End of Month Lunch Report - 03/31

Lunch

We were low on groceries, so I drove to the Japanese Supermarket over lunch break (until recently they were the only place that still stocked bread - though things seem to have improved. I guess lots of people don't go to Asian markets for staples like that though, so I'm continuing to go there and feel weird as the only person not wearing a mask.) Another year, another 'new normal,' and it has come to the point where we can't really avoid or ignore at least a casual mention of the *effects* of the things at large even if we're not talking *about* Covid, so I'll be doing a bit of that here.

Off Topic: Computers

My guitar lesson was today; I live five minutes from my instructor but it was over Skype. I've used Skype or similar messaging/conferencing tools my entire work career - a lot of my peers are at other sites around the state and country anyway. So I continue to use it with pretty much the exact same frequency to conference with my work peers, while I'm stuck at home. It struck me we're pretty reliant on technology these days and that will only increase.

Which leads to the question: What was your first exposure to using computers? I was exposed to computers/online interactions since I was three - but that's because my Dad was already a power-user in the '80s. My peers' first exposure to the internet began around 1995, but I 'helped' my dad use GEnie and Compuserve in 1988 on home-built PCs or an Apple ii. By 1990 I was five, with my own computer room; even had Prodigy online service and my own email (though not many people outside family I could actually send messages to.) While cleaning out my mom's house a few months ago I found my dad's laptop from 1989 (a Toshiba that apparently would have cost about $5k in its time, because it had its own hard drive.) It still works (!) and I found some emails I'd written to my sister on saved in Microsoft Works. That said - while I played a lot of computer games during the Windows 3.1 era and had AOL when everyone else did -I didn't really 'discover' the internet (and become addicted) until around 1997 . I miss Geocities.

Guitar Topic: Strings

How do you string your guitars - do you use any overlaps/interlocked windings etc. ? I got my twelve string back from a bridge repair and the tech installed all twelve new strings with the knotted Martin-style wrap; so far, I've broken three strings (at the tuner) where I never broke a single one before on that guitar I've always been fine using just normal stringing on side-hole/standard tuners; minimum three wraps piled under the string end, which is just on top with no 'knot' in it - more wraps on smaller gauge strings to hold them from slipping. I've never had any tuning or breakage issues this way, and sometimes do use the amount of wraps to adjust break angle over the nut as well.

I didn't own a string winder until a couple years ago and still have a habit of not using it; on a couple of my guitars it can knock the headstock if I'm not careful. My favorite tuners to string are still the Kluson (or G&L for that matter) style slotted tuners. I've had guitars with locking tuners as well and appreciate the ease of stringing (and technically appreciate the elimination of wraps, even though I never had any issue with tuning stability issues with standard tuners anyway.) In the meantime I'm lucky I have a crusty old set of twelve string strings that I pulled off of it before, so I don't have to waste 25% of a new pack (or replace all the strings) while there's still some life in these. I might try to un-wind the knotted strings from the tuners, and re-wind them the standard way to prevent any more breaking.

Music Topic:

Looks like all the upcoming shows we were going to see this year are cancelled; notably Bright Eyes, and probably the Weezer/Fallout Boy/Green Day tour date we have tickets for too. I had also wanted to see Faith No More and hadn't bought tickets yet; which is probably the show I was most excited to see (if only because I've seen the other bands minus Bright Eyes before - Bright Eyes is more my wife's thing.) Listening to comfort/acoustic music right now; I was truly struck by this video of the Mamas and the Papas. Michele Phillips looks lively and gorgeous in an almost eerily modern way. Something about this looks like it could have been filmed by present-day hipsters, and not over fifty years ago:

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It's also fun to break out my twelve string and strum along to some Gordon Lightfoot (assuming a string doesn't break) :

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I might have to restock soon, I've got my fingers crossed for my favorite brands (much of which comes from Italy)...but I'll make do.
I've been enjoying making homemade soups, seems there is a few more bucks for guitar strings

I can't stand that Martin string wrap, taking off that last curly part after the string breaks at the pinched part is maddening.
I like crossing the wrap once at the top then winding them down. Since I started using a winder the wraps are close to perfect,
it's harder to do that without...re-positioning the turning hand tends to add some chaos.

We had a Commodore PET in my 7th grade math class (1978), took some COBOL,PASCAL... classes in college.
Next was a friends AMIGA in the late 80's. The 90's blew my mind with fractals finally visualized well, photoshop, and HotBot.
It's hard to comprehend the whole of what we have now


I've been grabbing chunks of funky tracks to Jam to(making loops of breaks etc.). In the mid 70's ABC's late night movie would use Track 1 on "I am"
as intro music.

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Lunch- I've been semi-skipping lunch since going into isolation. There is some hard salami in the fridge that needs to get used so I will probably make a small sandwich. I'll be able to use up some of our remaining lettuce as well. We are running out of fresh foods after being In for the last two weeks. It appears we will be able to get delivery from a small local market. If not we can at least do a pick up. I'm ready for some meat on the grill and temps look good by the end of the week.

Stringing- I'm also a fan of split/drilled tuners. On my acoustics with hole thru posts I usually just stick the string through and start winding so the winds are under the each other. I also recently started doing it this way. I use to pull the string through and then back and under before winding. I still tend to do that on the plain steel strings. I use a winder primarily on acoustics.

First exposure to computers was in high school early 80s but those were Tandys or something. In college we had computer labs for writing papers and such; the era before personal computers really took off. I primarily still used a typewriter as a college student. I suppose I'm a bit of a luddite. We were late to getting a home PC and I am still not very computer literate.

I've been listening to random stuff of late. Over the weekend I was watching some rock a billy bands on youtube which is a bit unusual for me but I had heard some good stuff on the radio. Also some JJ Cale recently. My wife and I went thru a Big Thief period earlier this year. I've been trying to play/sing this song lately so it tends to get stuck in my head.

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Thanks for the Lunch Report Danley!

Lunch today was left over beef stroganoff and a mango La Croix. Been working from home since March 20th. My employer encourage those that could t work remotely starting the 23rd and yesterday announced the office is closed till further notice except for lab personnel. It is nice avoiding the 10 hours a week commuting. I can walk to the grocery store to get essentials when needed. Haven't really had to leave home very often. Doog, does miss meeting new people though...

Computers, my first exposure was probably early 1980's. My dad worked for Rockwell and they were trying to get in the computer market. So we had one of those. I had VIC20 then a Commodore 64, my dad has 8088 or was 8086 chip PC. I had an uncle who worked for IBM as well. I taught myself BASIC and PASCAL and had to learn FORTRAN in college. I actually wrote a program to catalog all my beer recipes and do all the calculations that ran in the DOS environment.

Strings, I too really like the slotted tuning pegs. Just shove the string down the hole, bend it the slot edge and wrap. With cross drilled, I just wrap down. Nothing special.

I have been streaming WYMS out of Milwaukee when I don't have conference calls. Been nice to be able to listen to music while working. Other than that, I have been catching up on some KEXP videos. While this is not the KEXP video, I did dig this band, Mush, in KEXP feed recently.

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Keep safe all and hopefully enjoy a bit more string time!
Dan

My wife and I have been skipping lunch about half the time as well. She made a cake yesterday so we had cake and tea after our daily walk. The grocery stores are a bit better than they have been in past weeks although they do have a Russian/Soviet era vibe ( or what I imagine a Russian-Soviet food market might have looked like in 1979 )

The early 80's would have been my first computer exposure. One of my friends had an Apple II that we played Castle Wolfenstein on. Good times. Other friends had Vic20's and there were Commodore 64's at school by grade 7. I played games on them as well.

Nothing fancy with the way I string guitars, bend em, turn em, stretch em, done. I do think the split shaft tuners are the best design. I like the idea of a string winder but I hate the way I have to be careful not hit the head stock, so I tend not to use them although you do get nicer wraps.

There is some great music posted on this thread and the Can-Con is always noted. Not only do they have great music but Earth, Wind and Fire has to be one of the best band names ever. Right now my Asat is tuned in open G so you can guess what I have been playing / learning lately. The acoustic has been getting lots of attention these days as well. It took a bit to get my strumming and open chord changes back up to snuff , so I just played everything on it for a couple of days. Use it or lose it. I won't neglect it any more.

Since we been told to stay at home we've been doing more cooking than normal. Today I just threw some noodles in with some leftover chicken with onion and carrot and that was lunch.

I had VIC20 then a Commodore 64, my dad has 8088 or was 8086 chip PC.
Dan

I am dating myself here talking about computers. In the mid-1970s I was working for Intel. I was one of a team of 4 engineers who designed the 8086 chip. We finished the 8086 design around 1978. Intel took our design and have another team build an 8-bit interface to the 8086 and that was the 8088. 8088 was the CPU in the first IBM personal computer, you know the one with the green cathode ray tube display?

I'm fine with with all the different tuning machines. Locking, split shaft or drilled shaft, they are all pretty manageable specially with a string winder. The string winder is probably the best $5 guitar accessory there is.

Thx Danley, timely lunch report.

lunch was a stuffed pepper and some cauliflower

early computers: in 1990 my mom gave me her ibm ps-2 with 2 x 3.5 floppy bays and no hard drive. i learned the basics on that and also used microsoft works. i used that computer (DOS!) for 5 years in my business, quicken program as well (pre-windows). in 1995 finally got a micron w/ 1G hard drive for $2K and got online on compuserve...

strings: i too like the split tuner posts of my Fender and G&L gtrs. in the past 2 years i have acquired a Firebird (T 2017) with Steinberger locking tuners, and an ASAT special (2007) with Sperzel locking tuners, and these are my new fav, so easy. recently the #6 low E string on my ASAT went kind of dead, and made me wonder if using the locking tuner, with no significant winds/wraps, contributed to that. ? thoughts??

music: i am lamenting several cancelled festivals i wanted to attend for this spring: berks county jazz festival (pa), chesapeake blues festival (md), st. georges blues festival (de), umphrey's at red rocks (co) and Peach festival (pa), all either cancelled or doomed to be cancelled. my band has had 2 gigs cancelled as well. we still have high hopes for 1 in late july. i have been trying to make up for this by listening to some new stuff by Pat Metheny, Sonny Landreth, some local CD's by friends of mine, and indulged in one of the true fire online lessons with Robben Ford, the Master.
It's great to see the Gordon Lightfoot reference. I've always liked "Sundown", summer of '74 stuff, when i first started playing gtr. I still play this in an acoustic duo with a good friend.

stay well, careful, everybody. i anticipate we'll need to hunker down through the better part of june before this turns around in a sustained way.

I am dating myself here talking about computers. In the mid-1970s I was working for Intel. I was one of a team of 4 engineers who designed the 8086 chip.

Wow - That's pretty legendary! I went to high school across the street from Intel's facility in Folsom, and most of my fellow students were linked with Intel through their mom or dad; sadly I think that since I was something of a contrarian at that age, that pushed me away from wanting to learn more about computer science - though at one point I did get a decent ways into teaching myself Basic and C++ , it's all forgotten now.

It's great to see the Gordon Lightfoot reference. I've always liked "Sundown", summer of '74 stuff, when i first started playing gtr. I still play this in an acoustic duo with a good friend.

I wish I'd seen him last time he was on tour around here; my favorites are probably Carefree Highway and If You Could Read My Mind, but just about any of his music is doable at any time for me.

Right now my Asat is tuned in open G so you can guess what I have been playing / learning lately. The acoustic has been getting lots of attention these days as well. It took a bit to get my strumming and open chord changes back up to snuff , so I just played everything on it for a couple of days. Use it or lose it. I won't neglect it any more.

Alternate tunings (even something as simple as open tuning) are something I've never really experimented with, I think I mostly don't want to screw myself up since my knowledge of regular tuning seems tenuous at best anyway

I can't stand that Martin string wrap, taking off that last curly part after the string breaks at the pinched part is maddening.
I like crossing the wrap once at the top then winding them down. Since I started using a winder the wraps are close to perfect,
it's harder to do that without...re-positioning the turning hand tends to add some chaos.

Yep - Had to break out the pliers to unwind the broken ends from the tuners not fun. Funny you mention Hotbot, that really is a reminder to me of the early DIY, non-commercial and non-curated web. Good times

Lunch- I've been semi-skipping lunch since going into isolation. There is some hard salami in the fridge that needs to get used so I will probably make a small sandwich. I'll be able to use up some of our remaining lettuce as well. We are running out of fresh foods after being In for the last two weeks. It appears we will be able to get delivery from a small local market. If not we can at least do a pick up. I'm ready for some meat on the grill and temps look good by the end of the week.

I'm probably eating more nowadays than otherwise since my wife cooks lunch here at home (usually I'd grab an energy drink and call it good.)

Lunch today was left over beef stroganoff and a mango La Croix. Been working from home since March 20th. My employer encourage those that could t work remotely starting the 23rd and yesterday announced the office is closed till further notice except for lab personnel. It is nice avoiding the 10 hours a week commuting. I can walk to the grocery store to get essentials when needed. Haven't really had to leave home very often. Doog, does miss meeting new people though...

Love La Croix, but our supermarket only had some rip-off stuff that we picked up. For a bit I was missing being at the office, because there was toilet paper there Until people (probably) figured out they could smuggle it home (just a guess,) at which we got the go-ahead to avoid the office; we're away with no set timeframe to return.

I actually wrote a program to catalog all my beer recipes and do all the calculations that ran in the DOS environment.

I'm trying to still patronize the small breweries around here, who have beer available for take-out delivery. In fact you can even grab cocktails from restaurants and bars 'to go' now and drive them home legally - can't imagine they can walk back from the innovation any time soon after this ends

Last edited by Danley on Tue Mar 31, 2020 9:11 pm, edited 1 time in total.

In fact you can even grab cocktails from restaurants and bars 'to go' now and drive them home legally - can't imagine they can walk back from the innovation any time soon after this ends

LOL...Someone mentioned the pot shops can bring a product to your car...we used to wait in parking lots for the same service decades ago.

Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose...eh?

I swear there's a difference in sound of a fifth being fretted on one fret or two;
e.g. fretting the third and fifth frets on the bottom strings to make G-D interval,
as opposed to using a drop-D tuning and just barring the fifth fret to play a G-D interval.
Is it share vibrations across the fret? I dunno

Thanks again for LR,
Elwood

I didn't own a string winder until a couple years ago and still have a habit of not using it; on a couple of my guitars it can knock the headstock if I'm not careful. My favorite tuners to string are still the Kluson (or G&L for that matter) style slotted tuners.

Restringing an old acoustic just now, halfway through I remembered this guitar had these, they work pretty well.
(and no bumping the headstock). I have these on an old SG also.