Halloween Terrors

Halloween is big in my hometown. Its motto is “The Halloween Capital of the World”; who am I to disagree?



There is a special parade for the middle school and younger kids:



And even some princesses:



But the real horror is parked just down the street from the parade:

Verticals

Sharon’s Fire

Prayers for all those affected by the California fires…

Used by permission

Street Scenes

Seattle, October 2019

We Interrupt This Blog…

… for this important message from 1999:

The 40 Bus to Ballard

Sic Transit Gloria Mundi

… so passes the glory of the world…

Taking a Part of Me

New track from JFDR:



blessed be every wound 
thank you for tearing me open

thank you for every tear 
thank you for making me fragile

for taking the love in me higher 
(finding that spot in me)

pulling me, spreading me 
further and closer and wider 

loving me, losing me, wanting me, seeing me, 
making me see what is tender and sweet in me

hurting me, setting free, 
taking a part of me, 
taking a part of me higher

~Jófriður Ákadóttir

Best listened to on headphones.

She continues to astound me with her fearless musicality.

The Busker’s World

I’m back.



Noticing:



But not unnoticed:

Seattle, Pike Place Market, 2019

The Very Last FITK Guitar Post!

These are my two newest guitars, both eBAY specials (less than $100 each!)

One is a “Snakehead” Fender Esquire copy. This guitar is based on the very first regular (not Hawaiian) guitar prototype that Fender designed in 1949. I bought it new, but put in a new bridge and, just to be period correct, slotted head screws. It is a really nice  player (after I lowered the nut), the ultimate in simplicity:



Below is a Fender Thinline™ twelve-string copy, built from a kit. This had real problems but, by re-drilling some holes and working on the nut, I brought it around:



I have sworn not to buy ANY more guitars, and will definitely not post about them again.

Parts SG Junior

Yet another guitar!



A single pickup SG body with a twenty-four fret neck!

The P-90 is a genuine Gibson, with an additional magnet.

It sounds as snarly as it looks.

Not for the faint of heart.

Sold in the great guitar purge of 2019.

Epiphone Les Paul

This is my son’s guitar; he played it while in high school.

Fit and finish on this guitar is exceptional, although the electronics leave much to be desired.

It is a thing of beauty and plays very well.

For a time it had a really nice Schaller roller bridge and an original Bigsby tailpiece, but the Bigsby was problematic.

It had been hiding under the bed in the guest room for twenty years!

Sold in the great guitar purge of 2019.

Parts SG

This was made from parts, mostly from Guitar Fetish.

The body has a really nice gloss finish.

The neck is fashioned in a modern VOX mode, with fancy Mother of Pearl inlays.

It was a good guitar but I just didn’t warm up to it.

The string through body arrangement looked cool but made it a pain to change strings.

Sold in the great guitar purge of 2019.

Silvertone 1418

  Woo Hoo!

The body was rescued from a garage sale. This POS from 1969 was sold for about $100 through Sears stores. “The poor man's 335”, it originally had a three-on-a-side headstock and was one of the worst guitars ever made. It is shown here with a salvaged Fender-style neck (that would resurface on another guitar.). This was a parts bin guitar; total out of pocket expenses were under $50. That's a real Gibson humbucker; it had languished in my junk drawer for years.  The problem with these Japanese thin hollow body guitars is that the neck joint is too small and the only body connection is a small block of wood. I got it to play, but the guitar’s body would warp under tension. That made for high, unstable action and, ultimately, a trip to the garbage can.



In this YouTube video, the player had trouble with the action above the 12th fret as well:

Family Tree

We lost a member of our family yesterday.



The Norway maple in our backyard was splitting; it had always been lopsided, after the last windstorm it had started to seep sap from the crotch so this was as good a time as any to take it down. The utility companies had come by and marked that it was “OK” to grind the stump:



Two hours and $700 later we were the proud owner of a new patch of dirt:



A whole new look for the backyard: