LUNCH REPORT - It's Hump Day 26 SEP 18

Lunch will be from the cafeteria at work today. Might go with some potstickers... Day is full of meetings so trying to get this out during break...

G&L Topic

I have only one pre-BBE era G&L, my SC-3 (shown in my avatar). I love both my BBE era G&L’s and my SC-3. Both have great quality, looks, and tone. There is something cool about an instrument being vintage. The first and second iteration SC have a cool styling to me. Do you have any pre-BBE G&L’s? If so, what do you have? If more than one what is your favorite and why?

Non G&L Topic

There are many different picks to choose from out there. When I first started playing, I was most familiar with Fender brand of picks. Over the years, I have gravitated to Dunlop Tortex 0.5 mm (orange picks). I don’t like the feel of a thick pick in my hands. Most of the better player I know seem to use stiff picks, probably because they are more precise with their picking and can take better advantage of those dynamics. However, I feel like I can still get decent picking dynamics with the Tortex Orange picks. Do you have a particular pick you prefer? What in particular do you like about them?

Music Topic

Earlier in the week, I mentioned I enjoy going to see live acts. In the summer, I especially like to see outdoor shows. One of my favorite places to see live acts outdoors is Independence Grove Forest Preserve in Libertyville, IL. While the acts usually are not national acts, the atmosphere is wonderful. The band is on circular brick platform (or patio) and there is seating all around the platform. The band face the east and a small hill that hold a majority of the crowd. Behind the band and those seat behind the band there is a small lake and the sunsets can be breathtaking. The events are BYOF and BYOB friendly, so many put on a good spread. Generally, there will be a good number of people dancing and enjoying the music on the brick area around the central platform. It is probably one of my favorite parts of summer. One of my favorite indoor venues I don’t get too anymore – The Maintenance Shop in the student union at Iowa State University, Ames, IA. A real small and intimate venue. There was blues series that was shot there and air on PBS “Maintanence Shop Blues”. Saw some great shows there: Gear Daddies, House of Large Sizes, Trip Shakespeare, Draghounds… I really should make an effort to go back and catch some more shows there. Do you have any favorite venues? What makes them special to you?

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You may want to fast forward to the two minute point to get past opening… Love the faux stained-glass window!

Bonus Topic

Is there anything you like to learn? It could be anything. Perhaps another language? Maybe you would like to make kimchi? Want to play a new instrument? What would you like to learn? I have couple non-music things that I think would be cool to learn. I would like to learn bee keeping. My grandfather used to keep bees. I’d like to have the bees to help pollinate my gardens and flowers. I’m interested in how the different flowers and time of the year affect the flavor and aroma of the honey. I would also enjoy making mead from honey that my bees and plant produced. I’d also like to learn how make sausage. I am most interested in the dry aged sausages. One of my favorites is a good garlic beef summer sausage. They are so hard to find. Most are pretty bland, over ground (overly fine texture), and too wet. I also think it would be fun to make my own fresh bratwurst, Polish, Italian, and chorizo. If I were to pick a musical instrument to learn, it would be the banjo. So what would you like to learn?

Cheers, Dan

Lunch- nuts, some cheese, two thin salami slices and an apple. Boring but I’ve adjusted my diet to try and minimize back pain.

My favorite guitar is my 88 Asat with DFV bought new so many years ago. It was my main guitar in my gigging days.
The Skyhawk in my avatar is awesome too. It was from Dale Hyatt’s collection and is a gorgeous guitar.
The Asat is no 1 though.

I have always used Fender medium rounded triangles. I like being able to rotate the pick if one point gets worn. Lately I also use Dunlop tortex rounded triangles. .73 and .88.
On acoustics I use heavy gauge Fenders or a 1.0 Tortex. I have tried some 1.5 picks too but there a bit too thick for me.


Favorite venue- St. Andrew’s Hall in Detroit. Saw many great shows there over the years. It was kinda a big deal when the old band first gigged there. We really thought we had arrived.

Bonus- If I had the time I would like to learn to properly finger pick. It might be fun to get a nylon string guitar as well to learn classical or
flamenco forms.

Lunch
Prob none, but I had a bowl of Ramen this morning.

G&L
I have two pre-BBEs and one post (Tribute.) My '83 F100 is my favorite- such a solid, awesome guitar. The ASAT Deluxe Tribute falls around MIM Fender quality but IMO is not really near a US G&L- In particular the fretwork and neck detail. I prefer the pre-BBE style hands down, and the Leo-era build quality is excellent- But modern US G&Ls aren't really any worse quality-wise IMO, especially with being able to now obtain Plek setup, options like quarter-sawn & stainless frets etc. I'd love a Fullerton Doheny in particular.

Picks
For a long time I could only play with 1mm Dunlop Jazz I picks (one, not three- stubbies.) That was embarrassing so I tried to diversify- first to Jazz III then to very thin Fender standard picks. Small Jazz picks are still easiest, but playing with a very thin large pick made me a much better player all-around; removes the training wheels.

Favorite Venue
Irvine Meadows, but it's apartments now. So how about the Greek in LA. Both nestled in picturesque hills.

Learning
Taught a decent amount of Japanese to myself. Would love to program in C someday, and tempted to pick up my old college books and re-learn Calculus.

lunch today was leftover homemade bean soup

pre-BBE G&L's: my 1st was an '83 SC-2, black with a DFV. that was a cool guitar and got me interested in the old ones. it became my "gateway" G&L and I acquired a few more. i ultimately sold the SC-2 since I played the other ones more. my other ones are an
'81 F-100 (nat gloss over mahogany/ebony board/early string thru saddle lock br), an '84 Skyhawk (black nitro/ebony board/DFV), and an '89 ASAT (blonde over ash/rosewood/SLB). all are great players, unique with great tone

picks: currently purple Tortex 1.14's. used to like fender mediums but broke a few and now i like'em thicker. sometimes i just play with my fingers

venues: the Grand Opera House in Wilmington DE is amazing/ornate/beautiful. it's relatively small, so to see a "main stream" artist there is always a treat. Some memorables were Buddy Guy, Pat Metheny, Umphrey's Mcgee, BB King, Dixie Dreggs, Bela Fleck

learn: recently i have been working on blues harmonica and also ukelele, both fun and eminently portable

Lunch was a turkey sandwich from Subway

G&L
My favorite pre BBE's are the Broadcaster and my blonde 88' ASAT. The 88 ASAT was my second G&L and is toss up between the Will Ray signature for most often played. The ASAT just has a feel and sound that rings G&L to me. A little on the heavy side but love that guitar.

Picks I go for the Tortex 1.0 blue or .88 green for electric and .88 green or .73 yellow for acoustic. Came across a medium Grateful Dead pick that I like as well, don't recall who makes it.

Favorite venues include Park West Chicago and the old Roxy theatre Atlanta, saw some great shows over the years at these places.

Bonus - would like to learn how to work on car engines, the ones before they became computer based. Musically, I would love to learn how to build, repair or mod amps. Don't want to screw up my current amps, don't want to spend money on one to rip apart and have this sneaking feeling I will electrocute myself if I try to do any amp work.

My favorite guitar is my 88 Asat with DFV bought new so many years ago. It was my main guitar in my gigging days.
The Skyhawk in my avatar is awesome too. It was from Dale Hyatt’s collection and is a gorgeous guitar.
The Asat is no 1 though.

Wow, that is pretty cool to have piece of history like that. Sure looks sharp!

Bonus- If I had the time I would like to learn to properly finger pick. It might be fun to get a nylon string guitar as well to learn classical or
flamenco forms.

You and me both... Been working on finger picking and getting better but nowhere near ready for classical guitar.

G&L
I have two pre-BBEs and one post (Tribute.) My '83 F100 is my favorite- such a solid, awesome guitar. The ASAT Deluxe Tribute falls around MIM Fender quality but IMO is not really near a US G&L- In particular the fretwork and neck detail. I prefer the pre-BBE style hands down, and the Leo-era build quality is excellent- But modern US G&Ls aren't really any worse quality-wise IMO, especially with being able to now obtain Plek setup, options like quarter-sawn & stainless frets etc. I'd love a Fullerton Doheny in particular.

I'm hoping the F-100 is next in the CLF Research line-up. Most I see lately are DFV, I would prefer a Saddlelock (or Locktight - I believe it was called).

Favorite Venue
Irvine Meadows, but it's apartments now. So how about the Greek in LA. Both nestled in picturesque hills.

I general, I prefer outdoor venues myself.

Learning
Taught a decent amount of Japanese to myself. Would love to program in C someday, and tempted to pick up my old college books and re-learn Calculus.

Wow that is impressive! I wish I would have taken second language more seriously. Forgot just about all the French I learned. Taught myself Pascal, but haven't used it in over 20 years. Actually wrote my own code for a brewing calculator and recipe database.

Picks
For a long time I could only play with 1mm Dunlop Jazz I picks (one, not three- stubbies.) That was embarrassing so I tried to diversify- first to Jazz III then to very thin Fender standard picks. Small Jazz picks are still easiest, but playing with a very thin large pick made me a much better player all-around; removes the training wheels.

Maybe I need to try these large thin picks to improve my playing?

pre-BBE G&L's: my 1st was an '83 SC-2, black with a DFV. that was a cool guitar and got me interested in the old ones. it became my "gateway" G&L and I acquired a few more. i ultimately sold the SC-2 since I played the other ones more. my other ones are an
'81 F-100 (nat gloss over mahogany/ebony board/early string thru saddle lock br), an '84 Skyhawk (black nitro/ebony board/DFV), and an '89 ASAT (blonde over ash/rosewood/SLB). all are great players, unique with great tone

Hog F-100 with saddlelock YES! Nice trio.

picks: currently purple Tortex 1.14's. used to like fender mediums but broke a few and now i like'em thicker. sometimes i just play with my fingers

A lot of times if I'm guess goofing around I'll just play with fingers. Makes it easier to go between strumming and finger picking. I haven't quite got a hold of hydrid picking.

venues: the Grand Opera House in Wilmington DE is amazing/ornate/beautiful. it's relatively small, so to see a "main stream" artist there is always a treat. Some memorables were Buddy Guy, Pat Metheny, Umphrey's Mcgee, BB King, Dixie Dreggs, Bela Fleck

For indoor shows, I definitely prefer smaller venues. Last small indoor show I saw was Robyn Hitchcock at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

learn: recently i have been working on blues harmonica and also ukelele, both fun and eminently portable

Bought my wife a ukelele, I think she has given up on it. I should give that a try. I got my daughter a mandolin and enjoy messing around on it.

G&L
My favorite pre BBE's are the Broadcaster and my blonde 88' ASAT. The 88 ASAT was my second G&L and is toss up between the Will Ray signature for most often played. The ASAT just has a feel and sound that rings G&L to me. A little on the heavy side but love that guitar.

How do the Broadcaster and ASAT compare? Just due to cost, I'd probably lean toward the ASAT. I would expect the tone is pretty much the same. Though I do love a body matched headstock... Maybe it need to be a Broadcaster afterall...

Bonus - would like to learn how to work on car engines, the ones before they became computer based. Musically, I would love to learn how to build, repair or mod amps. Don't want to screw up my current amps, don't want to spend money on one to rip apart and have this sneaking feeling I will electrocute myself if I try to do any amp work.

Probably what has kept me from buying an vintage muscle car. They don't keep themselves running. A good skill to have. And just how long till the capacitor and tubes discharge???

Can build an engine but don't enjoy it any more Would rather keep my hands clean and pay a mechanic.

IMO floppy giant picks require very precise picking, because they'll sort of bend/flop out rather than sound the note if you don't hit things dead square. But when I need to put on a real performance, stiff & small works better than big and floppy (never thought I'd say that...)

I've never focused on finger-style playing; I was inspired to play guitar based on riffs/solos, and have more than enough of that left to do before I start playing finger style Don't really prefer acoustic at all either; enjoy the feel and sound of electric to a far greater degree.

I had this post open on my desk yesterday, but was called away before I could post.

Lunch: yesterday was the same old kale/jalapeno/boiled egg/salsa salad I have pretty much every day. Nothing fancy but great for nutrients and protein.

G&L Topic: I don't have any pre-BBE G&Ls. ... yet.

Non G&L Topic: When I first started playing I played the thinnest Jim Dunlops my local guitar store sold. By the time I had been playing for a year or so I had moved up to .60s, but I'm pretty sure I've been playing .88s and 1.0s. I have thicker picks I pull out once and a while, but my go-to picks these days are .88s with Cat Tongue grip - the grip is what sells these for me. It seems it would be a petty, insignificant thing - but that grip really makes it easy to control the pick when you moving through different picking styles in the same piece.

Music Topic: I've loved Albert King for a couple of decades now - never saw that video before. Awesome. When I was in a proper band (as a pastor, I get the opportunity to play regularly in church, but I don't count that as gigging, or anything most of us would consider a venue), back in "the day", we played parties. When the rest of our (blues) band was invited to join (and accepted) the invitation to join a local Celtic band, playing old Irish drinking ditties in the few local English/Irish pubs (ad infinitem) I wasn't invited as they already had a rhythm guitarist. That was around the time I met my wife, and pretty soon after that my "band" days were just a memory. As far as venues go, I like small and intimate. I remember when John Hammond Jr. came to town, he played a small venue here in Winnipeg (The West End Cultural Center), and I was sitting a row back from the stage. Best live experience ever. I could say the same about guys like James Cotton and Ed Winters - some of the best shows I've ever seen, all in little intimate venues. There's a nasty little blues bar in Winnipeg (Windsor Hotel) that certain musicians, after playing the Winnipeg Arena, would often show up at to Jam. Guys like Colin James, Jeff Healey etc. would show up unannounced, and put on a show to a "crowd" of maybe 30 people. I know there are some places that smell nice, look nice, and sound nice. But I'll toss all that over for up front and close most any time.

Bonus Topic: Musically, I'd like to play Sax and Bagpipes. My youngest son took up the Bagpipes a few years back (he's 12 now), and is getting pretty good (though it was a few years of suffering to get him there). I play harmonica a bit, but I haven't really taken it seriously, and I want to do that some time. I've learned to make cheese this past year (it's so easy!), I'd been putting that off for a long time. I taught myself biblical Greek, because I was annoyed by preachers who would appeal to the Greek for a meaning that couldn't be found in the English. I wanted to know what the texts said, and not what someone thought they said, (or wanted them to say). I think I'd like to learn Hebrew for the same reason. As a programmer (by day), I'd like to get into writing apps for my iPhone. I've played around and written some apps already, but I'd like to write a game or something really useful.

Great post!

I'm hoping the F-100 is next in the CLF Research line-up. Most I see lately are DFV, I would prefer a Saddlelock (or Locktight - I believe it was called).

Hard to imagine G&L not doing it. They tooled the pickups up for the last reissues & 25th Anniversaries, they could use either the new Skyhawk body or the old F100/Superhawk reissue body, they'd just need to stamp out correct looking plates. They could even choose to reissue with the 'teat' headstock (but I prefer the non-teat )

The string-through bridge is what one should really hope for. But I could settle for a standard Saddle Lock or DFV.

Music Topic: I've loved Albert King for a couple of decades now - never saw that video before. Awesome. When I was in a proper band (as a pastor, I get the opportunity to play regularly in church, but I don't count that as gigging, or anything most of us would consider a venue), back in "the day", we played parties. When the rest of our (blues) band was invited to join (and accepted) the invitation to join a local Celtic band, playing old Irish drinking ditties in the few local English/Irish pubs (ad infinitem) I wasn't invited as they already had a rhythm guitarist. That was around the time I met my wife, and pretty soon after that my "band" days were just a memory. As far as venues go, I like small and intimate. I remember when John Hammond Jr. came to town, he played a small venue here in Winnipeg (The West End Cultural Center), and I was sitting a row back from the stage. Best live experience ever. I could say the same about guys like James Cotton and Ed Winters - some of the best shows I've ever seen, all in little intimate venues. There's a nasty little blues bar in Winnipeg (Windsor Hotel) that certain musicians, after playing the Winnipeg Arena, would often show up at to Jam. Guys like Colin James, Jeff Healey etc. would show up unannounced, and put on a show to a "crowd" of maybe 30 people. I know there are some places that smell nice, look nice, and sound nice. But I'll toss all that over for up front and close most any time.

I definitely prefer small intimate venues. Front and close absolutely!

Bonus Topic: Musically, I'd like to play Sax and Bagpipes. My youngest son took up the Bagpipes a few years back (he's 12 now), and is getting pretty good (though it was a few years of suffering to get him there). I play harmonica a bit, but I haven't really taken it seriously, and I want to do that some time. I've learned to make cheese this past year (it's so easy!), I'd been putting that off for a long time. I taught myself biblical Greek, because I was annoyed by preachers who would appeal to the Greek for a meaning that couldn't be found in the English. I wanted to know what the texts said, and not what someone thought they said, (or wanted them to say). I think I'd like to learn Hebrew for the same reason. As a programmer (by day), I'd like to get into writing apps for my iPhone. I've played around and written some apps already, but I'd like to write a game or something really useful.

I never knew there were Irish bagpipes until my wife and I took a trip to Ireland. They are designed to be indoor friendly. Kind of look like a cross between Scottish bagpipes and an accordion. I keep tell the band director at church we need to find someone who plays these. So of Crowder's song I think would go great with bagpipes!