NYC Journal

Looks like Monday’s late afternoon has three Strat auctions going on in the same envelope. One of these is the esteemed “Tiffany.” Hmmm.

Well nothing wrong with securing a hardtail today. I have a need for one. I’m pleased that I bought it with just the opening bid. It certainly will be a cool Strat.

The other two Strats being auctioned Monday in the same envelope are both red, and both are lighter than Tiffany by either 4 ounces or 5 ounces. Tiffany weighs 4 pounds even, but the other two weigh 3 pounds 11 ounces, and 3 pounds 12 ounces.

4-5 ounces is a big deal. Around 4 pounds to 4 1/4 pounds is about average for a Strat made of alder.

50’s Swamp Ash can have bodies around 3 pounds, so an assembled 50’s Strat can weigh in at around 6 pounds.

So the point here is that weight matters a lot and can have an emphasis of greater interest for bodies under 4 pounds.

So perhaps Tiffany will have little interest, and maybe I could snag it for the opening bid like I did for the black hardtail today.

I also suspect that Tiffany might not be so interesting, not only because of her moderate weight, but because she is a non standard Fender Custom Color. Pretty much a bit of a strange oddity, but that kinda is my style. Likely too bold a statement for many, and likely too outside the box.

To be critical, most Americans are “Extra-Medium.”

I would try to buy Tiffany because I happen to think the sonic blue Tele Thinline is a truely nice guitar. It would be great to keep the Thinline together as is. The concept of Tiffany endures and still makes sense.

Three very different Strats is not a lot… Especially for a serious player.

Also tomorrow I’ll ask the grandson which is his favorite guitar. I kinda think he will pick “Flash,” and that means one day when he is older I will likely gift him that guitar.

So anyways I’m diseased…

Cal
 
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I think my over hydration is a kinda workout for my bladder. Also some moderate coffee abuse is kinda like strength training for the bladder.

Know that after a prostate surgery it is recommended t refrain from drinking coffee because it irritates the bladder, but now it seems I’m past that point, and I see coffee has been and is now a great form of physical therapy, at least for me…

Then there is my strength training… that seems to have tightened everything up.

At night I am warmer in bed because my body is expending a lot of calories rebuilding muscle. I have had to shed the T-shirt that I tend to wear as a layer. Now I sleep bare chested.

So anyways rather big advantaces. Generally during the day active bowels generally lead to leakages, but today I’m high and dry.

Also I can pee like a race horse. Kinda like I have a rebuilt pressure washer. Seems like I have new pipes.

Separately my friend Craig called. We talked and I gave him the update, but also we talked about the 4-quarter 12 inch wide fir planks he is almost gifting me.

This lumber will be used for building two sets of 8x8 carriage house doors for my garage.

Lots of value added here. Then I have this construction pressure treated Timbers from the natural gas contractor that gifted me 4 post over 8 feet long.

I’m kinda excited.

Cal
 
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As per MFM’s recommendation some trees that could damage the house need to get removed from the kid’s new home. Looks like a closing date is sometime in mid April.

My friend Craig is a college educated tree surgeon, and at age 70 still works. He will see if he wants or can do the job. Also the wood chips don’t need to be carted away, and since the kid’s have a wood burning stove in the new house they will keep the wood for fuel.

Then if I help and the husband helps with the clean up, a lowered fee can be had. Also know that Craig is an old high school friend of “Maggie’s.”

One day I was rounding up logs along Reynold’s Hills, alongside the then abandoned house, as a free harvest of clean fill for down the slope.

This guy in a pickup truck stoped to see if I need help, and he also I guess was curious why a skinny old man was using a garden cart to move hundred pounds logs that were long.

I explained that I’m just rounding up clean fill and invited him to see the slope I was remediating. He asked me if I could use brush and wood clippings from his landscaping and tree surgery, and I said, “Sure.”

So this is how I met Craig. I was just minding my own business. It was abou a year or so later in a phone conversation with Maggie’s brother that I mentioned my friend Craig, and Maggie’s brother asked if his last name was XXXX, and it was then the gap in 5 degrees of freedom closed in.

Then I told Maggie.

So maybe I was friends with Craig for about or close to 2 years. In fact Maggie’s best friend from high school was kinda engaged or almost married Craig. We had Chris and Craig over for a lunch, and it was like a high school reunion.

So kinda crazy.

So this 4-quarter Fir is worth mucho money. I had priced some 7 inch wide reclaimed fir that maybe was 7/8 or 3/4 inch thick from Dain’s the oldest lumber yard in Westchester that dates back to the 1880’s, and it was $12.00 a board foot.

Craig offered me his 4-quarter (1 inch thick) for $1.00 a foot. Pretty much a giveaway price. This also is old growth seasoned wood. Not sure you can get wood like this anymore. This is not reclaimed wood, 1 foot wide planks all longer than 8 feet.

So talk about treasure. I’m thinking of buying router and adding a channel to run a strip of 1/4x1 to float between the seams. I would only need 4 boards to creat a 4x8 door.

Know that my garage has 8x8 doors, while many or most garages have 8 by 7 foot high garage doors.

I expect a lot of curb appeal and value added to our 1912 Baby Victorian. Mighty cool.

All sweat equity…

I’ll also will strip and replace the hip roof on the garage.

Cal
 
The baritone neck has been fretted, and along with the other small parts I ordered now has a shipping label. No estimated deliver yet, but I’m mucho excited.

The roasting of maple makes it turn a kinda amber, and this neck had mucho bird’s eye as figure. The fingerboard is maple, so for longevity I upgraded to stainless steel frets that basically are one and done. The SS frets arguably add some brightness, but on an alder guitar perhaps not a bad thing and maybe an asset, especially if you use heavy gauge strings like I do.

So I have a lot of things going on. I’m a pretty great at project management. Kinda goal oriented as well as detailed oriented.

All good.

Cal
 
The Sonic Blue Thinline is a great guitar as is. Can’t really bare to convert it to a baritone, something would get lost.

So I need another blue bodied guitar, either Tele or Strat…

Last night I practiced on the Strat and also the Thinline. No favorite, both great.

Every day I feel a tautness in my body from just a little strength training. I’m easing into it, but maybe I need to ramp it up to max sets. I have been easing into it…

Today the grandkids in the afternoon. The granddaughter at age ten is already a teenager of sorts. She got accepted into a private school that will be great for her.

Let’s see if the grandson will be a good boy today.

Cal
 
Seems like a destiny playing out where things are just falling in place and all I do is go with the flow.

I’m really excited about having a hardtail Strat and pretty much the spinoff of making it and building it out as a blues guitar. The hardtail has more sustain and a sharper attack than a Strat with a tremolo.

My feeling is that the tremolo Strats soften the attack and then introduce this spongy reverb that is well suited for my Jazz playing.

A hardtail Strat though is a step more towards a Tele in expression, and is kinda more pure and raw at the same time.

So how did it happen that a set of 1959 Tone Specific pickups kinda falls from heaven into my lap? Divine intervention, or just more pure luck?

Anyways going with the flow… I’ll see where this is going, but something big is evolving between Tele’s, Strats, and my 50’s early 60’s vibe amps for plug and play.

Seems a remarkable roll…

Cal
 
A notion came to mind that I would like to share. Part of me is a bit reckless, or crazy, but I believe that is just being passionate.

I think of a few things that have proven I am a man of passion and not “Extra-Medium.”

There were the NYC Meet-Ups that at times went way over the top. Things like a surprise flash mob, or any of the Camera Beauty Pagents. All kinda epic…

Then one year I decided to print digitally, and I drank the Piezography Cool-Aid and bought $10K worth of paper and ink to decidedly become somewhat a master printer in a specialized manner concentrating only on B&W.

So now a new challenge of learning to read music, play Jazz, and become a solo musician. Not an easy task, and perhaps one that could last the rest of my life as a pursuit.

I have to acknowledge an influential man who kinda changed my life. Dr. Ken MacIntire kinda profiled me and taught me a powerful lesson about life, creativity, and how to live and experience life fully, and that was to embrace passion and go all the way.

No “Extra-Medium” or fooling around if you really want to live, experience, or life your life passionately.

Of course there are costs of time, money and isolation. It is a kinda lonely place to exist when you are surrounded by extra-medium. Life and surviving is difficult by itself.

So here I am living in retirement in a stable situation that I earned and accumulated over time. Perhaps only about a third of Americans get to this destination or place.

All I can say is I’m not wasting the opportunity to pursue passion, and in my small way, go all the way.

So pretty much this certainly is the path I am on.

Cal
 
I secured the set of 1959 “Blues” Tone Specific pickups for my black Strat hardtail. Shipping and tax adds up, but oh-well…

Some deliveries will be coming this Saturday. One is the black Strat body. 3 pounds 11 ounces and will likely be under 7 pounds assembled I hope. A lightweight Strat would be a great asset. Know that Tele’s generally weigh less than Strats with Tremolo’s.

I decided to go with a single ply white pickguard that has only 8 screw-holes. This is kinda 1954-mid 1959 era Strat. The pickups are 1959 where they migrated to more powerful Alnico 5 magnets. Pickguards are plastic and are about half the price of the gold anodized I seem to favor, but too much of a good thing gets boring.

I’ll order a roasted maple vintage style neck, but I’ll add a Madagascar ebony fingerboard which kinda has the edgy hardness of maple, but has some brown blended in to resemble rosewood that would be period correct. My research revealed that roasted maple necks while very stable, the brittleness makes them impossible or very difficult to refret if they have a roasted maple fingerboard. Oh-well…

Pretty much ebony has that hardness and brightness of maple, but will allow easy refret for one-and done durability. I also think the look will be good. In 1959 Fender introduced rosewood fingerboards on some of their guitars. 1959 marks a transitional time and era for a Strat, and I’m not only honoring it, I’m also exploiting it.

So I’m going all the way… Take note of the OCD behavior… In my case it is adding focus.

I can slow down. No need to build out everything all a once and there is no sense of urgency…

Cal
 
So at this point any leakage is usually due to bowel activity. This is generally concentrated in the morning, and I tend to have to evacuate several times.

Oh-well. Just an update. Know that I’m kinda advanced here with my bladder control. Generally it takes 3-6 months to overcome incontenance.

Cal
 
A red screen for the indexes, while gold and oil remain in the green.

Walmart is reporting a loss, the first in three years. So I’m not a Walmart shopper, but the cheap imported goods from China spells mucho trouble for China. Evidently the “Walmart-Crowd” a marginalized group that buys cheap goods is already retrenching.

The slow motion slowdown is moving forward like an iceberg.

Meanwhile the fired FED workers is said not to be recorded yet in the unemployment numbers. Remember how I mentioned 400K as a tipping point in new unemployment claims as a signifier of a recession.

I discounted that accuracy because of the GIG economy, but now that 400K seems relevant again…

Look out below. I think the Walmart report is a bit of a tipping point where a slowdown and a downturn is becoming evident. Remember the “trap-door” moment? This might be it, or it is the beginning of a cascade to fully indicate a downturn.

“Look out below,” I say…

Cal
 
Uh Oh.

Ultrawide Sinar Norma 4x5 47mm F8 SA Schneider Center Filter 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Morning Devil Cal,

Here is my Schneider Center Filter 1, was $200 from Germany. 40.5mm Step Down Ring require. Schneider never made a Center Filter specifically for this lens, this is as close as I can come. This is the Center Filter 1 Schneider, adapted to 4x5 Ultrawide Norma 4x5 that I leave set up all the time. 47mm F8 Schneider Super Angulon in Compur. Works great on location on a smaller tripod. Full Movements in all ways Front and Back with Norma. A Clockmaker Friend Welded in Aluminum a Special Recessed 47mm Norma Board, so I can easily access the controls. With this lens, you see all four corners of the image circle, there is considerable cutoff, but a unique look just the same. Fun to shoot superwide on 4x5 with full camera movements. A 4x5 Norma Bag Bellows, and Norma Magnifier work great for viewing the image in quadrants. This is kind of pushing the optical envelope a bit.
 
Not only does the grandson eat all my food, he also wants all my guitars. Just like I predicted he loves the Candy Apple Red Strat the most. It suits him well and fits his profile as “Ham.”

“Maggie had thought he would pick “Worm” the kinda weathered Esquire that is made of 1-piece old reclaimed barn wood that features worm-holes. They say that worms love only the best wood.

Cal
 
I lurked on an auction for a butter scotch Tele, and in the last 20 seconds the first bid came in and then there was a flurry of 4 bids and the price surprisingly jumped a lot.

Then you have to add in $25.00 shipping and tax, and by then the body becomes costly. Pretty much I don’t want to go there even though “Tiffany” would be mighty cool to secure. My hope is that the color will not be favored, and the 4.0 pound weight will make Tiffany not too popular.

Anyways I drawing a limit.

Then there is a Bloom Doom option of waiting and securing perhaps a Tele or Strat body and evading paying tax. Pretty much I can likely secure body in “Closet Classic” condition which actually would be preferable.

The rage right now is for heavily distressed guitars. The black Strat hardtail that is incoming has a lot of missing paint and exposed bare wood. On the black guitar is appears somewhat organic, but on many guitars it gets played out as overdone and looks forced.

On Tiffany the distress is limited.

I just got to remember I have the Bloom Doom option…

I think I will go with my strategy and make the initial bid then make an immediate higher bid then just slightly higher to creat a second bid then do a third increased bid at my limit. If I don’t win I’m cool with that.

Cal
 
The DeMarino became a great guitar. I kinda like the Bigsby over a Strat Trem. It has a look, an unusual vibe, and I dare say sounds better and has a better feel for me.

Perhaps one day I’ll have Cris replace the fingerboard with a 9 1/2 radius to go with a LSR roller nut. Then this guitar would kinda be ultimized and would be killer.

I like the mild reverb like decay, the shimmer of sorts, and it is part of that Strat sound. For Jazz it is great.

The black hardtail Strat body will be delivered Saturday, tomorrow. I secured a set of Tone Specific “Blues” pickups for this Strat. The attack, sustain, and tone of a hardtail supports the blues with increased sensitivity, treble and dynamics. More like a Tele.

Around dinner time today a Tiffany Blue Tele auction will occur. I will lurk to see how this auction ends.

On one hand I like the Strat “Tiffany” a lot for its difference, but soon a faded Sonic Blue Strat will be incoming at Bloom Doom.

I’d like to secure Tiffany the Strat for little money. It features a tremolo, and pretty much this is in anticipation that the grandson will eventually get gifted the Candy Apple Red Strat (Flash) one day.

A faded sonic blue Strat from Bloom Doom would match the Thinline, and it would likely be in “Closet Classic” condition with less distress than Tiffany.

Pretty much comes to a price point. I would be happy with either color blue, but Tiffany I would value lower in price because I don’t really value the distressing so high, even though for MJT the level of wear is mild when compared to other guitars.

I don’t beat up my guitars, and they display honest wear. Any dent or chip I performed. Pretty much organic and not forced.

So more suspense. Tiffany is a 4.0 pound body, not a Fender custom color, so it kinda has freak appeal. The sonic blue that in the future is of an unknown weight, hopefully could be lighter than 4 pounds and will be more akin to being a closet classic.

Executive decisions…

Cal
 
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Morning Devil Cal,

Sinar Norma Handy Test 65mm F8 No 4 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Sinar Norma Handy 4x5 Test Ilford HP5+ 65mm F8 Super Angulon at Fll. Kingwood Gardens Mansfield Ohio, waiting for the Solar Eclipse to occur. HANDHELD camera focused hyperfocally. The cosine effect causes corners to be darker, could be improved with my 65mm F8 Schneider Center Filter. Silver image 8x10 print Omega DII 180mm Rodagon laser aligned, Arista #2 RC paper processed in Dektol 1:2. Print copied with Sony Nex 7 30mm Nex Macro Lens.
 
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