Tamara, William and I went to see Tommy Emmanuel in concert at the Plaza in Orlando last night.  Oh my gosh! That guy is amazing.   Acoustic Guitar like you’ve NEVER heard.       They both LOVED it, it’s hard to impress William sometimes, but there was no doubt about it this time.

I’ve had several of his albums for a while, but to see him play this stuff live is simply amazing.    I bought these tickets way back in October when they first when on sale and we had GREAT seats, 3rd row, SUPER close.   You could see everything he was doing, well kind of, it was pretty fast, and the sounds he gets from his guitars don’t really seem possible.   I’ll definitely go back to see if if the opportunity arises.

Let me re-phrase ‘Great Seats’, they were in a great viewing and listening area for the venue, but THE SEATS IN THE PLAZA IN ORLANDO ARE ABSOLUTLEY HORRIBLE.  They are worse than any high school auditorium, or public venue I have ever seen.   I don’t think I’ve EVER been anywhere with such tiny, crammed together seating as this place.  TINY TINY metal chairs, no arm-rest, and about 10 inches from the seat in front of you.     You could not possibly leave your seat without having everyone else in the row actually leave the row.  I’m not a big guy, nor was the guy sitting next to me,  but we were shoulder against shoulder.

I’m honestly not sure I’ll back to the Plaza with their current setup.   IT was only an absolutely incredible performance by Tommy Emmanuel, that made the night a grand success.   So remeber, TOMMY EMMANUEL… if you get the chance to see him, GO!

Ran a 22:04 5k last week, kind of surprising with my lack of training lately, but cool, dry weather was a help.    Time to start cranking up the mileage though.

Finished a guitar this weekend, a conglomeration of parts, the body was originally a white Made in Mexico Fender Stratocaster that belongs to Tamara, she took it with her on a John Mayer Cruise in hopes of getting an autograph on it.    The neck is from a 24 inch scale Jagmaster that belongs to William, and the bridge a Made in USA Fender Tremolo bridge.  Metallic Copper paint on body and matching headstock.    The two humbuckers sound great, and it plays real nice.    I love the 24 inch scale neck.

Long time, no write.     Since my last post I’ve done a lot of stuff, as far as the guitar projects I mentioned last blog, I did finish one of those…A Blackguard Telecaster, built from Pine, with a Butterscotch Blonde finish.   I actually ended up building it as an Esquire, ( no neck pickup), though if I run across a vintage Gibson humbucker, I may cut the pickguard and add it, ala Keith Richards Micawber guitar.William declared it the best playing guitar in the house.  I’m loving it.

(have a 1970’s Fender Silverface Champ Amp supposed to be delivered today too, can’t wait to hear that)

The Cedar body is getting close, I’ve just been having so much fun playing this one, I’ve not taken the time to finish it.
 
 

My first guitar builds where I built the body from scratch.  Building a old school Butterscotch Blonde Blackguard style Telecaster with pine and one from Cedar that will have a clear natural finish…

For the Blackguard I’m using Fender Blonde color, then amber/yellow tint on top of that..

Still have some sanding/cleanup on the cedar before I start clearing coating it.

It’s like this now, waiting for clear/tinted clear

But it started like this…

Here with Reranch  Fender Blonde applied…  This is NOT Butterscotch Blonde, it’s Blonde and actually is whiter than this pic looks.

Next comes various concoctions of color to get the neck tint and ‘aged’ Butterscotch to simulate 50 years of smokey bars, sun and yellowed lacquer…

It’s getting there,  but I have to decide when enough is enough.  This is pretty close to exactly what I want, I think I’m going to shoot some clear, then some LIGHTLY tinted clear.   Same for the neck, I’m going to do clear, then decal, then tinted lacquer and clear till it’s right.

I have some sanding and prep before I shoot clear on the cedar, but when I wipe it down it really looks pretty.  With a nice polished clear over it, it should come out nice.

William and I scored cool tickets in a Suite at the St. Pete Forum in Tampa Bay to see Metallica.  What a great time, these guys played to a FULL stadium for close to 4 hours.  They were awesome.  William plays several of their songs on guitar and was loving every second of it.

AND, tomorrow I’m taking a day off work, and hopping on the FJR for a camping trip to North Carolina with a couple of buddies.  What a great time that’s gonna be.    Leave very early Friday, get back late Sunday.

We don’t know these ladies, but Will wanted his pic wit some hot chicks. 

Great show!

Gotta have fire, we could feel the heat from our seats and we werent’ that close.
William with someone he met at the concert.  They were rockin.

William’s concert friend.  She was trying to get William down on the floor at the end of the concert.

What a cool birthday present I got from my family today.    Tickets to see Joe Bonamassa at the Plaza Theater!!!

I’ve got a couple of his CD’s and really like them.  He’s in his 30’s now, was a child prodigy guitar player, opening for BB King when he was 12 years old, etc.   Electric blues guitar, but he puts a pretty heavy Rock slant to it.  Really good stuff.

In any event, he’s coming to Orlando in November, and I get to go see him, Thanks Tam/Em/Will/Ash!!!!

I’ve currently only got two of his CD’s but that’s about all I’ve been listening to lately, ‘The Ballad of John Henry’ and “Blues Deluxe”

His DVD from a performance at the Royal Albert Hall in London looks pretty cool, trailer below.

Here’s my latest project, which I’ve FINALLY finished.  I bought a trashed, beat up Gibson Les Paul, and did a complete refinish in it and the hard shell case it came in.  It was pretty dinged up and dented when I got it. 

This is when I got it.  It was filthy, dented,  fretboard was dry as a bone, electrics in cavity did not work.  Hard case was included but was broken and looked like it had been kept in the back of a pickup truck driven on dirt roads for a year or so. 

Stripping the paint off front and back…

Stripped and sanded down to bare wood.

Blue Aniline Dye applied to top

Mockup to get an idea of what it will look like…  Some clear laquer has been sprayed, but not all of it, and no polishing yet…

Les Pauls are made with a mahogany body, with a maple cap on top.  that is the top 3/8 inch or so that is carved.  What you see here, is the stained mahogany, the natural color of the edge of the maple top, and then the blue dyed top.

After assembly and final polish…

Happy New Year!!!   This is our New Years Card, if you didn’t get one in the mail, I’ve probably lost your address, so send it to me!