NYC Journal

Devil Dan,

Thanks,

For her birthday “Maggie” wanted binoculars to do her bird watching. To be honest I think I have seen more than she has without binoculars: a harrier; a young grey heron; and a red til hawk perched on a dead tree that fringes on our property; as well as humming birds.

Cal
 
I’m pretty convinced that I need to get a new Callahan bridge to optimize the DeMarino. I’m thinking of removing a bridge off another guitar to move forward and experiment. It would waste a set of strings. Oh-well…

Monday I can place an order, but then I would have to wait for delivery. Besides now I have the time to experience the DeMarino as a string through bridge guitar, and the new bridge would have the cutouts for the Bigsby and different saddles. Although the new bridge can be set up as a string through also, I think upon delivery setting it up with the Bigsby would be my focus.

So I determined I will satisfy my curious mind and do this experiment. The Snakehead Tele needs a truss rod adjustment to slightly straighten the neck anyways…

I played musical guitars last night listening to the decay and resonances of each. All are wonderfully different.

I play with a pick and middle, ring and pinky to pull chords. I use a lot of double stops in my playing to add overtones and richness. I tend to play right at the end of the neck, and my dynamics are advancing. It is easier for most players to play near the bridge BTW, there is more space between the strings, and the strings are less floppy there. At the base of the neck there just seems to be more possibilities…

This is like a journey of sorts that leads to constant discovery. Slow progress though, but I’m in no rush.

Cal
 
I set up the DeMarino with the Callahan bridge with brass saddles. I stripped the bridge off a guitar that needs a neck adjustment, and that I also wanted to change the saddles from brass to stainless stee.

I was 100% correct that the Wilkinson retro bridge was sucking tone out an otherwise great guitar. It only took almost 30 years to get to today. WOW.

Now the DeMarino sounds like a Tele. Blues shuffles have a thump, and on top of that is a dose of warmth, and now this guitar has the warmth and high end articulation that I want that is balanced. Kinda like a dream come true. No need for a neck pickup.

It will be interesting to see if there is much of a tonal change with adding a Bigsby. About 9 ounces of mass, and the coupling to the body will be less. How much could be lost, if any. Pretty certain that the resonance will get offset, but in which way, perhaps deeper is my thought with the weight gain.

Then the added mass might add sustain. Heavier tuners on the neck tend to dampen the highs a bit, but then there is a bonus of sustain and what you loose in highs you kinda gain in the mids as a trade-off.

Understand that a swamp ash body has this high end treble and pop that gets promoted, so there tends to be a surplus or abundance of highs on a Tele made of this wood. Not a bad thing trimming some.

So now I’m really excited about placing a Callahan order Monday. With a Bigsby this guitar will be pure evil. Without the Bigsby it is also a very lightweight guitar. My thinking is that adding the Bigsby could really open things up.

Looks like the DeMarino is evolving into the most ultimate blues guitar. It has the tone in my head, and also the pickup has more output than my vintage pickups in my other Tele’s. Has the warmth for Jazz, but I can hit an amp hard with more signal without having a pedal to overdrive an amp, all I have to do is turn up the volume knob.

I also think the added weight will help balance the guitar better. The Sperzel tuners I installed are heavier than the retro style tuners that I replaced, and the UBER long neck with 25 frets amplifies the weight gain on the headstock. The Bigsby will work to counterbalance the guitar.

So dreams do come true, and I was not delusional with this guitar.

Happy-happy, and mucho excited. This adventure and journey is not over yet, it will get better.

Remember that this guitar was a prototype from a very small shop. This one has the mistake, the extra rear route that was not needed. It also used the most select woods available, and some were stuff that was saved for special projects. The maple neck and fingerboard has serious flame. The body is 1-piece and UBER light in weight.

Perhaps maybe a handful of the Tele version were ever made, and none of them were made of such select materials. In fact the necks were outsourced to a vender with a CNC machine. To an extent this prototype can also be considered a one-off.

Now it is getting modernized and updated in a great way. Pretty sure it will be novel with no other one like it, unless one of the few production models clone my experiments, research and ideas.

There is this bond between a musician and his instrument. I helped build and design this guitar. Now it is a vintage guitar that is 29 years old. Like my retirement there is/was a delayed gratification.

Crazy-good.

Cal
 
The DeMarino weighs 6.42 pounds on my digital luggage scale.

The B5 Bigsby weighs 0.56 pounds.

Add them up and it is 6.98 pounds. Just under 7 pounds is still light for a solid body guitar, and is especially light for a solid-body guitar with a Bigsby.

This is an awesome event.

“Maggie” went for a walk at Blue Mountain. I’m going solo to the gym…

First though I’m going to plug in and see what the DeMarino really sounds like through a cranked amp.

Cal
 
At the gym I did a repeat of a half hour elliptical and then the stationary bike with an upright still upper body with resistance training for strength buildup for 20 minutes. The thing is I upped the effort a notch in intensity.

In looking around the gym I’m still kind of a skinny bitch, even though today’s weigh in was another 159.0 pounds.

Had to get bread and meat…

When “Maggie” went out for her walk I took the opportunity to plug in the DeMarino and crank the volume to see and hear what this guitar can really do. Tweaked the pickup height a bit to dial in the sweet spot. Anyways I am mighty pleased. This guitar “honks” meaning it conveys itself very well, like get out of my way.

So this guitar has an attitude. I developed 5-presets exploiting a linear 5-position switch to rapidly change and shift tonalities. Pretty much I developed this on my own, and it is mighty clever.

Cris and Dave are going to flip when they see, hear, and play this guitar.

So a big step, but only an indicator for the rest that has yet to come. Further upgrades: stainless steel ferules; the Bigsby upgrades; the new modified bridge for a Bigsby; new contol plate of stainless steel; new control knobs.

Tomorrow is Monday. I’ll be placing an order…

Cal
 
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Placed my Callahan order to go Bigsby on the DeMarino.

This is a small company that does CNC in Maryland or Virgina. Their stuff is crazy great and is like jewelry. Not cheap, and kinda aerospace quality.

I toyed around to be sure and let the dust settle. Once you mount a Bigsby their will be 4 screw holes on the top that are permanent scars, anyways that’s the way it is on a Tele.

In digging in the DeMarino plays with high action because the frets need to be leveled and then recrowned. This is a almost 30 year old guitar that has been played a bit.

I tried tuning down a half-step and also a full step, but the best balance of tone was at pitch. If I need the strings to be slinkier (looser tension) I might have to go down a gauge to 11-52 strings.

Going down a gauge on the strings will thin the tone, lighten the bass response, and drop out some mids, but this guitar and pickup combination has a chest pounding thump, and if I loose some mids there still will be mucho.

I reconciled that this guitar is to exploit bending and vibrato so it will differ from the guitars I have set up for Jazz. This will be a blues guitar. The pickup I have installed has a good output to drive an amp, has lots of midrange warmth, yet has enough treble for articulation and clarity for my plug and play mentality.

My Jazz guitars are only good for a single whole-step bend as the maximum. I have very strong hands and fingers, so pretty much a set of 10-46’s would be too light for me. 11’s are still beefy.

I likely will give the guitar to Cris to get the frets dressed. This is a tedious job, and he has the buffer to polish the frets totally smooth.

11-52 is still heavy strings, but 12-54’s have a deeper and richer tone.

Mucho happy to have a specialized blues guitar.

Cal
 
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A report suggests that 35% of incomes below $50K are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Then on another scale that households that have $150K income about 20% are living paycheck-to-paycheck.

Too many Americans are living close to the edge with no savings and little wiggle room. With no buffer what will happen if there is an economic slowdown or if tariffs push up prices?

“The money has to come from somewhere,” I say.

Trouble lies ahead… I hope you are ready. A financial podcaster suggests buying only what you need, and saving. Expect higher prices on food, durable goods, and electronics. Buy these before shortages, supply disruptions and higher prices set in.

Grow food if you can.

Calvin says, “Remember the supply disruptions, shortages, hoarding, and inflation that happened during the Pandemic.” Hear we go again…

Tariffs, trade wars, and retaliation historically are inflationary. The definition on of insanity is to repeat behavior and expecting a different outcome. I expect insanity, do you?

Also know that some people will get crushed by their debt loads. Others that are currently treading water will drown. All I can say is, “Oh-well.” Not many Americans live below their means…

Cal
 
Home price increases has slowed from 4.3% to only 3.9% nationally, but home prices in the New York metro area still have increased 7.5%.

Peekskill is an hour train ride fromGrand Central so on one hand it is considered a commuter suburb, but in Wikipedia the northern quarter of Peekskill is considered “upstate.”

By other definitions of “upstate” it is considered north of Albany.

I consider Peekskill to be downstate because I draw the line of being within commuter distance as being downstate, and also Peekskill while it has a taste of rural it is not rural enough.

I see Peekskill as an in between space though, and this I like. It is not remote, it has great services, and yet is convenient to upstate and NYC. Metro North service and commutable. Pretty much centrally located and in a strategic location.

So 7.5% even though nationally a housing price increase slowdown. Pretty much more homes are on the market, and it is just a supply increase that is slowing down the increases. Conversely the housing shortage might be persisting in the NYC metro area. Basically the housing shortage here persists.

Cal
 
I gathered all my guitar parts, and sorted out the possibilities. I have enough parts to almost assemble three more guitars, and I have all the required pickups, three bodies, but only one neck with a set of tuners.

It will be easy to assemble at least one guitar because I have everything on-hand except perhaps some incidental small parts.

The neck is “roasted” maple tat is figured. This heat treating yellows the tone and crystallizes all the wood resins to make it supposedly more stable. The real benefit though is no finish is required, so the neck has a very slick feel.

Three bodies and only one neck, but I’m not in a rush. I’m kinda future proofing, use up what I have on hand, only buy what I need, and get rid of the habit of stockpiling to move forward. Basically trying to move forward and make the predicted austerity and inflation good for me.

The thing with the guitar is that pretty much I will be at the saturation point, or very near it, and practice and learning does not require much more than time, discipline, and practice-practice-practice…

The ash 1-piece body has an expected delivery tomorrow. I bought this body as a bargain because of a grain irregularity that they exaggerated as a knot, but the defect actually I find attractive because it is strategically placed below the bridge, and in a way it adds character. The $150.00 price was a “no-brainer.”

I have another Tele body that features a 1-piece body, made of swamp ash, so this is an alder counterpart. I was playing my alder Cabronita last night a lot to take on the tone difference the wood imparts. The alder has a vast note separation, and for chords this adds mucho clarity, as the notes don’t get slurred together. The balance of tone also is kinda neutral and flat across the frequency range

Swamp ash on the other hand is a bit scooped with enhance treble that some people would call pop. What is missing in the mids kinda gets added to the bass. The swamp ash is kinda the sound of 50’s Tele’s, while alder has that 60’s flavor.

So I can justify needing and building out an alder Tele.

There is a 2-pickup Cabronita kitted out. The roasted maple neck with tuners was actually dedicated to that guitar, but I could use in on either of the three bodies. That is what is so cool about building “partscasters” the parts are modular and interchangeable.

I have a solid Korina Tele body with a gold anodized pick guard. This one was a guitar that was canibilized for parts.

I await getting my archtop back from Cris set up with a Charlie Christian pickup for that Jazz sound of the 30’s and 40’s. Pretty much I don’t know if I need a solid body Charlie Christian Tele. It would be unusual and very different to have a Tele with only a neck pickup. I love the idea, very creative, and it would be novel. Then this leads to maybe a Charlie Christian amplifier…

We will see.

Cal
 
A breakthrough just happened, and I got contacted by my health insurance provider. I now have the authorization for the PET scan that will be the “tell-all” and be able able to move forward with my treatment plan. Now I have to schedule an appointment.

I already know they are booked out about two weeks, so perhaps I’ll get the PET scan before mid-December. From the results I will know where I stand, and if the Cancer is “contained” within the “prostate envelope.”

I expect good news. Just getting the call from my health provider was good news, and as a result we are moving forward.

My friend Dave called today to do a check in.

I’ll be E-mailing him next with the update.

Cal
 
A headline is that Ford and GM sold off on the Trump Tariff news. It is suppose to effect about a million car sales that won’t happen. A lot of parts are imported from Mexico and Canada.

A million cars is a lot of money. This also involves jobs.

Where things get complicated are all the exclusions and loopholes. Things will get crazy, and then insane.

Cal
 
I’m kinda excited about the 1-piece alder body delivery. I think I will be surprise that the grain irregularity is no big deal, and in fact will be interesting. The location is near the side rear of the bridge, a place of interest.

In the spring/summer, I will attempt to stain the entire body with a yellow translucent stain, do a clear coat, and then do a black on the sides that fades into the top as a yellow-black-burst. I need warm weather with low humidity to spray lacquer. Pretty much my skill level is I can do a mirror finish that is highly polished, even with rattle-cans.

The trick is use of these optical polishing cloths that go to 12,000 grit that use water and a bit of soap as a lubricant. Of couse this involves skill, but also time…

I think I’ll reserve the roasted maple neck for this guitar. I’ll lacquer just the headstock black, and I’ll get a Fender decal from Cris, apply the decal, and then clear coat just the headstock.

Not sure if this will be a one pickup or two pickup guitar. I’ll have two pick guards on hand to have a guitar that is a convertible, Something fascinating about a one pickup guitar.

Jeff Beck played a Fender Esquire back in the days of the Yardbirds. An Esquire is basically a Tele with only one pickup.

Jeff Beck gifted a 1959 Esquire to Jimmy Page, and not only were Led Zepplin one and two recorded his use of the Esquire, the Stairway To Heaven lead was that same 1959 Esquire.

I’m a big fan of Esquires…

Fender has a Custom Shop that uses the old school methods and parts. The cost for one of these guitars is $4K-$5K to start for the standard versions of retro models. I have the skills to duplicate the results, and that includes thin nitro-cellulose finishes.

Cal
 
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Now I’m remembering about my DeMarino prototype. I believe That only one custom order followed its development. This hot local blues player custom ordered one. Scot’s guitar was blue, and happen to have a heavy ash body that was kinds bright. This guitar I think was the only other produced. I have to check with Cris. Basically in 1995 it was Steve, Cris and I that produced 17 or 19 guitars in about 3 weeks.

This involved making and designing tooling for an industrial pin router.

This DeMarino I was deeply involved in the making.

BTW the risk involved did not work out. Pretty much the business fell behind, and then big troubles happened. It became a last stand for this shop that was the beginning of the end of a legacy.

One positive outcome though is Cris ended up becoming a very big deal in the archtop world. He will be the next “man” after John Monteleone passes.

Cal
 
Devil Dan,

Never saw this video.

Thanks.

I still mourn the loss…

Not sure Pat Methany live has the energy of Jeff Beck. I am a Methany fan also, but I don’t think in the same league.

One guitarist I think had what Jeff Beck had and that was Charlie Christian. Again a player who used his hands and could do on the spot improve using flow.

I have experienced “flow” but not prolonged and sustainable. I have moments…

Very few people, as far as guitarists, are at that level.

Cal
 
If you watch a lot of Jeff Beck videos of him playing live you will notice that the pickup selector switch is always on the bridge pickup. Basically when he plays a Strat it is always the bridge pickup, and basically it is as if like a Tele esquire that only has a bridge pickup.

He was already a great player when young and with the Yard Birds, then add 50 years of playing on top of that…

I stumbled into a thread about my friend Cris. A Jazz player happen to be in the shop when the first 18 inch Trap Door guitar had been just finished. There were some stunning pictures, and there was a comment that called the guitar a “Lap Piano” because of how big the sound is.

My 18 inch Trap Door is still dragging on, but also know that even thogh it was suppose to be the first one and the prototype, it is the one that will have “Jimmy wood” featuring some of the most select woods from Jimmy DeAquisto’s estate. I ordered this guitar 19 years ago.

Talk about delayed gratification…

In this thread were two lengthy videos: one was this finger style flat top player playing a Mirabella archtop; the other was a discussion comparing a flat top and and archtop guitar that was very informative. The physics are very different. The flat top is braced against the pull of the strings, while an arched top has a load that pushes the top and the sound radiates very much like a drum.

Anyways it got deeply nerdy, but it displayed a vast body of knowledge and experience in Cris who at this point is a master.

I know I helped Cris reach his destiny. I think the favor is getting returned…

I hope to secure an appointment for the PET scan today. The 1-piece alder Tele body will get delivered today around lunchtime.

Last night I looked at the 2-pickup Cabronita that is partially assembled. It features a mildly relic’ed nitro white finish, and is a very pretty guitar. I need to order a nut blank and a switch to build out the guitar. This guitar and the single pickup Cabronita is a new twist for me. Tele like, but not a Tele.

I see a lot of growth, but still it is like baby steps in my playing. One thing though is I feel free and liberated, and this is a great feeling to fill my life with.

I don’t think “Maggie” is happy. She is not free of constraints like I am. Her focus does not seem so pure and simple. I think I live in the realm of possibility and that is all I need. Every day I get satisfaction because no matter what I’m moving forward with focus. I don’t need much, but moving forward every day is happning.

I think I will order that nut and switch I need. The 2-pickup Cabronita got sidetracked about 6 months because of the North Carolina distraction.

Oh-well…

Cal
 
At what point, with so many imported parts, is an American car or truck no longer American?

The expected price increases will be a tell all. On one hand I laugh, but inside I know also that this is not funny. It seems GM uses the off-shoring of parts more than other manufacturers. Opps…

I expect lots of unintended consequences, then lots of holes and loopholes.

Here in the U.S. we import a lot of Canadian sour crude that has a high sulfur content. Our refineries are set up for this sour crude, and disruption here has consequences. There are pipelines that feed refineries that cross our border, and to convert these refineries to sweet crude that we produce domestically is not an easy transition.

Expect higher energy prices… Remember that high energy prices trigger inflation and currently inflation numbers are somewhat deflated by UBER low energy prices. Also know that 4 out of 5 recessions are caused by energy prices.

Again I laugh inside knowing how dumb and stupid this policy of tariffs are. Pretty much on the level of China’s list of bad policies that destroyed its own economy.

I guess I have to laugh in the face of insanity, but really it is not funny, it is tragic.

People voted for this and promoted this. We will all suffer the consequences though.

I am ashamed that Americans, as a group, are mighty dumb.

Cal
 
The follies of a woman ordering a hooded electric blanket that has a hood to be like a cape caused “Maggie” mucho unhappiness. It got high reviews, but was delivered with a faulty collar snap that renders it useless. Over a period of weeks to try and get a refund and a shipping label for a return, it turned into weeks of unhappiness.

Know that Maggie ordered this well before I ordered my vests. The faulty cape cost $160.00 with the battery and charger, my two vests, 2 batteries, and one quick charger cost $157.00 because I bought them on sale.

So today after numerous E-mails they instituted a full refund.

I enquirer about the battery and charger that I deem as “free” like does not cost me anything. The battery is 20,000 mAhr and is about twice the size as the batteries that came with my vests, and it has the USB connector I need. Capacity is twice of each battery that came with my vests.

So while Maggie suffered aggravation, Calvin gets a laugh and a free useful battery and a free charger.

It seems women, an oppressed group, take exception to allow any men leeway or latitude, even though it might spite themselves. Originally I bought the vest for her, then I decided to purchase a second one for me. Because of the lack of weight and bulk I find this vest to be more adaptable and more comfortable that a Patagonia R4 vest.

Oh-well, now I have a back-up. Lucky me is that Maggie requested a size small even though she is an extra-small, which is my size. Remember I’m kinda still a skinny bitch.

So little things really bother her, me I chose to be happy, and I laugh at the dumb things that are so human.

To add an exclamation point, Maggie has a PhD, two Masters degrees, and of course an undergrad degree.

Cal
 
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