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Curio: Tall Tales record release poster trifecta!

February 13, 2017

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blues Curio poster

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An ABG Manifesto: Chapter 5, part one (medium)

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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 and

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 some

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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

work/play resolution

It has been a different kind of year 2015 with it's good and bad. I've been called bass player, woodworker, car guy, outdoorsman, beard guy, rocker— not a single hepcat space viking or deep sea poem painter. As I take these partial truths and blatant inaccuracies under consideration I look forward to 2016. I figure I'll play the bass, paint on paper, build from wood, eat some pizza (with salad) and watch Saturday night Svengoolie. Aside from from Saturday night Svengoolie, Curio has been a catalyst for all of the above. Two years into my time at Steppenwolf, I feel like I have a place of work instead of a day job—allowing me to refine my communication skills and bring all this extra-curricular experience into the creative and collaborative Steppenwolf world. My resolution is to have a balanced and exciting year of work and play. I'm not a wordsmith, but there should be a word meaning work/play—did Shakespeare invent one? The closest sentiment is this anecdote

Not an Engineer

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Another poster for the Abbey

This is for an Irish band named The Japanese Popstars. What more inspiration do you need?

An ABG Manifesto: Chapter Three

Chronologically the Fender T-Bucket is the next bass I picked up (January 2018), but I forgot about the 2017 ESP TL-4Z which I’ve actually played out with more times than the Fender. I grabbed this guy back in April of 2019 and made some small adjustments. The ESP is electro-acoustic, but perhaps a bit more like a chambered guitar than an acoustic. It manages to have some of the issues that ABGs have along with my least favorite issue found in electric bass guitars… HOW TO FIX NECK-DIVE No really, how do you fix neck-dive? If you’re a bass guitar player you probably already know what I’m talking about, but for the sake of clarity: neck-dive is when the balance of the instrument is heavier towards the headstock. The result is when the instrument is worn with a strap the headstock pulls down and the body wants to rise. Detrimentally meaning that you have to hold up the instrument with your fretting hand while fretting. It can also result in neck and shoulder soreness due to lack of bal

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