Life Observed

Stuck indoors on virus lockdown. Working from home. In between times I have stripped and refurbished this Fender Squier stratocaster and customised the switching*. And then I made this odds and ends guitar from odds and ends, also with customised switching* *In both cases they got the Gilmour Mod - if you know about these things :)

Another guitar appeared. Or is that "yet another guitar"? Can you have too many guitars? Yes I expect so. But this one is fifteen years old and was for sale locally.  It would have been rude not to buy it, surely.

While walking through Kavala, surrounded by the obligatory Greek Bouzouki music that bar owners feel the tourists need to hear - we heard Smooth by Santana. We traced it to the "Wood and Rock" bar (outdoor seating, cash only) which really is let into the rock. Stratocaster* on the wall, and great rock music. Time for a beer and chill out before heading back to the hotel. Lovely. **A nasty cheap copy of a Stratocaster. The most copied guitar ever made.

Once upon a time a popular music combo called the Beatles had some success. Much of it was built on heaps of iron like this VOX AC50 that I am refurbishing. After decades of quiet retirement it is being coaxed back in to life. It is hot and dangerous work. Sometimes I feel like a coal miner.

The growing family of modified amps... We are expecting two more!

Finally completed: My latest guitar amp project. Tweed is the proper covering for a guitar amp. Black amps are for hooligans.  A gentleman's guitar amp is covered in Tweed. And it sounds better.

The continuing saga of my home designed Princeton Plus amp. After a six week wait for the post from China* I finally have my tweed covering. Now the amp looks as good as it sounds. I gave it a blast when the house was empty recently. It makes seven or eight watts, but they are very loud watts. The sound hits you in the chest and leaves your ears ringing. Fortunately I can switch it down to one watt - which is still extremely loud in a domestic environment. The question is, what's the next project? *China: Look, we know your stuff is cheap. Free postage is the icing on the cake, but not if it takes a month and a half . I would rather pay £5 and get the thing in seven days. Grrr.