johnny9fingers (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
johnny9fingers) wrote2019-06-24 09:18 am
johnny9fingers) wrote2019-06-24 09:18 am
The weekend...
Gigged near Southampton on Saturday night. Dance band in a nightclub; two forty-five minute sets ending around eleven. I've started including back-up kit on my travels, just in case. My Helix (serial number 00003) has worked beautifully since I first got it, but it is getting nearly four years old. As an aside, I'm still waiting for Line6 to update the firmware to Helix 2.8 - I'd prefer to be able to do this between gigs to give me time for testing, etc.
Anyway, folk danced. Grooves were laid down for folk to get down (and boogie) and so they did. We all played rather well but the arrangements were much more open than previously, which means we all had to listen more to each other. (This is muso-speak for slightly chaotic beginnings and endings.)
I need either: a new neck on my Strat, or a complete refret. I'm inclined to the latter as it will only be around £500 if I opt for stainless steel frets, and a complete neck fettle (dead spots etc).
There's a nice luthier's place near me: Feline Guitars. The chap who owns it worked with Neil in Denmark Street for a few years around the millennium, and remembered folk, though he and I were unknown to each other. We spoke of luthiers we remembered from the past: Ashley Pangbourne, Bernie Goodfellow, Hugh Manson et al.
More importantly, I looked at the work. The attention to detail and finishes on Feline guitars are really second-to-none. I don't play LP types, being a Strat player, but if I did, I'd prefer Feline's single-cuts to any other boutique manufacturer's version I've played up to now. I think I want him to either build me a new neck, or refret my present one. A new neck may be around a grand, or maybe a little more. In the old days I would have had a new neck made, and then after fitting it got the old one refretted and fettled anyway. I no longer have those resources, alas. Such is.
Anyway, I'm not assuming that a single swallow makes a summer; but I'm feeling good about my playing. After a decade of dormancy, I feel I'm getting back there in terms of enthusiasm; and that means I'm practising more. Technique is beginning to return. My hands are getting fitter for more practice and more playing. Now to see if anyone wants a miserable old bastard who can really play. :)
Anyway, folk danced. Grooves were laid down for folk to get down (and boogie) and so they did. We all played rather well but the arrangements were much more open than previously, which means we all had to listen more to each other. (This is muso-speak for slightly chaotic beginnings and endings.)
I need either: a new neck on my Strat, or a complete refret. I'm inclined to the latter as it will only be around £500 if I opt for stainless steel frets, and a complete neck fettle (dead spots etc).
There's a nice luthier's place near me: Feline Guitars. The chap who owns it worked with Neil in Denmark Street for a few years around the millennium, and remembered folk, though he and I were unknown to each other. We spoke of luthiers we remembered from the past: Ashley Pangbourne, Bernie Goodfellow, Hugh Manson et al.
More importantly, I looked at the work. The attention to detail and finishes on Feline guitars are really second-to-none. I don't play LP types, being a Strat player, but if I did, I'd prefer Feline's single-cuts to any other boutique manufacturer's version I've played up to now. I think I want him to either build me a new neck, or refret my present one. A new neck may be around a grand, or maybe a little more. In the old days I would have had a new neck made, and then after fitting it got the old one refretted and fettled anyway. I no longer have those resources, alas. Such is.
Anyway, I'm not assuming that a single swallow makes a summer; but I'm feeling good about my playing. After a decade of dormancy, I feel I'm getting back there in terms of enthusiasm; and that means I'm practising more. Technique is beginning to return. My hands are getting fitter for more practice and more playing. Now to see if anyone wants a miserable old bastard who can really play. :)