Lunch: Thursday, June 10

[Brock]

Food
Two frozen burritos topped with medium taco sauce, with Brooke Bond tea (on ice)

G&L
Surely this is the MFD patent. Please correct me if I'm wrong!

• http://www.guitarsbyleo.com/GALLERY2/ma ... temId=5594

Rickshaw
Went on a Karaoke ride last night with a friend and his friend. Songs sung included "Happy Jack" (The Who) and "Alone" (Heart). It was dark, so the rickshaw canopy lights were in full effect.

As a lyricist....
In yesterday's installment, Ed asked about how much musical direction I throw in as a lyricist. Well, the correct answer is "It depends on the situation", as it is with many other things. This comes up when designing and building systems. I like to use dirt terms for scalability, for example. Problem: "We need to move dirt." Some people will hope for some sort of weird, artificial universal answer that can't always be right. The correct answer isn't necessarily "Dump truck". Maybe a wheel barrow makes more sense. How much dirt do you have? What obstacles are there? Too often people will think "I've heard great things about DumpTruck(tm), so we'll go with that." So they spend dump truck money, have to pay for a fence to get partially taken down and then put back up, when a wheel would have gone through the gate, would have been easier to load and unload, less expensive, and would have completed the job in less time.

The scope of what I do varies by project, and even by song. So outside of intent (which is very important with a project like Traveler where there is a plot that runs end to end, and each song is tied to the others) I'm hands-off on the musical side of Traveler. On other projects where we'd co-write music and lyrics, the approach is much different.

Here's a song where I do have a couple instructions and worse, they're even at specific start and end points. It's called "Thirty-Eight Steps". Here's the demo, and lyrics are below (Copyright 2008-2010 Matt Long, Brock Frazier blah blah blah):

• http://rickshawseasion.com/MP3/Thirty-EightSteps.mp3

This song is to be sung by the "A Creator" character, unlike most of of Traveler which has Matt singing as the lead character called "Traveler". Matt is on this demo, though. Notice the instructions for narrative start and end, and fade start and end. I only did this on the lyrics of this track, and it is all intent driven.

Here's the lyrics:
Thirty-Eight Steps
A Creator:
Here are the Thirty-Eight Steps that explain it all.
The warmth in the spring to the chill in the fall.
Oh that's right, you guys already figured that all out.
Oh well, that's what Step Two is all about.

The Steps up to Six are things you know today
From sunrise and sunset to DNA
Some of your broader theories are nearly correct
Your sample sizes are too small for cause and effect

What I present on to you will explain everything
From why you are here to why you love and sing
Most of what I'll state is beyond current comprehension
But worry not, I'll engrave the words for your retention

You'll be able to rattle off the Thirty-Eight Steps explaining your history
You won't comprehend most of what you say until experiments are done
The information you will possess will advance man and set the truth free
For a guy not afraid of attention, this might be fun

So lay back, relax, listen, and I will instill everything to you
All you're about to hear is absolutely true
The information will be presented in it's entirety, and most of it is new
It'll all be easy, repeating is all you'll need to do

(educational narrative begins)
From your perspective, everything starts out as night and day
You work in the morning and later at night, you play
You relate to and feel the impact of the seasons
Let me explain day, night, summer though winter and the reasons
Far away from the earth is a star often referred to as the sun
It radiates the light and heat on which the ecosystems run

<fade starts>
The system you are designed to thrive from is based upon that star
The conditions of the planet helped us define just exactly what you are
I'm going to divide the forthcoming knowledge into Step after Step
Each one is not simply more truth but serves as a piece of prep
...that you can use to advance to the next level of knowledge
...until you reach Step Thirty-Eight where<fade ends>
(educational narrative ends)

------------------------------------------
I'll pull the <fade> and (educational narrative) tags on the liner notes, but they're present for good reason the working lyrics.


And so goes another day of lunch report!

[replyman]

Every once and a while, I go burrito. However, I like mine with Oolong tea...

The MFD patent. Doesn't Musicman have MFD's too? I know I've seen them on a bass...have I?

Poetry and "lyrics". I wrote other forms of poetry before lyric poetry. There is a difference. With lyrics, I focus on flow and how it is affected by any musical arrangement. Of course, the story or message comes first.

Good job and have a great day!

[John C]

The MFD patent. Doesn't Musicman have MFD's too? I know I've seen them on a bass...have I?

No, the Music Man basses still use Leo Fender's have active pickups that he designed for them; while they look similar these pickups predate the MFDS and have non-adjustable pole pieces. You can see how they could evolve into the MFDs.

EBMM guitars use "standard" alnico-type pickups from DiMarzio or in some cases Duncan (and I'm pretty sure the do make their soapbar "M-90s" in-house).

[replyman]

So, the EBMM MFD-type pickups only lack the adjustable pole pieces? I have NEVER adjusted the pole pieces in any of my G&L's. The slight adjustment seems negligible to me. I've had some freaky alnicos with the pole pieces sticking out (EJ Strat), but none by me. If I can't get the sound I want, then I either clean my ears or get another guitar.

[Ken Baker]

The MFD patent. Doesn't Musicman have MFD's too? I know I've seen them on a bass...have I?

If it's an MFD bass pickup, then it's either on a G&L bass or a frankenbass. The last CLF pickup that went into a factory StingRay in Fullerton was an Alnico humbucker. EBMM does do ceramic pickups, as seen in the earlier SR5 and the Sterlings, but the poles are not adjustable and the pickups not as hot.

So, the EBMM MFD-type pickups only lack the adjustable pole pieces?

That's the visible difference. They are different internally as well.

The slight adjustment seems negligible to me.

On a guitar, perhaps. On a G&L bass, adjusting the poles makes a notable difference.

Ken...

[replyman]

The low end is a dark and mysterious place...

[repoman]

Finally got around to downloading and listening to yer tunes. Nice stuff!

And that rickshaw looks like its a ton 'o fun.

jeff

[Ken Baker]

The low end is a dark and mysterious place...

One best left unmolested. We prefer it that way.

Ken...

[bassman]

The Musicman bass pickups have a third coil under the main pair of visible pickup coils which is a decidedly different design than the MFD bass pickups.

Leo' s focus for the MFD design was to get the entire pole piece in the pickup to function as a single magnetic " North" so the signal through the pickup coils could be maximized. He did this by placing a ceramic magnet under the coils and using no magnetic poles in the pickup. The pole pieces are just transferring the magnetic North of the magnet through the coils.
This is a very slick design which I believe has since been copied by others.

You can see this represented in the patent drawings for the MFD. The 'proir art" in the patent refers to Leo's earlier Fender patent single coil pickup designs.

[replyman]

The low end is a dark and mysterious place...

One best left unmolested. We prefer it that way.

Ken...

Then maybe we should all keep our hands to ourselves. Does a low-pass filter count?

[Ken Baker]

Then maybe we should all keep our hands to ourselves.

That might work well for everyone.

Does a low-pass filter count?

Too sharp of a cut-off, usually. I think if everyone shares the overall sonic space, each to his own spectrum but mindful that occasional excursions both high and low are a good thing, then life in a musical world would be just fabulous.

Ken...

[zapcosongs]

The low end is a dark and mysterious place...

Ha! You sound a bit like me trying to "convince" my wife every now and then, lol! - ed