For Nick

[MorrisrownSal]

i love my acoustic guitars, especially my Gibsons. Yet I know I am not alone on the forum in my love of boats as well. While I am an old Boston Whaler aficionado... Powerboats... This is from my stay in San Francisco this week, and it's a Christmas present for Nick, as well as other lovers of the sea.

Merry Christmas from SF

[j45nick]

Nice one, Sal!

 

I've spent a lot of time on the water in San Francisco in the last three years. It's a great place.

 

My entire personal and professional careers have been centered on the ocean, and I don't know what we'd do without it.

 

After 40+ years of only owning sailboats, we went over to the dark side a few years ago, and now spend our summers in Maine aboard our current boat. The Composite Acoustics carbon fiber guitar is the weapon of choice on the water. It doesn't care about temperature or humidity.

 

Boats and guitars go together just fine. Ask David Crosby and Stephen Stills:

 

 

 

And by the way, I really like classic Whalers as well.

[duluthdan]

...and if it wasn't for boats I'd still be a Martin Neil Young stuck in a rut hack player. Moved from Minnesota, Land of 10,000 lakes to Colorado, land of reservoirs . One of the first things I did the summer we got here was to sell my Lake Superior boat, bought a Les Paul and some mo0re Martins, and then started selling off that Les Paul, and a handful of Martins and started down the slippery slope shoulder short scale love affair. Now I'm a short scale hack.

[tpbiii]

There is no reason you can't combine the two. Take the picture above and then choose a nice California appropriate Gibson -- say a folk revival era 62 Hummingbird -- photographed with a CromaKey background.

 

 

Then Photoshop and wa la.

 

 

After 40+ years of only owning sailboats, we went over to the dark side a few years ago, and now spend our summers in Maine aboard our current boat. The Composite Acoustics carbon fiber guitar is the weapon of choice on the water. It doesn't care about temperature or humidity.

 

Maine? Summer? Carbon Fiber?

 

Have I got a deal for you. Across the Bay of Fundy you may know is another country. Summers we reside there in our 200+ year old family home on Jordan Bay -- the house in which my first cousin four times removed -- was born. His name is Donald McKay and he built clipper ships. We keep three guest rooms, and we love guests.

 

We are three miles from Shelburne NS -- one of the best harbors (habours in Canadian) in the world -- and one of the least developed. There were 10 times as many people in Shelburne in 1784 as there are now. To get there by boat, you must do two things: you must safely navigate the graveyard of ships that is Cape Sable Island; and you must put your mind through a 75 year time shift. It looks like Maine, but the culture is from an older time.

 

We have one vintage Gibson (44 J-45) and a CA Legacy in foster care in Shelburne -- plus a few Martins, banjos, mandolins, a fiddle, and of course Rhino, by wife's 1939 5-string S-51 Kay bass. You play bass, right?

 

You ought to consider a visit. Wonderful seafood -- but I guess that is true in Maine too. Essentially everyone in South NS is associated with the sea -- we know many sailors (a lot of them fishermen) who also play music: Maritime folk, country, Down East and even bluegrass.

 

You ought to consider a visit. We can put you up for free and drive you around and perhaps even play some music. If we knew you might come, we could even bring some serious vintage Gibsons up for the summer -- since Gibson did not use BRW in the golden era, we can still take that across the border with no fear.

 

Just something to think about.

 

All the best,

 

-Tom

[Fullmental Alpinist]

Summers we reside there in our 200+ year old family home....

 

Now that is seriously cool.

 

since Gibson did not use BRW in the golden era, we can still take that across the border with no fear.

 

So Canada threatens to confiscate BRW too? I heard Germany did, but the Canucks?

 

 

This is from my stay in San Francisco this week

 

Sal, weren't you in SF a couple of months ago? You're not going to turn all SF Giants on us now, are you?

[MorrisrownSal]

Thanks for chiming in brethren...

Tom, your place sounds magical.

FA- I make it here twice a year on business, but those are fiancial district -oriented short visits. I am here now with my whole crew... A nice week indeed, and our activities are diverse. Man, I could live here:

 

 

[RichG]

During my working years I enjoyed many trips to SF for business and once when I had to be there a full week I was able to take my wife and young son ( many years ago). on the other end of the spectrum, once went there from NY for a meeting and came back the same day. 8 am JFK to SFO and then 10pm "red eye" back.

 

Many years ago we used to sail in Maine by bare boat chartering from Hinkley (Northeast Harbor?). I never owned a boat but crewed in the around Long Island race twice. One time too many, in my view!

 

I can't imagine living where I couldn't get to the ocean in less than 15 minutes or so. Could be a genetic thing. My great great great grandfather died in 1882 when his oyster sloop capsized in the Fire Island Inlet with a load of Blue Point Oysters.

 

Sal, thanks for the great pictures and for stirring up some memories.

 

Rich

[tpbiii]

So Canada threatens to confiscate BRW too? I heard Germany did, but the Canucks?

 

Well it is just that the situation is unclear. The Cites Treaty is pretty much worldwide, and every country is different. We have never had any trouble, but the process to do it legally is so odious, we just don't take any BRW -- even though all of ours are legal and could get a permit.

 

Crossing the Canadian boarder repeatedly as we do, I can say mostly Canadian Customs is nice and it is easy -- we never do anything illegal. But sometimes they like to jerk us around. It is usually about guitars -- we always bring a number of them, and one of the things we love about Nova Scotia is the local music scene. They think we are trying to sneak in and work without a work permit. As a result we don' take money for playing -- if a gig provides money and it would just be too weird to not take it, we hire local side men and give it to them. I am just a frumpy old "follow the rules" retired ex college professor, but I guess sometimes I look cooler than I am. :)

 

Best,

 

-Tom

[j45nick]

I am just a frumpy old "follow the rules" retired ex college professor, but I guess sometimes I look cooler than I am. :)

 

Best,

 

-Tom

 

As the result of a years-long FOIA request that finally yielded results, I discovered that Tom B is far more than a "frumpy old retired college professor". Recently (and begrudgingly)released CIA documents reveal that under the cover of his 35-year "academic career", specifically his work in "multiprocessor architectures for digital signal processing" (tell me wtf that means?), Tom developed the secret programs that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

Just like the fortuitous happenstances that led to the vulcanization of rubber and the development of penicillin, Tom discovered--quite by accident--that his audience at Club 47 back in 1962 fled for the exits when he picked up his original LG-1 and played (and sang) "Freight Train".

 

That original LG-1 (as Tom has reported) disappeared years ago, but it disappeared into a lab in Georgia operated by the CIA. They finally figured out that it wasn't just something about the guitar itself, but it took tens of millions of dollars in research to develop the real weapon.

 

Years later, subliminal ELF broadcasts of Tom playing (and singing) "Freight Train" on a variety of vintage guitars were directed at leaders of both the Soviet Union and the GDR, with the most effective and disorienting versions being played on ladder-braced small-body Gibsons from the 1940's.

 

Ultimately, like the audience at Club 47 in 1962, they fled for the exits, and the Evil Empire and the Wall collapsed in chaos shortly thereafter.

 

There was some collateral damage, as one CIA agent forgot to put on his sound-attenuating headset one night. They say he may ultimately recover his hearing and balance.

 

"Frumpy old retired college professor"? I don't think so.

 

Just be careful the next time you click on one of Tom's video links. Be very careful......

[RichG]

As the result of a years-long FOIA request that finally yielded results, I discovered that Tom B is far more than a "frumpy old retired college professor". Recently (and begrudgingly)released CIA documents reveal that under the cover of his 35-year "academic career", specifically his work in "multiprocessor architectures for digital signal processing" (tell me wtf that means?), Tom developed the secret programs that ultimately led to the collapse of the Soviet Union and the fall of the Berlin Wall.

 

Just like the fortuitous happenstances that led to the vulcanization of rubber and the development of penicillin, Tom discovered--quite by accident--that his audience at Club 47 back in 1962 fled for the exits when he picked up his original LG-1 and played (and sang) "Freight Train".

 

That original LG-1 (as Tom has reported) disappeared years ago, but it disappeared into a lab in Georgia operated by the CIA. They finally figured out that it wasn't just something about the guitar itself, but it took tens of millions of dollars in research to develop the real weapon.

 

Years later, subliminal ELF broadcasts of Tom playing (and singing) "Freight Train" on a variety of vintage guitars were directed at leaders of both the Soviet Union and the GDR, with the most effective and disorienting versions being played on ladder-braced small-body Gibsons from the 1940's.

 

Ultimately, like the audience at Club 47 in 1962, they fled for the exits, and the Evil Empire and the Wall collapsed in chaos shortly thereafter.

 

There was some collateral damage, as one CIA agent forgot to put on his sound-attenuating headset one night. They say he may ultimately recover his hearing and balance.

 

"Frumpy old retired college professor"? I don't think so.

 

Just be careful the next time you click on one of Tom's video links. Be very careful......

 

Now you've done it! None of us can feel safe anymore. I guess I have to get my tin foil hat out of storage.

[tpbiii]

Just be careful the next time you click on one of Tom's video links. Be very careful......

 

You are a truly dangerous person -- and so are your so called friends.

 

I never worked for the CIA (that I remember). We worked a lot for a different agency that did not like its name bandied about. We just called them No Such Agency. One of the things we did was high speed word spotting on digital speech data. So just keep in mind that if you ever speak my name on any speech communication system, I know how to find you. Just saying.

 

-Tom

[Mickthemiller]

I was never here and I didn't see anything - honest