Category: News

On the bench… (Part III)

While the glue is drying on a couple other projects, I fired up the soldering iron and replaced the guts in my Telecaster knock-off. New pickups, pots, switch, some shielding and for good measure, vintage style cloth covered wire. Turned a £150 guitar into a serious tone machine. Sounds great and I don’t mind it getting kicked around a bit.… Read more →

On the bench… (Part II)

This guitar is one of my favourites, these days. Unfortunately, it needs a major adjustment to be suitable for my needs. After exploring the options, I’ve decided to reset the neck angle so I can get the action just right without sacrificing the break angle on the bridge. Since I was a young boy, I’ve been taking things apart. Eventually,… Read more →

On the bench…

I’ve been meaning to do some work on a few things laying around the studio. Today, I finally got around to pulling the neck off this old box. It came to me needing a neck reset and that’s just what it’s going to get! There’s nothing like the smell of old wood and warm hide glue. I can’t wait for… Read more →

Gibson guitar, Garnet amp, and drums on stage at the Boathouse in Kitchener, ON Canada

Membership has its privileges. (Part II)

The Boathouse gig was a blast, and a blast from the past. It was great fun working with Murray, Steve and Junior again, and it was great to see Kevin, Maureen and the rest of the Boathouse crew. Not to mention all the friends who stopped by! Some I see every few months and some I hadn’t seen in many… Read more →

I hate flying… (with guitars)

As most people know, handing your valuable instrument to an airline baggage handler is a risky affair. I have always said: “If you’re going to fly with it, pack it in a proper flight case and insure it!” Well, this time I’m doing things a bit differently. You see, arch top guitars are particularly fragile and as such, a proper… Read more →

Reunited and it feels so good…

I am really looking forward to the show at The Boathouse on Sept. 6. One reason is that, if everything goes according to plan, I will be reunited with my favourite vintage Garnet amplifier. Because of the voltage differences here in the U.K., I decided to leave that amp in Canada. It will be nice to fire it up again. Read more →

A.R. Johnson

This is my good friend Allan Johnson, doin’ what he do! Allan and I started working together in the mid 90’s and we’ve been thick as thieves ever since. I’m looking forward to hanging with him again while I’m in the area in September. If anyone in the Waterloo region wants Allan to perform at their event, let me know… Read more →

Tone matters II – Resonator day.

I upgraded the cone in my steel body resonator last night. A noticeable and welcome improvement over the old one. The next job on the list is to swap the pickup in the National ResoTone. It comes with a Lollar pickup which I find a bit thin sounding; this thing needs to be a bit more greasy! First, I have… Read more →