I've got the greatest guitar of them all!

[reitze]

Riding My Bike At The Nationals

reitze! There I was, getting ready to surface sand my guitar top, touch up the clear-coat, and start putting it together. I just finished filing the frets and cleaning up the ebony. But then I started smoothing out the ridges I carved behind the tremolo unit, and really gave my metallic brass, which everyone thinks is gold, another look. And then I decided I never really did carve around the edges, rounding out the top, not just to be more like a Fender Stratocaster, but to make it easier for my arm to rest along the body edge.

I like the way the back of the body can be held tight, the non-rounded edge getting bite on my body or clothes. That helps stabilize the guitar so i can begin to concentrate on those new notes I have so high up the neck. I'm not changing that. In case you're wondering what all this is about, I originally carved it to look like a violin, a little puffier looking, with a top ridge and side extrusion. Please, notice the use of the word extrusion. Over twenty years ago, talking illuminated signs with customers, talking about extrusion was trippy.

Too bad you haven't been around. I'm in a bike mood after going to Thornton's and ordering a new seat. Yeah, I know, I don't want to break any more hearts in these forums, but here I am riding a bike I paid to get welded, with a seat system I made from thin Lexan, making something similar to my chiropractors' exercise machine, but capping it off with a $12 banana seat still being manufactured from the sixties. That was over eight years ago, and the same seat is still available, $13.98. Typing about deals like that, Shure SM 58 and 57's are like that. Mikes like that could cost over $200 in the eighties, but they kept on making them and saving production costs and passing it on to the customers, and I paid $125 when I got my new one this time.

And I'm not joking about having some nice bike building tips. But we can get into that when you want to.
Right now, more sanding, more wiping of clear-coat, and.. and... I really think it's going to have a better look, definitely showing more wood.

Oh! I'm so happy to be really putting some effort into finishing the top. I tossed it together to jam with a bassist and drummer every Sunday one summer, in my Port Colborne sign shop. That's when I was carving and plugging it in to try it the most. Now I'm finally working on the top to my heart's content.

That's looking nice John!
I opened up the ML again today:

It's far from done though so I didn't take it with me to the Nationals today. But I did rid my bike there (10 miles there, 5 miles on-site, re-charge, then 10 miles to home while helping it by peddling some). And boy my but is sore now. Was about 1/2 hour each way - seemed I averaved 20 mph.

 

[John Watt]

reitze! Your very impressive bike journey got me going.
Please, let me share some interesting bike build with you.

This first picture, shows two tubes of black foam.
The smaller foam is the largest accessory foam for bike handles sold around here.
You're probably looking at the other one already, thinking, if that's the biggest for bikes,
would machine could possibly need three times more of human grip, almost superhuman?
The Ab-dominizer! That's right. I was talked into buying my first one at a yard sale,
looking at the foam, for $5. The guy said he wanted to sell it before his marriage collapsed.
His wife was watching us suspiciously as we took it apart to try the foam on my handlebars.

You should try this, especially if you're expecting to play guitar or bass after biking. This foam fits tight enough to be loose, so the foam gives first before your wrists do, an always on shock absorber, and when you grip it tight it grips like a rock and your hands are deeply gripped, great for emergencies. At first my friends in other cities were surprised I could bike-hike for a few hours, arrive and start playing like I'm warmed up already. I walk my bike a lot, so I used the back bar of my self-made seat-carrier as a handle, with some Ab-dominizer foam for grip. Nice!

This next photo shows three pieces of foam, just something to try with minimal material, before I got into my semi-sitting-seat. I'm going to regret typing that. The black pieces are foam like jigsaw puzzles for making a kiddie play mat, from the Dollar Store. I started out going to Master Kim's, a South Korean martial arts Master, Medical Doctor, and former coach of the South Korean Olympic Karate Team. I made some signs for him and got to be friends. He gave me some of his matting material, something expensive he brought down from Toronto. But it was too thick and didn't foam-flex a lot. I tried other stuff but my "sandwich" idea didn't work.

The white foam is pretty stiff, one inch thick. What feels like I'm sitting on a cloud that tracks my ass movements, is having a nice big seat to sit on that spreads your weight out as much as possible, and lets you pedal in different positions. I used heavy fishing line to stitch around the outside of my seat sandwich, and took it apart to tighten the thread so the edges almost were touching. That sealed your body weight pressure into the interior of the foam, instead of it trying to squeeze out in the other direction of your movement.

Everyone should know what it feels like to go a great distance with their own body energy, and take a long distance journey on a bike, and electric helps. If I ever get a job as a retro rock star, touring with a bus, I'll hire you to be my guitar bearer. It will be in it's wooden road case in an antique wagon, like a small coffin bearer with glass sides from western days, only painted up nice. You'd be pulling it along, pedaling a little, using your electric bike, being the eco, green statement of my career. And I'd make the bus follow you. That way I could hop on my bike and get out there too, waving at fans waiting at the side of the road and uh, mingling a lot. Besides, the bus has fumes to breath and you don't. I'd have a portal on the side for you to recharge on the fly, and pictures of you doing that would lead to our tour bus becoming a magnet for other bicyclists wanting a charge, or looking to get charged up, or maybe just needing a little juice to get home, or needing to catch some flow before their battery bottoms out. And if some good looking woman can't think of a reason, or complains she doesn't have a bike to get close and plug in, I'll think of one.

Ya gotta know, who cares about a bike if the seat hurts?
For a long distance bike-hike, I ride over 100 miles and shore-walk over 20, out there for a day and a half. This seat has never given me blisters, sores, pinched, and sometimes I forget it's there.

If I ever start wearing some serious big bling around my neck, it won't be a Mercedes hood ornament or a reitze guitar, it'll be one of these sandwich seats I made, so I can sit on it borrowing office computers, sitting in front of my own, sitting anywhere. Now that I'm 59 I can see you have to work on your ass to keep it normal, if nothing else. Build one of these and get into moving around while you're riding and you'll be cracking walnuts with your ass in no time. Put up pics and say that and you'll have too many friends to write to me any more.

I'm still not used to this clear-coat. I've typed twice as long as it took to dry to work on.
Gotta go!

 

[reitze]

reitze! Your very impressive bike journey got me going.
Please, let me share some interesting bike build with you.

This first picture, shows two tubes of black foam.

The smaller foam is the largest accessory foam for bike handles sold around here.
You're probably looking at the other one already, thinking, if that's the biggest for bikes,
would machine could possibly need three times more of human grip, almost superhuman?
The Ab-dominizer! That's right. I was talked into buying my first one at a yard sale,
looking at the foam, for $5. The guy said he wanted to sell it before his marriage collapsed.
His wife was watching us suspiciously as we took it apart to try the foam on my handlebars.

You should try this, especially if you're expecting to play guitar or bass after biking. This foam fits tight enough to be loose, so the foam gives first before your wrists do, an always on shock absorber, and when you grip it tight it grips like a rock and your hands are deeply gripped, great for emergencies. At first my friends in other cities were surprised I could bike-hike for a few hours, arrive and start playing like I'm warmed up already. I walk my bike a lot, so I used the back bar of my self-made seat-carrier as a handle, with some Ab-dominizer foam for grip. Nice!

This next photo

shows three pieces of foam, just something to try with minimal material, before I got into my semi-sitting-seat. I'm going to regret typing that. The black pieces are foam like jigsaw puzzles for making a kiddie play mat, from the Dollar Store. I started out going to Master Kim's, a South Korean martial arts Master, Medical Doctor, and former coach of the South Korean Olympic Karate Team. I made some signs for him and got to be friends. He gave me some of his matting material, something expensive he brought down from Toronto. But it was too thick and didn't foam-flex a lot. I tried other stuff but my "sandwich" idea didn't work.

The white foam is pretty stiff, one inch thick. What feels like I'm sitting on a cloud that tracks my ass movements, is having a nice big seat to sit on that spreads your weight out as much as possible, and lets you pedal in different positions. I used heavy fishing line to stitch around the outside of my seat sandwich, and took it apart to tighten the thread so the edges almost were touching. That sealed your body weight pressure into the interior of the foam, instead of it trying to squeeze out in the other direction of your movement.

Everyone should know what it feels like to go a great distance with their own body energy, and take a long distance journey on a bike, and electric helps. If I ever get a job as a retro rock star, touring with a bus, I'll hire you to be my guitar bearer. It will be in it's wooden road case in an antique wagon, like a small coffin bearer with glass sides from western days, only painted up nice. You'd be pulling it along, pedaling a little, using your electric bike, being the eco, green statement of my career. And I'd make the bus follow you. That way I could hop on my bike and get out there too, waving at fans waiting at the side of the road and uh, mingling a lot. Besides, the bus has fumes to breath and you don't. I'd have a portal on the side for you to recharge on the fly, and pictures of you doing that would lead to our tour bus becoming a magnet for other bicyclists wanting a charge, or looking to get charged up, or maybe just needing a little juice to get home, or needing to catch some flow before their battery bottoms out. And if some good looking woman can't think of a reason, or complains she doesn't have a bike to get close and plug in, I'll think of one.

Ya gotta know, who cares about a bike if the seat hurts?
For a long distance bike-hike, I ride over 100 miles and shore-walk over 20, out there for a day and a half. This seat has never given me blisters, sores, pinched, and sometimes I forget it's there.

If I ever start wearing some serious big bling around my neck, it won't be a Mercedes hood ornament or a reitze guitar, it'll be one of these sandwich seats I made, so I can sit on it borrowing office computers, sitting in front of my own, sitting anywhere. Now that I'm 59 I can see you have to work on your ass to keep it normal, if nothing else. Build one of these and get into moving around while you're riding and you'll be cracking walnuts with your ass in no time. Put up pics and say that and you'll have too many friends to write to me any more.

I'm still not used to this clear-coat. I've typed twice as long as it took to dry to work on.
Gotta go!

You'll prolly like my back brakes are the old coaster-brake style. I used an old wheel for the ratchet:

EDIT: Pic today w/ new saddle-box. See later post for a better image of the brake.

 

[John Watt]

I'm not sure what I'm looking at, other than I like the anodized blue aluminum,
with matching hardware.
I'll be heading out on my bike for a little jaunt out there.
If I keep watching the paint dry I'm going to start touching it, or think I can work around it.
Here's three pics to show you what it looks like now.


This is the longest page, the shortest side guide, I've seen in a long, long time.
You might be heading for two pages here, like it or not.

 

[reitze]

Got One! (another guitar to build with)

I'm not sure what I'm looking at, other than I like the anodized blue aluminum,
with matching hardware.
I'll be heading out on my bike for a little jaunt out there.
If I keep watching the paint dry I'm going to start touching it, or think I can work around it.
Here's three pics to show you what it looks like now.

This is the longest page, the shortest side guide, I've seen in a long, long time.
You might be heading for two pages here, like it or not.

Hi John. Those are starting to look really excellent!

Sorry the bike-brake pic was hard to "see". Try this one:

The bicycle chain goes over this sprocket on the return-bottom-of-loop. So when peddling backwards the ratchet engages and pulls on the brake cable. Peddle forward and the spring pulls it back to release.

BTW, I went guitar shopping today but resisted even an Alverz for $149, and a Jacson for $220, and even the Dean avenger for $89. I also thought I'd buy one on ebay but noooo - 5 minutes late getting back to the computer... 1 bid... oh well. Looking for something like the natural with a very nice feeling maple neck. Still tempted to go pickup the alverez and while I'm at it the Vox.

I also got to try out some amps. I found the Vox AC4TV8 the best of the tube mobile/small class - primarily because I can over-drive it on it's 1/4 W setting without having to get excessively loud for the tone to kick in. More pre-amp-drive would be a good thing and then variable attenuation... again not sure... hmmm.

OK Finally I got a guitar I want to build onto!

Now for the next trick I need one of them Vox's.

 

[John Watt]

Now I get it. That's about the brakes.
It's always tempting when guitars are under $200. That's about the pocket book.
I think you have enough guitars, and now it's time to get some music out of them.
Unless you want to build a bass and some drums.

I'd like to wire up the keyboard of my typewriter into the computer.
When they designed the computer keyboard they should have talked to secretaries.
The period and comma would have their own key.
It wouldn't matter if you were typing upper or lower case, they'd stay the same.
And where's the "cents" key?
But then, I'm looking at an old piece of plastic I got for $5 at Goodwill.
I'm not waving my fingers at semi-solid-computers, glowing like lights in the air.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

Now I get it. That's about the brakes.
It's always tempting when guitars are under $200. That's about the pocket book.
I think you have enough guitars, and now it's time to get some music out of them.
Unless you want to build a bass and some drums.

I'd like to wire up the keyboard of my typewriter into the computer.
When they designed the computer keyboard they should have talked to secretaries.
The period and comma would have their own key.
It wouldn't matter if you were typing upper or lower case, they'd stay the same.
And where's the "cents" key?
But then, I'm looking at an old piece of plastic I got for $5 at Goodwill.
I'm not waving my fingers at semi-solid-computers, glowing like lights in the air.

they did talk to secretaries. in fact, secretaries are the reason the keyboard looks the way it does.

when the typewriter first came out, the keys were in a much better order than they are now. secretaries were able to type so fast, that they'd jam up the machines and ring up huge repair bills. so the keyboard was re-designed to make people type slower, thus reducing the jam ups. early computers adopted the layout to make the switchover a familiar one.

 

[John Watt]

That's interesting. The main reason I don't like computer keyboards is the unweighted keys.
I like the curved layout of typewriter keys and the sitting position for them.
When I.B.M. came out with the first commercial office computer,
90% of the pregnant women using them had miscarriages, others with other ailments.
I.B.M. repairmen covered each computer with a copper shield with ground wires through the floor.
They eventually tore the building down.

 

[reitze]

SNAFU of The Fountainhead

they did talk to secretaries. in fact, secretaries are the reason the keyboard looks the way it does.

when the typewriter first came out, the keys were in a much better order than they are now. secretaries were able to type so fast, that they'd jam up the machines and ring up huge repair bills. so the keyboard was re-designed to make people type slower, thus reducing the jam ups. early computers adopted the layout to make the switchover a familiar one.

Thanks for posting the history. Its so common there's an acronym for that (came from military)... it's SNAFU: Systems Normal, All F'd Up.

All too common for a temporary solution to persist into a full problem for EVERYONE. For example, why don't guitars feature preamps(LNA's)? Especially after the transistor and electrification and amp-in-guitar research that was done in the 1960s? Electronically it's very true that the cord-noise could be reduced via the guitar signal being amplified (the LNA concept in electrical engineering of analog circuits). And cord-noise has for me always been a major issue. The modern solution I expect is transmitters becoming standard guitar features (more-so that amplifiers).

Today studios avoid florescent lights, guitarist like me go acoustic, and life goes on as it did... till folks like John and I here do something about it. And that doing something about it is not easy ... we take a lot of abuse for it .... and when we succeed the corporate giants seem to brand-associate-credit-to-themselves. But if you ever read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand or even that wiki you might see the picture that it's not the credit that motivates folks like us to push forward the technologies we ourselves enjoy. Instead its the technologies themselves we enjoy regardless of the rest of the world.

That's interesting. The main reason I don't like computer keyboards is the unweighted keys.
I like the curved layout of typewriter keys and the sitting position for them.
When I.B.M. came out with the first commercial office computer,
90% of the pregnant women using them had miscarriages, others with other ailments.
I.B.M. repairmen covered each computer with a copper shield with ground wires through the floor.
They eventually tore the building down.

hmmm John Watt as in John Galt?

 

[John Watt]

reitze! I feel that you answered for both of us.
Another thing I don't like about computer keyboards is the cheap plastic feel.
When synthesizers were first making it big band players didn't like them for the keys.
You'd be expecting to keep one hand on your piano or organ, and one for the synth,
but the musical instruments had weighted keys, what players were used to,
and synths were cheap plastic keys that weren't weighted. It didn't take long to change.
But it never happened with computer keyboards, people being so excited about this new... tool.
They'd rather live with tendonitis than get something going better for themselves.

I also appreciate what you're saying about inventions and inventors. Here's some heavies.
You know Dr. James Watt, who "invented" electricity, steam engines, a few of the basics.
I'm a Watt, one of the oldest clans. I can tell you there is no Watt tartan,
and if you look in encyclopedias, they'll tell you all his children died as teenagers.
I'm sure you can imagine why, this secret history.

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

TBut if you ever read The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

that book was the biggest piece of shit i've ever read.

 

[reitze]

#7 (figured that was a good number to build)

So here's what I'm dreaming up next:

+

+

+

 

[reitze]

that book was the biggest piece of shit i've ever read.

some love it some hate it Never though I'd consider I love it but hmmm sure bolsters concepts of posting technology in an anti-technology-technology industry... must be one of those love-hate things or somthing like that... idk but funny....

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

some love it some hate it Never though I'd consider I love it but hmmm sure bolsters concepts of posting technology in an anti-technology-technology industry... must be one of those love-hate things or somthing like that... idk but funny....

i guess if you're a 15 year old boy trying to figure out what Rush's lyrics mean, it's ok.

 

[reitze]

i guess if you're a 15 year old boy trying to figure out what Rush's lyrics mean, it's ok.

At 47 I can ADMIT that I loved Rush, especially 2112 and have no clue any connection between them... would enjoy whatever laugh in the connection mostly for laughing at self for not appreciating it before - prolly. And that's mostly becasue I never could hear the words in songs until after about 15 years of guitar (by my self at home mostly - it's relaxing, nice, simple cords, try some leads, play along, ...). Time to time open-mic's were amazing - go-with-it experiments in life... so yea teach on if you can! Loved the keyboard story... would enjoy the best keyboard artist stories...

 

[John Watt]

I read "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" in high school, provocative stuff.
Carlos Castanedas with his tales of the brujedo "Don Juan" were just as influential.
If you're going to use that Vox for parts, that gold logo would sure look good on your bike.

 

[reitze]

Best Tone for a Little amp?

I read "The Fountainhead" and "Atlas Shrugged" in high school, provocative stuff.
Carlos Castanedas with his tales of the brujedo "Don Juan" were just as influential.
If you're going to use that Vox for parts, that gold logo would sure look good on your bike.

I'm thinking of building the guitar and amp into 1 while trying to keep that Vox'y look. messedup0

BTW, Since my guitar instructor borrowed the Dean/Vox too I now miss it for the tone. The Line6 in clean mode is messedup0 with too much chorus and you can't dial it down. It's not set right till it's up to mettle or crunch. From there up it has a more tube-like tone without mixing in an intentional bit of chorus and reverb cause that's in the base-model of it's drive ---or at least that's how it seems.

So IMHO the Vox is a slightly better little amp for the tone variation capabilities and especially for clean modes. In the High Gain models ya need to dial in a little more effects to soften out the tone... and not get overly obsessed in the auto-flanger... but that works to get something very nice (though L6-insane is 1 button).

I'm still rebuilding the ML/Vox which I used to experiment a little more with the RF-High Gain Issue...(will always be 1, but as these builds do prove a manageable one). The main holdup is a need to buy more glue... hmmm gotta go find gluestick.com ro something like that.

On the Travel-Vox-Inverter-Combo I'm also thinking it may be nice to use the fender micro leftover amp as a pre-amp so I can get it deeper into overdrive... anyone try stuff like that much? I compared it to the Fender Champ, a 1950s no-name-retro thing someone had refurbished, and also the other Vox models... I like it the best though I was enjoying its mostly clean while just getting a little of its overdrive from the in-store-humbucker-guitar I'd used. Seemed just a little deeper drive will be sweet.

 

[John Watt]

reitze! For some reason I was worried about whether I'd hear from you again.
Some trucker could be distracted by the small-screen movie player he's got,
and it could actually be the scene where Peter Fonda gets run off the road,
and he'll plow into you, by accident or intent will never be determined.
Or would "The Zabrisky Point" have been a better reference?

Here's a new photo showing where my re-painting is.

 

[reitze]

reitze! I was in a customer's buy and sell store today and saw a "Dimebag Darrell" bass guitar,
like some kind of Gibson X-shape, metallic silver with black bands for wide purfling, and it was big.
I was looking at a small portable bass amp beside it, wondering what you would do with it.
yeah! That's what you need next, a bass so someone else can accompany you on your musical walkabouts,
and bikeabouts.
Your drummer could have one drum hung like a snare, with battery driven pads around the top with other drum sounds, and a heel bass activator when walking in time. Or one in each heel for double pedal bass. Or, when drum biking, have a contact with a reflector on the spokes to give you a signal, and a beat. This would be an intuitive application, speeding up or slowing down depending on your pedalling mood.
I heard the television producers of
"Alabama Lower Southern County Second Tier Professional Lawnmower Racing",
are interested in you for a suggested opening theme, "Sunday Morning Cutting Down".
I was in there with "I Cut the Line", but they said it was too purple-grass, not blue-grass enougn.

Thaught of that drummer idea when I powered up the ML tonight. The Gr8 part about it is it's a very excellent playing guitar again now (fixed the action by re-anchoring the bridge). So in this video I use my thumb on the speaker as a drum... it actually works!:cheese:

It weighs 7.3 lbs (thats up 1/2 lbs due to the larger speaker)
So now Can You Feel The Need?

 

[Help!I'maRock!]

dude. you're going to kill your left hand if you keep putting your pinky behind the neck. and get a metronome.

lessons are starting to pay off though. good work.