A BUSY day starts with an online session with one of my guitar students.
No sourdough today ‘cos I was so knackered yesterday I forgot to take the starter out the fridge.
While all the video from the weekend is ingesting into the computer I swap out the neck on the new second hand Acoustasonic tele for the Klos carbon fibre one. It fits perfectly. Phew!
Next job is moving the power pins over then, when I get a chance I’ll remove my custom scratch plate and put it on the ‘new’ guitar.
After lunch I start editing video, taking a break late afternoon when my young guitar student arrives with her mum.
Fantastic opening set a from my special guest Chris Martin
AFTER a relaxed morning and breakfast I pack the rest of the gear for tonight’s show and we all head along to the village hall.
Stage blacks, rails, backdrops, lighting, sound and video cameras….there’s a good few hours set up before soundchecks. Plus all the tables and chairs, tablecloths, candles etc.
We get back to the house in time for some grub then back to the hall to sort a few things out before doors.
There’s a full house – only a few from the village which is a shame. A lot of folks travel from outside the area.
Chris play us an amazing opening set then I take the stage and have a load of fun. It’s a good night.
We get the majority of tidying up done then back home for a wind down….and bed at 3am.
AFTER breakfast I get busy in the office finishing off some merch for Saturday’s gig at the local village hall.
The hall has been re-decorated since last year’s show and although it’s nice and fresh, the walls are all white – even round the stage area. Doesn’t make for a great gig setting!
We have some old blacks and, of course, my own backdrop, but the pole we used to hang them on has ‘disappeared’. Chucked out, I suspect, by some of the more enthusiastic clearer uppers.
Anyway, Margaret ordered a coupe of potential replacements online and also picked up some thin gauge metal tubing so we go along to the hall to see what might work.
The metal tubing suffers a bit of sag in the middle so we try the extending pole form Amazon which is much more rigid. We can use the shorter lengths of metal pole to hang blacks at the sides of the stage.
I get some tidying up done in the studio then head for a walk up the lochside and do a couple of livestream updates to my socials.
When I get back it’s time to go to the dump where I get rid of a lot of crap form the studio.
Betty joins us for dinner – beef, ancho and butternut squash chilli – and we have a nice chilled evening before I run her home.
AN ONLINE guitar session first thing immediately followed by an in-person lesson.
As soon as I’m clear I take the acoustasonic guitar body up to a pal in Rowardennan to drill new holes in the neck pocket. He has an industrial-grade taper drill which should be pretty accurate.
We get three of the four holes done perfectly then the drill bit gets stuck and breaks in the fourth hole. Fuck.
Rather than risk damaging the guitar body by trying to drill it out or whatever I decide to call it a day and see if the carbon fiber neck with mount with just three holes.
Back home I have lunch then put the neck on the guitar. Fits perfectly and feels fine, but when the strings are on it’s a little unstable. Useable, but unstable. It really needs the fourth bolt.
A search online and I find a used version of same guitar that ‘should’ take the new neck without drilling or any other mods. I order it and, all being well, will have one solid guitar and another that I can afford to risk working on to sort.
I start the studio tidy-up and break down some old cupboards to take to the dump tomorrow.
AFTER a morning Zoom guitar student I open up two boxes containing shelving units for the studio.
There’s a zillion bits in each – and one of the joining brackets is bizarrely bent completely out of shape. I manage to sort it with the help of a vice.
In the office I find the drill stand I bought and ‘thought’ fitted my drill doesn’t fit. The box and stuff long since discarded so it’s a bit of a white elephant.
I attempt to drill some holes in the neck pocket of a guitar and make a right royal fuck up of it. Mmmm…back to the drawing board.
I fill the holes and decide to see of anyone has a drill that might fit my press.
Back to the studio and shelf building which takes the rest of the day until Margaret comes home with the shopping.
AFTER my usual Monday morning bread-making routine I hit the studio for an online session with a guitar student.
It’s not great weather, but it’s dry and not too windy so I grab the wee drone and the banjo and make a quick video for my socials. A Kickstarter update saying that although the campaign is now funded there’s still 17 days to go and further backers will be supporting promotion of the new album.
The studio is a complete mess and a courier drops off some shelving units. No time to make them up now, but hopefully I’ll get a start later. I have video to edit to spin into tonight’s Wildcats’ livestream.
My afternoon guitar student arrives with her mum and we have a good session and blether. Then it’s back to the studio to edit the videos.
I manage to get one of the shelving units unboxed….but there’s a million pieces to put together so I don’t get very far.
Freya’s got ice skating in Stirling at midday so they all head off soon after we finish eating.
I have someone coming for a triple guitar session after lunch then I spend some time working on stuff in the studio.
We take a run to the village hall to see what we might need to do to hang up the backdrop and black at Saturday’s show.
The place was re-decorated last year and while it’s nice and fresh, the stage area is now white and all looking a bit stark and sterile. Not so gig friendly!!
WE have a long lie, deal with emails/socials and watch Saturday Kitchen in bed with coffee.
After breakfast Margaret puts her pressure washer to test and seems to have fun cleaning the patio slabs and the front path. I go to the village to get some milk and rolls for tomorrow – Catriona and the kids are coming to stay tonight.
I’m not long back when they roll up and after a coffee and cake we take the kids a walk up Conic Hill…a new adventure for them.
It’s the first time I’ve been up the hill since the path works and it’s made a bit of a difference underfoot. The kids are getting tired and it’s starting to get dark so we only go up as far as the ridge then pick our way down toward Manse Bay. It’s dark before we’re down and there’s some tricky bits. We’re thankful for the lights on our phones.
I get a little work done while the kids are fed and get ready for bed then go back to the house to say goodnight and knock up chicken enchiladas for dinner.
