Lunch Report: 2012-06-20

Hello GbL land.

What a great night last night. Sent an email "shipping" off an early version of the project I've been importing data for, then went on an organized, non-bike clothes night ride, picked up some Redhook ESP on the way home, and finished the night drinking a tasty beer and watching this superb talk with Linus Torvalds with a few (not many) naughty words in it.

[youtube]MShbP3OpASA[/youtube]

Lunch:
Brooke Bond Taj Majal tea from Unilever Hindustan (India Unilever) and I'm making up some egg drop soup while entering in this lunch report, and will have finished eating it when I click the |SUBMIT| button. That's not just lunch reporting, that's reporting with lunch!



No bags on the tea, just put in a large container, let the tea settle to the bottom, and pour tea off the top. Superior taste that way too.

The next couple days:
I'm a delegate for the Idaho Republican State Convention in part due to winning an election with a coin toss. So, I'll be in Twin Falls, Idaho for three days starting tomorrow. Here's news coverage of the coin toss:

http://www.ktvb.com/news/politics/Coin-toss-decides-winner-of-local-race-152642745.html

The next two lunch reports will be whenever due to travel.

Question: Anyone go to one of these convention things before? It's new to me.

Bicycles
I bought an old, earlier production Dahon folding bike. I'm really liking it so far. It's the fastest ride I have (50psi tires, three speeds, under 150lbs) and it's small. Here's a pic of a similar Dahon. Mine's also a black frame with the three speed rear hub:



Guitars
I'm turning Wednesday into token guitar day.

I wanted guitar sounds but wasn't having any luck with regular guitars. Why? Strings too close together. So, I've since had a couple guitars modded into 4 strings. Did the first one myself. It's a Danelectro Mod 7 turned into four by pulling pulling every other tuner and saddle, then putting the wound strings on from a wound G set.

Here's the 2012 build of the song "I Have a Hammer", recorded with the modded Mod 7.

[youtube]dKUYe2P6sMY[/youtube]

...and the sorta live performance (more like Karaoke with props) on a public access cable show here in Boise (starts 2:45 in):

[youtube]BJHOGrdS2z4[/youtube]

If you listen close you'll notice an odd pick attack. That's because I strum the strings with two nails, so they are double struck. It's a distinctive sound, in fact defending on what I'm playing on the fretless guitar I have (converted to a four) the biggest deviation from common electric guitar tone isn't the last of frets, but what my right hand is doing. Of course, if I'm sliding around on the board, the fretless part becomes very (and delightfully) obvious.

Question: What do you have that's fretless (bass, violin, whatever)? Do you even want something without frets?

G&L
I <3 G&L basses. Mine are all Leo Fender-era. The L-5000 seems to be the one of the two fretted ones I have that records the best overall. It's not on "I Have a Hammer" (that's the SB-2 in the video from Boise public access TV) but I did use it on the intro song sequence for TV Cycle (though not the video).

Question: What's your favorite G&L to record with? It it the same one as your favorite to play?

The SB-2 is my favorite to play, but the L-5000 is preferred overall for recording.

Tomorrow's report will probably be from Twin Falls, Idaho, unless I file it early.

Brock, you finished the night in style with a tasty beer! Lunch today was leftover Pizza from last night. I haven't done that for a long time. I have not had tea in years but prefer a tasty beer at times.

Cool folding bike and I remember when they were in style for commuters. Throw them in the trunk, park and ride. Cycling has become a reality in Minneapolis as they have a great bike trail system. Many commuters are using them and it is even catching on in the winter. When Cycle TV decides to expand you will have to start filming bike trails in other cities. Just do it here in the summer.

I listened to I Have A Hammer expecting your version of PP&Ms If I Had A Hammer. Quite different than I expected but cool never the less. I saw a video of you and the same fellow on Sheila's show about a year ago. It is good to see public TV alive and well in Boise.

I have had a fretless Bass and liked it but didn't use it much. I did not become precise on it but you Dano mod sounds interesting. Did you replace the nut and modify the bridge to make the string spacing even? -- Darwin

Great report, Brock!

Question: Anyone go to one of these convention things before? It's new to me.

I never have. I do get to ride past the Capitol and the House office buildings on my commute every day. That's close enough for me. The lights in the offices aren't on yet when the government workers go to their jobs, and they're off again before the same workers head home. Except, that is, for the days when lobbyists are swarming the sidewalks in front of the offices. Sorry if this is too off-topic!

Question: What do you have that's fretless (bass, violin, whatever)? Do you even want something without frets?

I love all things fretless. I tried fretless bass without much success back in college, but taking up the upright got me past a lot of mental and ear training barriers. Not to mention, anything is easy in comparison to a 42" scale! I am waiting for the arrival of a fretless bass right now. That will join the upright for my low-end fretless arsenal. I also have an oud tucked away in the basement, as I have nowhere to play it where I live now and my wife absolutely detests the sound of it.

For anybody unfamiliar with ouds, they are the instruments lutes and guitars evolved from. They have been played throughout the Mediterranean basin, up through Eastern Europe and as far west as China, for a couple of thousand years. Essentially, they are like short scale, fretless 12-string classical guitars, with very deep bowl backs. I think they would be a difficult learning curve for most guitarists, but crossing over from the upright bass I found the mechanics and intonation to be pretty easy. I played at a gig less than 48 hours after the first time I picked it up. The tricky thing for me was trying to learn the traditional "maqams", or microtonal scales used in Middle Eastern music. They were really what made the instrument interesting and fun to play, though.

Ken

Hi Brock,

First, thanks for posting Linus' Q&A session. Sat through it all and enjoyed it tremendously. In his words, I apparently work for one of these 'razor companies making their money selling razor blades' .

I have never been part of a political convention. Right now, I am one of these proverbial people being taxed without representation Oh well, ...

I don't have fretless instruments although I am always on the lookout for a fretless JB-2 bass. Played a fretless Tacoma bass once and that was a lot of fun. It takes quite some practice not to slide into the correct note all the time.

- Jos

(The...) Dano mod sounds interesting. Did you replace the nut and modify the bridge to make the string spacing even? -- Darwin

Nope. It is a seven string model, so I just removed every other tuner and saddle. It has a separate saddle for each string (unlike the single piece saddles many Danos have). At the bridge, I did have to widen a few of the slots at the nut because the strings were bigger than what was there stock. The spacing is a bit on the excessive on width but the strings are evenly spaced.

Here's the rundown I put on Harmony Central at the time (over a decade ago... ...what?!). A few months later I did start to get saddle rattle so I pulled those soonafter.
http://www.harmonycentral.com/reviews/4918

...and a pic of the Dano:

Great report, Brock!
Not to mention, anything is easy in comparison to a 42" scale!

Stretching isn't easy at that long of a scale, but I find for the most part fretless becomes easier to hit the right spot on when:
1. The scale shortens.
2. The pitch drops.

I think we're more pitch sensitive higher up (within reason... ...there's a sweet spot) and also that when you have a longer scale (again, within reason) it's easier to be precise, because being of by a mm is less significant of a percentage of scale as the scale length grows.

Fretless guitar is more difficult for me than fretless bass guitar.

When Cycle TV decides to expand you will have to start filming bike trails in other cities.

I have some Utah shows shot but not edited.

They're coming!

does it matter which way idaho votes? do they even campaign there? not too many electoral votes up for grabs. i think practicing guitar is a lot better way to spend that time than a repubelican convention.

interesting q&a with linus. enjoyed it. i am very much into loose leaf tea, but only oolong and green. would be interested to try that indian one though.

does it matter which way idaho votes? do they even campaign there? not too many electoral votes up for grabs.

The government has become massively over-centralized, but some things are still state-level issues. In Idaho, the Republican party is where the action and if the regular citizens don't get involved, the bastards win. That's why I'm there... ...well, and I won a coin toss.

i think practicing guitar is a lot better way to spend that time than a repubelican convention.

Don't worry, I'm bringing the bass banjo!

interesting q&a with linus. enjoyed it. i am very much into loose leaf tea, but only oolong and green. would be interested to try that indian one though.

It's nice. I dig greens British breakfast teas too.

Cool conversion on the Dano Brock. The string spacing is almost like a bass which would work well for you as you also play bass!-- Darwin

I have two fretless basses, well currently one, because I swapped necks on one to be fretted just to test a neck.

I have one beautiful Japanese Fender Jazz bass with an unmarked fretless fingerboard. Its actually marked on the side with dots at every other fret interval. That is a feature that is very helpful in the beginning but I actually like to ignore the dots and totally use my ear to play in tune if I can.
I am interested in a fretless bass with no markings at all, just for the value of the ear training. My first fretless was a parts bass and it came with a fretless neck that had multiple markings on the side of the neck that were all in the wrong places. This was a challenging neck to play because I was forced to use my ears and not my eyes. A bass that required the player to listen. It was great!