OK, to start with, my boss has re-done the main studio, which is a lovely thing. Except that he cant make up his mind and does things in impractical stages. “lets take it apart, put half of it back together, then take it apart again, put in the new floor, put temporary carpet in, reassemble the gear, disassemble part of it again, get newer carpet to replace the temporary one, then fully reassemble only to disassemble a few more times.”
I wish i were kidding.
I came up with a wonderful wiring scheme to be able to patch in external gear…like a real studio does! And in his fucking moving everything 500 times, the wiring has come undone. It now sits behind a several hundred pound rack. I dont give a fuck how scratched the floor gets when i have to pull this rack out, because that bitch is going to get scratched. Like a goddamn cat. or a fork. perhaps I’ll just use a fork anyway
“hey steve, whats that fork for?”
“oh, you know, scratching your new floooooo…..i mean tuning, this is a tuning fork. its one of those new pointy ones”
problem solved.
Also, he installed new Bass Traps, which redirect bass frequencies that usually hide in the corners of rooms back to the correct spots in the center. Well, it turns out, they also direct them towards anything that will resonate. Such as a cheap ass hollow door. Such as the cheap ass hollow door on the outside of the studio i work in. It sounds like one of those shitty hondas with the 4,000$ rims on it is driving next to me at all times. This thing vibrates non stop. I’m considering taking a shit in the piano and leaving it there, just to see if that solves this problem, I’m thinking it will.
Onto brighter news. My uncle, who does not really play much, owns a 1930’s D’Angelico archtop guitar, which was his father’s. Its a very serious instrument, worth more than a Honda. I believe around 1500 were ever made, completely by hand in NY. It puts modern craftsmen to shame. The detail and character of this thing is exquisite. The problem is, no one plays it. It sits in a case. As you could imagine, this is a terrible crime. Its original pickguard disintegrated long ago (it was made from celluloid, the same thing as film stock), so they needed to have a new one made about 10 or 13 years ago. They lent it to my dad, who brought me along to Mandolin Brothers on Staten island, the premiere facility for archtop repair, to have a new one made. From what I remember, the guitar sounded great. It projected, had a very even tone, and looked badass.
Well, as time has gone by, and the guitar has sat in the case lo these many years, the pick guard replacement has warped. It now looks kind of like a boomerang. This is what happens when you dont take instruments out of their cases for years, strange things happen. Poor humudity conditions caused it to dry out, so the action is all screwey, and it needs some attention. This is the good part. They’ve lent me the guitar to bring back to staten islend to get re-repaired, and keep for an extended period, so it gets some playing time. here are some photos (In new gallery formation thanks to web master TB!!) :
Well, so I brought it to Staten Island, to the mando-hut, which is really the best reason to go to staten island, to get it looked at. First off, if there were no Guidos there, Staten Island would be a wonderful place. Every person there, from the toll booth operator (ON THE 8$ BAYONNE BRIDGE!) to the dudes at the store were fantastic. Leroy, the master craftsman, told me everything hes going to do to make it a flawless instrument again, as well as some history of the axe (it was made in a rare art deco style with special inlays and bridge!) They also have the most unpretentious store ever. It contains some of the most rare acoustic instruments ever, and they pretty much let you play anything, they just say, pick it up! So while they did their thing, i played some serious gibsons, a few martins, a very nice larrive parlor guitar, some collings, all sorts of wonderful stuff. So, the conclusion they came to, is that it will take a few weeks to get the guitar t playable conditions, then another month for the pickguard. They’ll return it to me before the pickguard work, so I’ll get some playing time in.
My goal as a result, is to make an old timey EP with this thing before I have to give it back. Maybe i’ll even book a studio for a day and do it on tape! (i just came up with this idea, but I like it!) OK, thats the plan, time to work.