dmiller

Ha!! Ok -- I see the knobs now. Missed that the first time I saw the pic. I guess an amp to a two year old is an open invitation to explore. Something to climb on and dials to fiddle with. Kinda like an open, empty guitar case is to a cat. Leave it open and empty -- and they will come to take a nap in it! ;) Congrats on the July gig too!. Looks like a great location for a concert. 3.5 hour gig? July 4th?? Big crowds?? Fireworks?? Ask for the big bucks!! :biglaugh:

Linda --- thanks for the link to Wenner I hadn't heard of him before either. Now I have to go looking for his stuff too! Pond -- here's a You Tube with . :)

An e-mail to me today shared the art work of Julian Beever. His "canvas"? Sidewalks, and pavement, with a liberal dose of chalk. Looked at from the correct viewpoint, they are 3-D and mind boggling. I've never heard of this guy before, but he reminds me of M. C. Escher Here are some of his pics, drawn on flat pavement: Others can be seen at THIS SITE. And at THIS SITE HERE, it gives the location, and occasion, for when these works of art were done. Enjoy. :) PS --- edited to add -- look close at the drawings. You can see the pavement lines (despite the 3-D effect), of the drawings.

Good one!!! :P

Hey -- YOU make the desicions for the sites you click on.. Don't blame me for you tube! And I think the words I highlighted in red, should be --- francophile and anglophile. Otherwise Oenophile would be called Oenophone. ;)

Thank you for letting us know. Prayers continue here for you and yours.

Reminds me of Woodstock ----- Please stay off the towers!! Please stay off the towers!!

Straddle that Amp!!! :biglaugh:

Well--- for what it's worth, you just described ME, 35 or so years ago!! If I JUST had a (insert instrument of choice here), I'd sound like (insert artist of choice here)! However -- I have since seen the light!! I no longer chase after *famous* instruments. Sound is everything. It could say Kay on the headstock, but if it sounded good - who cares. That's why I'm leary of getting instruments off of the internet, when they come up for sale. Pics of them look great, the descriptiion of them sounds wonderful --- BUT, it doesn't mean a thing if you can't hold it in your lap, or strap it over your shoulder, and pick it the way you are used to picking -- and REALLY hear how it sounds. Like you and Waysider said -- it takes *time in the woodshed* to perfect the chops. When I got my D-35, I was lucky enough to be able to bring it home for a few days. I had *guitar-chased* for a few years before that, and had several Gibson's (bought solely for the name). I took the D-35 to a friend's house (they had an EXCEPTIONAL D-18), and we compared the two against each other for sound, playability, etc. His sounded better, but it was 20 years older so the wood had matured more. The one I was looking at stacked up really well compared to his, so I bought it. That was the first time I'd objectively looked for quality vs. name brand recognition. I haven't bought another guitar since. :) But I knew that no guitar licks were included in the purchase. The rest was up to me. ;)

HA! I'm sure that President's day has NOTHING to do with it! ;) Congrats, Eagle. May there be many more.:)

From THIS SITE (click the link above for the rest of the article). :)

Waysider -- Yea -- the old Gibson arch tops! What instruments they were/ are!!! Gibson has NEVER equaled Martin for tone and quality (my imo), but I see all the *country stars* (cough!! hack!! wheeze!!), these days playing J-200 Gibsons in their videos, on stage, etc. I never did get that. I guess it's all for show. The stage effect. EmmyLou Harris has several Gibson J-200's, all in different colors. She matches the color of the guitar, with the color of whatever outfit she is wearing. Give me a beat-up, old decrepite looking guitar that sounds good any day of the week. I've played on the J-200's before, and they don't hold a candle to my Martin. They are prettier to look at, but that's about it, in my IMO. :) (A Gibson J-200 ~~~ nowhere near as good as the arch-tops of yesteryear).

Guitar would be the way to go. (imo), it's the easiest instrument to play, while singing. If you have friends that pick already -- they will most likely offer advice *lessons*, for free. :)

Hills -- thanks!! :) I've been here in "hockey country" for almost 30 years, but never learned the terminology, rules, etc. I guess you can take a boy out of the Hoosier, but you can't take the Hoosier out of the boy. *Nothing but net* could be a hockey term, but I'm used to hearing it concerning basketball. :)

HA!!!! While looking for a pic of Elvis playing his Martin D-35: I ran across this forum!!! :biglaugh: These guys argue almost as much as we do! And all about Martin Guitars! :P The Most Famous Martin Guitar. (edited to add the url)

Ala --- Martin made several *D* models (D stands for dreadnought), notably the D-18, D-28, D-35, D-41, and D-45. The "D" (or dreadnought style), refered to body size. They were all the same size. The number designation (after the "D") -- let you know the quality of the guitar. D-18 was a very good guitar, but lesser woods were used for it, and there was no ornamental binding used on it (for the fingerboard, back, and sides). D-28 was a bit better guitar, with better wood used, and the fingerboard, back and sides had the ornamental binding. D-35 had a 3-piece back (all the other's were 2 piece only), better wood yet was used, and ornamental binding as well. D-41 had a 2 pieced back, used superior wood, ornamental binding, and also had fancy inlay on the neck, and mother-of-pearl around the top (complementing the top binding. D-45 was the ultimate in wood used, extra fancy inlay on the fingerboard, with extra mother-of-pearl on the body of the guitar. (two piece back on this one too.) So -- they were all "D" models, but the number after the D told you what was used in it. The higher the number, the better quality wood and workmanship. Here's a pic of the D-35, and the 3-piece back: Here's a pic of the D-45 (same size, superior wood and workmanship): Closer pic of the D-45peghead: And a closer pic of the inlay work:

And who's the Lady Bing???

What's a "five hole"???? :P

Awwwwww -- the pics won't be happening tonight. I need daylight to get a better pic of the *used to be* pickguard area.

MOVE OVER CHATTYKATHY -- I'VE GOT THE TOP OF THE PAGE!!! :biglaugh: Hey -- Here's a close-up pic of the *pick guard area". I rubbed *wood friendly* oil into the area to moisturize it (many years ago), so that is why it looks like there might still be a pick guard there. The dark spot in the middle, is where the hole is being dug. Woops -- that's kinda dark -- let's see if I can get a better shot.

The guitar is a 1968 D-35 Martin. I got it for (about $500.00) in 1972 (I think). The pick guard started coming off about 10 years later, and knowing that if the glue was letting loose, the pick guard would have to come off entirely, that area of the guitar would need to be lightly sanded, and then the pick guard re-glued. So -- I took the pick guard off entirely. Lightly sanded the surface of the guitar, (only in the area where the pick guard goes), and then did what I do best. I procrastinated. I neglected to put the pick guard back on for a while, and by the time I decided to do so -- the guitar sounded MUCH BETTER without it. IMO -- the plastic pick guard glued to the top of the wood --- impeded the vibrations and tone of the guitar overall. This was a good guitar -- with the pick guard on it. When it came off -- the guitar became EXCEPTIONAL!! Loud. Good tone. Soft when you want it to be. Things like that that made me forget to ever replace the thing, ever. I'm no luthier, but I do know a few facts about acoustic instruments. I do know that good grain in the wood helps transmit the vibrations, from the strings when you strum them, and transmits that *sound* throughout the body of the instrument, giving you the *tone*. If you have a piece of plastic (ie -- a pickguard) glued on top of the wood, that will be a detriment to the transmission of the vibrations through the wood of the instrument when you strum (or pick), since it's glued to the top of the instrument, and effectively hampering a really GOOD sound. So -- short of the long of it is -- the pickguard came off. I had every intention of putting it back on. I did the prep work. I procrastinated. The guitar sounded better and better daily. I repented of my *evil thoughts* of re-uniting wood and plastic, and threw the pick guard in the trash. I've never been sorry since I did that. :) It looks rough, but sounds GOOD.

Reconcilliation room. That was it. :)

But -- but -- if it bit him in the butt, It MUST have been original. Thus the saying -- "I wish you could have seen it in the ORIGINAL"

That's not *wear by the pick guard". The pick guard is gone. It came off years ago. That's the wood of the guitar itself. I'm wearing a hole through it, like Willie has done to his. ;) The avatar is a pic of Vassar Clement's fiddle, sadly -- not mine. The peghead of my mandolin looks like this --- and the close-up of the tuners on it --- (Ps -- you'll have to contact Greasy Tech to get rid of that double post now). We are allowed 12 hours only from posting time, for editing purposes. Anything after that time limit, has to be done by a moderator.

Thanks for the info, Mark. :) Though raised Catholic, I'm not one of those who care if I am "officially" gone. Neither (I guess) do I care if I'm "officially" gone from twi either. (They [twi] still have my personal data in their computer system). It's interesting that the RCC will give a "lapsed" status to someone. My dad's side of the family is extremely catholic. The last Mass I was at was for my uncle's funeral back in 1996. He was pretty high ranking in the Knights of Columbus, but I couldn't tell you what his council level was. (Did I get that right -- calling it a "council level")? Is this "lapsed" status a new thing they've come up with? Or an old thing that is now being defined? Either way -- it's news to me. I thought they considered me apostate decades ago. By the way -- (not meaning to de-rail here), but when I was at that Mass, there was a sign on the confessional booth, which said something else -- more *pc* for these days. Something like "retribution room"??? I honestly don't remember now. But am wondering if confessional booths have a new name (these days).