The Fredric Corporation

Three cascaded MXR Distortion Plus circuits in one pedal

Tim — Sun, 31 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

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Here's the component list and layout
Here's the PCB trace.

Ace demo by Peter Herman on Youtube here.
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Volvo 480 love

Tim — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 00:00:00 +0000

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It's been all of a few months since the last car post, so... Much maligned, but on appearances at least a classic design that becomes more iconic by the year. I'm surely not alone in seeing stylistic nods to 80s Bang & Olufsen in these angles.

In other car news, there was almost a new Saab 9-5. After 12 or something years of the same boring box. Who was to know? The marque is being shut by GM as a buyer hasn't been found so there's been not a jot of advertising for the new car outside their website. I only looked at the Saab site due to a mention in Private Eye's 'Pseuds Corner'. The 9-5 is, um, a bit ugly. Although I quite like the idea of styling the front of the car like an elk's profile. A case of nothing to lose, I guess.
A link to the 9-5 on the Saab website which doesn't work in Firefox. - this probably won't be up long!
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Opamp IC Big Muff PCB layout

Tim — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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I designed the layout a little while back, but just finished this today. Tested and a-working. Sounds pretty nice!

PCB trace | Layout

Piccy:

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Gearography update

Tim — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 00:00:00 +0000

- Here's my setup at the moment. It's quite a minimal sound with very little fuss. Most of the effects are handmade, the Musima has a new neck courtesy of Ant, and the Musicmaster Bass amp has a Fender Harvard tone circuit, new fuse and mains switching thanks to my Dad. The Behringer Verbzilla clone is only used on one song and will shortly be replaced by spring reverb if I can source the right Acutronics tank.

Musima Elgita ---> Korg DT-10 tuner -> MXR Micro Amp clone with AMZ buffer -> Utility Perkolator -> Schaller Tremolo clone -> Behringer Verbzilla copy ---> Fender Musicmaster Bass amp.

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Musima Elgita wiring diagram schematic circuit

Tim — Sat, 15 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0000

I'm hoping this is the only post anyone will ever need when it comes to Musima Elgita wiring. I've just got my Elgita back from Ant, who has made a lovely new neck for it, taking the original headstock shape but using the really nice profile from my Jazzmaster. It plays really well, amazingly in fact. It now falls to me to wire the thing up so it actually works. The wiring was stock and untampered-with, but a couple of the connections were broken. Taking hints from what was already there, the original 1973 Musima catalogue on Cheesy Guitars and this post by 'Snap' on Euroguitars.co.uk [mirror], I've produced the diagram on the right which I believe to be the correct stock wiring. Because I want to play this guitar, and want a normal neck pickup setting that isn't muffled as hell, I'll be disconnecting the 0.047uF cap when I wire mine up!

I'd like to thank Andy from Motor Sounds for photos of the wiring of his Elgita, which is partially original and helped confirm the layout. Also worth noting from Andy's Elgita is the original routing, as mine has been hacked-at by a maniac... I can only assume to save weight.

In summary:
R - Rhythm - Bridge pickup with both volume controls engaged, with no tone filtering, designed to set a lower preset volume for rhythm playing. Western guitars (eg Fender Jaguar, Jazzmaster) used the neck pickup in the rhythm setting).
S - Solo - Both pickups in parallel, with no tone filtering. Humbucking, and significantly louder than other settings.
B - Banjo - Bridge Pickup with small cap acting as a high pass filter.
SH - Shearing - I have no idea what 'shearing' was supposed to mean in this context, but it's the neck pickup with the big cap as a low pass filter, which sounds very muddy.

Click images for enlargements.

Furry, oxidised potentiometers. These look very bad, but can be cleaned-up nicely with Silvo and WD40 once disassembled. Don't get any cleaning products on the carbon tracks though. Both pots are 1meg audio- stamped with a logo, P7528, 1MA 0.25W, and the date 72 9. Going by the logo, P.... code and indestructible construction I'm gonna guess these are Polish.Capacitors: 0.047uF and 1000pF (1nF) made by Koweg (Kondensatorenwerk G�rlitz). Interesting photos of the disused former Koweg factory here.My Elgita, with (l-r) master volume, rhythm setting volume, 4-way (R, S, B, SH) selector.Andy Motor Sounds' Musima Elgita - this is an earlier Elgita with white, plastic-enclosed pickups (also made by Simeto) and different pickguard markings. Note the rotary switch has two more poles, which are not used. The wiring of this guitar has likely been modified- see the scorching of the original wires. The capacitors are original, and the second volume pot seems to have been rewired to work more like a proper tone control. In this guitar the 'big' capacitor value is 0.022uF, half the value of mine, which would have sounded less muddy in the 'shearing' setting.

Even more here on Euroguitars.co.uk

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So-long Volvo

Tim — Tue, 04 Aug 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Just some of the places we've been in the purple Volvo:
Amsterdam, Arnhem, Lubeck, Husum, Hvide Sande, Hamburg, Berlin, Leipzig, Dresden, Dessau, Markneukirchen, Wroclaw, Whitby, Lancaster, Liverpool, Oxford, Brighton, Glasgow, Munster, Bremen and every two-bit venue around London.

And it never let us down once.

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More pedal graphics

Tim — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Here's a custom build. Usually I'm trying to make these things smaller, but as a one-off custom order I put the green Big Muff in a larger enclosure (this is still smallish though, about the same size as the modern Little Big Muff). I like it because the knobs are in a row and it shows the graphics off to better effect.

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Massive pedal blowout

Tim — Wed, 01 Jul 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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All here!

Semi-related, here's an interesting Guardian Money story about Autoquake. Although I won't recommend these guys just yet!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/money/2009/jun/27/used-car-online-sales

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Whitby weekend away

Tim — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Gratuitous car post

Tim — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Shin-ei FY-2 Companion Fuzz

Tim — Wed, 20 May 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Both pots are B50k, so the volume is control is sketchy. To figure out if thing was supposed to sound the way it does, I built a clone on veroboard while watching The Sweeney that sounds nigh-on identical, complete with volume drop. My solution: chuck in the salty LPB-1. Now it's loud!

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Fredric Effects Telstar demo

Tim — Sat, 16 May 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Weird pulsing ring mod effect

Tim — Wed, 06 May 2009 22:00:00 +0000

- Mike Livesey circuit (this one).

Last night I finished this pulsing ring mod. What pulses is the frequency of the ring mod effect, and it sounds crazy, like 50s sci-fi. Stacey says I should call it the Telstar, which is a good name. The controls will be input gain (this controls the overall level too) and speed (the speed of the pulses). You can see from the labeled photo below that it combines the aforementioned LPB/Saltboost, the LMC567CN pseudo ring-mod (courtesy of Tim Escobedo and Worth Ekik) and a pulsing LED/LDR network. It really is a thing to behold, and I'll have a demo up as soon as I whack it in a box. The only downside with this is the relative high price and limited availability of the LMC567CN chippy chip.

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Classic Saab want

Tim — Tue, 28 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

- Maybe if modern Saabs evoked some of the in!-- !--iduality and quirkyness of these (the way Volkswagen have done with stylistic echos of the old Scirocco in the amazing-looking new one) the company wouldn't be so fucked. With GM folding Pontiac this week, and desperately trying to offload Saab- a marque they wrecked- the end could indeed be nigh, which I think would be a real shame.
*This said, I did spend an inordinate amount of time a couple of days ago looking at the new 9-3X which is a very nice looking car, although perhaps too little too late.

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New recordings

Tim — Sat, 25 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Tilted
The Woodsman and the Bear
The Mountain and only me
The Bridge

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Fredric effects Husk(er)y Wolf

Tim — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

- Vince L.
The circuit is a faithful clone of the beige-box MXR dist+. It sounds triffic!

Millenium bypass. This lets me use the quieter and generally nicer Alpha dpdt switch for true bypass.

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Copenhagen inspires

Tim — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:00:00 +0000

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Fascinating article on Travis Bean guitars

Tim — Thu, 12 Mar 2009 00:00:00 +0000

- Missoula Independent of all places. Concerning a new Travis Bean documentary, it features excepts of interviews with Steve Albini and mentions Kevin Burkett of Electrical Guitar Company fame.

I was offered a TB500 by a friend for $3000 a few years ago, back when that was around �1700. I know I'd always worry about playing an irreplacable guitar like that out of the house, and that the 500-style Electrical Custom is a more sensible (and, I've been assured a better quality) proposition, but I'm still kicking myself I didn't go for it.
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Runaway tele project

Tim — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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Fredric Effects Utility Perkolator

Tim — Sun, 15 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

- Beavis Audio site. As it turns out, very little needed to be changed and the margin of error for lots of components in this circuit is so big that I slotted in a GT313A and 2N3904 in place of the specified PNP germanium and NPN silicon transistors and the result is still discernably an HP, albiet slightly gainier and more unruly. The USSR parts used to make this effect also result in 15% more mojo arrows than a normal Harmonic Percolator. This is what I'm calling the Utility Perkolator.

L-R: Modified EA tremolo with pulsing blue LED and awesome tiki-style fabric finish, Utility Perkolator prototype (future ones will be khaki fabric), Green/white HP, Grumblier Wolf.

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Russian tranny shipment

Tim — Fri, 06 Feb 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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Scumbag Hagstrom II rebuild, fin!

Tim — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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Completed! There's still a few setup issues- like the TOM radius is a bit funny on the hag, a few frets are a bit buzzy, and the volume pot is shot. Gonna play it for a few days before taking it to bits again for final tweaking. The bridge will stay (it's just sat on the original hagstrom bridge posts) until a real hag bridge shows-up.

New p/g (from Aurora Project in Orpington) looks old, note no on/off switch

Shiny ass Gotoh Schaller copies. Nightgoat'd!
Whoever Justin is, I'm gonna track him down and gut him.

Not pretty. Was a squillion chips in headstock/neck.

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Grumblier Wolf

Tim — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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Greenwich and Maritime Museum

Tim — Tue, 13 Jan 2009 00:00:00 +0000

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Ally Pally open day and new board city

Tim — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

- Le Creuset casserole pots (thanks again Mum & Dad!) we've had a few lazy days about the house. Alexandra Palace is perhaps my favorite London landmark, and one of the reasons Muswell Hill never fails to delight on a daily basis. I've been looking forward to the open day for a while, but the Victorian Theatre in particular was amazing- in a state of dereliction and formerly used as a prop store by the BBC. To see it was to begin to hatch a plan to use it as a live video location for [band]. Stacey blogs in better detail here.

Last couple of days I've also managed to populate a few more boards for Fredric Effects: some Green Big Muffs, a whole lotta Harmonic Percolators, and lastly I'm testing out a tremolo effect, which could be good.

Grumbly Wolf on ebay here

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Fredric Effects Grumbly Wolf

Tim — Sun, 21 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Grumbly Wolf prototype

Tim — Sat, 13 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Gdansk for the memories

Tim — Thu, 04 Dec 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Collection of photos from Gdansk. Usual digital camera caveats apply, but a few proper photos will be forthcoming when I can be bothered to get the film developed. Stacey and I took a cheap flight with Wizz Air from Luton on Monday morning. Luton Airport is like a scumbag version of Stansted, complete with warnings about public drunkeness and fisticuffs. Gdansk in December is a little on the chilly side, but generally very agreeable. In common with Wroclaw it was completely levelled at the end of the Second World War, and large tracts of the center are still awaiting reconstruction 60 years later. However, what has been rebuilt has been done very sympathetically, and looks great. This is main town, around Dluga. To the north there's some great socialist realism in the shape of the post office workers memorial, and wrought-metal brutalism in the Solidarity monument.

On Tuesday we caught a creaky train up to Gdynia (possibly one of the grimmest eastern-block harbour towns I've ever visited) to explore the docks, not realising the ships I wanted to see were long gone- most likely to survive the winter in calmer waters. Back along the SKM line, Sopot is altogether more charming, with it's nice cafes, Jugendstil architecture, pier and stupid fucking 'crooked house'. Klaus Kinski's birth house is a cheesy bar, but it wasn't open for a closer look at two in the afternoon. Slightly disappointed not to sample the local pierogi on this trip, but I got some in the fridge we bought from Tesco this afternoon.
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More gingham Harmonic Percolators

Tim — Tue, 18 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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One of these on ebay now :-)

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Green Russian Big Muff clones

Tim — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Bang & Olufsen Beocenter 2200

Tim — Sun, 09 Nov 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Interfax Harmonic Percolator stripboard layout

Tim — Thu, 23 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Harmonic Percolator stripboard/veroboard layout

Update...
Here we are. Finished in finest blue/brown gingham with a laquer coat for longevity. The switch disengages the diodes for loud/openness. I also noticed, whilst playing it properly for the first time last night, that there's a really nice kinda compressed clean sound when you roll the gain off. Also that there's probably not too much need for an extra boost circuit after the main one.

Demo!

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Green Russian Big Muff, only smaller

Tim — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Just finished this evening, here's my tested and working Electro Harmonix Big Muff layout, using the values of the sought-after green Russian model. Aside from the schoolboy error of wiring all the pots backwards first time round, everything went according to plan and it sounds great. Still need to A/B it with a genuine green Russian Muff, but it compares well to my NYC reissue. Lurking in the background are the boards for 8 Distortion/Ringers.

Here is the veroboard/stripboard layout.
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Fredric Pedalwerks prototype

Tim — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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A highly uncommon distortion pedal, featuring 3 distinct circuits (a tweaked MXR Dist+, just because I love the sound of these!) with the Pushme-Pullyou octave fuzz (this one is very high gain) and lastly the Dan Armstrong Green Ringer octave/ringmod circuit. These last two can be toggled on/off in!-- !--idually and the gain for the Pushme-Pullyou controlled with it's own knob. Combined, the first two circuits can create a massive amount of squally, gitchy fuzz- complex and doomy. The Green Ringer sounds very musical when combined with light distortion, and is a sound I think lots of guitarists would find useful.

Now with youtube demo!

I'm very happy with this build, although lessons learnt include:
- Allow more battery space! I'd wanted to leave enough space for a 9v battery, dispite the fact that I never use them, however it'd have to sit under the circuit board, which would be inviting disaster. Three distinct circuits is probably too many for a single mxr-sized enclosure.
- The clear enamel has given the pedal a slight cream look, while I was going for brilliant white. No big deal, but I'll use clear acrylic laquer in future.
- Making a paper template of all the hole locations and diameters saves tons of time.

I'm making 8 of a trimmed-down version of this pedal, featuring Dist Pluses (crunchy or smooth) with Green Ringers with just two knobs and a single toggle switch. If anyone wants one, drop me a line here:

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Duxford

Tim — Tue, 23 Sep 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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As a belated birthday treat, Stacey and I drove up to the Imperial War Museum in Duxford friday before last. I get one visit to an aviation museum a year. It's in the contract. The initial sting of the price of admission (�16 each plus �4 for the official guidebook) was quickly forgotten as their standing collection is really excellent. Perhaps there were none of the oddball eastern-block aerodrek surprises offered by the Luftwaffen Museum in Berlin, but Duxford makes up for this with scale and variety. One of the other great things about Duxford is that a few of the hangars are devoted to the restoration to flying condition of vintage aircraft by groups and private companies. So in addition to the static conserved planes there's constant activity, hammering and the smell of oil. One of the later mark Spitfires even flew a brief display before the weather turned bad. Also recommended is the land warfare hall, with some good examples of Russian Second World War vehicles and the ubiquitous T-54. By this stage we were flagging a little, and gave the US hall only a cursory glance. Personal highlights were the Ju 52 (pictured), the VC-10 (although we weren't allowed in it- boo) and the unusual Sea Vixen.
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New pedal adventures

Tim — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Mixer rehouse, more black boxes

Tim — Wed, 27 Aug 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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It features:
3 inputs with level knobs
1 output
Master level
Cool blue LED
Little red LED to indicate clipping
True bypass stomper

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MXR distortion plus kit from Musikding.de

Tim — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0000

- The kit, which I heartily recommend, is only �19 from here. Add a box for a bit more. The enigmatic black box is �10, but I think it's worth it.

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1976 Hagstrom Scandi

Tim — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Thanks to David from Hagstrom.org.uk (who owns number 112) I've been able to determine that the wiring and electronics in mine are original, and that it left the factory with the 3 vols, 1 tone setup.

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A Knife, A Camera, A Bang- A Short Film About The Sailplanes

Tim — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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View from the balcony of our new flat

Tim — Mon, 02 Jun 2008 22:00:00 +0000

First images shot with Diana camera

Tim — Tue, 20 May 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Hagstrom Viking I pickup adventures

Tim — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:00:00 +0000

- Inside a Hagstrom Viking I pickup. It's essentially a blade pickup with a single bar magnet, and there's tons more space in the pickup cover. These things are a little microphonic, but sound very nice. If you have a broken Viking I pickup, please get in touch as I'd be interested in trying a few things and maybe getting something interesting wound by the one of those cool guys who do work on old pups.As an experiment I installed a cheap Artec (the company who make the GFS pickups) mini humbucker in the Viking to see what sort of sound it'd produce. The humbucker is a little loose in the mounting ring, but not a terrible fit. Unfortunately once everything was back together and strung-up the thing didn't sound great. Much more clarity and control with distortion and fuzz, but that's not what I'm after at the moment, and clean the bridge position just sounded anaemic and characterless whereas before it was warm and dirty round the edges. So anyway, swapped it back quicksmart, but if you never try these things you'll never learn :-) ]]>

So-long Red Saab

Tim — Sat, 17 May 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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The Hagstrom I post

Tim — Sun, 27 Apr 2008 22:00:00 +0000

- More on this here.

Here's mine. It's lilac awwwww.

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Pirate grave, Monken Hadley Church

Tim — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Subject of much local folklore, this gravestone is located in Monken Hadley Churchyard.

"Apparently, if you run round it 20 times and put your ear to the floor, you hear his horse's hooves running (your heart beat). OR if you put a coin on the top of the grave at midnight a hand comes up and takes it." - James Marshall, Barnet face

Bears the inscription "As I am now, so you must be, prepare in time to follow me."

*Not actually a pirate. More here.
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None of thems

Tim — Sun, 20 Apr 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Ebay listings:
Musima Elekta for sale, UK
Fender Custom Shop 1960 Relic Strat

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Kreuzberg squat

Tim — Thu, 10 Apr 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Also:
Total knut.
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Leipzig highlights in snapshots

Tim — Sun, 06 Apr 2008 22:00:00 +0000

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Stasi museum disguises and schlager cassettes

Russian memorial church

Volkerschlachtdenkmal (commemorating the thirty years war) in scaffolding
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Zelda from Terrahawks

Tim — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 22:00:00 +0000

- Don't have nightmares.

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Stumbling blocks

Tim — Tue, 25 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

Info, auf Deutsch, here:
www.stolpersteine.com
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Captioning images on the fly with GD Library

Tim — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Looks lovely, but hardly search-friendly. [code here]
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Becherovka

Tim — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Teufelsberg

Tim — Wed, 12 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Dessau, Weimar, Markneukirchen, Dresden drive

Tim — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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On to Weimar, where we were thankfully undercharged for a Pension for the night and ate a hearty Thuringer-style meal of dumplings, Schwein and cabbage (myself) and Schnitzel and Bratkartoffeln (Stacey). It's picturesque. Goethe and Schiller lived here for a bit so perhaps this is the German Stratford upon Avon. Lots of tourists, even off season. Stacey took over driving the next day- through the increasingly hilly landscape towards the Czech border- as I was feeling a bit ill and useless. Markneukirchen (Musikstadt Markneukirchen, its tourism site proclaims) is the former center for East German stringed instrument manufacture. That includes Musima electric guitars, acoustic, zithers, and a whole bunch of connected pseudo-brands like Migma and Meinel und Herold. For more about this sort of thing, read the history of guitars behind the iron curtain on Junk Guitars.com. The place doesn't look too happy these days though. Huge Jugendstil villas that line the steep valley are boarded-up or left open to the elements. In one of these formerly abandoned merchants houses though is the excellent Framus museum. Opened a couple of years ago it features some of the excellent original designs Framus came up with in the 60s and 70s, when European guitar makers didn't simply copy American designs. I particularly loved the offset semi-hollow models (see 'Images' on the right). Up in the attic of the Museum they even let you try some of the new Framus models: high quality instruments produced after the brand was resurrected by Warwick in the 90s. The build quality and sound of the Mayfield, for example, is excellent (list: �2000). The guitar designs themselves however are rather staid and not a patch on former glories. I can be quite confident in saying we were the only visitors that day.

Prager Str in central Dresden features three entire Plattenbau blocks converted into Ibis Hotels. We spent the night in soulless Ibis comfort having explored the city at night in the hunt for a non-touristy Italian restaurant. Dresden has it's own equivalent of the former Palast des Republiks, the Kulturpalast, complete with coppered glass and gaudy Socialist Realist frieze. The reconstruction of some of the baroque architecture was none too sympathetically carried out during the GDR days, but overall the old town is beautiful to walk around. There's still very much to be done, and the city feels more of a building site than even Berlin. Huge archaeological digs in various parts of the old town displaying medieval foundations, wells, stairs and cellars are a constant reminder of what was lost in the citys pointless and wasteful firebombing at end of the Second World War. ]]>

Catering backstage at Magnet Club

Tim — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Bad weather weekend

Tim — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

- I'm slowly making friends with the GX100, as I hope the image to the left demonstrates. I'd made the mistake of expecting digital cameras to be a bit better than they actually are. So, if you can learn to deal with their limited dynamic range then I'd say this camera is pretty good. On a similar note, I've just got back the first set of medium format photos shot with the Diana, and they're spectacularly 'interesting'. Will post them shortly.

On Saturday Stacey, Daniel and myself ventured back to Schokoladen as punters and had a great night drinking cuba libres and eating junkfood on the way home. Of the places we've played I think it's got the nicest atmosphere, although I can't rule-out a return to Antje Oeklesund. I've made a few improvements to this here blog as we've been largely housebound due to the shit weather. Comments on useability welcome. Wanna see more/less guitars, let me know. I've got shedloads ;-)

Also, swearing in Deadwood... listen to this, excerpted from the brilliant episode we've just seen.
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New digital camera - Ricoh GX100

Tim — Fri, 01 Feb 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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Musima Elektra and Elgita

Tim — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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These I found slightly amusing and disturbing. The urban myth about some guy plugging his 'electric' guitar into the mains might not have been a laughing matter for eastern-blockers with no idea what to do with their first electric guitar.

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Schokoladen

Tim — Sun, 20 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

- guitarist from Einsturzende Neubauten was in the audience. Daniel gave him a copy of our album later, but I wasn't really prepared to play for Berlin rock royalty so early in our campaign here. He'd come to see the band Am Thawn who shared the bill, the three of whom made a thoroughly convincing Neubauten-style largely instrumental noise. By the end of their set I'd had plenty of agriculture-grade free red wine that had to be remedied by a sauerkraut-and-cheeseburger (the Bavarian) from Kreuzburger and have vowed to be much more sensible next weekend for the sake of my insides. In band/musical developments, I've decided lipstick pickups are the way forward. They perform marvelously in the little duosonic I brought over last week, and I may chuck a pair of low-output lipsticks in the Electrical Guitar Company beast to tame its squall. We're also planning to recruit a violinist sooner rather than later. ]]>

First shows in Berlin update

Tim — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

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You can't really compare playing in Berlin (or Germany as a whole as I understand from our drummer) to playing music in London. The prices on the door seem a little higher here, although bar prices are comparable. There's no real gigs during the week, and fewer good venues, so those venues are busier at the weekends. Bands get paid (we've received €200 for our first two shows) and treated with a degree of respect (admittedly this manifests itself in limitless free beer - I still have tokens for White Trash - which some bands who might not be used to ... cough ... and abuse before they play). Free food from White Trash Fast Food and a fruit platter and chocolate bar platter at the Bang Bang Club were further unexpected perks. Our music seems to have been relatively well received so far, although we all consider these two shows a warm-up for more arty bills to come later in the month. ]]>

Disappointed with the Ricoh GR Digital II

Tim — Wed, 09 Jan 2008 00:00:00 +0000

- this page confirms my fears about the GR Digital II, which I really fancied as a replacement for the much unloved Pentax digital camera. Look how noisy the photos are, even at ISO 400! What's the point in a great lens and awesome build quality if the sensor is the usual digital compact crap? And no, digital noise is not comparable to film grain. It is always unwanted.

I'll probably get another digital camera this year, but it'll be another make-do, not-a-real-camera kind of thing. Erring towards the Ricoh GX100 (discounted to around £230 yay!) or the Samsung NV20 as at least these beasties aren't made of plastic.

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Wrocław

Tim — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- Some things:

The moment you cross the Polish border, the road disentegrates and the first 100km of the country is spent bashing the fuck out of your Volvo's suspension.

Entering Wrocław from the South via a suburb, you're confronted with a huge Russian military cemetary, decrepit and broken, guarded by four rusting T34-85s on low plinths and assorted artillery pieces.

Wrocław is colder than Berlin right now. We bought some new gloves.

I had a very cheap yet tasty rack of lamb (lamb ribs- that's a rack isn't it?) with sauerkraut washed-down with a terrible beer called Piasko. I usually like Polish beer. (Cans bought from the supermarket were a drinkable ale-like called Dog In The Fog)

The city is in the midst of decay/regeneration. It's all very frayed around the edges (bare in mind December is not the best time to see a place) but really it just seems like any busy working city.

Wrocław was the site of one of the bloodiest seiges/battles at the end of the Second World War. As Breslau, the entire city was forcibly fortified (Festung Breslau) using slave labour, the German equivalent of Dad's Army (presumably not funny) and Hitler Youth. Strategically insignificant, the city nevertheless held-out until after the fall of Berlin, at great cost in human lives and to the fabric of the city itself. (More here)

Images. Captions in the filenames/alt tags. I'm going to reorganise the way I deal with images on this blog soon hopefully.

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Musima Elektra Deluxe

Tim — Tue, 11 Dec 2007 00:00:00 +0000

-

It's from the GDR/DDR, it's in great condition, has two pickups (as far as I'm concerned the correct number for an electric guitar) no trem and is slightly more attractive than the Eterna, if less impressive. Controls are standard 2-vol, 2-tone, except that the tone controls work backwards. I'd assume the pickups are single coils but I've not opened the thing up yet.

Sometimes these had a knock-off Hagstrom style vibrato, as illustrated here and in a great image here. ]]>

Welcome to the limit

Tim — Mon, 26 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- The Lives of Others a second trip the former Stasi headquarters in Lichtenberg was even more fascinating. Rehearsals with our new drummer Daniel are going very well and the first couple of shows in Berlin are booked for January, although we hope to find something last minute in December with a little luck. Stacey is using the red Viking here, the feedback from which we're hoping to quiet with a new MXR Smartgate, a very clever pedal which doesn't do much. She's also using a new Deviever LP, which is a torn speaker/scratched record sounding thing. My shizzle is the same as usual, except I've been playing the evil reissue Hagstrat about the place as it's more tuneful than the Electrical Guitar Company beast.

I caught a virus last week and as a result didn't catch a plane to England to show-up at work. Worked from home on the Wednesday and Thursday, but there wasn't much that needed doing. It was great to be here for a while, living day-to-day rather than travelling, being tired, and stressing about travelling. I don't miss England, but wish there was also a photographic darkroom here we could hire to get some art done. Mostly recovered from my illness, we drove to Potsdam on Saturday for a walk and a burger and watched them erect the Christmas market amongst the gingerbread houses.
And tomorrow I have to catch a plane. It'll be -4 tonight.
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Stacey's plastic groke

Tim — Sun, 11 Nov 2007 00:00:00 +0000

A walk in the forest

Tim — Sat, 27 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0000

Initially we'd planned to drive to Dessau and check out the Bauhaus architecture and permanent exhibition, and have a lazy night in a cheap hotel. Also possibly to take-in the historic city of Weimar if we felt like a crazy-long drive (Prague is almost the same distance). Unfortunately the weather turned a little unpredictable, so instead had a very enjoyable day visiting the Brücke museum in Dahlem by way of a leisurely walk through Grünwald, stopping to visit the Jagdschloss (hunting castle). I think the light drizzle and mist added to the experience.

Top photo is by the Stacey, go look at her blog for more :-)
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Berlin

Tim — Sun, 07 Oct 2007 22:00:00 +0000

- Here's the sorry-assed Palast der Republik and topless Dom yesterday. Forgive all the picture posts, but nothing much is going down here while we attempt to recruit a new drummer...

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Crusty aircraft of the DDR

Tim — Sat, 22 Sep 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-

Here's a cool overhead view of the Luftwaffenmuseum Gatow
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Funkturm

Tim — Sat, 15 Sep 2007 22:00:00 +0000

- Still smarting from the loss of the Volvo (reported to the police, insurance claim underway) Stacey and I finally got round to registering our presence in town at the Bezirksamt. The official lady wasn't too friendly, but this was compensated for by the dozens of sickly magazine and calendar pics of puppies, kittens, puppies vs kittens, kitten licking that adorned the walls. I asked her why the Bezirksamt needed such a big chimney and she stamped our papers with a flourish and a wink. Tipped-off that towed cars (I still refused to believe it was gone) were deposited along a few major roads rather than in a central pound, I spent the remainder of the day cycling forlornly, images of V40s lasered into my retinas. We're a little fucked you see, for all the cars in Berlin are heinously old and insultingly expensive. Green Saab (which completed the Ramshackle Rally, present whereabouts unknown) would be considered a shit hot piece of automotive technology here and command a price of 1500 euro at least.
The Funkturm in Charlottenburg, as opposed to the Fernsehturm in Mitte, is a rinkydink eiffel tower construction with a tiny viewing platform and an open top. It moves in a light breeze. Gaze at the wonders of the Corbusierhaus, Olympiastadion, and below, across town at the proper TV tower. ]]>

Not nice

Tim — Tue, 11 Sep 2007 22:00:00 +0000

- ]]>

Helmholtz Platz

Tim — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 22:00:00 +0000

- ]]>

Maria

Tim — Sat, 18 Aug 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-

Yesterday we cycled though Friedrichshain, down to Kreuzberg via Warschauer Str and back via Ostbahnhof. An excercise to see if we'd be happy living in these areas should we exhaust our options up in Prenzlauer Berg. ]]>

Ostkreuz

Tim — Tue, 14 Aug 2007 22:00:00 +0000

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This is the dodgy and disjointed station where we collected Stacey's nice new stolen bike from some weirdo. ]]>

Travelol

Tim — Tue, 07 Aug 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-
This is what I saw at dawn this morning, and what I'll probably see every Tuesday for the forseeable future. It's now 2pm, I've been up since 3:20am, yet don't feel any more wasted than on any other Tuesday. In fact, this morning was quite productive. I didn't fly on this Airbus, rather the Fokker 100 out of shot to the left. The rear-mounted engines on the Fokker made an alarming whirring sound on takeoff and landing, but I was engrossed in my Dee Dee Ramone book and couldn't give a shit.

You'll be pleased to learn last Friday/Saturday's 800 mile drive went off without a hitch. Not a single fuck-up or raised voice, interrupted by a vaguely pleasant stop in Hannover, chosen because the hotel boasted secure private parking (a bollow hoast it transpired). I had the schnitzelburger, Stacey had the frites.
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Adventure

Tim — Thu, 02 Aug 2007 22:00:00 +0000

- ]]>

Whacky races

Tim — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 22:00:00 +0000

- Ramshackle Rally, a jaunt to Valencia for cars costing less than £200. I can only wish them the best of luck, but I've a feeling they'll make it. They'll really wish they'd got a car with aircon though.

Pictured alongside is my new car, which although apparently identical only red, is in fact a 9-3 Turbo with all the modern refinements you could possibly need, including lack of pigeon smell.

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Why does

Tim — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-
So I drove briskly from where I'm working these days back to my childhood and now temporary home Barnet to grab some travel money and pay my deposit cheque from Muswell Hill into the bank at lunchtime. Compared to the fresh and cheerful faces of Muswell Hill and Crouch End this really wasn't a pleasant experience. I half-expected to bump into the scumbags I went to school with, their faces aged a further 15 years by alcoholism.

Thankfully, we're the fucking off. Very soon. This weekend we're viewing half a dozen flats in vaguely desirable areas of Berlin and shall be happily settled before my thirtieth birthday. By hook or by crook. I'll take a digital camera, so there may be photos up upon our return.

£250 Saab update:
Add a further £250 for a new clutch cable + gearbox adjustment + fixing the exhaust
Update-update: The clutch isn't at all well, and would cost £400 to replace, so I've just got the clutch cable replaced instead and am flogging the beast on teh ebays.
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A Poxford On You

Tim — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-
In slightly lighter news, I popped into town on Friday to deliver some copies of [band]'s CD to Sister Ray in Berwick Street, and got a chance to try one of the new Hagstrom Vikings (I'd had a bash on one in Germany last summer, but it left no impression at all). It's a deluxe model.

The amber-burst doesn't look at all cheesy in real life, and the workmanship is surprisingly top-notch. I was genuinely impressed. The pickups are however abysmal.

Unable to control myself, I came home with a this little monster.

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Bretzel

Tim — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-
I'm fucked-off with looking at my car, which has now taken to swearing at me in Swedish, so here's a lovely delicious Bretzel. 90 cents from Alexanderplatz station. All the tickets are booked, Stacey and I are going to Berlin for a bit in mid July, then again by boat and looong drive on the 3rd August. To say I'm very excited is an understatement.

Also, everyone read this review of the Sailplanes album on Drowned In Sound.
http://drownedinsound.com/release/view/10645
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£250 car

Tim — Sat, 16 Jun 2007 22:00:00 +0000

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An improvement

Tim — Thu, 24 May 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-

I'd have to say though, never attempt to respray a guitar body in a living room. It's virtually impossible to get a perfect result, but I'm quite happy with this one... for now. Also, the new Hagstrom full contact bridge is a stupid and overcomplicated piece of machinery. Everything is locked-together with grub screws for which you need an allan key. These screws are hard to get to, and to raise a saddle, you need to...
1. having strung the guitar up, tuned it to pitch, you realise the saddle needs to be higher.
2. unwind the string until it's slack enough to be pulled off the saddle.
3. loosen the grub screw securing the saddle
4. ROTATE THE ENTIRE SADDLE one or two turns anticlockwise
5. replace sting, tune to pitch, try it out
#repeat steps 2-5 until you're happy#
6. Tighten the grub screw.

Hagstrom people, this is what you were after:

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OMG bluelolz

Tim — Fri, 11 May 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-

Since I couldn't bare to look at the now departed Musima anymore, here's a new little project. On the left is an ultra-cheap Hagstrom F300, made last year by the company who bought the rights to use the Hagstrom name. It's not really a reissue of anything (it's a Strat though, look, only with cool pointy bits) but the proper Hagstrom it bares a closest similarity to is the guitar on the right, a Hagstrom III made in 1964 by Scandinavian elves. The HIII is a brilliant guitar. Nothing around at the moment is half as thrashy and light and fun to play. The pickups are hot as anything. However, I fancy a decent Strat at the moment, and couldn't find anything remotely good made by Fender for less than serious 'main-guitar' money. So...

As you can tell, it's the wrong kinda blue. The blue on the right is great, but the new one is plasticy and unsubtle. The pickguard is terrible too. Here's the plan:
1) new pickups (these ones, already on their way)
2) strip the guitar back to the wood, prime it
3) wait til a sunny day, thinly paint it Inca Silver (link) then clearcoat it
4) get aged white pickguard/covers/knobs ]]>

Musima Eterna for Sale

Tim — Fri, 27 Apr 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-
Here's the listing.

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The Money Pit

Tim — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 22:00:00 +0000

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Pictured above is my gorgeous '74 Deluxe Reverb, acquired recently on ebay and shipped at great cost from the states and serviced and revalved at further great expense. It's beautiful warm sound and subtle reverb can be heard on approximately half the recordings we produced this weekend. That is, those songs recorded by Stacey before one of the capacitors in the reverb circuit exploded causing smoke to pour from the first two inputs. Closely resembling a dragon's nose.
As you can probably guess, the amp is now back with Theo getting fiXXord. ]]>

Recent shows

Tim — Thu, 29 Mar 2007 22:00:00 +0000

-
Following Thursday we played a 'Lab' night at Catch- a venue with somewhat sketchy sound. Went as well as could be expected, although the gig was a bit underattended. [pockets] were damn good and we managed to pick-up their album. Notorious Hi-Fi Killers were pretty much a standard blues band with a boastful name. Then on Saturday (this blog entry is getting boring to write, can you tell? It's like a fucking Idlewild concert in tedious blog form. That or Turin Brakes) we played the coveted RoTa afternoon slot in Notting Hill, which was particularly good as I was in unusually good spirits (terrible absinthe hangover + beers) and the audience was both numerous and receptive. Stacey did all the driving on this one as she's a bit great ;-) ]]>

The second one - awesome, click it

Tim — Thu, 22 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- ]]>

[band] in March

Tim — Mon, 12 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

-
Firstly, we're very proud to be playing Silver Rocket this Friday at the Buffalo Bar. We'll be on second, 8-9pm ish, with Epideme, Underground Railroad and October All Over. It'll sell out, so please get there early or you'll not get in :-(

The following Thursday, we're at Catch in Shoreditch, playing with the awe-inspiring twopiece [Pockets] amongst others at a 'Lab' night. These are organised by the now sadly defunkt S. Rock Levinson and have been great in the past. There'll be bands upstairs and downstairs so it's not your normal Catch show. More of a very small Camden Crawl. Without the terrible bands.

Finally for March, we're playing the Notting Hill Arts Club for the great guys at IShotTheDeputy (and coincidently Pocus Whiteface). It's an afternoon gig between 4-8pm and promises to be a brilliant daytime noisefest.

Here is the final lineup for the next Redheaded Stepchild Records night:
Teeth of The Sea (headline, post-rock with some oddness)
[Pockets]
Sailplanes
Casa Bonita (gonzo noise 2-piece from Bognor Regis)
Superman Revenge Squad (this is Ben Nosferatu D2 solo) ]]>

Febrrry

Tim — Mon, 05 Mar 2007 00:00:00 +0000

Got drunk before and at Silver Rocket. Was packed when we arrived and we didn't get back in until we were more drunk. Hence saw the penultimate band (bad) and Finlay (good).

Booked bands for next Redheaded night. So far Superman Revenge Squad, Pockets, Sailplanes. Ideally I still want one more sludgey/garagey band, possibly on first. Someone really unfashionable that sound great.

RAF Museum Hendon. Stacey pulled a sickie and we went for a drive. I can barely fit in the Short flying boat. Discovered fascination for seaplanes.

Amy Blue, 1984, Das Wanderlust at The Good Ship. As Indie Dad's blog mentions, this place is very smelly. It's also in Kilburn. Enjoyed bands except 1984 who sound like they've been to music college (Das Wanderlust are yelping theatrical twee-core, which sounds annoying and is, but good)

Opposition-T night at Bull & Gate. Called Traumattack, this unfortunately started far too late for a weeknight gig. Watched Venus Bogardus but had to vacate the venue during Sister, who sound like Shania Twain and were prefaced by the (female) singer grunting "let's go boys!"

Sold my '75 Fender Twin to a guy in Komakino, a band who wear black and (I assume) like Joy Division. Tested it in my room, sounded great, they left happy. Unfortunately they must've rattled it about on the way back to Derby as it immediately blew a valve on arrival. I've just learned they got it serviced for £160 and then decided to sell it on again straight away. Puzzling. I'm after a silverface deluxe reverb to replace the twin. ]]>

Live sound, Good Ship Bad Shit

Tim — Sun, 11 Feb 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- here.

Live sound is the bain of my/our lives. At the George Tavern we sounded good because the 'venue' is nice and open and well suited to hosting bands and we knew the sound guy we'd hired to be good at his job. At the Good Ship a few nights ago it was a fucking squally mess because the stage is in a pit, letting the sound bounce around madly, and the in-house sound guy there is crap at his job. As a result we can't hear ourselves, I get pissed off and play like shit, resulting in shit times all round. Shit times at ridgemont high. So the Good Ship is off our list for good. Unless maybe we can play the next one outside the stupid 'band pit'. Even then we'd need some serious paying.

Nice news is that I've got the George Tavern again on Saturday the 14th April for the next Redheaded Stepchild Records night. The lineup is still being sorted, but will post on here when it's done.

While on live sound, here are a few changes I've made to my amp situation. I cleaned-up and fitted new grille cloth to my Musicman, and replaced the 11 ton original speaker with a lightweight Celestion Century Vintage job so I can actually carry the bugger about. That it sounds better is also a bonus.
To make use of that 100 watts, I bought an empty Fender-style 2x12 cab from Tube Amp Doctor and fitted a couple more Century Vintage speakers (all of which I got cheap from Watford Valves).
Sounds good so far. Will use the full setup live for the first time at Silver Rocket in March.

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staceyspy.jpg

Tim — Wed, 31 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- ]]>

More Vikings

Tim — Fri, 19 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

-
Bad things:
No pickguard- although pickguards on these guitars are neither a help nor a hinderence, the strings being raised so high above the body there's little chance of hitting it, I think they look better ON. See the black one- better, yes?
Stress cracks in the top near the heel of the neck- as seen on ALL Viking 12-strings, this is a result of too-heavy strings being used at some point. Seems stable now, but I'll take it to bits just to check. The neck pickup seems just a little askew as a result of this.
Crazy bridge- some sort of roller device. Works just fine but is on backwards! I'd guess this guitar had the metal-base hagstrom bridge originally, which I'm not particularly fond of. If I can find a rosewood base one like that on the black viking I'll swap it.
Crazy knobs- look fairly similar to the originals, but two say 'PROGRAM' and two say 'STUDENT'. What on earth can that be about?
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Redheaded Stepchild night photographs

Tim — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- Look at the gallery here.

This is one of my favourites, showing What The Moon Is Like with Simon Repton Oaks in the background.

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Viking Funeral

Tim — Fri, 05 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- Fortunately this lovely guitar is costing less than a third of what I paid for the lonely black viking that lives in it's case. Poor thing.

Now I can finally be like my hero:

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Click this!

Tim — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 00:00:00 +0000

- ]]>

We've organised a night

Tim — Mon, 18 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

-
Clicky:

Saturday 13th January 2007
The George Tavern, Whitechapel
What The Moon Is Like, Nosferatu D2, Amy Blue, Pocus Whiteface, The Sailplanes
DJ set from The Repton Oaks!

It's going to be splendid. Am excited and nervous. ]]>

Clerks 2, Darkroom

Tim — Tue, 12 Dec 2006 00:00:00 +0000

-
Here's a clip from Caddyshack.

Spent yesterday evening giving myself a refresher course on b/w printing in the darkroom at Islington Arts Factory, a disused church now turned-over to the usual community centre activities. Admittedly I was pretending to recap darkroom techniques for Stacey, but it'd been so long since I'd done any printing it took a little while to get my brain in gear. We then both printed a few shots from Berlin pretty successfully. ]]>

Brighton, Catch, RHS night

Tim — Fri, 24 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

-
Would [band] look like absolute cocks if we dropped the definate article too?

I kinda wish this was the last show we'd played with our outgoing set (it's being retired for reasons of familiarity-->contempt) but unfortunately we played Catch a couple of nights ago and were the victims of 'bad sound'. Which means half the venue thought we were plain shit, and left the other half feeling pity for us and trying to latch-on to the quieter passages not lost in the squall. This was one of those gigs where we'd have been better off had the sound guy let us get our onstage volume right between us and merely amplified the vocals. I mean, Catch isn't a big place.

So the plan is to play a brand new set, however short this may be, at a night I'm/we're organising for the 13th January under the RHS records tagline.
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Berlin Nov2006

Tim — Tue, 14 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

-
Basically, it went down like this. Arrived Friday to be met by gay self-employed cake maker who is a friend of this guy Triston who's let us his 'guest apartment' in Frankfurter Allee for four nights. Our expectations were kinda low as we'd already seen photos of the place, but were looking forward to a thin slice of authentic Berlin living. It was kinda manky, electrics somewhat scary, but we could live with it.
Walked the length of Frankfurter Allee and Karl Marx Allee back to Alexanderplatz, checked out the Palast der Republik which is now completely lacking it's seventies copper veneer. In the evening we bit the bullet and entered Maria am Ostbahnhof to watch Bohren und der Club of Gore who are a deeply silly bass-heavy post rock band in the worst and most boring sense of the term. Essentially BONNNNG! on the bass... pause ... then a shit saxophone solo straight off the Taxi Driver soundtrack. Don Cabalero came on about an hour after these guys finished and proceeded to alienate the audience by being arrogant and unengaging (mainly the drummer). We left.

Saturday was pretty much a wash-out, due to the weather. Hopped on the train to Ku'damm in the rain, hoping to go to the zoo. Shelved that plan and instead tried to find the Brucke museum, which turned out to be out by Grunewald. Called it a day and consoled ourselves with good dinner in Prenzlauer Berg.
On Saturday the neighbours directly below had complained about our shower leaking water, but it happened again the next day when we were more careful. Rather than open the door and face the music we did the sensible thing and fucked-off to a hotel for the remaining two nights.

Sunday was great- cycled from Alexanderplatz all the way to the Olympic Stadium through the Brandenburg gate and Tiergarten, only stopping for excellent coffee and cake on the western side of the city. On Monday we finally managed to see the zoo, which I always enjoy despite half the poor animals being pissed about the weather.
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Bladerunner

Tim — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 00:00:00 +0000

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Windmill blade being transported in North Germany. The black honeycomb in the corner is part of my car. I hope. ]]>

[band]centric JAG!

Tim — Mon, 30 Oct 2006 00:00:00 +0000

-
Somewhat irked by some of the twee gashpop(c) bands we've been playing with recently, I wasn't expecting a great deal from Friday's Fortuna Pop! bill at the Buffalo Bar, but was really pleasantly surprised. Ambulance are an intense multi-instrumental sometimes Mercury Rev, sometimes purely stoner rock with stripped-down shanties and unruly facial hair. Brother Fransisco were delightfully noisy with a Dinosaur Jr/Barlow edge.

We've not got another show until 16th November, so I'm supposed to write song(s) in the meantime. Unfortunately no-one told work this. ]]>

I'd be lost without my furry alarm clock

Tim — Sun, 22 Oct 2006 22:00:00 +0000

-

It arrived the day of the GIITCD launch gig and I tried it that night, which perhaps wasn't the best idea since we didn't get a soundcheck and the Purple Turtle has god-awful sound anyway. That said, this thing is everything I was after. Kevin wound the pickups hotter than usual, so what results is Telecaster-like brightness, with the added focus and optional clanginess afforded by the metal neck. The neck is very heavy, but it balances well, and the overall weight is about the same as my Jazzmaster. Between this new guitar, an amp I'd gigged just once before and failing patch leads the GIITCD (a compilation of bands so long in the making that half of them have now split- The Swear anyone?) show largely involved me fighting equipment for half an hour. The Imperial College Union gig a couple of days later went much better, but unfortunately this one was underattended (presumably because the alternative music soc. night was the night before?) Anyway the promoters were all really nice to us and enjoyed our noise so we've been invited back for the alt. mus. soc. gig in November which will be a great warm-up before our first Brighton gig.

Pedals are your enemy:

I've cut-down on effects. Taken the great Danelectro Reel Echo delay off the board as I just wasn't using it, sold a bunch of other effects on ebay. That MXR supercomp acts as an overdrive here, although it's especially nice as it only breaks-up when you hit the guitar hard, so it's more expressive in that respect.

In other news, Stacey and I are visiting Berlin again in a couple of weeks. We both hope to do a bit of photography and to this end I've just got a 'new' camera (Pentax MZ-5n) for yay cheap as no-one is interested in film SLRs now and they can be had for a pittance. My old Pentax MX, which was one of my favourite things and served me well through university, has been being a pain recently - it scratched one roll of film, jammed on another, and I accidently destroyed the focusing screen (admittedly not the camera's fault) so it's being put out to pasture. I'll probably get it serviced when I'm old and nostalgic.
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Asterix the Balls

Tim — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- Wed: some guys calling themselves 'ebe recordings' wasted our time by having us play for their friends upstairs at the enterprise, Camden. We fucked-off the moment they shut the door preventing anyone else coming in from downstairs.
Thurs: a fundraiser for Union Theatre project. Went very well, played to responsive and arty audience. Apparently they made £350 which isn't bad at all.
Fri: grumpy night at Do We Need A Reason in Bethnal Green. No-one (save a couple of old punks embarassing themselves) who was at this quite well-attended night seemed to want to be there. I enjoyed Wretched Replica's set and they came accross as stuck-up shits.

On Saturday my back was in massive pain from lifting the heavier bits of gear in and out of venues for three days. So decided to finally get the smaller more practical amp for little gigs I've been mulling over for months. Initally wanted Fender 70s Vibrolux 2x10", but they're too rare, then considered a 70s Musicman 210 which is nigh-on the same amp, before plumping for a Musicman 112RP (reverb, whacky and useless phaser). I bought it from a nice guy called Martin in Birmingham last night for a very reasonable £295 and chatted about guitars for a bit. Thankyou sooo much Stacey for keeping me company, I'll treat you soon :-)

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Glasgow

Tim — Tue, 19 Sep 2006 22:00:00 +0000

-
Second show was up in Glasgow for Drive Carefully Records, a fledgling label formed by two brothers we met at All Tomorrow's Parties earlier in the year. Nice guys, and generous in paying our travel and putting us up for the night. I felt positively cheerful onstage here, and the response was genuinely warm and enthusiastic - not guarded like some London audiences. The 7-hour drive there was punishing though, with Stacey ably taking-on most of the journey up, and I the return leg. Definately worth doing, however we'll break-up any future shows in Scotland with dates in northern England.

##NEW BIT - a free download!##
Underwound from 'The Deepest Red' by The Sailplanes, remixed by David Price. I think this is pretty great really.

Here!
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September

Tim — Mon, 04 Sep 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- A suppose I'd better finalise the tracklisting for the first Redheaded Stepchild Records compilation this week. It's not a chore as I'm very keen on all the bands. Choosing was never going to be easy though. The website needs doing too. Then there's the gig to launch the CD (all-dayer anyone?)
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Dude!

Tim — Tue, 22 Aug 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- I checked with a local giffer. The 'no parking' signs weren't up when I left it after Sunday's show. When I went looking for the beast today it was gone.
1. I called Thames Water- they said "call the council"
2. I called the council - "we're shut"
3. I called the pound - "no car here"
4. I called Trace - "no record of your car, call the police"
Which is precisely what I was planning to do tomorrow, but decided to take a walk for one last look around the neighbourhood and to calm down a bit. It finally showed-up at the bottom of Leinster Rd, having been parked down St. James's Lane. Mappy
This was decidedly uncool.
How did they get in, how did they move it? Christ knows. ]]>

Silver Rocket and Oxford [band]

Tim — Mon, 21 Aug 2006 22:00:00 +0000

-
[band] played our first show in over a month yesterday in Oxford. I'm pretty sure the gig went well, although it's difficult to tell as we're the sort of band which will always !-- !--ide opinion. What was unusual was that during the bands (particularly the first) half the audience took it upon themselves to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the stage, causing a queue for attendees to back-up down the stairs and crane their necks for a view. We played with Storoway and Foxes. The former I was unable to watch because of the aforementioned bodies on the floor, but the latter ably played the sort of ramshackle jaunty, quirky pop that is really starting to bore me.
Technophiles will be keen to note than in a bid to sharpen-up our live sound, Stacey has been trying one of my Hagstrom IIIs, and I've switched to the Tele until my Electrical Guitar Co beast arrives. ]]>

Waffly Versatile

Tim — Wed, 16 Aug 2006 22:00:00 +0000

-
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Vroom

Tim — Fri, 04 Aug 2006 22:00:00 +0000

Holidays, guitar

Tim — Sun, 23 Jul 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- This one!

[band] were due to play in Islington tonight, but the promoter unfortunately died in an electical accident last week while setting-up for a gig with his band. This was a fucking surprise to say the least, and brought home the importance of playing respected venues with good electrical safety. It's very sad. The guy was only 27 and well-liked, going by the tributes on his myspace profile.

Today's good news is that we've found a great new practice space about 5 minutes drive from my house. It's cheaper than our previous one, and since it's only just opened all the equipment still works. Amazing!

I've booked a holiday for early August. The only bits set in stone are a seacat from Harwich to Hook of Holland and a return ferry from Esbjerg in Denmark eight days later. Inbetween, we'll be driving about randomly, although I'd like to take in Amsterdam, Arnhem, Bremen, Hamburg, Schwerin and surrounds, maybe Rugen and then a bit of Denmark.
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Electrical Guitar Company custom 500

Tim — Mon, 17 Jul 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- Votes yay or nay please.

Info here.

Please note from now on all anonymous comments on this blog will be deleted. I'd like to hear your opinion and value your contributions, but would like to know who you are and where you're coming from.
This doesn't include Stacey or anyone I can spot by their IP :-P ]]>

Where am I?

Tim — Wed, 12 Jul 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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It's been a very busy week. Been putting together the artwork for [band's] new record, all the while listening to the 4 tracks, 11 minutes over and over again. It's very good, likely better than anything your band is capable of, unless your band is listed down there on the right, or is Shellac or something. I'm always overly critical though, like the octaved effect on the first song should have been doubled and delayed for full-on ghost train effect, and the final song should really completely disintegrate into a violent uncomfortable squall like that 'wilde jagd' painting.
Popped down to 'The @Club' in Finsbury Park on Saturday to check out Ian's band. Was reminded how generally rubbish clubs that play commercial dance music are (this was late 90s Ibiza cheese, not the banging techno Dave's into).
Stacey cooked me a butternut squash curry on Sunday while I listed my blue Jazzmaster on ebay. She's awesome, I love her.
I listed a couple of white witch hats too, at a stupid price because I don't really want to sell them.

My intermediate German course arrived yesterday. 6 CDs and a book for £13 from Amazon is a bargain. Just brushing-up/advancing my German skills in readiness for the day that I've finally had enough of this city/country. ]]>

Recording hot weekend aftermath

Tim — Thu, 06 Jul 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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An Advertisement
Buy your ukulele from this shop. It's really cool and I'm sure being so specialised it could do with your business. They even organise nights and uke workshops, which I am genuinely tempted by.
http://www.dukeofuke.co.uk/
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Busy [band]

Tim — Thu, 22 Jun 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- Copy this into your address bar why dontcha:
http://www.myspace.com/popartclub
This was of course the venue where [former band] played their last gig. Just recently, I read a bulletin [former bassist] had posted on myspace in which she claimed to "miss playing live terribly" as last year she'd played live "about twice a week" with said band. This made me chortle. Revisionism is great, but let's remember that this was the girl who suggested that one show a month was a bit much for her hectic social schedule. Potato fuckin' roffles!Lol.
On former bassists, I'd just finished having my nose examined at Barnet General today when who should I see but Leon, walking down to the bus stop by Ravenscroft Park. So I gave him a lift home and had quite a pleasant chat on the way. He often bugged the hell outta me while I was in a band with him, and doubtless I him, but it seems age and experience have mellowed the guy.

Other schnews, [band] are also headlining the not trendy but full of tourists Metro club next Saturday and the highly trendy, full of lovely scenesters with nice smelling hair Spreadeagle in Shoreditch on Sunday. Then recording on Monday and Tuesday.

**UPDATE** We postponed the Shoreditch show... new details soon!

"Sarah's mum is so cool."
"Good for her" ]]>

Hillfield Park Olympics

Tim — Mon, 19 Jun 2006 22:00:00 +0000

Pic 1: The first of the bands. Stripey warbling lady not pictured.
Pic 2: Master of ceremonies.

Pic 3: 'Getting gay with kids is here'
Pic 4: Cycling shorts guy, junior Dave Pirner guy, the stoner one off of That 70s Show, local emos.

All I know is that my section of the street didn't win the trophy.
More here: www.hillfieldpark.com ]]>

RHS compilation?

Tim — Fri, 16 Jun 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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So... the first RHS compilation has a prospective release date of late September- after [band] has finished our new recording and put in some time promoting it. My bandmate and I have perhaps the best musical taste in London, so by rights this will be the best compilation of London music you will be able to buy in October/November 2006. Possibly. ]]>

Redheaded Stepchild

Tim — Mon, 12 Jun 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- record label. And you were wondering why I held onto that domain name for so long.

"We do not release records and we don't run shows" - This may or may not be true. You'll have to wait and see. ]]>

An update

Tim — Sun, 28 May 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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Last weekend myself and three chums decamped to All Tomorrow's Parties at Camber Sands on the South coast. A good time was had by all, and some excellent bands were taken in- particularly on the first couple of days (the third day, curated by The Shins, allowed me to catch-up on some much needed sleep, an outstanding set by Electrelane excepted). Unlike last years 'nightmare before christmas' I was already familiar with quite a few of the bands on the bill. So, fewer surprises, but great performances by an envigorated Dinosaur Jr, sludge-rock Sleater Kinney, The Boredoms, Mission of Burma, Magic Markers and more I've probably forgotten.

[Band] have a new drummer, who we can't wait to show off. She's brought a new energy to material we were starting to tire of playing, and spurred us on to finish the new songs in time for recording at the end of june. Bandmate and I are schmoozing promoters as vigourously as we can stomach because currently we're in the worrying position of only having a show a month over the summer.

Went for pleasantly boozy dinner with parents/brother/brother's girlfriend on wednesday at somewhat badly chosen restaurant (possibly I'm the only one who reads restaurant reviews on the internet before leaving the house). Popped to pub afterwards mainly out of curiousity as to who Will's friends actually are these days, but felt awkward and managed to miss the band I'd wanted to see at the Saucy Lil Tart night in Camden. Instead I caught a band called 'Stasi' playing watered-down Muse and Radiohead anthems. Both of these bands are unmitigated shit. ]]>

Taking over the radio

Tim — Tue, 16 May 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- 2. The Mercy Seat (live) - Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds
3. Broken Tamagotchi - Nosferatu D2
4. Tras - Battles
5. Radical Adults Lick Godhead Style (live) - Sonic Youth
6. Many Peaks - Electrelane
7. The Main - Grant Hart
8. Moonshake - Can
9. Tonight We Will Follow Him Down - Bob Tilton
10. Rat Attack - Deerhoof
11. Indifference - The Sailplanes
12. On Ska To Paar Ya - Afrirampo
13. Young Neck - What The Moon Is Like
14. I Just Keep Coming - The Black Tulips
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80p Festival

Tim — Sun, 14 May 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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Now I can get on with the very important business of looking-forward to ATP next weekend. Oh yes.
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Moved in, Oxford gig, things

Tim — Thu, 04 May 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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The day after I popped back to Crouch End to collect some money from my landlord and found the new pickguard for the Synthy Hagstrom (see below) which js.com chum Thaddeus had made for me. Spent the next few hours putting the guitar back together, setting it up and testing it. Really happy with this little guitar, and the combination of retro junkshop styling and high-tech controls is great.

Yesterday [band] played Oxford for Vacuous Pop label/promotions, played very well, gig slightly underattended, but it's not the kind of thing we can turn-down and the promoter and sound guy seem to genuinely care about what they're doing. Somewhat fatigued today though. Driving back from Lancaster in the middle of the night a few weeks ago was fine, but my legs were like jelly last night after a combined 6 hours driving through central London traffic, stop-starting all the way! ]]>

Moving schmooving

Tim — Wed, 19 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

- [band's] trip up to Liverpool and Lancaster was a great experience. Liverpool is a pointless and tacky place. Lancaster is very picturesque and home to some of the nicest promoters we've ever come across. For stories of chasing shifty scouse bar managers for payment and drummer's disgusting dietry habits you'll have to wait until I'm back.
For now, you can read a fascinating interview with us on www.mapsmagazine.co.uk ]]>

Did you know?

Tim — Thu, 13 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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Last weekend went very well for [band] - we played an early slot at an all-dayer and were pleasantly surprised by both the turnout and the sound quality, which was diabolical last time we played the venue. The result of this show was that we got some nice professional live photos taken which can be seen on www.underexposed.org.uk and were interviewed for a South London radio station who've offered us a 'take-over' session in May. Taking over a radio station and playing what the hell I want is one of my dreams, so this'll let me indulge that fantasy on a small scale. Playlist suggestions are welcome! ]]>

Schmuswell Hill

Tim — Mon, 10 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

I made this

Tim — Thu, 06 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

�

I've whacked a Roland GK kit into my previously unwell Hag III, wired it up and successfully tested it. It's getting it's peculiar sounds from the MircoKorg via the GI-20 MIDI interface box sat next to it. All that remains now is to get a custom pickguard cut and take the thing apart again. ]]>

Last minute show

Tim — Wed, 05 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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In other schnews, I'm looking for somewhere new to live, so if anyone hears of a two bedroom flat in the Crouch End area let me know. ]]>

An interview, a recommendation

Tim — Mon, 03 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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There were some decent questions in there too.

My heart sinks when we play with all-girl or predominantly female groups, because much as I love certain bands that happen to be all women, we have yet to play with any that are remotely good. Those we have invariably fall into the single-issue sloganeering or worse, single-song monotony categories.

On a happier note, I spent last night watching Nosferatu D2 in Shoreditch and can report that they are probably the best band I've seen this year. Emotive, inventive, noisy yet subtle and poetic, you can find them on myspace and have a listen for yourselves. ]]>

April fuckin fools days

Tim — Sat, 01 Apr 2006 22:00:00 +0000

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For now, enjoy new pictures below of a recent jaunt to Berlin (this time I realised that a digital camera is merely an aide to decent photography- the b/w shots bear this out). Bear, Berlin... get it? Fuck you. I've also uploaded some pics of my 'new' Musima Eterna. This beast could have been made any time from 1965 to 1980 (serial number logs were presumably torched by the Stasi). It sounds like the unholy offspring of a Hagstrom III and a Fender Jazzmaster, which is precisely what it looks like. ]]>