans use the really thick heavy stuff as backing and heat sink material for doing their lead soldering.

I don't want to take this thread too far off topic but I guess it was a new category and the boundarys between the two genres (hard rock / metal) hadn't been carved in stone at the time. I saw Tull three times, all EXCELLENT shows. And Martin Barre DID have a heavy sound about him, but you are right, a metal band does not have piano, flute, glockenspeil, accordian, etc. Crest of a Knave was a pretty good hard rock album tho.

LOL, did you know that he used to be the guitar player for Jethro Tull for a brief period? As far as distinguishing between hard rock and metal, can you believe that the Jethro Tull album - "Crest of a Knave"(1987) won the Grammy in 1989 for the new category Best Hard Rock/Metal Performance? I can remember that very well because Metallica made a big stink over it after they got beaten. There are lots of ways that magazines rate musicians, albums etc. etc. so much of what they say is bushwa and is open to interpretation. I can remember the "top 100 guitarists" rated in Guitar magazine of 2000. It was a total farce, I mean, Johnny Winter wasn't even mentioned! But if Iommi just considered his music "hard rock" then that is how he perceives it.

Its a pretty durable material once applied. I used some on my oak toilet seat about 10 years ago, something that is used every day, . And it still looks the same as the day it was finished.

Howdy, there are lots of styles and designs of truss rods available for all kinds of applications. Check out StewMac website for choices. They also offer very good installation instructions. Personally I like the Bi-flex "Hotrod" style of trussrod. Its very easy to install and you don't have to worry about finding ways to anchor each end. The basic idea is to rout out a channel in your neck, right down the center at the correct depth and width. You have to decide which end you want to position the adjustment nut of the truss rod and think out a way to make it easily accessible. Once you lay the truss rod into the slot, and are happy with the positioning, you simply glue and clamp your fretboard down on top of it. If you wanted to go with a solid maple neck then you rout out the backside, insert the truss rod and then install a long wood plug or "skunkstripe" to cover the hole. Then shape the back of the neck. Heres some info on routers and routing: http://members.accesswave.ca/%7Ederekn/routertutorial/