It's Friday already. Woo hoo! Thanks everybody for making me welcome this week and for all your responses. I've had a real blast. Now it's time to post the last report of the week and then suck off into the funset
Lunch
Friday is the best day of the week for so many reasons, not the least because it’s sushi day. I love the stuff. The flavours and textures are subtle, and they all complement each other perfectly. Except if you choose to blow your sinuses apart with wasabi. There’s something about the presentation of Japanese food that adds to its enjoyment too.
I don’t know the proper name for anything I’m eating right now. It looks a bit like this but it's crammed into a disposable plastic container.
It’s an assortment of tuna, salmon and a very white fleshed fish on rice. Throw on some soy sauce, pickled ginger and wasabi and my stomach is smiling. The California rolls with prawns (shrimp) inside are pretty good too.
G&L Topic
There’s been a bit of discussion over the last week about MFD pickups going microphonic as they age. My latest G&L, a ’97 S-500 has exactly this problem on the middle pickup, and to a lesser extent on the bridge pickup.
Craig posted up some useful information on the knowledge base yesterday about possible causes and fixes. One of the possible fixes is to get the pickups wax re-potted. I had convinced myself that I would have to do this, though I'd prefer not to. I'd already decided to put this project off as long as possible!
A different cause of microphonics in MFD pickups is that the magnets and keeper plates come un-glued over time, allowing them to move around in response to vibration. The solution is to simply re-glue them together.
I don’t know much about the design of MFD pickups so I popped the pick guard off my S-500 last night and took a look. Lo and behold, the long square plate at the bottom of the pickups was being held in place by magnetism alone on the middle and bridge pickups. I’m assuming this is the keeper plate or base plate referred to in the knowledge base info? The glue must indeed have broken over time.
So all I need to do now is some re-gluing. The question is what glue should I use? I don’t want to use the same stuff G&L use as it doesn’t seem to last very well. Gluing metal surfaces together is not one of my areas of expertise.
Would I be better off going the wax potting route and letting the wax hold the components in place?
Off Topic
Australians are generally a proud bunch of people, particularly when it comes to sporting achievements. But this summer dark clouds of discontent are massing on the horizon and the fragile bubble of Australian sporting self-esteem looks set to pop.
You see it is cricket season and the Australian and English teams will do battle for one of the most unimpressive but enduring sporting trophies in the world. The Ashes.
Rivalry between Australia and Britain goes back a long way and probably stems from Australia’s colonial roots. The Brits, or Poms as we affectionately call them, like to remind us at every opportunity that we are nothing but a bunch of useless ex-convicts that live in a God forsaken, dried out country at the arse end of the world. There are elements of truth in this. Even so, Poms continue to migrate to Australia in record numbers, though they’ll never admit they actually like it here. But I digress…
Australians like to remind the British that they are a bunch of effeminate, pale skinned, pompous nancy boys that only win world wars by getting Australians and Americans to help them. It’s all very good natured and, deep down, we all like each other. Really.
Historically, the natural order of events leading up to an Ashes series goes something like this.
England win a game against a lowly nation like e.g. Bangladesh. The British tabloids all say ‘jolly good show, this new team is world class. We really have a great shot at the Ashes this time’. The English team continues to win a game here and there (the losses are conveniently overlooked) and before you know it the tabloids are trumpeting ‘this is the best English team ever to leave our shores, you beer swilling convicts have got no chance’. After this the usual thing happens - the English players themselves start to believe the hype. Their heads puff up with helium and they march into battle against the Australians believing everything they’ve been told. Then the other usual thing happens. They wilt under pressure. First there’s a few wobbles, then a few cracks, and before you know it they’ve lost 5-0, or maybe 4-1 (the Aussies are inevitably hungover from celebrating for the last match).
The Poms start blaming each other, the tabloids scream for blood and the captain is sacked. It’s very amusing to watch, and one of the reasons Australians take such an interest in what can be a very boring game.
This time around it’s different, and I’m getting bad vibes. First of all the Australians are in lousy form – we’re in a rebuilding phase after the retirement of many champion players. Some of these retired players had the ability to make the Poms give up simply by walking onto the field. They were the spine that allowed the collective team to swagger and strut and intimidate. They were champion sledgers too (see note below). Now that they’ve gone the other teams smell blood.
Another ominous sign this summer is that the Poms have been winning lead up games. Here. In Australia. As a rule that doesn’t happen. Usually the Methodist Ladies College second eleven give the Poms a hiding leading up to the first Ashes match.
A further worrying sign is that when the Poms win a game they are not gloating and saying they are going to tan our hides. They are serious and focussed and I don’t like it. It is not the natural order of things, and it’s making me and my countrymen nervous – a bit like the way animals get edgy just before an earthquake.
If England pull off the impossible and defeat Australia in an Ashes series on home soil it will be a terrible day indeed. Our dollar will dive, consumer sales will slump, flags will fly at half mast and we’ll pretend we’re not really interested in cricket anyway. And the Poms will never let us forget it. They will be insufferable.
On the up side, if these depressing predictions come to pass I will surely need a new G&L to snap me out of it. Himilayan blue is a nice, cheery colour. And a cup of tea with an iced vo-vo on the side.....
Note: Sledging
- also known as niggle, chin music etc. etc. Sledging is a form of verbal psychological intimidation invented by the English but elevated to an art form by successive Australian teams. For years the Indian team tried to have sledging banned by arguing that they were at a disadvantage because English was their second language. Their feeble responses to sledging were along the lines of ‘stop it you big white bullies’ and were usually greeted with howls of laughter. Since then they have undergone intensive training in sledging and can now niggle like the best of them.
At its best, sledging can be a witty exchange of ideas along the lines of:
Bowler to Batsman: ‘Hey fat arse, how come you’re so fat?’.
Batsman to Bowler: ‘Because every time I bed your wife she gives me a biscuit’. Touché.
At its base level, sledging is a barrage of four letter words and expletives questioning the parentage of a player and the promiscuity of his wife/girlfriend. In my opinion all the players should be mic’ed so we can listen to this under appreciated, but entertaining aspect of the game.
I'm sure sledging is not unique to cricket (but the pace of the game does encourage it!).
Please feel free to contribute your best sledging stories from other sporting codes....
Darwin