2 new toys

Just had a great caravanning holiday in Devon (anti-caravanners might want to leave here). My fingers were getting restless when I stumbled into a music shop. Right in the doorway were some ukes. I've been asked to build a cbg uke but not sure about construction yet. I've been fancying one for myself and being too impatient to wait until I can make one, I decided to spend my birthday money and buy one satisfying the need for a musical toy for the caravan and a model for basing a cbg uke on. I avoided the cheapest painted ones you can pick up for about £15 and picked a natural wood concert model. It's a sweet little instrument and great fun for doodling on.

A day or two after buying it, I came across a junk shop. A proper one full of tatty stuff and run by an old chap who was fiddling with an old radio. I spotted a narly looking banjo-uke, all dusty, rusty and nicely worn. A ratrod uke if ever there was one! The bridge was placed up near the bottom of the neck - the wrong end of the skin. I asked the bloke how much he wanted for it - £25. I had a good look and moved the bridge roughly to where it should be and strummed it. "Sounds better already" he said. "That should be worth a fiver off the price then" I said cheekily. "Are you making me an offer" he replied. "You got a deal" I said and bought it for a crisp £20 note.

I got it back to the van and sat outside in the sun to play with my second new toy of the week. The strings were still on it and it all seemed pretty much intact. I tuned it up and had a little play on it. So far the wife hadn't objected too much but when I put my upturned straw hat on the ground in front of me, in case any fellow campers felt the need to reward my entertainment with some gold, she put her foot down and ordered its removal. It's a bugger to keep in tune but it's fun and looks great.

cigar box ukes, recording and the "special"

I've got to make a couple of ukes, so there's a new challenge for me. Not sure how I'm going to make and attach the neck but I'll figure something. Big learning curve at the moment. I knew nothing about them except they have 4 strings and frets. So I reckon I can do the frets OK now but how about angled headstocks? I usually take the easy route with the guitars, just a simple cutaway headstock similar to Fender teles. I have a piece of hefty teak which should cut into a couple of nice necks and incorporate an angled head.

Still building my home recording kit. Just bagged a Roland PC-160 midi keyboard for a decent price on Ebay. Should be fun creating some midi tracks to blend with my guitar stuff. I bought a small, cheapo computer station to put everything on. Just need a pair of reasonable monitor speakers to complete the set-up then there's no excuse for not producing something listenable - aprt from lack of skills!

The "special" cbg is coming on well but still slowly. I wired up JuJu's coil pickup and a piezo disc onto a three way switch to give similar set-up to a tele - neck/both/bridge configuration. Added a volume control too. I'm using a 250k log pot. Got the nut and bridge to make now, add the tail piece, then I can string her up.

Hey I need to take some photos of all this stuff to show you. I keep promising but notice I haven't showed you some of it yet.

this 'n that

Been playing catch-up on a few projects. I had some finishing off to do on the guitar case. I needed to find a way of securing the guitar safely inside. I still have a few tweaks yet before being entirley happy with it. I made a leather belt to go around it for safety as the catches I used are to say the least - basic. Also it'll give it a bit more character. I like the hessian/sack lining I used on the case. As someone pointed out, sorta like a poor man's tweed. Might look good covering an amp.

My first attempt at fretting a CBG had mixed results. I tried it on a guitar I had already built. The action was far too high for correct intonation. So I took it apart, cut some relief in the neck under the lid to lower the action. It now has a medium sort of action which is just about low enough for fretting notes but still high enough for slide work. I sort of wish I'd left it alone from the start because it was a great sounding, simple guitar. Well you learn from your mistakes so in future, if I want frets, I'll design it with that in mind rather than adapt a good guitar.

I've got my home recording set-up, more or less complete but seem to have hit a "recorders block". Somewhat like "writers block" where you can't seem to find the creative inspiration. I get like this at times. It's partly due to my perfectionist approach to things. As a novice composer/recording engineer, I'm lacking a bit of confidence in producing something decent, so my sub-conscious puts barriers there on the basis that if I don't attempt something, then I can't make a crap job of it and be disappointed. Faulty logic really because if i don't attempt it, I'll have no results at all and still be disappointed and - wasted my time and money on the project. I know once I get started, I'll enjoy the process but as I have so many other things on the go, it's taking a back seat for now.

I picked up a Marshall Park 10 watt guitar amp from a kind person on Freecycle. This amp has a slight fault - a noisy gain pot. I took it apart and cleaned it but it's still faulty. It's an odd value, 200k ohm and I'm having difficulty finding one. So there's another project that will languish on my bench for a while. I've mentioned Freecycle before. People post items they want to give away and all you have to do is answer the e-mail saying you'd like it. You need to get in early if it's a popular item. Some people give it to the first responder, some draw lots so you don't always succeed in getting it, but I've done pretty well so far..... two guitar amps, a spanish acoustic guitar, mahogany shelves for cutting down into necks, loudspeakers for amps, an oscilloscope for testing my electronic stuff, a few cigar boxes and more. I'd like to add that if you do take stuff, it's nice to redress the balance and give some stuff away too. Don't be greedy. In the words of the great sage and philosopher Noel Gallagher of Oasis - "take what you need and be on your way."

What's next? Finish the "Special" CBG with the JuJu hand wound pick-up; hoping to carry on building the "Ratocaster" which is gathering dust; have a crack at a cigar box uke, start another batch of tobacco tin amps. That should keep me going for a while.