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Post by epaul on Aug 16, 2024 8:40:19 GMT -5
Tonight is the ribbon cutting and grand opening of a new wine bar, The Niche, in Vinton. Dan and Maureen Boddicker are the owners and they have put together something special. It's in the Brickside building on main street. Worth stopping at when people are in Vinton for Ijam. Dan and Maureen are both very musical. Raining here this morning. I assume you are aware that it is considered right and proper, a fortuitous omen, to show up at a bar opening well-tooted. It's like adding yeast to a bread mix, it gets the place going in the right direction by seeding it with the type of customer that brings prosperity. |
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Post by epaul on Aug 16, 2024 8:14:37 GMT -5
Ok, it isn’t Saturday. I know that but I may need a hint as to what day it actually is. Give me the first letter and I’ll take it from there. Q. The first letter is Q. he,he,he |
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Post by epaul on Aug 15, 2024 16:59:35 GMT -5
$99. Those of you with stinky dogs may want to order. Perfume for dogs... I have been using it but it makes me want to pee on a fire hydrant. And the judge bought that? Good job! |
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Post by epaul on Aug 15, 2024 12:04:37 GMT -5
Oh, all right. Found this gem! Mint! Just right for the backroads. (and it's easy on gas... unlike that 6 mpg drain pipe Howard found)  (I've got an idea for the pickup. Todd and I will have a little chat.) |
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Post by epaul on Aug 15, 2024 9:21:29 GMT -5
Happy Birthday, Shannon!All ready to roll. 
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Post by epaul on Aug 15, 2024 9:14:06 GMT -5
HAPPY BILLDAY! It's ready and it raring! (Todd slipped in a little Chevy V6. It goes!)  |
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 20:01:29 GMT -5
I did think about putting it in the closet for ten years...
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 19:41:39 GMT -5
The truss rod adjustment did the trick. The guitar sounded just fine and it had a good low E, not tubby or tricked up, but solid and in proportion and shared character with the rest of the strings. My guess is the fellow doing my $200 Pleked setup went for the moon on setting up a wonderful, amazing, out of this world easy-peasy action (as not just any schmuck shells out a non-refundable $200 to Plek an un-played guitar, only the most discerning of shmucks) and he cut it too fine and Sweetwater whistled it out the door without waiting a day or two to see how it all settled out. A rushed Plek.
If I had felt more comfortable with the neck and string spacing, I probably would have enough of an argument to keep it (as it was so darn cute and pretty, it wouldn't have taken much). But, as for sound and tone and all that, the guitar sounded fine.
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 17:09:11 GMT -5
 www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/MP66eSB--alvarez-mp66e-masterworks-acoustic-electric-guitar-shadowburstitBroke my heart, but I returned it. Prettiest guitar I have ever held. Photos can't capture how pretty the finish was with the hints of dark red lying underneath the warm mahogany. Unbelievably lovely! Playing experience: I pulled the guitar from the cheap and over-sized gig bag they shipped the guitar in (ridiculous, it was an OM bag, with the customer expected to pay an extra $200 for the factory case the guitar left Alvarez shipping in). I gave the guitar a strum... and the low E string was dead and muffled. Like the nut was made of sponge. Something was wrong. I racked my long dormant guitar mind. An idea floated out of the cobwebs... and then I loosened the truss rod half a turn or so. Magic. The low E came alive and the guitar sounded pretty darn good. (so much for that $200 Plek job... never again!). But, the guitar just felt a little cramped, fingering and picking felt a little off. Needs a strap, I thought. So I went digging though my guitar closet and pulled out a guitar I hadn't played in eons and eons with the intent to steal its strap. But before I pulled the strap, I gave the guitar a strum... HOLY SHIT! I heard a choir of angels with harps and trombones. That guitar just rang and rang, and it rang with such a full sweetness. And the neck, which wasn't skinny, felt wonderful and left my fretting fingers in just the right places. So comfy! WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN, MY DARLING SWEET LOVE? Ok, stuck ignored and un-played in my closet for darn near ten years. Well, we'll not bring that up again. Anyway, my closet guitar that blew my socks off ruined the Alvarez parlor for me. I spent a week trying to come up with a reason to keep it as it was so pretty. And it sounded good. But, only good, not a choir of angels with harps and trombones good like my closet find. And it just felt a little cramped to play... neck, strings, body...cramped. I wanted to keep it, but I just had no desire to play it. So pretty... sigh... but I sent it back. I ran through all my guitars, went on a playing frenzy. None came close to matching the forgotten one that had been stuck in my closet un-played virtually from the day I got it. I don't know what was going through my head when I put it there. I was playing 12-string with metal fingerpicks at the time, so maybe my ears were shot. And I had marred the finish in a couple spots by pulling off a John Pearse armrest, and that bugged me at the time (I was young and superficial). Anyway, one is gone, another is found. And I am playing every day again. |
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 16:19:29 GMT -5
I don't remember the year, it was sometime after the Great AG Exodus. But, I remember the how and why part. Someone, maybe John, maybe Doc LJ, maybe Tamarack, someone or someones raved on the forum about this guitar that was at Elderly. It was made by a builder named Michael Terris. Cedar top, Brazilian back and sides, French polish finish, hide glue, the works. "Somebody move on it. It is a Gem!" Well, it didn't take much for me in those days. Cedar/Braz sounded like a pretty good deal to me. So, I jumped on it. And then put it in the closet. But, it's out now.       |
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test
Aug 14, 2024 16:02:09 GMT -5
Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 16:02:09 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 9:49:42 GMT -5
Up to their usual tricks.
(I heard Walz is really a secret Muslim. Deep cover.)
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 9:44:02 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 9:42:33 GMT -5
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 9:34:00 GMT -5
3 hours and I will be a newly married man! |
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Post by epaul on Aug 14, 2024 9:27:24 GMT -5
Yes.
Next time Kiev is hit, airmail one to the Kremlin. Take the fun out of his war.
And the turn in the electoral tide over here has to also be messing with his head big time. Your best time to make a deal might be right now, Putin. You might not get your orange puffball.
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Post by epaul on Aug 13, 2024 14:23:39 GMT -5
I mentioned in the daily thread that I'll be taking down a photography exhibit today. It's been up for about six weeks. When I put the exhibit together, I made a conscious decision to skew it towards photos I found interesting rather than photos I thought would be popular. Some photos were composed in unorthodox ways. I included some multiple exposures. There were some photos where I moved the camera during the exposure. There were a couple of composites of multiple images. The exhibit has been a dud. There have been lots of viewers but no sales. That's a first. There have been few comments. Silence can tell you a lot... I know Walmart offers the free wall space, but, is that really the right venue for avant garden type work? Three words, location, location, location! |
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Post by epaul on Aug 13, 2024 8:53:28 GMT -5
Elwood Maki can pop open a beer with his feet. It should be on youtube.
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Post by epaul on Aug 13, 2024 8:44:48 GMT -5
Or 14 Scamp campers.
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Post by epaul on Aug 13, 2024 8:41:45 GMT -5
A swath as wide as a Big Boy and a school bus end to end!
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