[SCORE!! NRCD]

That's really cool!

I'm with Murph, I can't recall ever seeing such a thing before.
But I would think it would be perfect for protecting a valuable Twin during transport from here to there.

🙂

[HNPD]

Congrats!!

A very exciting acquisition, one that will open new doors to musical explorations.

😀

[What’s your temperature right now?]

4 hours ago, PrairieDog said:

Hey spaq, that was terrific.  Maybe you saw the same thing I did, that the temps and windchill is in the northern tier are hitting unknown territory and they are speculating that even critters and birds adapted to subzero temps could suffer huge kill-offs.  Not to mention the cattle and such that are just exposed out on the prairie with nothing to stop the wind.  The -60s windchills  they are projecting for NDAK, etc, is the new scale.  Under the old measure this would be -90. That’s Antarctica.   Btw, we’re -10 and feels like -23.

Man oh man,

Guys and gals up there are made of tougher stuff!

Our low this week (projected) will be Tuesday morning, and 3 degrees F.

Two mornings at 9 degrees F last year killed off my winter garden, so I haven't planted one thus far this year.
🙂
 

[What’s your temperature right now?]

WHAT’S YOUR TEMPERATURE RIGHT NOW
(a poem)

What’s your temperature right now?
What’s the reading on your thermometer?
I’m glad I’m an indoor human and not an outdoor cow
Able to understand the readings on the barometer

So it’s 27 F here, or minus three Centigrade
Balmier here than in Kansas
Even warmer down in the Florida everglade
Where the Catholics pray to St. Francis

It’s bitter cold they say, up there in Minnesota
Minus 8 in downtown St. Cloud
Even worse of in North Dakota
But all the roads are neatly snow-plowed

It’s not an issue for me,
until it’s time to walk the dogs
There’s ice on the nearby pond you see
Glad I’m not a frog

We’re snuggled up inside at this moment
And I’m enjoying my coffee and brandy
Grateful for God’s blessing and bestowment
It’s 70 degrees in here and I’m just dandy

So I send all my best to you this morning
Offering all my prayers and wishes
That your winter hard freeze warning
Doesn’t kill the birdies, frogs, and fishes

Please take care my friends today,
and snuggle up by the fire
Save the outdoor chores for another day
when the temperatures are a whole lot higher

 

🙂

[Lava Cables...seriously? A $400 cable?]

3 hours ago, Karloff said:

LOLOL !

perfect Sparky ... lol.   my boss loves thats stuff. I've never been a drinker. tried, but when I was 15 a close friend was in an accident & subsequent coma for 2 weeks from driving drunk. I never drank again till my divorce in '93.  I chose to abuse my lungs lol.   BUT, in the last couple years I've come to greatly appreciate Crown Apple. boy, I like that stuff ...

Apple flavored Crown Royal?

That does sound good!

😋

[Lava Cables...seriously? A $400 cable?]

On 1/10/2024 at 11:11 AM, gearbasher said:

$400 worth of booze and any cable will make your guitar sound good.

Funny  you should say this.

a. It's very much true
and,
b. Reading thru the thread got me to thinking of a conversation I had with a fellow at work a few years ago.

Me: No, I can't come have a bourbon drink with you after work. I had to give it up years ago.

Eric: What kind of bourbon did you drink back in the day?

Me: Ah, you know. Jim Beam with Coke, a long time ago. Jim Beam Black in the later years, with Diet Coke.
But I liked it too much. I would really pound it down.  Had to switch to low-carb beers for my health, and in support of keeping my weight down.

Eric: Your problem is, you have never had a proper sipping whiskey. A really fine bourbon, and you only sip a small amount each evening. Neat, or with a single ice cube.

Me: So, what would you consider a really fine bourbon then?

Eric: Blanton's. Best stuff going. Go get you a bottle after work today. Take it home, relax, pour a finger or so of it in a crystal glass, and enjoy!!

Me: Okay. I'll give it a try.

So I went by a liquor store, asking for Blanton's. No dice.
Traveled to another one. Again, no luck, they don't carry the stuff.

Finally, I hit some sort of ABC Store that I had never visited before, and they had it.
Various fancy bottles with a little pewter horse figurine for a cork head.
A tiny tennis ball sized bottle (50 ml) was forty bucks.
Slightly larger (375 ml) was $130!!

My God.
This is crazy expensive.
But it must be really good.
This could well change my life, for the better!

So I bought the $130 bottle, and drove home.
Relaxed in a hot bath after walking the dogs, and put on some clean trousers and a nice shirt and sweater.
I put some jazz piano record from the 1960's on the stereo.

Poured a finger and a half over a small ice cube, in a proper whiskey drinking glass, and sat down in the leather easy chair to relax and enjoy life.
Took a cautious sip.
And then another. 
Savored it on my palate, and tried to absorb the fine nuances of wonderfulness.
And so then promptly spit it back into the glass.
It was bloody awful.

Fast forward to the next day at the airfield.

Me: Here Eric, happy birthday, happy New Year, and a merry Saint Swithin's Day to you.

Eric: What's this?

Me: It's your Blanton's. You can have it, and drink it in good health.

Eric: (inspecting the bottle)  You tried it and didn't like it?

Me: Eh. It wasn't my cup of tea.

Eric: Wait, be specific.

Me: It was horrid. I once cleaned spark plugs in old gasoline that tasted better than this.  Drinking it literally made me lose the will to live.  I sipped it, and I wanted to climb on top of the nearest tall building, and throw myself off.

Eric: Okay, that's specific enough. Sorry you didn't like it.

Me: It's alright. We all have our own tastes and likes and dislikes. Enjoy the rest of that bottle, and good luck with it.

Eric: Thanks. Sorry it didn't work out.

So.
I'm pretty sure that the $400 guitar cable is a lot like Blanton's.
Only without the little pewter horse.

🤔

[Fixing Things Without Trying]

But to the topic of fixing things without trying, I must confess that I am rarely lucky in that regard.

Truth be told, I have often broken things in the process of trying to fix them or make them better.

And then there's a lot of cussing going on.


🤨

[Fixing Things Without Trying]

I'm fairly handy myself, but I know my limitations.

Skill                                 Grade

Carpenter: B
I can design and build fences, stairs, and decks.
But the fine furniture building, with beautiful finished edges and gorgeous presentation is beyond me.

Plumber: C+
I'm very handy at it, but I cannot weld/sweat copper pipes.

Auto mechanic:  B -
I can do most everything under the hood except drop an engine and rebuild it.

Motorcycle mechanic:  B+
I can do just about everything, but I am more willing to pay somebody else to do the deep and dirty stuff anymore.

Electronics:  B-
I'm a great troubleshooter, and I can repair or replace most things.
But my knowledge of electrical theory is very much journeyman grade.

Roofing: C-
I can do most of it, and have, but my fear of heights compels me to pay somebody else, pretty much all the time anymore.

Gutters and downspouts: A
I'm good at this, though I really don't have much passion for it anymore.

Painting interiors and exteriors:  B+
I'm slow but steady, and I tape a clean edge.

Lawn work and landscaping: B+
Though I admit I am slowing down a bit. With age comes aches and pains.

Home appliance repair and replacement: A
I don't need much help troubleshooting or in moving the old stuff out and installing the new stuff.

Bricklaying: F
Replacing auto glass: F
Automotive paint and customizing: F
Putting up with other people's bull$#1t:  F-

Like I said.
I know my limitations.

🤔
 

[There the warmth is!]

Fantastic job, Doctor Sheepdog.

Great to hear that the patient is doing well, and that she sounds terrific.

I'm not sure she's out of the woods quite yet though.
Patient presents as very quiet now, and she looks a bit yellow to my eye.

Both of those point to jaundice and liver problems.
I would order a liver function series blood test, stat!

🤔

[New Gibson Amps Coming]

As long as they are relic'ed, scuffed, and impregnated with artificial beer rings and cigarette smoke aromas, they will be a smash hit.

🫠

[Seaweed Sunburst]

On 1/4/2024 at 12:48 PM, merciful-evans said:

I dont often like blue guitars, but this mod shop LP in Seaweed Sunburst looks right (to me anyway). 

https://www.gibson.com/en-GB/Electric-Guitar/MOD-RAM022394/Seaweed-Sunburst

 

In fact I like the finishes on a bunch of the current offerings. Even some of the crazy ones. Or maybe I'm just in a good mood? Not good enough to buy one, just looking.

I'm with you on this one.

Not normally a fan of blue guitars, but seriously liking that odd burst there.

❤️

[What Guitar related presents did Santa bring this year?]

I got some new shoes.

I technically use them to walk into the music room where the guitars hang, so they are technically guitar-related. 

😐

[Albums You Should Own]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Heathen_(David_Bowie_album)

 

[How to spot a scammer]

25 minutes ago, 10PoundLester said:

Back in the early 2000's I would get these emails and I'd play them like a fiddle for a few weeks making them waste a $hitload of time and effort, then I would just tell them to f-off after I got tired of playing with them. It was pretty satisfying actually.

I did that with a guy calling from Pakistan (or thereabouts) who claimed to be an IRS Agent.

I "owed $5,000, and I need to pay him right now, over the phone, or the IRS goon squad was going to be at my door promptly".

That was a LOT of fun.
I wasted a half hour of his productivity that day, and left him absolutely, furiously exasperated.
😃
 

[How to spot a scammer]

I get at least two scammer emails a week.
I just delete them without reading.

Craigslist is another matter altogether.
90% of the Craigslist respondents are scammers.

"I am interested in the item. Can I send you a code to make sure you are a human?"

The answer is always NO.

Then delete.

😉

[Let me get ahead of the news cycle]

Look, before there is name-calling and finger-pointing, let me explain why my name was on the just-now released list of Lolita Island high-profile figures.

I thought I was flying to that island to get a PEDICURE.
I had no idea that that isn't what 'pedo' stands for.

Vowels and consonants. Proper spelling and context.
I guess they matter.

Color me properly embarrassed.

🥲

[ES 333]

They say this cat Shaft is a bad mother
(Shut your mouth)
But I'm talkin' 'bout Shaft
(Then we can dig it)



Okay, I'm gonna shut up now.

😞

[Iconic Sixties Songs]

4 hours ago, Murph said:

Yep.

Sure did.

Here's another one for you.

I mentioned earlier, Green Tambourine, by The Lemon Pipers.
A one hit wonder band.
Their guitar player was Bill Bartlett.
Good dude.

Years later he emerged as the guitar player of the band Ram Jam.
They had a 1970's hit with a revved-up guitar tour de force version of Black Betty.
Another one hit wonder.

I'm gonna shut up now.

😐

[New Gibson Jessica]

Here was the tease from last August.

https://www.musicradar.com/news/slash-jessica-gibson-usa-les-paul-standard

[Iconic Sixties Songs]

2 hours ago, Murph said:

 

Murph,

Did you know that the guitar player on that song was Strawberry Alarm Clock founding member Ed King?

Ed went on to join Lynyrd Skynyrd, and co-wrote many of their biggest hits, including (God help me, I'm so tired of this song) Sweet Home Alabama.

[Iconic Sixties Songs]

Hard to argue with any of those.

I would add two songs that we have enjoyed playing live as well;

Green Tambourine, by The Lemon Pipers
and,
Crimson And Clover, by Tommy James and the Shondells

🙂

[3 pick up les pual with a flame inlay]

Vaguely resembles the Custom Shop Les Paul Ultima.

But it also looks a LOT like one of the guitars that the Chinese discount site was selling for around $250, back in 2009.
My instinct is that it's the latter.
😉

[3 pick up les pual with a flame inlay]

It's not blingy enough for me.

I need more bling than that.

Just sayin'.

🤨

[Happy New Year]

I appreciate the good blessings.

And I offer all of my own blessings to all of you for a wonderful and prosperous new year.

(For whatever good my blessings will do. )
I'm a lapsed-Catholic and a disgraced former Altar Boy who was tossed out of the church on his ear for getting caught drinking the sacramental wine.

Anyway.
Wishing all good things to you all in 2024.
😗
 

[Elderly Instruments purchase, is this normal?]

8 hours ago, PrairieDog said:

Thanks Sparq!  Yeah, I can’t believe this is, “My first banjo!” I can’t put it down.  thanks for the encouragement about the situation, too.  Being new here, I gotta ask, you seem hip to banjos, do you play?  I was going to post over in the banjo area, but that room seems kinda quiet these days.  

I play some banjo, but only for specific performance and recording projects.

Never owned one, but I have borrowed more than a few of them for this or that.

A good friend of mine took up banjo lessons a few years ago, and then he got good at it and bought an old Gibson banjo that feels and sounds just great.
Adam Mouser is his name, and he would join us upon occasion.
We would have him play with us on Dueling Banjos, of course. And also Man Of Constant Sorrows, some Eagles, and a few others.
One by The Darlings (from The Andy Griffith Show),  Salty Dog.

This is Adam.
He's one of the good ones.