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Buffalo Oak (gothic quilt study, 1)

November 15, 2013

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I still can't find my box of favorite paints, I only have blue and flesh tint. Good colors, but they could use some green and orange…

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The ABG Manifesto: Husky White Duke

I PLAYED WITH FRETS AND I LIKED IT Although the blog doesn’t reflect it, there’s been plenty going on these last 24 months. The blues band, Gatorwater has been gigging regularly and just recorded eight tunes in October. After a 20 year pause, the old college band—The Dynamo Theorem played its first show—I had to remember how to sing! I’ve been playing trumpet with regularity, building bikes, and of course my steadies—drawing and designing. Although it feels like I’ve slowed down with the bass building, that’s really not the case. I’ve worked on about a half-dozen bass guitars and even got my hands on an old Ampeg Baby Bass that needed a little love. It’s safe to say some of the blog silence has been due to a bit of a tangent. Having spent so much time working on fretless acoustic bass guitars, I found myself rediscovering frets and solid bodies… and I liked it. The best place to begin this new journey in the ABG Manifesto is with a short-lived bass I called the Husky White Duke ...

An AGB Manifesto: Chapter 4

SIZE MATTERS? Before the pandemic I had a bug up my ass about bass ukuleles. I believe it was tied to camping—traveling in general, with the thought that it could go anywhere. YouTube would certainly lead you to believe that ‘everyone needs one of these in their arsenal.’ I bought a fretless Hadean (cheap-o leaning) and strung it up with Kala U-Bass flat wounds (not the goofy rubber bands). After a month playing it like crazy I haven’t touched it too much. You could say U-Bass is to Bass Guitar is to Double Bass. Which is to say, different animals almost entirely. __ I’M NOT A PLAYER, I JUST BUILD A LOT Despite all the basses I build or modify, I’m a monogamist when it comes to instruments (which is to say small changes throw me off). I generally only play one bass ever, but occasionally I switch off for a month or two. After practicing on the U-Bass for a month, my intonation was crap on my normal axe. Despite it’s convenience, it proved to be a different instrument and not a great pr...

An ABG Manifesto: Chapter Three

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AN ABG MANIFESTO: CHAPTER TWO

PUDDLER’S HALL Sometimes when you play a gig there is magic in the air. Sometimes not. In the week leading up to February 19, 2016 I was having trouble with Flattop’s new pickup/bridge. I’d switched to an upright bass piezo and built a new bridge. The projection was bad and uneven across the strings. I picked up an Ibanez ABG at Sam Ash on my way to a gig in Rock Island in January and now I was looking at it deciding if I could make it gig-ready. As I recall I added a couple sound-posts and changed the strings. Chris and Tommy headed up to Milwaukee early to tour the Pabst brewery and Taylor and I drove up later to meet them at Puddler’s as they made the transition from Bar/Restaurant to venue. We all started scrounging around for extension cords to get all our amps and the PA plugged into the one outlet on the side of the stage. In the first few measures of our first tune my low E slipped in the bridge pin down to something approximating low C. Then a few songs in Tommy’s amp gave out...

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Your 1999 Indie Rock Uniform.

What's strange about this drawing for me, is that the guy is a blend of the three members of the Dynamo Theorem (my old college band)--it looks like all of us in some odd way and yet it looks like none of us. Making this a very uninteresting drawing for most of the world. thank you.

AN ACOUSTIC BASS GUITAR MANIFESTO

AN ABG MANIFESTO: CHAPTER ONE The trouble with the acoustic bass guitar (ABG): Can’t project at same level as acoustic guitar—needs amplification. This is why bass amps and the upright bass are so big—it takes a lot of air to push low frequencies. Most piezo systems seem to accentuate the negative sound qualities of the instrument: tinniness, clacking. Under-bridge piezo pickup tends to send a weak low-E signal because of the string pressure on the bridge—requires adjustment. Bridge isn’t adjustable and seems to require seasonal or annual adjustment, which is tedious. Big-time feedback issues. Have to fill sound hole and/or EQ. WHY BOTHER? I’m not exactly sure why I bought an ABG, but I went out and got one within a couple months of starting on bass. This was back in 1999 after playing trumpet for about a decade. If I had to guess, it probably seemed closer to upright bass (which it’s not (which I still haven’t transitioned to twenty years later)). I think there’s just a certain ...

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