Wed. Lunch Report 5-07

[Elwood]

good afternoon all,
It's a relatively busy day.
I'll have some food for lunch , I'm not sure what yet .
I need to make more sourdough bread, pics tomorrow .

The sun was out this morning (it's still cold),
I took this shot , it's an Ibanez silver series strat probably '78 .



Got any art shots handy ? ...guitars,basses,sunsets or ?
(I'd love to see more G&L bass porn )



I have a few semi-vintage MIJ instruments. My latest is a 1990 sr1000 bass.
It's ergonomic, light, and plays amazingly easy. I haven't had a bass gig since I've had her but it should make the last hour
much friendlier to the shoulder and back.




When I saw a picture of a new monkey pod L-2000 it peaked my GAS. I hadn't thought about buying a new instrument for a long time until then.
Wood is such a cool medium and a big chunk of exotic wood
with G&L bass MFDs got me going. Unless I sell some gear I'm not quite there....so I had an idea

I think this might be a good thing with alot of elbow grease.
I 've had a few Korina body blanks stashed away :





...and then I'd have to make a S-500/Legacy mate with body #2




I have collected some bizarre effects over the years, most I eventually sell because they don't get used much. I still have this one...
The wand is intended to be placed in the mouth like a talk box tube and opening the mouth
lets light in to open the filter sweep,
I thinki'll retro-fit it into a pedal with a bypass and and LED as a light source.



What rare/strange/just plain cool sounding effects do you have hanging around that we might not see everyday?

Have a good afternoon/evening ,
Elwood

[darwinohm]

Elwood, I am on the run as we have the granddaughters here for 3 days and that is always a blast.

Boy do you have some interesting project material. Later this week I will try to post pictures of my stripped bass body. I especially like the blue bass picture but what really stands out is the Kitty. We love kitties-- Enjoying your LR's--Darwin

[KenC]

Elwood,

No bass porn here, but I should definitely take some. My new project is an '81/'82 L-1000 that a previous owner treated badly. Definitely not porn material yet, but once I remove the spray paint from the body (like I've already done from the neck heel and pickup) I may have a nice chunk of ash to work with. I'm up in the air on what the refin will be. If the spray paint can be 100% removed she may end up natural or blond. Otherwise there may be some Fullerton Red in her future. If she ends up being a dream player I may put the money into candy apple red or gold, to keep with the upgrade finishes of the era.

The two uncommon pedals I'll mention are both limited edition Moogerfoogers. The MF-104Z Analog Delay is phenomenal. Only a thousand units were made, due to limited availability of some key components. The delay time (over one second) is great, but the best feature is a switchable feedback loop. The repeats can feed back within the pedal, like all of the other delays on the market, or be routed to an effects loop. That opens the door to running the delayed signals through any other processor or effect pedal, without changing the original (dry out) signal. It's hard to describe it exactly, but it is much different than running one output of a normal delay through another effect pedal. The MF-104Z makes the other effect a part of the delay circuitry. These have been out of production for a couple of years and I believe only 1000 were built. The used prices are already heading well above what the original new street price had been, on the rare occasions that somebody sells one. I got really luck a couple of months ago when I mentioned my ongoing quest to find one of these to a salesman in my local Moog dealer. He had just found one new in the original packaging in their back room. Apparently a former employee had stashed it with the intention of buying it later, but it had sat forgotten on a workbench for several years. I was able to get it for the original street price, which beat the current going rate for used pedals.

The other one I picked up last weekend after a 3-4 month delivery wait is an MF-108M Cluster Flux. It's advertised as a limited edition flanger/chorus, but that description barely scratches the surface. It contains two independent modules, a 0.6-50 mS analog delay (with external feedback loop) and a six waveform LFO that runs from from something like 15-50K hertz. Together they nail an endless variety of flange, chorus and vibrato effects, but the real beauty is some of the oddness you can pull out of the LFO. The best is what inspired the "cluster" part of the name. Using a randomized square wave from the LFO, it can spill out clusters of after-tones that follow the harmony of whatever you've just played. Strum a chord, and you will get a cascade of random notes related to it for up to a couple of seconds. That's not for every song, but when it fits it is beautiful beyond words. Here's a brief glimpse of the "cluster" sound with guitar:

http://vimeo.com/28720385

Ken

[repoman]

Hi ELwood,
Not much I can add today. I don't have anything in the way of artys shots. And I don't have any unusual pedals. Heck for most of my life the only pedal I ever used was an overdrive.

But I would be very curious to see what those blanks of wood look like when they are finished. That's some kooky looking grain on there.

Oh and Ken, I know nothing about that pedal but with a name like Cluster Flux it's got to be good!

Jeff

[KenC]

Elwood,

Is that second blank korina or spalted maple? It looks exactly like my stash of spalted maple (the black streaks and wormhole give it away). Either way, it will be gorgeous with the right finish.

Ken

[Elwood]

Elwood,

Is that second blank korina or spalted maple? It looks exactly like my stash of spalted maple (the black streaks and wormhole give it away). Either way, it will be gorgeous with the right finish.

Ken

It's Korina, I'm pretty sure the oranges are mineral streaks (how cool is nature?) and
the dark streaks are the white/black limba thing going on.

Let me take some shots of some cool spalted boards I have....back soon.

[Elwood]

Here's a potential top and some fretboards. This stuff is really soft so I'll have to make sure there is
a hard finish , especially on the fretboards.





There's some nice spalting on this chunk of Maple , this board is very solid.





and here's a Mango instrument in the making. Porous like mahogany but a bit softer.
The figure will really pop with finish .



really cool curly grain....




How heavy is your L-1000 body?
The red one under the blank in the picture is heavy heavy ash, the main reason I wouldn't mind swapping parts to another body. The Korina ain't light either, but it would be fun to make and I'm curious to how an old L-1000 MFD sounds with Korina.

[Elwood]

Hi ELwood,
Heck for most of my life the only pedal I ever used was an overdrive.

But I would be very curious to see what those blanks of wood look like when they are finished. That's some kooky looking grain on there.

I'll be sure to post the progress .
Lately a fuzzface and 70's crybaby have been the staples in my set-up. I recently found a
good deal on a dunlop univibe UV-1, so that's been on the floor too.

Oh and Ken, I know nothing about that pedal but with a name like Cluster Flux it's got to be good!

Jeff

+1

[Elwood]

Elwood, I am on the run as we have the granddaughters here for 3 days and that is always a blast.

yowsa, your household will be lively

Boy do you have some interesting project material. Later this week I will try to post pictures of my stripped bass body. I especially like the blue bass picture but what really stands out is the Kitty. We love kitties-- Enjoying your LR's--Darwin

Thanks, purrrrrrrrrrrrrr....

[Ahryn]

hahaha, wow that soul kiss looks weird.

I have no cool project or goofy effects but I have to admit I have really been liking these reports, your photography is pretty top notch.

Also nice cat.

[Boogie Bill]

I don't have any really strange pedals, but I do have some obscure ones, like my orange Peavey Accelerator overdrive. Not the best distortion I've ever heard, but it absolutely kills for slide guitar. The Peavey SDR-16 reverb pedal puts the Boss Reverb to shame, but people just aren't familiar with the Peavey.

My 1972 T.O/ Crybaby is about as cool as they come. I love my old blue MXR 10-band EQs, they can be really handy. I never like the MXR Phase 100 that I used to have, but man, I REALLY wish I had my original Mu-tron Phasor back.

I've had several pedals stolen over the years--maybe the coolest was a original Dan Armstrong Orange Squeezer. Somebody also stole my '68 VOX wah (WAH!!!), back in 1972--the Crybaby replaced that one. I also had a couple of DOD pedals lifted, like a little blue Chorus and a 250 Overdrive.

And for just really weird: I've owned TWO Fender Blender Fuzz boxes and BOTH of them were stolen! The Blender was about a bizarre fuzz as you could get.

I hate thieves!

Bill

[louis cyfer]

this is a fire behind my house. see the big right fist raising from the mountain?




and see the face of the guy with the fist coming up from the fire? i am standing front of my house taking the pics.

[Elwood]

but people just aren't familiar with the Peavey.

The older Peavey TKO's I hear are real good for lap/pedal steel. We have a couple of the 15" aluminum cast frame Black Widows for sale . I might offer to "test" them out for spell.

My 1972 T.O/ Crybaby is about as cool as they come. I love my old blue MXR 10-band EQs, they can be really handy. I never like the MXR Phase 100 that I used to have, but man, I REALLY wish I had my original Mu-tron Phasor back.

I put a DPDT bypass in mine , and recently put in it's third pot. Toed forward with a boosted fuzzface
on the neck pickup with the tone rolled back and I'm good to go .
I put a script MXR 100 in a crybaby housing long before they came out with the roto-vibe,
the circuit board barely fits at a slight angle.
+1 on the EQ's !

IIRC it's the mutron ll phaser that has the opto-electronics , which is what they doubled to make the monster bi-phase.

I have a DOD FX-17 wah volume...nice sound ,real small footprint, but it needs a bypass loop to make it usable at a gig.

Tomorrow...amps and speakers,
Elwood

[Elwood]

this is a fire behind my house. see the big right fist raising from the mountain?

Wow...was that from a lightning strike?
...and more importantly, is it smaller now ?

Great pics louis,stay safe
Elwood

[sickbutnottired]

I am running late today, so I met my wife for breakfast for an early lunch. Biscuits and Gravy, hash browns, eggs. Nice.

I am getting into pedals, so I am really enjoying seeing and hearing some of this cool stuff. I wish I had a better memory, to help me with shopping...

Elwood, I have never heard of anything like ol' Mikes Soul Kiss, that is fun to see.

Louis, great pictures. Hope all is well, and you and your guitars are safe.

Cheers...jeremy

[louis cyfer]

it was just a lttle one. all is well.

[KenC]

How heavy is your L-1000 body?

I haven't weighed it, but it is seriously heavy. I hadn't really noticed until a couple of minutes ago. I took the case to a local luggage repair shop for an estimate on replacing the locks (which the previous owner destroyed after locking himself out - or maybe the bass locked itself in to get away from him ). Turns out the case is too far gone after thirty years to withstand the repair. At least the shop owner was honest with me.

Anyway, the bass has been living on a stand by the computer until I can order a new case. I picked it up for a couple of quick scales before I logged on, and suddenly realized how heavy it is. Then I read this post.

Ken

[darwinohm]

Elwood, here are the photos that I promised of my project Stingray 5. This one really has a nice, flamed neck.-- Darwin

[Michael-GnL-Michael]

Great pictures, especially the first which looks more like cloud formations than smoke. Years ago there was a fire in nearby mountains where I lived. It is hard to gauge distance of billowing smoke. It appeared much closer and therefore smaller at the time I first observed it. Turned out to be massive because it was so many miles away. Southern California has more than its share of fires every year it seems. Those Santa Ana winds do not help the situation. This is not meant to suggest you, (Louis), are incorrect in your assessment of its severity, BTW.

Pareidolia

I can see the fist and man you describe. This is an interesting concept. The degree to which some people insist on this being more than an illusion is scary. I have a relative who is a wonderful person. He brings a lot to the party, as they say. Given any interest he sparkles in a conversation. This also leads me to examine closely everything he presents. He attributes much of his zest for life to his spirituality. However, I have found he is lacking an ability to scrutinize in his quest for knowledge. One might be tempted to accept his perceptions based on his personality yet I am certain after getting to know him over a long period that he would be the same way regardless of his interests.

"There is a universal tendency among mankind to conceive all beings like themselves, and to transfer to every object, those qualities, with which they are familiarly acquainted, and of which they are intimately conscious. We find human faces in the moon, armies in the clouds; and by a natural propensity, if not corrected by experience and reflection, ascribe malice or good- will to every thing, that hurts or pleases us." ~David Hume

this is a fire behind my house. see the big right fist raising from the mountain?




and see the face of the guy with the fist coming up from the fire? i am standing front of my house taking the pics.