A wee paddle before tomorrow’s show for Borders Blues Club,,,and a drone test…
THERE’S two online guitar sessions first trying – just 15 minutes between them.
Once done I gather up the DJI Neo drone stuff and plan a paddle. I’m well aware of the potential pitfalls of using this wee drone over water so I decide to head to Port Bawn on the far end of the island to do some experiments.
I have an enjoyable paddle out and try various things. The drone is indeed a bit unpredictable over water and at one point I have to bake form the paddle board and go and rescue it before it tried to land in the water!
Regardless, I mange to get enough clips to make a fun wee video promoting tomorrow’s (Friday) show for Borders Blues Club in Innerleithen.
The paddle home is not so easy. Two thirds of the way back the wind picks up and the water gets pretty choppy.Possibly the hardest weather I’ve endured on the paddleboard.
I make it home – eventually – have a shower and late lunch.Then I edit up a reel with this morning’s video footage and post it round my socials.
In the studio I put together a set list for tomorrow’s (Friday) show, get opine of the guitars re-string then put some chicken into the Instant Pot to sous vide while we go along to see Betty.
WE’RE up early and ready for someone to come and have a look at options to replace our woodburner.
Our existing unit is old, past it and not as efficient as it should be so we’ve been looking at ways of improving things from both functional and cosmetic points of view.
Today’s guitar student arrives while the woodturner folks are still with Margaret so I take her to the studio and we do the lesson there.There’s a little bit of time to get bust with some work before it’s time for an early lunch and a drive to the school in Balloch for a session with some of the kids.
I’m knackered when I get back and fall asleep for an hour…then it’s into the studio and office to get all the things done that I shoulda done earlier!
THE sourdough is in the oven before 7am. Normally a Monday morning task, but because we were out all day Sunday the dough didn’t get made so I;m a day late this week.
The early rise lets me get a lot done before Elaine arrives to work on the song we’re co-writing.
We get a rough demo done before she heads off and I have lunch before a re-scheduled Zoom guitar session.
Then there’s two in-person guitar lessons and suddenly the day is done. Phew!
In between guitar lessons I finish off the wee batch of guitar necklaces
BUSY day of online and in-person guitar lessons, even if my first one of the day has been re-scheduled.
Once the first batch are done and I have break I finish off the pins and necklaces I;ve been making and catch some of it on video.
More guitar lessons after lunch and once I’m clear I edit the ‘how I make’ guitar necklaces video and prep for this evening’s Wildcats livestream on Facebook.
Suddenly it’s time to go live. All goes to plan then back to the house for dinner….
A great cooking experience at Chaophraya, Glasgow…
WE’RE up early to get into Milngavie and catch a bus into the city centre. Now we both have bus passes it seems daft to take the car into town and pay exorbitant parking charges.
Our destination is Chaophraya on Buchanan Street for a ‘cooking experience’ – a birthday present from Margaret, Lesley and the kids.
We arrive bang on time and are served a welcome drink before being ushered upstairs with our fellow ‘cooks’ to private dining room adjacent to the kitchen.
Over the next two or three hours we make – and eat – tom yum soup and pad Thai and have a really nice afternoon.
After a wee wander around town we get the bus back to Milngavie, pick up the car and head for home.
While Margaret makes dinner I nip along to see Betty to see if I can sort our her Sonos…I get it ‘mostly’ sorted out then wander back home for dinner and a film.
I manage to finish off my prototype ‘colours’ guitar necklaces…
AFTER a bit of a lie in and breakfast I set up outside to start the finishing process on a bunch of guitar pins and necklaces.
There’s also my two ‘colours’ guitar necklace prototypes to finish.
I need to set up a camera to record some of the process for a ‘making video’ – primarily to use on Whatnot but also useful for my other socials.
There’s a lot of grinding and sanding. A good four or five hours of it.
Next marking the backs of the necklaces (there’s no room on the pins) with my signature and website. I use Cermark laser marking spray then process them in the laser.
Finally, micromesh polishing with series of pads.
The two ‘colours’ prototypes turn out okay. The one with more metal surface and the hexagons, I think, works best.
It’s getting dark so I only manage a short walk before dinner….
I use the drone to film a livestream and reel on my way back from the village…
THE alarm goes off early – we’re getting a new washing machine delivered sometime between 7am and 11am. Not long after we get a call from the driver/installer saying they expect to be with us around 8am.
The guys are quick and efficient and get the new machine fitted and installed and take the old bust one away.
I have a haircut in the village and have timed it so I can take the bus…and use my bus pass for the first time.
Once I have my hair sorted I enjoy the five-mile walk home taking the chance to film a wee bit of footage for my socials with the wee DJI Neo drone. Not needing a controller or other faff makes it incredibly quick and easy.
Back home I have lunch then try a new way to add colour to my prototype ‘colours’ guitar pendants – the initial finicky one and the latest bolder, simplified version. The new curing lamp certainly seems to help with this…we’ll see how well it’s worked when I try finishing them tomorrow.
In the studio I spend some time setting up the latest TriplePlay software from Fishman which looks like it could breathe a new lease of life (actually, maybe I should just say a life) into the MIDI guitar pickup.
Suddenly it’s time to take dinner along top Betty’s where we have a grand night of chilli, drinks and blethers….
FIRST job of the day is PR for next Friday’s (4 October) show for Borders Blues Club.
After writing up a news release I call round the music/entertainment journalists on the newpapers in the area and follow up with the news release.
The prototype ‘colours’ guitar necklace I painstakingly added colour to yesterday hasn’t worked out so I spend a little time redesigning it and cutting an acrylic master for a test casting.
After lunch I plug in the signature National and play hard to try and recreate a ‘live’ show – the guitar has randomly cut out on a few shows but before I see about getting someone to look at it I need to be a bit more specific about what’s happening. Despite all the jiggling, switching and other capers the guitar is fine.The stress of an intermittent problem!
A few years ago (well, probably eight or nine if I’m honest!) I got hold of a Fishman TriplePlay MIDI pickup while on tour in the ‘States. It’s an interesting gizmo but it never really worked for the job I’d hoped it would do – I thought it might be a way of transcribing guitar parts for my students but the software was unable to detect the difference between two notes of the same value – ie: an open A/fifth string and a A played at the fifth fret of the E/sixth string.
I’ve messed around with it a fair bit and even used it for creating MIDI parts in recordings but it just never really cut hot for me.
I noticed that Fishman has launched an updated version of the pickup…and updated all the software. The pickup is essentially the same as the one I have but there seems to have been some major advances not eh software. I download and message round a while. No time to check it out properly but it looks like it might have legs.
I take a walk up the loch side as darkness falls then get busy making chicken enchiladas for dinner.
MY GUITAR student is a little early and I’ve been so busy with some of the routine morning stuff that I’m late making breakfast…so I have to leave it aside and enjoy after our session.
I’ve been working on a prototype necklace in keeping with the ‘colours’ guitar image we’ve been using and before ditching a cast that I deemed to intricate and fiddly I give it a bash with some colour. Gonna take a while to cure.
I get my gear together for this afternoon’s music session at the school in Balloch, have an early lunch then head off.
Back home a few hours later I make a final batch of salsa verde with the last of the tomatillos I harvested the other day. It’s only a small amount but I don’t wanna waste the tomatillos!
Next job is to put a big projector screen I got for a tenner in an auction a few months ago.We have a big pull down screen in the bedroom where the projector lives most of the time and occasionally take it down and put it up in the living room…but it’s a bit of a faff. This other screen can go up inconspicuously and permanently in the living room so we only need to move the wee projector around. With winter coming it’d be nice to be cosied up in the living room.
While I have the drill and tools out I take the opportunity to fix the hinge on the cupboard door hiding the freezer.
The rest of the day is spend working on ideas in the studio..then back to the house for Margaret’s chilli.
A WEST Highland Way Gifts’ order sent to Israel six week ago still hasn’t arrived. I’m finally able to start a claim with Royal Mail.
After all the farting around getting it submitted a message says it can take up to 90 days for a ‘decision’. Fuck sake.
I’m not keen to throw good money after bad and make/send another item so I’ll offer a full refund and hope Royal Mail pay out.
Meantime I work on some new merch ideas then, after lunch, mess with some guitar bits in the studio for the song Elaine and I are co-writing. Once done I send the audio files to her to get her feedback.
Margaret’s off shopping with the car and I have a local merch order to deliver. I kill two birds with one stone and take a walk to deliver.
An email from Elaine gives my idea a thumbs up and we arrange a few hours in the studios next week with the aim of developing our ideas further.
The new merch idea I worked one earlier needs a fair bit of tweaking. I’m trying to replicate the ‘colours’ guitar into a necklace but the resulting metal cast is too finely detailed and finicky…
