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Post by ianlp59 on Jun 18, 2015 16:17:28 GMT
I thought this might be an interesting thing to discuss. I don't very often go to open mic nights. I'm limited to the number of evenings I spend following my musical passion and I'd rather do the gig thing (which involves regular practice, too) than I would troop around the countryside to open mics and participatory folk clubs. But last night, I popped into an open mic night locally just to have a listen and a couple of beers. When I got there, I was surprised to find it much more crowded than usual, and the audience was listening with rapt attention to a young duo singing a version of James Morrison's "Broken Strings". They were really superb. Spellbinding. They finished and it was at that point that I discovered the larger than usual audience had come to see the young girl in the duo. She had her parents there, several older members of her family and some friends of various ages. When she'd finished they were, quite reasonably delighted by her performance and congratulated her, and all that good stuff. The next act went up after this kerfuffle had calmed down a bit (someone I know quite well). Well I was appalled at the behaviour of some of these supporters of the young girl. The volume of their conversation immediately went up by many decibels, and I overheard one woman saying quite loudly, "Oh this is rubbish, they should put Millie back on". Loud enough, I think, to be heard by the singer. This went on for the next 20 minutes or so through various performers until the Millie supporters started to drift away. I must confess, if I'd been running the open mic, I would have come and had a word with the people, but the organiser didn't and nor did the landlord of the pub who was behind the bar. It set me to thinking, what should any of us do when faced with this kind of behaviour? tonywoods (who was also there last night) and I run a little gathering once a month in a little tiny pub (can't call it an open mic - we don't allow mics!), at the specific request of the landlady, and when we first started it, we were faced with noise and disrespectful behaviour from people who weren't involved, but we had a (quite strong) word with the landlady who motivated her bar staff (except 1) to keep order, and Tonywoods and I (more him, really!) spent quite a lot of time and effort shushing offenders and talking to people. We still have the occasional incident, but most months everybody respects the performers and are quiet while people are singing. Anyway, I thought it would be interesting to hear of any bad behaviour issues experienced at open mics etc, and (for anybody who runs one) what they've done to correct it. Also to hear everyones' views on what should be done to improve the experience of open mics for performers and interested audience members. Anybody? Appalling Paul and totally unacceptable in my view. I've seen this before where people with a serious over-inflated perception of their ability not only to play but to entertain as well will attempt to leave as soon as their spot is over. It's one of the many reasons why I choose to keep myself to myself and leave "entertaining" to those that think they can do it, as well as obviously, those that seriously can do it. In terms of avoiding this sort of thing, the only sanction would be to make it clear in advance that, except for extreme circumstances, if you're in then you're in for the duration and that failure to comply will result in your last "peformance" at the venue in question. I'm still for staying at home though... Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Jun 12, 2015 9:32:46 GMT
Today started with an e-mail from Ted with this picture. His message : "The fretboard is now glued to the neck, the angle and joint sanded and everything's pretty much ready to start shaping it" (the neck). The picture is not great as he took this with his phone. Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Jun 11, 2015 15:19:36 GMT
Ted has now started work on the neck. We decided to go with the burl for the headstock plate. Ted has introduced a slight bevel on his headstock design. The darker wood is some madagascar rosewood as a sort of sandwich effect. I think it complements the burl very nicely. More to follow from Ted in the new few days... Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Jun 3, 2015 15:02:36 GMT
OK folks, more pictures from Stockholm. The body of the guitar has now been bound (in ebony) and the end graft completed : Ted had the following comment in the e-mail he sent me with these photos: "One of the most fun things is guitar making is when you scrape down the binding and see the contrast for the first time, I think the Madagascar looks amazing with the ebony." I think it does look really good, I am extremely pleased with how this build is progressing... Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Jun 2, 2015 9:36:46 GMT
After a long break, finally some more pictures from Stockholm. The back with completed, segmented back strip : The back and top together : Some shots of the back bracing : Completed back bracing : The box is now closed... i14.photobucket.com/albums/a331/ianLP59/Astrand%20OM/Closed%20box%203.jpg]Next up, a decision about what to use for the headstock plate. I've gone with the maple burl as it is unusual, rather classy and less "obvious" than ebony. Lastly, Ted sent me a sketch for a proposed end graft design : That's it for now... Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on May 1, 2015 11:37:27 GMT
Ted likes to shoot in B&W but I expect to get some colour shots at some point. I'll post anything he sends me basically (well within reason !)
Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on May 1, 2015 8:04:46 GMT
Recently received a few more pics from Ted : I decided to go for a set of Robson tuners on this guitar. Keith recently finished them and shipped them to Sweden - here they are : Next up will be work on the back and the segmented backstrip that we're planning for this guitar. Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 22, 2015 8:16:33 GMT
A couple more pictures from Sweden : Bending the sides : The sides in the mold with neck and tail blocks glued : Ted uses double sides for his guitars with mahogany as an inner side. His reason for using mahogany is that it's light in weight and also matches the interior neck and tail block and kerfings. Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 15, 2015 17:23:15 GMT
Some pictures of bracing preparation... Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 13, 2015 8:29:08 GMT
Another couple of pictures from Ted of the finished rosette. As you can see, we have gone for an asymmetrical segmented approach which I'm very happy with. The shot below was taken after some naptha was wiped on the top to simulate the appearance under finish. The burl has darkened considerably and will, in Ted's words, "pop nicely". Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 12, 2015 7:35:33 GMT
Ted recently sent me these - some rosette work Cheers for now, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 9, 2015 8:04:02 GMT
Ted sent me this yesterday evening for completeness, in terms of the back and sides of this yet to be constructed guitar... Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 7, 2015 9:35:55 GMT
I'm hoping to have it in time for my annual summer bash in July...
Cheers,
Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Apr 7, 2015 8:19:10 GMT
Ted has been in touch and has started work on this guitar. A Swiss spruce top has been selected (it now has my name on it !) and joined : The Madagascar Rosewood back has been joined too, we decided to eliminate the sap wood as we have plans for a fancy backstrip on this guitar. The rosewood is stunningly straight-grained, one of the best examples I've seen, just about perfectly quarter-sawn. More to follow as and when I get photos from Ted. Cheers, Ian
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Post by ianlp59 on Mar 1, 2015 16:52:02 GMT
As Johnny has intimated, a fantastic selection of instruments to play, drool over or otherwise enjoy. The most spectacular collection of Ralph Bown guitars I've ever seen assembled at one location. Huge thanks to Vic and Linda for their generous hospitality and excellent food. Cheers, Ian
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